Veggie Stuffed Squash

Veggie Stuffed Squash

1 medium butternut squash or large acorn squash

3 T veggie oil, preferably olive, divided

1/3 c dried unsweetened blueberries, cranberries or cherries

1/4 c raisins     1 medium onion, chopped      2 cloves garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, chopped     2 T fresh sage, chopped or 2 tsp dried

1/2 – 3/4 cup veggie broth or water

2 soy sausage patties, thawed and crumbled     2 T pecans, chopped

1-1/2 c cooked cornbread, cooled and crumbled

2 T chopped fresh flat-leafed parsley

salt, pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400°. Cut squash in half, discard seeds. Brush cut sides with 1 T oil. Place cut sides down on nonstick baking sheet. Bake 30-35 minutes. Turn squash cut sides up,

Place dried berries in cup or small bowl. Pour hot water to cover berries, soak 10 minutes then discard water.

Over medium heat in medium-sized skillet, heat remaining 2 T oil. Saute onion, garlic, celery, and sage till tender crisp, about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and heat through. Pack stuffing mixture in squash halves.  Spoon extra stuffing in oiled baking dish, place on baking dish beside squash. Bake 10 minutes. Generously serves 2-3

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What to do with end-of-summer garden surplus: Braised Pepper Salad

I’ve made this off and on for many years. You can be very flexible with ingredient quantities.

Braised Pepper Salad

2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced      1/4 c salad oil [any  veggie oil]

4 medium green peppers, seeded and cut into 1/4″ strips

4 medium red peppers, seeded and cut into 1/4″ strips

3 medium onions peeled and cut into thin wedges

1/2 tsp oregano leaves      1- 1/2 T vinegar  

salt      pepper            1 cucumber, sliced [peel if desired]

4 medium tomatoes, cut into wedges

In a large skillet, brown garlic in oil, then discard.  Add peppers and all ingredients except tomatoes and cucumber. Cook until tender-crisp about 15 minutes. Stir in tomato wedges and cucumber slices. Cover and refrigerate till well chilled – at least 2 hours. Garnish with oregano leaves. Serves 8-10.

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No recipe Penne Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes recipe

I have bunches of recipes for roasted tomatoes and they blur together. I love to roast them in summer when with fresh tomatoes from our back yard and just toss with pasta and whatever I have in the fridge. Remember that the amounts are negotiable and the ingredients depend on your fridge and panty. BTW I often add artichoke hearts but didn’t have any in the house.

Penne Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes

Roasted Tomatoes instructions: Preheat oven to 350°. Line a jelly roll sheet or baking sheet with foil. Slice 5 tomatoes about 1/2″ thick or halve 12 Roma tomatoes. I don’t peel or seed them. Layer tomatoes on foil. Tomatoes can touch but only use one layer. Mince or thinly slice 4 large garlic cloves drop a slice/piece on each tomato piece. Drizzle tomatoes with 2 T olive oil and sprinkle with 1 tsp coarse/Kosher salt and 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper. Bake 60-90 minutes until shriveled but not dry. They will be soft and a little runny. I like it fine if some tomatoes char around the edges. Set aside.

Saute 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced; when partially translucent add  1 minced garlic clove and cook for a few minutes, do not brown.

Cook al dente and drain penne pasta for 6 servings. Toss roasted tomatoes, 1/2 cup sliced or whole black olives, the onions/garlic, 1/2 cup grated good Parmesan, and 1/2 c torn fresh basil leaves.   Serves 6

I once watched Alton Brown open a can of black ripe olives and toss it in the garbage, saying they weren’t worth eating. Alton is a great cook and all but he is very opinionated and I disagree with him on ripe olives. I love Kalamata and the rest but roasted tomatoes have a lovely distinct flavor, especially when baked with garlic and olive oil. I think the more subtle flavor and texture of ripe black olives work better here than the more flavorful olives.

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Green Beans with Mustard & Almonds

A friend gave me this recipe a few years back. It’s very tasty and simple.

Green Beans with Mustard & Almonds

4 T butter or combination of butter and olive oil

1/2 c thinly sliced onions or 1 cup pearl onions

1 lb fresh French-cut green beans

salt    pepper     3/4 c milk     2 T Dijon mustard

2 T flour     1/4 cup slivered almonds

Roast almonds in dry skillet, about 15 minutes over low-medium heat till light golden color; be careful not to burn. Stir occasionally. Remove from skillet and set aside.While almonds are toasting, melt 1 T  butter over medium heat in saucepan till bubbly but not brown. Saute onions till just translucent, remove onions from pan and set aside. Melt 1 T butter/oil in the saucepan and add green beans; cover and cook till tender-crisp, about 10 minutes. Add a little water if needed to keep from sticking to pan. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

Melt 2 T butter in the skillet. Meanwhile, mix the milk & mustard together; warm the mixture  in the microwave or in a small pan on top of the stove. Do not boil or brown, you simply want to remove the chill from the milk.

Stir the flour into the melted butter in skillet with a whisk, stirring constantly. When well-blended, pour the warm milk/mustard mixture into the flour, whisking constantly till thick. This should just take a couple of minutes; the sauce will be thick.

Combine onions, beans, and almonds. Top with sauce and gently mix. Serves 4.

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3-Course Diabetic meal, con’t

Course 2: Mixed greens with Gazpacho Sauce [I’ve had this sauce recipe nearly 40 years]

Gazpacho Sauce

3/4 c tomato juice     1 T EVOO     1 T white wine vinegar

1/2 slice soft ww bread     1/4 tsp salt dash pepper

1 garlic clove     1 med tomato, halved   1 T chopped parsley

1/2 c finely chopped celery     2 T diced onion

1/2 c finely chopped green pepper

In blender or food processor, combine juice, oil, vinegar, bread, salt, pepper, garlic and half the tomato. Cover, blend till desired coarseness. Finely chop remaining tomato half; add to juice mixture; add celery, green pepper, onion and parsley. Do not blend these. Transfer to serving bowl; cover and chill. Garnish with sliced onions or parsley. Makes 2 cups.

