Guest Blogger: My Mom (Roasted Acorn Squash)

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I'd like to welcome my mom as the first of (hopefully) many guest blogger appearances.  She made Guy Fieri's Roasted Acorn Squash recipe and highly recommends the dish and also offers tips to make this meal a success!

For my birthday this year, my beautiful daughter Lauren gave me the new cookbook called "Guy Fieri Food, Cookin' It, Livin' It, Lovin' It".  I was very excited to try a recipe from Guy's book.  I am a big fan of his show "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" and decided this past weekend to tackle a recipe. The book has beautiful pictures which I love and after much reading I decided to make Roasted Acorn Squash with Turkey Sausage, Peppers and Goat Cheese. It sounded delicious, easy and somewhat healthy. All was true but I had a few mishaps on the way.  

My first challenge was cutting the acorn squash. Lesson here is to make sure you have very sharp knives something I do not have unfortunately! After struggling with that the next step was to clean out the seeds from the squash and save them to roasted in the oven. Guy suggests to rinse the seeds well which I did and dry them with a paper towel. Sounds easy except the seeds stick to the paper towel and were difficult to get the off the paper towel. The next step was finding the correct pan so the squash could in and a pan for the seeds to get roasted in. Again sounds easy except if you have a small oven as I do. After much juggling I finally was able to get everything to fit and start the cooking of the squash for 35 to 40 minutes. The next step of preparing the vegetable and turkey went smooth again probably better if I had that sharp knife but I did succeed! 

The results of my first recipe from Guy's book was great. Both my husband and I enjoyed it and I would make it again. In fact, I will probably make it for Lauren on her next visit home. Best part is the recipe had leftovers so guess what we will have the following night...which is just fine by me. Bon Appetit!

 Thanks Mom!!

Roasted Vegetable Quiche

The Roasted Vegetable Quiche is the round dish in the bottom left.

I've made this roasted vegetable quiche on two separate occasions:  the first for a "Long Run Sweaty Brunch" with my track team here in DC, and the second just a few weeks ago for a tea party with friends.  So, it goes without saying that this quiche recipe was good enough to make not only once, but twice, over a year apart. 

I think what makes this dish just delicious is the roasted veggies - the crispness against the soft egg fill is nicely balanced and the blue cheese, well, that speaks for itself. However, keep in mind that when chopping the vegetables, it's going to seem like way too much to fit into the pie crust.  However, trust that it works out fine in the end.

Veggie Lovers Soup

A couple days ago, I went to Whole Foods without a shopping list.  I don't consider myself a very organized person - I'm totally that person who only picks up clothes off the floor when guests are visiting - but I'm truly committed to planning out my meals for the week and buying only what is needed.  This is necessary for managing my time but also prevents me from buying gourmet cheeses, desserts, and other temptations at Whole Foods.

Anyway, I went a little crazy in the produce section and ended up with a ton of veggies.  Because this was unplanned, I had that "oh sh*t" buyer's remorse moment when I had no idea how I'd consume so many of them.  Luckily I had a few staple items in the kitchen, such as vegetable broth and canned tomatoes, and realized that I could make a pretty dynamite soup without having to make another (unplanned) trip to the store.

The other cool thing is I've made enough soups to not have to follow a recipe this time around...ahhh...progress.

Just a small portion of what I was working with...

Can't forget these guys!

Pasta with Basil Avocado Pesto and Julienne Vegetables

Not too long ago, the idea of making a pesto seemed complicated and almost foreign.  I'd only known it to come either in a jar or in specialty packages from Whole Foods, almost as if the difficulty of making such a flavor encouraged the simplicity of buying pre-made.  Looking back, I probably should have just opened a cookbook to see that pesto is simple to make yet can have such a complex range of flavors - just like this creamy avocado pesto I made this evening.  And, true to form, this dish has complex flavor but only took about 30 minutes from the chopping board to table top.  Sounds good to me :)

Christmas Eve Dinner: Beef Bourguignon

For me, Christmas Eve is one of those rare nights when all seems right with the world.  It's peaceful, spiritual and a time when I feel love is all around.  The last few months have been particularly difficult for me but I'm quite fortunate to have parents who support and comfort me through the best and the worst of times.  I wish I could return the favor to them tenfold - and while it's a lot to live up to - I thought making a meal that requires a lot of love would be a good place to start.  That's where the Beef Bourguignon comes in.  It may seem silly to think that a meal could even begin to equate to my family but, really, it's just a small token of my gratitude.

