Sweet Love and Ginger

Vegetarian

Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna

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Ok I have to admit something. I have never had white
lasagna. As a self proclaimed foodie this is something that I find so hard to believe,
but it’s true, and I have been meaning to change it for quite a while. I saw
this recipe last year and knew I had to make it, but the squash season flew
by me!

Now that squash is back this is the very first thing I decided
to make, except the broccoli rabe wasn’t looking so hot, so I swapped in one of
my other favorite greens spinach. I already knew this flavor profile would work
well since I have used in a bunch of other recipes, as it was pretty fabulous.

This whole tray was quite a lot for two people so we ended
up eating it all week, and we didn’t even get sick of it, that’s a surprise.
There is something so exquisite about this recipe, I can’t quite put my finger
on it, but it was a grand slam, and even though it’s meatless Chuck said I could
make it all the time (score).

In all honesty it was twice as good the next day. What is it
about certain dishes, like stews and sauces that always taste better the next
day, so maybe you put the whole thing together and save the baking for a day or
two? Sounds perfect for a dinner party or a weekend meal no?

Squash and Spinach Lasagna

1 (1-2lb) butternut squash
Extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup butter
1/3 cup flour
3 cups whole milk
1 tsp nutmeg
Salt & Pepper
12-15 Lasagna noodles, prepared according to package
instructions
1 lb of spinach, wilted
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
4-5 fresh sage leaves


Preheat the oven to 425. Cut the squash in half, de seed it,
drizzle it with oil, and lay it face down on a baking sheet. Bake for 20-30
minutes or until the thick part of the squash can be poked through with a fork.
Remove from heat and allow it to cool and reduce the oven temp to 375. In a
thick bottomed sauce pan melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour
and then slowly whisk in the milk as well, making sure the sauce becomes well blended.
Bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat and reduce to a simmer over
medium heat cooking until the sauce thickens (about 5 minutes), while stirring
often. Stir in the nutmeg and season with salt and pepper to taste, this will
be your béchamel. In a bowl use a fork or a masher to mash the squash into a
manageable paste. In a prepared 13x9inch baking dish lightly place a layer of béchamel
then 3 noodles length wise. Scoop about 1/3 of a cup of the squash over the
noodles and add more béchamel, and another layer of noodles. Repeat this
process once more. One the third layer of noodles spread the all of the spinach
over the noodles, and then béchamel and more noodles. Continue to squash, béchamel
and noodles until you run out. On the top layer of noodles spread generously
the final béchamel and top with parmesan cheese, and sage leaves. Place the pan
in the oven for about 30-40 minutes, or until the top begins to brown and
bubble. Remove from heat and let stand about 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Also don’t skip the sage, those leaves, even just placed on
top lend a whole other level to the flavor of the whole dish.

I’m totally interested in more inventive recipes with squash
in them. Any Suggestions?

Roast Vegetable Tossed Salad

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It’s the time of year when everyone gets all excited for
roasting vegetables. Everywhere I turn there is another roasted vegetable
recipe. I never got into it in the past. I mean I like my roasted veggie sides
but that was about the extent of it.

This year however things are different. This year I have
been making a valiant effort to bring vegetables to the forefront of our meals,
make them the star’s as opposed to the meat and starch that is typical of the American
diet. You can find evidence of this here, here, and here just to name a few.

I decided to jump on this roasted vegetables as a meal kick
and see what it’s all about, and I’m glad I did. This meal came out fabulous, and
Chuck didn’t mind the lack of meat and pile of starch. I was even given
permission to make it again.

It’s a pretty basic recipe that can be easily altered to accommodate
anyone, just add or drop the veggies you like/have on hand. The more veggies
the better in a meal like this, so experiment away. A dressing isn’t necessary for
this since there’s plenty of liquid and herbs in the veggie mixture, but I was craving something creamy so I topped it with my Creamy Pesto Dressing. It
was a wise choice.

Roasted Vegetable Tossed Salad
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 red onion sliced
1 large carrot, peeled & chopped
1 clove garlic, remove the top
Extra virgin olive oil
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 can butter beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp herbs de province
½ a lemon
1 ½ cup arugala
1 ½ cup spinach

Preheat the oven to 350. On a large sheet tray toss the
sweet potato, onion, and carrot with oil. Arrange the vegetables on half of the
tray. Place the garlic on the tray and drizzle with oil. Place in the oven and
roast for 25-30 minutes. Half way through the roasting time remove the tray and
re-toss the vegetables. On the free half of the tray add the tomatoes also
tossed in oil and finish cooking. In a large bowl toss together the beans, herbs
and roasted vegetables. Squeeze the lemon over the top before adding and toss
again. Set each plate with a ½ a cup of arugula and ½ a cup of spinach, top
with roasted vegetables and serve. (Serves 3)

For the Love of Minestrone Soup

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Everyone is sick.