Uses:

1] Arrange a platter of cold cuts around the sauce; serve with additional sauce on side

2] Salad dressing

So I used this as a healthy and delicious salad dressing, wonderful for summer

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3-Course Diabetic meal

Course 1: Spaghetti with Veggie Meatballs and Roasted Vegetables

I’m still trying to add some fish/meat protein to my diet but here I used low-glycemic spaghetti, store-bought marinara, [Morningstar] Veggie Meatballs, and a mix of vegetables from my own garden and from Not-Sissy 2. There’s not much involved with roasting veggies: throw them in a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil, cover with foil and bake at a pretty high oven temp. I don’t like mine soft, I like quite a bit of crunch. Here’s what I did today, but the veggies usually depend on What I Have On Hand In-Season.

Roasted Vegetables

4 tomatoes     1 medium eggplant     4 small zucchini    

1 red onion     1 c small broccoli florets     1 c mushrooms

4 T olive oil     2-3 garlic cloves, sliced     coarse salt     pepper

combo of fresh or dried herbs, esp basil, thyme, and parsley

Preheat oven to 400°. Cut tomatoes, eggplant and zucchini into 1/4-inch slices. Cut onion into slices or thin wedges. Sprinkle 2 T olive oil over bottom of 13×9″ baking dish. Layer half the veggies, and sprinkle with half the herbs and seasoning. Repeat additional layer on top. Cover with foil and bake 10 minutes. Uncover and baste with juices in pan. Replace foil and cook 10 minutes longer. Remove foil and cook 10 minutes more.

Note: If you’re not sure of herbs, try 1/2 c fresh [or 1 T dried] basil; 2 T fresh [2 tsp dried] thyme; 1/4 cup fresh parsley [don’t think I’d bother with dried parsley here]. Remember, all the veggies are variable and so are the amounts and how you cut the veggies.

Cook the meatballs – takes 15-20 minutes. Cook spaghetti and drain; warm marinara sauce. Mix spaghetti, marinara, meatballs, roasted veggies, and top with freshly grated Parmesan. It’ll look something like this:

 

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Spanish Potatoes

These taste best in the summer with fresh veggies, but they still make a nice side dish in the winter.  This isn’t a knock-your-socks-off dish but it’s very tasty and excellent if you have a quiet main dish such as fish.  Old recipe in a 1982 Bestways magazine, which I believe no longer exists. They had a lot of good healthy recipes back then.

Spanish Potatoes

2 c unpeeled potatoes, sliced 1/4″         1 T butter 

1/4 c chopped celery            1/4 c minced onion

1 large [or 2 medium] clove garlic, minced

1/4 c chopped green pepper       salt, pepper to taste

2T chopped parsley          basil to taste

3 tomatoes, halved, seeded, drained then chopped 

Cook potatoes until firm-tender. While they’re cooking, heat butter in medium skillet and saute the onion, garlic, celery & green pepper until slightly soft. Add parsley, basil, salt & pepper. Add chopped tomatoes and cook a few minutes more. When potatoes are done, layer into a casserole dish & pour the tomato-vegetable mixture over them. You may need to add a small amount of potato liquid in pan to keep the casserole from sticking, although typically the juice from the tomatoes cooking is enough for me. Bake uncovered in 350 oven for 30 minutes.

What I did:  Sometimes I use canned tomatoes when you just can’t find good tomatoes, and I often use my frozen chopped green peppers in off-season. I usually use fresh basil but dried works fine. Although the recipe calls for 30 minutes baking, I usually only bake  15-20 minutes  because I don’t like mushy cooked veggies.

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Is There a More Perfect Flower Than..

one which volunteers to please you? I tossed out a few decorative gourds after last Thanksgiving, and an enormous wild vine popped up this summer.  These volunteers tend to come up late in the season because they’re not planted under optimal conditions, but I’ll get some small gourds before a hard frost kills the plant.

 

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Still Time for Gardening

The fall pollen and leaves play havoc with my allergies, and I no longer spend much autumn time in our garden. I still like a late crop of cool-weather vegetables, though, and this is easily accomplished with pots on your open deck or porch.  The pot above displays Burpee Sweet Salad Mix Mesclun. The picture was taken about 10 days ago, and the little plants have quadrupled in size since. I also planted Ferry-Morse Nantes Coreless Carrot and Burpee Pink Beauty Radish.  It only takes 35 days for the lettuce to mature from seed, 70 days for the carrots, and 23 for the radishes.  This is when I like to use up seed packets leftover from last year, and freebie packets that come in magazines or whatever.  I seed the whole packet, and even if only 10% come up, I still come out ahead.  Looks as though 100% of the seeds in the picture came up, leaving me the thankless task of weeding out a bunch.  Anyone have an empty pot that needs baby plants?

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Is There a More Perfect Flower Than

one which doesn’t have a chance to mature?  This Gretel Eggplant will never bear fruit, what with the shorter days and coming frost that will kill the tender eggplant, but it still makes a pretty flower. Plants don’t commit suicide, they work as hard as they can to live and produce, no matter what the handicap. There’s a lesson in there somewhere, surely.

I was disappointed in this Gretel – shhh don’t tell the flower – because it didn’t produce very well. It was planted in a pot alongside the Hansel Eggplant, which was a heavy bearer. I haven’t decided whether to give Gretel another chance next year or try a different variety.

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