Also, some background:  This dish isn't as daunting as it sounds.  Just know it must be made over a span of two days; unless, of course, you're willing to wake up at 4:00 a.m. to start the process.  I love cooking...but not that much :)

Spaghetti Squash with Roasted Tomatoes and Onions

You know you've made it when your parents request home cooked meals from their only daughter over one of the biggest food holidays of the year - thanksgiving.

Just kidding.

In all seriousness, while visiting my parents over the holiday, I had the opportunity to cook not one, but two, meals in a real sized kitchen, with high quality cookware and endless utensils.  It was a young cooks paradise, a la Big Girls Small Kitchen, so I took full advantage.

On the first night, I made spaghetti squash with roasted tomatoes and onion.  I wasn't prepared to cook - still recovering from overeating the day before - but made due with what was on hand.  For example, the roasted tomatoes were actually canned tomatoes.  Not ideal, but blended with roasted onions, herbs, garlic, and a dash of balsamic vinegar, this dish was pretty good considering the limited resources.

Roasted Pork with Cranberry-Apple Glaze

This roasted pork with cranberry-apple glaze dish stemmed from a similar recipe in Sheryl Crow's cookbook, If It Makes You Healthy, which is one of my favorite cookbooks.  Sheryl's recipe called for figs and plums, but after a frenzied search for both items at Whole Foods, neither were available.  I decided to get creative and combine two of my favorite flavors for a glaze for roasted pork.

One of my best friends, Sharon Schiff, was kind enough to photograph this cooking session and provide feedback (thankfully, it was positive):

"This dish radiates the seasonal aura of autumn," Sharon stated.

"It's almost as if you could capture the wonderful scent of potpourri through your taste buds." 

While I don't think she had much of a choice but to compliment the meal, I'd say Sharon legitimately enjoyed this dish...  :)

Butternut Squash Soup

There's nothing like coming home from work on a rainy, cold Thursday and warming up to a bowl of homemade butternut squash soup.  It was my first time making this type of soup and it's pretty easy, although I have a question for my SEVEN readers out there:

How the heck do you efficiently peel a butternut squash?

It seems to take an unnecessary amount of time...almost putting it in the same category as beets (effort vs. output; i.e. something to leave to the professionals).  Once you finish the excessive peeling and chopping, this soup is pretty easy to make.  Patience is a virtue.

Farm Fresh: Roasted Chicken with Winter Veggies and Lemon Mustard Tatsoi

Ahhh...it's that time of year...winter veggies.  My neighbor, Lisa, is the recipient of a weekly half share of fresh fruits and vegetables from a local farm.  However, she went out of town and I was the lucky recipient of last weeks share.  It was fantastic - purple turnips, French radishes, broccoli, tatsoi, kale, everything.   With all those options, it's pretty easy to turn this:

Into this:

Lentils with Sage, Roasted Garlic, and Winter Vegetables

Looking for a warm, hearty fall meal that is as healthy as it is delicious?  Definitely try out this lentil dish.  It may not look very appetizing in the photo (yes, I'm still mastering the art of food photography with an iPhone, if that even exists) but my boyfriend and I both ate very slowly just to thoroughly enjoy all of the flavor of the dish.

At first I wanted to qualify this post as a "No Meat Monday" option, but it has a bit of bacon that purely adds flavor rather than crunch.  I'm considering trying a bacon substitute, something I've never done before, to see if it still packs the same flavor without removing it from the vegetarian realm.  However, the fresh roasted garlic is an absolute must.