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

Grilled Veggie Sandwich

I found this recipe online while I was trying to decide how to use some of my vegetables. My husband and I ate it together for lunch this weekend and it sure was TASTY! I would definitely make this again! (Of course, we included chicken in this "veggie" sandwich for my husband's sake).

Original recipe here

Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Ready In: 50 min

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• 1 chicken breast, cubed
  
• 1 cup sliced bell peppers
• 1 small zucchini, sliced
• 1/2 red onion, sliced
• 1 small yellow squash, sliced
• 2 (4-x6-inch) focaccia bread pieces, split horizontally [Update: I tried this again with just plain bread (toasted) and it turned out fabulous! I think I'll always use regular bread in the future]
  
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix the mayonnaise, minced garlic, and lemon juice. Set aside in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat the grill for high heat.
3. Season chicken according to preference and brush vegetables with olive oil on each side. Brush grate with oil. Place bell peppers and zucchini closest to the middle of the grill, and set onion and squash pieces around them. Cook for about 3 minutes, turn, and cook for another 3 minutes. The peppers may take a bit longer. Remove from grill, and set aside. (Or, if you use a griddle, cook veggies and chicken in olive oil).
   
4. Spread some of the mayonnaise mixture on the cut sides of the bread, and sprinkle each one with feta cheese. Place on the grill cheese side up, and cover with lid for 2 to 3 minutes. This will warm the bread, and slightly melt the cheese. Watch carefully so the bottoms don't burn. Remove from grill, and layer with the vegetables.
   

Serves: 4

Home Made Chicken Salad

I made this chicken salad for a baby shower I hosted a few weeks ago. By the end of the shower, all of the food was gone and so I made it again tonight so that my husband could finally try it! He liked it a lot (although before trying it he was a little worried about the ingredients) and so do I!

Original recipe, here.

Ingredients: (I just use how ever much I have on hand, not necessarily these amounts exactly.)

• 4 cups cubed, cooked chicken meat
• 1 cup mayonnaise (or Miracle Whip - if I use Miracle Whip, I leave out the paprika)
  
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup minced bell pepper
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 teaspoon seasoning salt
• ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

In a medium bowl, mix together mayonnaise with paprika and seasoned salt. Blend in dried cranberries, celery, bell pepper, onion, and nuts. Add chopped chicken, and mix well. Season with black pepper to taste. Chill 1 hour. Serve on a croissant or with crackers.

Serves: 12