Spaghetti Squash Experiment

My friend Jen has talked about spaghetti squash on several occasions, but I hadn't gotten around to trying it myself. In fact, I was at the grocery store two weeks ago, picked up a spaghetti squash, ground turkey and marinara sauce and even had Rich convinced it would be a good idea for dinner. Too bad when I googled spaghetti squash to find out how to cook it I realized I had a butternut squash. Whoops!!

This weekend I rectified my error and picked up an actual spaghetti squash. Plus, I had a dinner planned with just me and my "sister-in-law candidate." Perfect opportunity!

So I am going to be honest here. I was not so sure about this dinner. When I was younger I was not a squash fan. And I like pasta. Real pasta. So, just in case it was terrible we had a backup plan: eat at our local hang out.

With our backup plan established, we started cooking. I preheated the oven to 400* F, halved the spaghetti squash (this takes some muscle... and a large knife) and placed the halves cut-side down a baking dish. Once the oven was preheated, I put the baking dish in the oven for 30 minutes.

During that time, we chatted, sipped wine and Dominika played with our pup.

{He was grateful for such a fun playmate!}

Soon enough it was time to start the marinara sauce. To a hot pan we added olive oil, followed by half a diced onion and two cloves of minced garlic. Once the garlic was fragrant and onions softened, we added 20 oz. ground turkey. We (okay, Dominika did this part) broke the turkey into small pieces and allowed it to brown over medium heat.

{Dominika working on the marinara}

{Me posing like I'm working on the marinara}

After the turkey was fully cooked we added a jar of prepared marinara sauce and stirred the mixture. We also added fresh sage, dried basil, thyme, red pepper flakes and rosemary + more garlic. Oh, and we added chicken stock too... because I wanted a saucier-sauce.

When the timer went off, I removed the spaghetti squash from the oven. I ran a fork along the squash and sure enough... it separated into strands similar to spaghetti.

{post-oven}

We also made garlic bread and a salad to go with our meal. Voila, time to start plating.

{See?! Looks like spaghetti}

{Dominika readied her plate}

{Our lovely meal... oh, and Malin under the table looking for scratches}

All in all, it was good. Eaten my itself, the spaghetti squash tastes like squash. But with the marinara? It definitely had spaghetti tendencies; the texture was similar to el dente spaghetti noodles. With lots of sauce it was not bad, not bad at all.

Thanks for participating in my experiment, Dominika! It turned out well... guess we didn't need that backup plan after all.

Craft #9: Canning

Yup... another food craft but again, something I've never done "on my own" before, so I'm counting it. [And when I say, "on my own," I really mean that my mom was there to show me the process.]

Each year my mom plants a bunch of tomato plants in her garden and each year she ends up with quite the bounty. Rich and I asked if we could get in on some of that action and my mom did not disappoint. For a large part of August and September we have had a large dish filled with tomatoes on our counter top [see craft #7 photo of finished loaf]. Rich and I couldn't eat them fast enough and didn't want to miss out on their amazing flavor, so I asked my mom if she would help teach me how to can.

My mom has been canning as long as I can remember. When I was super young I only remember her canning pickled beets. Then when I was in high school she started making her own salsa which lead to pickles, green beans and banana peppers. She doesn't can as much any more, but still probably ends up canning something once a year.

September's Cooking Light issue had a blurb about how to make the end-of-summer tomato goodness last into fall. Following their suggestions, we made a tomato sauce that we will be able to use as a base in soups, pair with pasta or eaten on it's own as a soup later this year.

Cooking Light: Blanch tomatoes for 30 seconds in boiling water; peel, seed and chop once cooled. Then simmer slowly with basil and sauteed onions and garlic for a sauce that can be bagged and frozen.

