Calling all squash lovers

If you are a veggie lover, you MUST try this recipe. It's been a favorite around here for a long time! I promise your taste buds will be in heaven!

Acorn Squash with Spinach Stuffing

3 small acorn squash
1 cup chopped celery
1 small onion chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
11 oz bag fresh baby spinach
1/2 tsp salt divided
6 Tbsp seasoned bread crumbs
2 Tbsp chopped walnuts or pecans
butter

Cut squash in half and discard seeds. Place squash, cut side down, in an ungreased baking pan. Fill pan with water to a depth of 1/2 inch. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.


Meanwhile, in a skillet saute celery and onions in olive oil until tender. Add spinach and 1/4 tsp salt. Cook and stir until spinach is wilted. (I like to sprinkle some extra bread crumbs into the spinach too.) In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs, walnuts or pecans, and remaining salt.


Drain water from baking pan. Turn squash cut side up. Stuff with spinach mixture. Sprinkle crumb mixture over top. Place a nice slab of butter on top of each. Bake an additional 15 minutes or until squash is tender.

Delicious!!!!

You've gotta try this...

Tim was in his glory this past week. I started cooking again! This recipe is a new one for me and it was absolutely delicious!!! The combo worked great together. OK, so I'll toot my own horn - Tim said the meal was restaurant quality. Wow! So really, you have to try it!

Barley Vegetable Medley

1 cup dry barley
olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
16 oz. frozen corn
1/2 green pepper, chopped
2 carrots, shredded
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt & pepper to taste
1 large tomato, chopped

Cook barley according to package directions. Set aside. In a large skillet, coated with olive oil, saute onions until tender. Add the remaining ingredients except tomatoes. Saute until crisp tender. Add olive oil as needed. Stir in Barley and tomatoes and cook about 1 minute or until heated through.


Slow Cooked
Savory Barbecued Ribs

3 lbs boneless pork spare ribs
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp hickory smoked salt (I used regular salt)
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup cola
1 1/4 cups barbecue sauce
(I used Wegman's Memphis Style)

Spray inside of a 4 1/2 to 6 quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Mix brown sugar, salt and pepper; rub mixture into ribs. Place ribs in slow cooker and pour cola around the ribs. Cover and cook on high for 6 hours. Half-way through cooking, pour barbecue sauce over ribs.

What to eat Wednesday?

OK, So it's hard to come up with something catchy regarding food and Wednesday. And I'm too tired to think to much about it. Here goes a super yummy and very easy dish your whole family will enjoy. The flavor of the sauce is DEEE-LICIOUS as Samuel would say. This is a good one for kids who are picky about eating meat. The chicken is tender and cheesy. I don't know about your children, but cheese makes almost anything worth eating in my toddler son's opinion! Wish I had a photo for you, but we ate it all up before I remembered to bust out the camera!

CREAMY CHICKEN ALFREDO

1/4 cup all purpose flour
4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breast filleted in half
(make 'em nice and thin)
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp olive oil divided
2-3 gloves garlic minced
1 Tbsp minced onion
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (I usually use dried parsley flakes)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place flour in a shallow dish or pie plate. Sprinkle chicken with salt and then coat with flour. Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Cook chicken until golden brown on both sides (about 4 minutes per side). Remove chicken and place in a 13x9 baking dish.

Heat remaining 1 tsp olive oil in same skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and cook until onions are tender (about 2 minutes). Increase heat to medium-high, add heavy cream, Parmesan cheese and pepper. Cook until sauce is bubbly and slightly thickened. Pour sauce over chicken.

Bake chicken uncovered for 20-30 minutes
(until chicken is cooked all the way through).
Sprinkle parsley over chicken.

Serve over whole wheat angel hair or fettuccine.
I especially like making a side of fresh steamed spinach with this dish.

YUMMY!!!

Holiday Happiness!

This has been a fabulous week for being in the Christmas Spirit!

First stop was last Sunday at Grzenda's Christmas Tree Farm. This is a beautiful place to get a tree. We were a bit unprepared for the weather (mix of snow and rain and very windy) but thankfully we bumped into some friends and they gave us a wool blanket, a Carhartt jacket for Tim, and a bright orange hat. I didn't have a hat with me, so Tim gave me his black hat and he decided to sport the orange hat. He knew that was the proper fashion maneuver for his super sensitive pregnant wife. We hopped on the tractor and rode past a beautiful frozen lake, on to the field of trees. They were magnificent! Tim sawed down our tree while Samuel stood on the side lines holding his very large snowball.

I think our tree is the best one we've ever had! I was amazed at how perfectly shaped it is and how great it smells! We brought the tree home, stuck it in the stand and guess what else we did? FORGOT to water it for the rest of the day. Between Tim's usual absent-mindedness and my pregnancy induced spaciness. We both forgot to water the tree. I was so upset I could cry. We put water in before bed and checked it the next morning. It had barely absorbed any water and there was a ton of needles on the floor. Yikes! We had to save our tree. So Tim had to take it out of the stand and make a fresh cut the next day and it's doing fine now.

Samuel "helped" me decorate the tree by pulling the lights off as I was putting them on. Somehow we managed to get all the lights and ornaments on and Samuel is just loving the tree! Probably loving it too much as he is constantly rearranging the ornaments.

Don't go into shock. Yes, that is me in an apron. The second stop was baking at KT's house. For those of you who know me. I just don't bake. I love to cook meals but baking to me is tedious, controlled and way too precise. But I figured with KT's help I could enjoy the process.

We made Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls and Andrea's famous caramel corn. The boys played together and napped at the same time.

We enjoyed the silence and a cup of coffee or two!

I made a second batch of caramel corn at home and my little buddy found a new sweet treat that might have replaced lunch if I didn't intervene. Every few minutes a small hand would pop up and steel a few kernals of corn while it was cooling.

The end result was several lovely gifts all ready to ship out to friends and family. I delivered the cinnamon rolls locally to some of my favorite people. I then made these cute goodie bags filled with caramel corn, a Christmas movie and a few other treats to my family members who have children and live out of town. This was actually KT's idea, so I have to give her credit. All my packages are mailed out and I, for the first time in holiday history, will not be waiting on huge lines at the post office with just enough time to get gifts out for the holidays. I guess this week has given me a nice sense of accomplishment.

Taco Soup!!!

Well here it is...my first posted recipe! Even though its called taco soup, it's hearty and thick - a bit more like taco stew. This is an all-time favorite in my house and it's super easy to make. You just need a good can opener. Enjoy!

1 small onion chopped
1 lb ground beef or ground turkey
1 lb hot Italian sausage (pork or poultry) squeezed out of casing.
(You can probably use sweet sausage instead
but I've not tried it. I like it on the spicy side)
1 cup water
1 15.5oz can pinto beans
1 15.5oz can lima beans
1 15.5oz can dark red kidney beans
1 15.5oz can white or golden hominy
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes
1-2 small cans chopped green chilies
(you decide how hot)
1 pack ranch dressing mix
1 pack taco seasoning
(Simply Organics in Wegmans natural food section
has ranch and taco mix with no msg or preservatives.)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Shredded cheddar cheese
Tortilla chips

Rinse and drain all the beans. Brown the meat and onions in the bottom of a large pot. Add remaining ingredients except the cheddar and tortilla chips. Bring to a boil and let simmer at least 30 min. Serve with shredded cheddar and tortilla chips.