Baked Apples with Savory Stuffing
It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without my mom shouting at my brother, "That's NOT FULLY COOKED, you're gonna get sick!" while he's hunched over the refrigerator door, grabbing a spoonful of uncooked stuffing. I can't really blame him for wanting to eat it uncooked; our mom really does make the most incredible sausage & chestnut stuffing.
These baked apples taste just like Thanksgiving except my mom isn't in the background shouting at me for getting into them. The filling of sausage, celery, herbs & onions remind me of her stuffing, but the apples add a nice sweet/tang to round out the flavor. I love how the tops of each apple overflow with crispy golden bread and browned sausage thanks to the teamwork of small dabs of butter and a hot oven. It's like I just faked a Thanksgiving dinner on an average October weeknight. You gotta love that.
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Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Vegans & vegetarians please divert your eyes. In fact, you might as well skip this post since it's all about meat. There's a lovely shot of coleslaw though! And that recipe is pretty awesome!
I don't really eat much meat anymore. It adds a huge weight to our grocery bill so I've been supplementing with beans and the like. Every now and then I get a craving for meat so I give in; this always makes the boys I feed SUPER happy.
Spinach Feta Pocket Pies
Awhile back I made these Chicken Pocket Pies and they were fabulous. The dough worked out perfectly, angels sang, and we left nothing but pie dust in the kitchen. Remember?
I've been "trying" to bring spinach back into Cooper's diet so I thought these Spinach Feta Pocket Pies might do the trick! Plus this momma loves spanakopita, and these are pretty similar (except they're made with cream cheese pastry instead of phillo dough).
I whipped up the pastry dough the night before using light cream cheese instead of full fat. I am soo happy to report that it tastes just fine! A bullet has been dodged, people. We can have a tasty lower fat pie crust and eat it too!
The spinach pockets were super. I was delighted every time I got a chunk of feta in a bite. Next time I am going to add a little more cheese to the filling. Oh man do I love feta! The pies totally satisfied my spanakopita cravings!
Spiced Indian Chickpeas
So now that you made all this garlic naan, what are you gonna serve with it?
Spicy Indian Chickpeas!
Another winning recipe from Mad Hungry: Feeding Men & Boys by Lucinda Scala Quinn.
Moroccan-Style Stuffed Acorn Squash
I ripped out a bunch of recipes from some magazines to try last week. I plan on knocking out each one as we begin autumn. First recipe tried is from the current issue of Martha Stewart Living. It's the picture in the upper middle.
When we were in Morocco a few years back, we had a wonderful couscous with chicken garbanzo beans and squash...It was a dish that Casey, my brother Ryan and I still talk about. Here I took a pic!
After making this recipe tonight, Casey said:
"This reminds me of Morocco. MMMM. This must be made again. MMMM. And I want more meat next time!"
It was very very good. I would have liked it even more if it wasn't super hot today! But yes, it's one of those recipes that's perfect for a cozy evening in with a nice glass of red wine. Yum!
I really liked the golden raisins. The acorn squash I bought was not really that sweet, so the raisins really stepped it up! The nice spice of the cinnamon and nutmeg warms you up! I caught Casey scraping the skins of the squash until there was nothing left. It was that good! Nice work, honey!
I guess this means that I will be making it again- with more meat filling.
So let's get started!
I used an ice cream scooper to dig out the seeds. It works SOO well.
I cut the bottoms off so they would eventually lay flat when I turned them over.
Aren't they prettie?
Here are some of the crucial ingredients:
Browned the meat...and set it aside.
Added the bulgur to the onions
Out of the oven and onto my plate! (there were more steps involved)
Moroccan-Style Stuffed Acorn Squash
(Recipe Martha Stewart Living Magazine. Serves 4)
- 2 medium acorn squashes (ab 2lbs), halved & seeded
- 2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 lb. ground chuck (95% lean)
- 2 tsp. course salt
- ground cinnamon
- ground nutmeg
- 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3/4 cup bulgur wheat
- 2 cups water
- 1/4 cup golden raisins
- 1/4 cup Italian flat leaf parsley
- 2 tblsp. toasted pine nuts
1. Preheat oven to 400. Place squashes, cut sides down in a 9x13 inch casserole dish. Bake until tender, 35 to 40 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a 4 quart pot with a tight-fitting lid over medium heat. Add ground beef, a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring frequently until browned and cooked through, 5-7 minutes. Transfer beef to a bowl or plate using a slotted spoon, keeping as much of the cooking liquid in the pot as possible.
