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...  :)

FWD: We are the Relief

Today in East Africa, in a region known as the Horn, more than 13.3 million people are in crisis – more than the populations of New York City and Los Angeles combined. The worst drought the world has seen in 60 years is devastating farmlands, uprooting families and killing tens of thousands in four countries: Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia.

Drought, conflict and famine are forcing people from their homes in search of food and water. In fact, nearly 700,000 Somalis have fled ---many walking over 100 miles to refugee camps---in search of food and water. Nearly half of the children arriving at the camps in Kenya and Ethiopia are acutely malnourished; all are in need of emergency assistance.

The U.S. Agency for International Development has launched the Famine, War, and Drought (FWD) campaign to bring worldwide recognition of the ongoing crisis in the Horn.  Last week, as part of the FWD campaign, USAID staff made public service announcements that are now available on YouTube.  Here's mine:

For more information on the FWD campaign, visit USAID.

Holiday Cooking with Friends: Vichy Carrots

Vichy carrots have recently become a staple of the Gabler family Thanksgiving celebration.  They were made on a whim a couple of years ago but are consistently requested and will probably be a part of our dinners for years to come.  So, what better way to share a great meal than with great friends:

Please excuse the phantom hand.

Grown-Up Grilled Cheese: Brie and Pear

My grown up grilled cheese dish was actually served with the butternut squash soup recipe and a side salad.  Of course, the little kid in me craved an exact replication of the grilled cheese I enjoyed at Friendly's years ago.  I still, to this day, have no idea why their grilled cheese was so delish yet so simple, but I decided to switch up the classic American soul food with a more grown up option:  brie cheese, pear slices, arugula, and red onion.  Even steered clear of the plain ol' white bread...go me.

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: