Winter Pesto

My friend, Rebecca, is a fabulous cook and so when I want to try something new, I usually steal a recipe from her blog. I have been wanting to try pesto for a while and since she had a recipe for it on her blog, I decided to give it a try. Yum! This is so quick and easy and is a nice alternative to red pasta sauce. I also loved it because my one year old seemed to like it! I've heard you can use pesto on bread and crackers as well. This recipe makes a decent amount of pesto, but it keeps well in the fridge if it is covered with one tablespoon of olive oil.

Recipe from here.

Ingredients:

• 2½ cups tightly packed triple-washed fresh spinach, stems removed
• ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup walnuts (optional - we didn't have any, but I am curious to try it with walnuts next time)
  
• ⅔ cup olive oil
• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used an Italian cheese mix)
  
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft (we only had salted and it worked fine)
  

Directions:

1. Combine the spinach, parsley, basil, garlic, salt, walnuts, and oil in a blender (preferably) or food processor and process until it is a smooth puree. Turn off the machine and scrape down the sides as necessary.
2. Pour the pesto into a container with a tight-fitting lid and stir in the cheese and butter by hand until well blended. If the pesto is to be used as a sauce for pasta, stir in a few tablespoons of boiling pasta water to thin it out before using.

Get those leafy greens! I love spinach!

Mexican Rice

Yesterday I was in the mood for Mexican food so I made chicken fajitas and served them with beans and rice. The fajitas were good, but the recipe isn't worth posting. On the other hand, I really really really liked this Mexican rice recipe and I don't even like Mexican rice. So, it's a keeper. The only thing Jeff would like to add is some hot peppers. We'll see.

Original recipe, here.

Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 25 min
Ready In: 30 min

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup uncooked rice
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 2 cups chicken broth

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and add rice. Cook, stirring constantly, until puffed and golden. While rice is cooking, sprinkle with salt and cumin.
2. Stir in onions and cook until tender. Stir in tomato sauce and chicken broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Roasted Vegetables

I signed up to provide a side dish for a funeral a few weeks ago and since I had a plethora of vegetables from our farm, I decided to make roasted vegetables. I've made roasted vegetables several ways before, but this was the first recipe that used balsamic vinegar. I kept a few spoonfuls to taste (to make sure I didn't send NASTY food!) and I thought it turned out quite nicely! I must say, I like roasted vegetables! :) Also, I decided to add okra to this recipe because I had some on hand and I must say that I like the flavor of okra. I want to try cooking with it more. Expect to see some additional okra recipes in the future!

Original recipe, here.

Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 40 min
Ready In: 55 min

Ingredients:

• 1 small butternut squash, cubed
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded and diced
• 4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 onion, chopped
• Additional vegetables as desired (I added okra and carrots because I had some on hand)
  
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, combine all vegetables.
   
3. In a small bowl, stir together thyme, rosemary, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Toss with vegetables until they are coated. Spread evenly on a large roasting pan.
4. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, stirring every 10 minutes, or until vegetables are cooked through and browned.

Serves: 12

Vegetarian Quesadillas

I needed to use some leftover zucchini and squash, but wanted to try something more "familiar" to my palette. I love "Mexican" food so when I found this recipe, I decided to give it a try. It was REALLY good! Even Jeff who LIVES for meat found them satisfying. Mmmmm...posting these recipes is making me hungry! This recipe is really simple (yet full of natural flavor from the veggies) and you can use any vegetables you like. The author said that eggplant and spinach work well. I bet adding chicken would taste good too.

Original recipe, here.

Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 15 min
Ready In: 30 min

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped zucchini
• 1/2 cup chopped yellow squash
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1 can black beans
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• cooking spray
• 6 (9 inch) flour tortillas
• 1 1/4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. In a medium size pot, warm up black beans. Using a large nonstick pan, cook red pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, and onion in olive oil over medium to medium-high heat for about 7 minutes, or until just tender. Remove vegetables from pan.
2. Coat the same pan with cooking spray, and place one tortilla in pan. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of cheese evenly over tortilla, and layer 3/4 cup of the vegetable mixture and beans over the cheese. Sprinkle another 1/8 cup of cheese on the vegetables, and top with a second tortilla. Cook until golden on both sides, for approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove quesadilla from pan, and repeat with remaining ingredients. Cut each quesadilla into 8 triangles with a pizza cutter. Serve hot.