Our version of End-of-summer tomato sauce:
2 yellow onions, diced and sauteed
1.5 heads of garlic, minced (what I had on hand)
1.5 packed cups of basil, chiffonade (approximation, I didn't measure)
5 lbs. garden fresh tomatoes (another approximation)
salt + pepper, to taste

In a large stock pot, bring water to a boil. Place tomatoes in water, after 1-2 minutes remove tomatoes using a slotted spoon and place in an ice bath. Once cool, remove tomatoes from ice bath, peel, slice in half, gently squeeze out seeds and place in a large bowl. [repeat this process until all tomatoes have been peeled, sliced and squeezed]

Dice onion and saute over medium heat with 2 T. olive oil until softened. Mince garlic and add to onions, saute until garlic is softened. Add tomatoes allow mixture to warm, then add basil followed by salt and pepper to taste. Allow sauce to thicken over medium-low heat (if mixture begins to boil, reduce temperature), approximately 10-15 minutes. We tasted again at this point to make sure the sauce was fully seasoned and then started the canning process.

To can: start with sterilized jars. We let them run the jars and rings in the dishwasher first, not the lids. Once ready to start canning, bring a small sauce pot of water to boil and add lids. Ladle sauce into jars. [Be sure to keep the mouth free of sauce. If you get sauce on the mouth, just wipe with a wet rag.] Once jar is filled, use tongs to remove a lid from the boiling water. Place lid directly on top of jar. Using a rag, hold the lid in place while ring is screwed on. Place jars together and place a towel over them to retain warmth. In a few hours you should hear the jars *pop* indicating they have sealed.

In all we ended up with 7 quarts of sauce and... it was really, really easy!!! I wonder what else I can can! :)

{my mom squeezing the seeds out of the tomatoes}

{tomatoes, post-squeeze}

{sauce, pre-thickening}

{ladling sauce into jars And yes, I really am that red; I got sunburned at yesterday's Gopher game.}

{putting on the lid}

{My first canned good!}

{the loot - they all sealed!!}

Polish Cabbage Rolls (Golabki)

Last Friday our neighbors gifted us with a bunch of fresh produce. We received 3 zucchinis (one of which was probably 5 lbs and turned into 4 loaves of zucchini bread + a batch of zucchini cupcakes), 2 cucumbers and a red cabbage the size of my head. Okay, it's bigger than my head...

I've been trying to figure out what to make with this. I have never once bought cabbage, green or red, and outside of coleslaw I had no idea what to make. Thankfully for my recent trip to the Polish Festival, I knew that cabbage could be used to make cabbage rolls (Golabki).

I found a few recipes on line and ended up combining them to create my own version.

Polish Cabbage Rolls
{Sources: recipezaar.com and globalgourmet.com}

16 cabbage leaves
1 lb Ground Beef, 93% Lean
1 lb Ground Turkey, 93% Lean
3 c. brown rice (cooked)
1 T. olive oil
1 white onion
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
2 garlic cloves
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. dried basil
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1/2 t. red pepper flakes
2 T. caraway seeds

16 oz tomato sauce
2 T. fat free Greek yogurt
1 T. brown sugar

Cut 16 leaves off of the cabbage head, place in boiling water until leaves are limp (2-3 minutes). Remove from water and set aside.

{Cooked leaves are on the left. The remaining cabbage will be used for a different meal this week...}

Sauté the onions, garlic, carrots and celery in the olive oil until vegetables are soft. In a bowl add the sautéed veggies, meat, rice, basil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and caraway seeds, mix this well. Preheat oven to 350°F.
Place about 2-4 Tbsp. of the meat mixture in the center of a cabbage leaf (depending on size of leaf); tuck in sides and roll to cover meat. {I rolled my leftover filling into meatballs and cooked them along with the cabbage rolls.} Place cabbage rolls, seam down, in a 9x13 baking dish.

Mix tomato sauce with the sugar and Greek yogurt; pour over rolls.
Cover and bake for 45-60 minutes.

