Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash, peeled

Nutmeg

2 T. unsalted butter

Salt & pepper

1 onion, chopped

6 c. chicken stock/broth

Directions:

Cut squash into 1-inch chunks. In large pot, melt butter. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add squash and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until squash is tender. Remove squash and onion chunks with slotted spoon and place in a blender and puree. Return blended mixture to pot. Stir and season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Serve.

Cinnamon Butternut Squash Muffins

One of my favorite things this time of year is butternut squash. I made two of my favorite recipes today. I am going to post both of them. Marc & Frances, Mom is bringing you some of these tomorrow. :)

Ingredients:

1 banana, mashed

1 cup cooked butternut squash

4 eggs

1/3 cup applesauce

1/3 cup white sugar

6 Tablespoon canola or vegetable oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour

Optional Topping:

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup brown sugar

Directions

1. In stand mixer or mixing bowl, mix banana, butternut squash, eggs, applesauce, sugar, and oil, until well blended.

2. In separate mixing bowl, combine salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, wheat flour and white flour.

3. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until batter forms.

4. Pour into greased baking cups or muffin tins, and sprinkle with brown sugar-cinnamon topping. Makes 24 regular size muffins, 48 mini muffins, or 12 regular muffins and 24 mini muffins.

5. Bake at 350. Regular size muffins for 16-18 minutes. Mini muffins for 13-15 minutes.

Super Summer Salad

This salad was my pot luck contribution at Alice & Claire's birthday party last Saturday. It seemed to be a hit, and I had a couple of people ask for the recipe. It's perfect this time of year with ingredients from the garden (or from the farmer's market)! I saw it in the American Profile magazine. I LOVE Caprese salad, and it sounded very similar, so I had to try it!

Ingredients

6 medium tomatoes (1 1/2 pounds), seeded and diced
1 English cucumber, seeded and diced (do not peel)

1 cup diced red onions

2 (7-ounce) fresh mozzarella balls, cut into ½ -inch cubes (I actually used the medallions, and cut them into fourths)

1 tablespoon minced garlic

½ cup chopped basil

½ cup chopped parsley

1 tablespoon dried Fines Herbes, or 2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves and ½ teaspoon dried tarragon leaves

1 cup Italian salad dressing

1/2 teaspoon salt

Coarsely ground black pepper

Instructions
1. Combine tomatoes, cucumber, onions, mozzarella, garlic, basil, parsley, Fines Herbes, and salad dressing in a large bowl; toss well.

2. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours, or until well chilled. Add salt and pepper before serving.

Serves 12.

Tips From The Test Kitchen: It’s important to seed the tomatoes and cucumber so they won’t water down the flavors of the other ingredients. To seed tomatoes easily, cut in half crosswise and remove the seeds. Squeeze the tomatoes over a bowl to release seeds and juices. To seed a cucumber, cut in half lengthwise and run the tip of a teaspoon down the center.

(I didn't completely seed the tomatoes and cucumber due to time constraints. I had to drain the salad due to all of the liquid settling at the bottom.)

Glazed Pear Shortcake

OK, so this isn't the healthiest recipe on this blog, but I just had to share. This was a recipe from my Danish friend in the ward when she taught a Danish Cooking Enrichment class. Between Marc and I this didn't last 2 days. She also told me this works well with peaches and I would imagine apples. If using fresh fruit, cook it ahead of time and skip the glazing. Also I prepared this in an 8" pie tin and served it from the pan. 'Tis the season for fruit, so enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 can (16 oz) sliced Bartlett pears in syrup

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

6 tsp butter

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp cinnamon

Preparation:

1. Grease and flour an 8" round cake pan.

2. Drain pears. Pat dry with paper towel. Reserve syrup.

3. Stir flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl until blended.

Cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal.

4. Pour the milk over flour mixture. Toss with a fork until just blended. Do not over mix.

5. Spoon batter into the prepared pan. Smooth top. Arrange pears over batter in circular pattern. Brush with some of the reserved syrup. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

6. Bake at 400 until wooden pick inserted comes out clear and top is golden brown, about 45 min.

7. Transfer to wire rack to cool 15 min. Brush with reserved syrup.

8. Invert cake onto plate. Remove pan. Return to upright position on wire rack. Cool until serving time.

9. Cue into wedges. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream.

Refried Beans without the Refry

Here's the original recipe I found on allrecipes.com:

INGREDIENTS
1 onion, peeled and halved
3 cups dry pinto beans, rinsed
1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons minced garlic
5 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin, optional
9 cups water

DIRECTIONS
Place the onion, rinsed beans, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin into a slow cooker. Pour in the water and stir to combine. Cook on High for 6-8 hours, adding more water as needed. Note: if more than 1 cup of water has evaporated during cooking, then the temperature is too high.
Once the beans have cooked, strain them, and reserve the liquid. Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding the reserved water as needed to attain desired consistency.

Changes I made: 1/2 t red pepper flakes instead of jalepano, 1/2 t cumin. Seth prefered them unmashed when I served them at dinner with rice, so I just processed them for lunch today to put them on a quesidilla. Yum!

This was very quick prep work, and the beans turned out so flavorful, much better than the can. (It makes about 6 or more cups of beans.)

Chicken and Black Bean Taquitos with Adobo Sour Cream

The adobo sauce is hot, so if you want something with less kick, greater convience, or a familiar flavor, use salsa instead. To make it a meal, you can serve with a side of beans and rice.

Ingredients

Taquitos:
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 pound diced skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 cup (4 ounces) preshredded reduced-fat 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese
1/2 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles, undrained
10 (8-inch) flour tortillas
Cooking spray

Adobo Sour Cream:
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 to 3 teaspoons minced chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce

Preparation

To prepare taquitos, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add chicken, and sauté 5 minutes or until done. Place chicken in a food processor. Add cheese, beans, and green chiles; pulse 15 times or until beans are coarsely chopped.

Spoon about 3 tablespoons chicken mixture across the lower third of each tortilla; roll up. Cut each tortilla in half; secure with wooden picks. Place taquitos in a large zip-top plastic bag; freeze up to 3 months.

Preheat oven to 400º.

Place frozen taquitos on a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes; turn taquitos, and coat with cooking spray. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until golden.

To bake the taquitos immediatly, bake at 400º for 10 minutes, turn, bake an additional 5 minutes.

To prepare adobo sour cream, combine sour cream, cilantro, and chipotle chile. Stir well.

Slow Cooked Pork Tacos

• Ingredients:

• 1 boneless pork sirloin roast (2 pounds), cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1-1/2 cups salsa verde
• 1 medium sweet red pepper, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped

• 1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• Dash hot pepper sauce
• 10 flour tortillas (8 inches), warmed
• Reduced-fat sour cream, thinly sliced green onions, cubed avocado, shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese and chopped tomato, optional

Directions:

In a 3-qt. slow cooker, combine the first 11 ingredients. Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or until meat is very tender. Shred pork with two forks. Place about 1/2 cup pork mixture down the center of each tortilla. Serve with toppings if desired. Yield: 10 tacos.