Serves: 6

Butternut Squash Risotto

Well, this is my third squash post in a row! Can you tell that we had a lot of squash from our farm that we needed to eat?! I decided that we should probably eat something OTHER THAN soup, so I decided to make this risotto. So far, risotto has been one of my favorite types of meal to eat and this one was no exception. YUM! I wonder how it would taste with some sauteed greens mixed in?

Original recipe, here.

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 35 min

Ready In: 45 min

Ingredients:

• 2 cups mashed butternut squash (Easy to mash once you cook it - see previous two recipes for both an oven and microwave method)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 onion, minced
• 1 cup rice, cooked in chicken stock
• 2 cups hot chicken stock (I changed the recipe a little because I cooked the rice first, so I'm not 100% sure how much chicken stock I used. I think I used about 2 cups - not including the stock used to cook the rice.)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Mozzarella cheese
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

**I've started to add sauteed spinach to this as well. I just saute it separately in olive oil and garlic and then add it at the end. Both of my little boys will eat it this way! Yay!**

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook and stir for 2 minutes until the onion begins to soften, then stir in the rice. Continue cooking and stirring until the rice is glossy from the butter, and the onion begins to brown on the edges, about 5 minutes more.
2. Pour in 1/3 cup chicken stock, stirring constantly, until it has evaporated. Stir in the mashed squash and remaining hot chicken stock; reduce heat to medium. Continue stirring until the risotto is creamy. Finish by stirring in the Parmesan cheese, and seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.

Serves: 4

Butternut Squash Soup

It looks like I'm in the middle of a squash obsession! I promise that all of these recipes are really good! I love making soups, so here is another one. Butternut squash is one of my favorite varieties of squash. I feel like it has such a creamy and cheesy flavor! Yum!

Original recipe, here.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes (depends on how you cook the squash)
Ready In: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 2 medium potatoes, cubed
• 1 medium butternut squash
  
• 3 cups chicken stock (I can't remember exactly how much I used - enough to get the texture I wanted)
  
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• sour cream
  

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place butternut squash on cookie sheet and bake for approximately 1 hour. Once cooked, the skin peels right off and it is much easier to seed and cube. Alternatively, you can use the microwave method (see post for Acorn Squash Soup) which is much quicker and works well when making soup.
   
2. After the squash is cooked and cubed, melt the butter in a large pot, and cook the onion, celery, carrot, potatoes, and squash 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Pour in enough of the chicken stock to cover vegetables. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 40 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender.
3. Transfer the soup to a blender, and blend until smooth. Return to pot, and mix in any remaining stock to attain desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

Serves: 4

Acorn Squash Soup

I think one of my newest favorite vegetables (well, fruit really) is squash. It's hearty, tasty, and healthy. I don't really remember eating it growing up so I wasn't sure what it would be like. I must say that I haven't really been disappointed in any of the recipes I have tried. Squash seems to have a naturally rich flavor - it's GOOD!!! This soup is made from acorn squash and is quite delicious. I used Carnival Squash, which is a variety of acorn squash and it turned out really well! Enjoy!

Original Recipe, here.

Prep Time: 20 Min
Cook Time: 10 Min
Ready In: 30 Min

Ingredients:

• 1 small onion
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
  
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
• 1/2 teaspoon dill weed
• 1/4 teaspoon curry powder (I didn't have curry powder, so I used a dash of cumin and a piece of corriander)
  
• dash cayenne pepper
• 2 cups chicken broth
  
• 1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
• 3 cups mashed cooked acorn squash (You can bake it in the oven, but I was in a hurry so I put it in the microwave for 8 minutes, then cut it in half and put each half in again for 4 minutes each)
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 5 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, saute the onion and celery in butter. Stir in flour, bouillon, dill, curry and cayenne until blended. Gradually add broth and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Add the squash, salt and pepper; heat through.
2. In a blender, process the soup in batches until smooth (I skipped this step and instead left it kind of chunky). Pour into bowls; garnish with bacon (I don't like bacon, so I just ate it plain - still yummy!).

Serves: 6