{At the tail end of baking, I removed the cover (risked tomato sauce splashes in the oven) and turned on the boiler to get some additional color}

This meal had veggies, protein and carbohydrates, so I didn't serve it with anything else. As I plated Rich's serving the cabbage roll flipped, splashing sauce all over the plate. So aesthetics weren't that great, but I thought it was funny and I asked Rich to take a picture of it.
My plate worked out a little bit better...
All in all, these were delicious! Rich really seemed to like them, which is always considered a success. Apparently growing up he would get cabbage rolls at family events and large gatherings. So I was happy this meal brought back a touch of nostalgia, even if I used red instead of green cabbage.

Oh - the leftovers were even better! We will definitely be making these again!!

Eggplant Chips

Last week at our Farmer's Market I bought some eggplants. I want to make grilled eggplant Parmesan. Well -- I haven't done that yet, so I found another use for one of the three I bought: eggplant chips.

I found a recipe on a blog I've been following for a while now, Beantown Baker. Unfortunately my version was not very tasty, but that had to do with the very stale bread crumbs I used, not the recipe. I will likely make these again, but make a few more changes {still no dressing, omit bread crumbs, just top with salt, pepper and garlic}.

Here's the recipe (with my modifications) -

Eggplant Chips
(Source: Beantown Baker)
Ingredients
1 regular sized eggplant (2 medium zucchini or 2 baby eggplants)
1 Tbsp Kraft Free Italian Salad Dressing {omitted, I didn't have any on hand}
1/8 cup seasoned bread crumbs {I used super STALE, plain bread crumbs and added garlic powder, Greek seasoning, salt and pepper}
1/2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese {omitted, I didn't have any grated Parmesan on hand}

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice eggplant (zucchini) into 1/4" slices. Toss in bowl with Italian dressing. Mix breadcrumbs and cheese in a bowl and dredge coated zucchini slices through bread crumb mixture. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray {I just lined the sheet with parchment paper} and lay eggplant (zucchini) flat. Bake for 20 minutes, flipping chips once halfway through. After 20 minutes, remove baking sheet from oven and turn broiler on high. Broil on each side for 2-3 minutes. {Okay - that last part? The part about broiling. Well, I honestly didn't read that part before now. Instead, I baked my chips for ~30 minutes until browned} Serve with a side of marinara sauce for dipping.

Yields 2 servings.

{finished product}

Green Bean Salad

From my farmer's market purchases, I created a fresh green bean salad for a fun summer side dish. I honestly just mixed up some stuff, so I don't have an exact recipe, only approximations.
Green Bean Salad
(Source: me!)
Ingredients
1.5 c Green beans (ends trimmed and cut into 1.5" pieces)
1.5 c. Yellow wax beans (ends trimmed and cut into 1.5" pieces)
1/2 pint of grape tomatoes, halved
2 T. prepared pesto
2 T. Apple cider vinegar
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Blanch the beans by plunging them into a pot of simmering salted water for 4-5 minutes, until tender. Drain and spread out to cool (or place in an ice bath to stop the cooking process). {to be honest, I didn't do this. I forgot. After the salad was made, I ended up microwaving the salad for 1 minute to help cook the beans -- they need to be cooked for a little bit}

Put the beans in a large bowl, add grape tomatoes, pesto, vinegar and salt and pepper. Mix to coat. Serve. Eat. {I stored my leftovers in the fridge where it will keep for several days}

Roasted Vegetables

Monday night I decided to finally use the Harvest Vegetables I bought from Trader Joe's. In addition to the peeled and pre-cut portions of acorn squash, parsnips and sweet potato, I added a few whole garlic cloves, brussel sprouts, fresh thyme and rosemary. I tossed the mixture in 1 tsp of olive oil, added a bit of salt and pepper, then layered the veggies on a parchment paper lined cookie tray. I roasted the veggies at 400º F for ~40 minutes, flipping them halfway through the cooking time. Once out of the oven - add additional salt and pepper, as needed.

I don't remember what our protein was for this meal - but I do remember the veggies were scrumptious. It does take a while for these to cook, so you may want to plan ahead, or eat a small pre-dinner snack. *BTW - the addition of the parchment paper was immensely helpful to ensure the carmelized-veggie-goodness stayed on the veggie, not the cookie sheet.