3. Add onion, and cook until slightly translucent, about 5 mins. Add garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add remaining teaspoon salt and the bulgur, and stir to combine. Add water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 15 minutes. Take pot off the stove and let sit covered for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork, and add reserved beef, the raisins, parsley & pine nuts.
4. Scrape out baked squashes, forming 1/4 inch thick bowls, and fold flesh into bulgur mixture. Divide among squash halves, and return to the oven. Bake until warmed through and tops are browned. 12-14 minutes.
Enjoy!
Greek-Style Stuffed Peppers
Last week, I checked out the cookbook The Food You Crave, by Ellie Krieger at the library and was pleasantly surprised at how many recipes I bookmarked. I guess there are LOTS of foods that I crave. HAHA GO FIGURE!
This Greek Style Stuffed Pepper recipe was the first of many recipes I'll be trying soon and I was pretty impressed with the results. Thinking about all of the vegetables I put into one meal was totally awesome. My meat and potatoes loving husband really loved the results too and so did my baby!
Next time I might add a little bit of feta in the filling because I am such a sucker for feta! I will probably add a little bit of red pepper cuz I dig on spice! I did add some chopped parsley because it was sitting around in my fridge waiting to be used. Maybe I will knock it up with some chopped garlic too. I have a feeling that this recipe could be improvised in many ways... Here I am brainstorming....
Here I am mixing the filling:
A peak at pepper assembly:
About to put them in the oven:
Dinner- Served with a salad:
Soo filling-- that I didn't end up eating bread!
Coop would like to share his first bite of the filling for you. "See guys, I'm eating it!"
And YES! I loved it. I ate the filling of TWO peppers last night!
Greek Style Stuffed Peppers
Print This Recipe(recipe Ellie Krieger)
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- 1 medium zucchini, coarsely grated (about 2 cups)
- 1 small onion, minced (about 1 cup)
- 1/2 cup bulgur
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, cores and ribs removed (I used 4)
- 2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans low-sodium stewed tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl combine the beef, spinach, zucchini, onion, bulghur, egg, oregano, salt and a few grinds of pepper. Mix until thoroughly combined.
Arrange the pepper halves cut side up in a 9 by 13-inch baking dish and fill each pepper half with the meat mixture. Pour the tomatoes over the peppers and sprinkle with the feta cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until the meat mixture is completely cooked and the peppers are tender, about 25 minutes longer.
Tex Mex Enchiladas!
I'd like to admit right here and now that there was once a time when I was scared to make enchiladas. I've overcome that fear and can now look back and think how silly I was.
So I started telling you about my little Everyday Food binge huh? Well... I recently watched an episode of EVERYDAY FOOD on PBS and was immediately inspired to make some for myself. I thought that if they can do it so fast- I CERTAINLY CAN. I know you can too!
Not yet inspired? Perhaps I can tempt you with a little close up?
I just followed this recipe from Everyday Food:
Tex Mex Enchiladas (makes 8 total)
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 can (14.5 oz) reduced sodium chicken broth
- 1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 small canned chipotle chili in adobo, minced-plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce from can
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 3/4 lb. lean ground beef
- Coarse salt & ground pepper
- 8 tortillas (6 inch)
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (about 6 oz.)
- 1/4 cup cilantro
1. Make Sauce: In a medium saucepan, heat 1 ½ tablespoons oil over medium. Add flour and cook, whisking occasionally, 1 minute. Add broth, chili powder, chipotle and adobo sauce, and ¾ cup water; bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat, and simmer until lightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
2. Make Filling: In a 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat remaining ½ tablespoon oil over medium-high. Add onion, garlic, and beef; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until cooked through, about 8 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 350°. Spoon ¼ cup sauce in bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish. Set aside. Make enchiladas: Stack tortillas; wrap in foil, and warm in oven, 10 minutes. Fill each with a heaping ¼ cup beef mixture and 2 tablespoons cheese; tightly roll up.
4. Raise oven heat to 450°. Arrange enchiladas, seam side down, in baking dish. Top with remaining sauce; sprinkle with cheese. Bake, uncovered, until hot and bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving. Serve garnished with cilantro and perhaps some sour cream like I did!
If you follow the link above, you will find their instructions for freezing your batch!
***Note: After assembling the enchiladas, I was concerned that there might not be enough sauce covering all the tortillas. I decided to drizzle the leftover adobo sauce on top of the assembled enchiladas. I think this added a LOT of flavor!!! ***
This will definitely be in our regular rotation. I can't wait to experiment on different types of filling!