Chuck, my dad, work folk, and even I’m fighting off something.

Work is nuttier than squirrel turds right now. Seriously there is so much going on I can just feel the stress pile on every time I walk through the door. I just need to get through the next 3 weeks and it will be smooth-er sailing.

When I am stressed or sick I almost always crave a blanket, my slippers and soup.  I love soup so much. The only problem is that I rarely feel like making soup when I’m stressed or sick, and canned soup is not an option. Call me a snob if you want, but I firmly believe that real homemade soup is better by a LONG shot. The flavor, the health benefits, and the love. Oh the Love. How can you make soup and not put some love in it? I don’t think it’s possible. Maybe that’s why I like it so much.

This particular day I was not anticipating wanting soup so I had no chicken, no ham or anything else ready to go that meant it had to be vegetarian. It brought me back to my high school days of working at a local Italian restaurant after school, and practice. I loved it there. I only wish I could have stayed, and that they didn’t eventually retire. It was like my home away from home. They opened their arms and treated me like family. They even had a family meal every night, and I was expected to sit down and eat with them. Even if I had to answer phones or toss wings between courses.

One of the things I remember most is the minestrone. I swear Nona made it every. Single. Night. I mean she made it from scratch every night, not just made a bunch and served it all week. She said it tasted better that way, because that how it was supposed to be made. I learned how to make it from watching her, and her deft hands as they chopped, tossed, and stirred. It was so good, and filled with love; the perfect thing to pull me out of my funk, and nurture poor Chuck.

Classic Minestrone Soup

 

For the Love of Minestrone Soup
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4 Servings
Ingredients
  • 2 TBSP EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
  • 1 LARGE ONION, DICED
  • 4 CLOVES OF GARLIC, MINCED
  • 1 STALK CELERY, CHOPPED
  • 2 LARGE CARROTS, CHOPPED
  • 1 TSP DRIED OREGANO
  • 1 TSP DRIED BASIL
  • 1 28 OUNCE CAN DICED TOMATOES
  • 6 CUPS LOW SODIUM VEGETABLE BROTH
  • 1 CAN LOW SODIUM KIDNEY BEANS
  • 2 CUPS FRESH BABY SPINACH
  • 2 CUPS COOKED DITALINI (OR SMALL PASTA)
  • PARMESAN CHEESE FOR GARNISH
  • 2 TBSP CHOPPED FRESH BASIL
Instructions
  1. IN A LARGE THICK BOTTOMED SAUCE PAN HEAT OIL, AND SAUTE THE ONION FOR ABOUT 3 MINUTES, OR UNTIL IT BECOMES TRANSLUCENT.
  2. ADD GARLIC, THEN CELERY, CARROT, OREGANO AND BASIL, AND COOK FOR 6-7 MINUTES.
  3. STIR IN THE TOMATOES, AND BROTH, AND BRING THE POT UP TO A BOIL.
  4. REDUCE THE HEAT AND ALLOW IT TO SIMMER FOR ABOUT 15 MINUTES BEFORE ADDING THE SPINACH, KIDNEY BEANS AND PASTA.
  5. COOK FOR ANOTHER 5 TO 10 MINUTES TO ALLOW THE SPINACH TO WILT.
  6. ADJUST THE SEASONINGS AND SERVE WARM WITH PARMESAN CHEESE, AND BASIL FOR GARNISH.

Perfect Fall Dinner

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I read a lot of blogs, it’s kind of an addiction, but I figure
that there are worse things I could be addicted to right? I get a lot of food,
cooking and photography inspiration from blogs, I mean who wouldn’t with all
these talented people sharing themselves all the time?

I don’t always share the recipes that I “copy-cat” form my
favorite blogs, mostly because I feel like I’m taking some of their thunder and
that’s kind of lame. However every once in a while I come across a recipe that
simply just knocks my socks off and that I have to absolutely share. This is defiantly
one of them.

I usually love everything on Jenny’s blog anyway, but when I
recreated her Sunday dinner, with my own twists of course, I knew I struck
gold.

I almost always have cooked my pork loin the same way, the way
my mom does, and Momma Chuck, and probably everyone else I know  with rosemary as the main ingredient, and then
roasted for a good long while, until it is cooked through and usually dry (that’s
why there’s almost always gravy with it). I don’t know why we all do this (coincidentally),
but we do, we like it, I mean who doesn’t like rosemary? But once in a while it’s
nice to step out of the box and this recipe yielded a wonderfully tender, juicy
and succulent pork loin that I will definitely be repeating in the future.

Though I stuck right to the recipe for the pork loin I had
to alter the recipes for the braised cabbage and applesauce. The braised
cabbage was basically the same, except I do not have time to let it sit in the
oven for 2 hours, nor the desire to eat up that much energy, plus I like my
vegetables firmer. I also omitted the goat cheese, though it might be a nice
touch, it simply isn’t needed. The result was delicious! I’m also glad I came
across this recipe because aside from coleslaw I’m always stuck on how to use
up leftover cabbage. Just as an FYI the original Recipe can be found here.

Braised Cabbage

1
head of red cabbage, shredded

2 tbsp
of butter

½ cup
of white wine vinegar

¼ cup
of water

2 tbsp
of brown sugar

Preheat
the oven to 350 degrees. In a large oven proof pan melt butter and sauté
cabbage with vinegar, water, and brown sugar for 2 to 3 minutes until it begins
to wilt. Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes, stirring at least once. Serve

warm.

As for the Apple Sauce I just made my own recipe of apple
sauce, clean and delicious. I usually do it in big batches to have throughout
the fall season, so I make it in the crock pot for ease.

Clean Crock Pot Apple Sauce

10 medium apples, peeled & copped

½ cup water

2 tsp cinnamon

1 pinch nutmeg (optional)


Toss all ingredients into a crock pot and cook on high for 4
hours, stirring occasionally. Serves warm or cold.

That other delicious thing I added to this meal, that’s a
German Style Potato Salad that I made simply because I was craving it. It totally
deserves its own post, so you will have to wait another day or two for that
one.

Scalloped Potatoes & Oscars Smokehouse

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Scalloped-potatoes
Somehow in all my years of cooking and baking I never happened to make scalloped potatoes. How is that possible? Scalloped potatoes are like the mac and cheese of the potato world. How could I of all people not have ever made this? Well I have now, so all is right in the world.

Scalloped potatoes are full of bubbly, cheesy goodness that is not by any means on anyone’s healthy eating list. Maybe that’s why I have shied away from them in the past?   I made these last week because a woman at work suggested them along with the wonderful amazing smoked pork chops that I got from Oscars.

A moment if you will to discuss Oscars Aridondack Smokehouse. The wonderland of smokiness in the northeast; located in Warrensburg, NY. The only place I have found an Irish style banger (THANK THE HEAVENS!), a good chorizo, smoked mozzarella, and all natural deli meat all in the same damn place! And it’s CHEAP! CanigetanAMEN! It’s my new favorite place.I had eaten their food before, since they service a few local places but now that I know where it is you can bet your bottom dollar I will be making a trip a couple times a year to stock up. I also hear that their rubs, and dips are to die for, perhaps the next trip I’ll be able to tell you for sure.

I digress.

Scalloped-potatoes

These scalloped potatoes were devilishly delicious. I used my trusty Betty Crocker cook book as a guide and the only change I made was adding slightly more cheese because if you’re going to be bad you may as well be very bad.

 

Classic Scalloped Potatoes
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6 Servings
Ingredients
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 1/4 cup chopped onion
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 1 ½ cups milk
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • 4 cups potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
  • 1 ½ cup grated cheddar cheese
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a small sauce pan melt the butter and saute the onion until it just begins to become translucent.
  3. Blend in the flour and allow it to cook for a minute before whisking in the milk and seasonings.Cook on low until the mixture is smooth, stirring occasionally.
  4. Add 1 cup of the cheese, mixing well and removing from heat.
  5. Place a layer of potatoes in the bottom of a lightly greased baking pan. Pour half the cheese sauce and then add another layer of potatoes. Cover the entire dish with the remaining cheese sauce, and leftover cheese.
  6. Place it in the oven and bake for 45 minutes to an hour and serve warm.
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