Category: Recipes

Stuffed Roasted Butternut Squash

It’s been almost a week since my last post, and I just couldn’t push off blogging any longer. I know a week doesn’t sound like much, but I know myself. If I go for a week, I’ll go for two, maybe three, and before you know it, It’ll be a month without blogging.

And I have reasons too. For one, I’ve been working on Purim recipes. More importantly, my internet connection has been out of whack lately. I’ll be just in the middle of pinning an amazing recipe onto my drooling board on Pinterest when my internet goes down on me. Up and down, and up and down. And you know what the embarrassing part it is? My husband is a computer technician. But you know how it goes. The shoemakers kids and their shoes. That’s me.

So now that I’ve braved my unreliable connection (my cable has gone down about 10 times since I started working on this post), let’s get to why you’re really all here. The food.

This is one of those recipes that I dreamed up one night…literally. Does anyone else develop recipes in their sleep, or am I the only crazy one? The worst part is, I usually forget them once I wake up, but this time, it stuck with me. Maybe that’s because it’s not that complicated, and there aren’t that many ingredients.  Jack’s Gourmet sweet Italian sausages are so full of flavor, you just don’t need to add much for the recipe to sing.

OK people, I’m gonna be honest here. We’re talking full disclosure. I haven’t blogged because I’m too busy on Pinterest. I’m obsessed. If you haven’t checked it out yet, go to http://www.pinterest.com/busyinbrooklyn and follow me!

 

Stuffed Roasted Butternut Squash

2 small butternut squashes
2 Jacks Gourmet sweet italian sausages, finely diced
2 apples, cored and thinly sliced
2 tbsp pure maple syrup
3 tbsp brown sugar
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Place butternut squashes on a baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees until it pierces easily with a fork, about 1 hour. Saute the sausage for a few minutes until it has browned and rendered some of its fat. Remove the sausage from the pan, but leave the drippings. Add the apples and saute until softened. Add maple syrup and continue to saute until golden and caramelized. Return the sausage to the pan and mix into the apples.

When the squash is ready, leave it to cool for several minutes. Cut it in half, lengthwise, and remove the pits. Scoop out most of the flesh, leaving about 1/2″ of squash all around. Add squash pulp, brown sugar, salt and pepper to the pan and mix to combine (dont overstir the squash, you want it to be lumpy). Lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Return the squash to the oven and bake, uncovered, until browned around the edges, about 15 minutes.

1 year ago: organic oven baked sweet potatoes

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Pumpkin Banana Bread

I’m officially done with my baby food stash. I had 3 jars of bananas left, and although they are my son’s favorite, he has long since graduated to the real thing. I’m not one to throw anything away, so I concocted this delicious recipe for pumpkin banana bread. It’s the first time I’ve experimented with baking, and I’m so proud of how it turned out.

When it comes to breads, cakes and cookies, I always have to follow a recipe, with only minor adjustments. I’m sure there is some kind of science behind baking that teaches you the proper flour:sugar:egg ratio, but I’ve never learned it. As much as baking is not my “thing”, finding a use for leftover ingredients, is. So I set my lack of baking skills aside and just went for it. I’m thinking I should probably do it more often. The results were outstanding!

 

Pumpkin Banana Bread

4 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup LIBBYS® 100% Pure Pumpkin
3 large eggs
1/3 cup milk
1 cup granulated sugar
3 6 oz. jars of banana puree or 2 cups mashed bananas
3/4 cup melted butter or oil

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients, including flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In a second bowl, combine the wet ingredients, including pumpkin, eggs, milk, sugar, bananas and butter. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until incorporated. Pour batter into medium-sized loaf pans and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

1 year ago: quick & easy chocolate rugelach

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My Ultimate Guilt-Free Breakfast

Most of the time, I’m lucky if I can down a yogurt before heading out in the morning. There are no pots and pans on the agenda. But every once in a while, I like to sit down to a plated breakfast. On Sundays, I usually make a double portion of pancakes for the kiddies and freeze half. For my husband and I, I whip together a quick pan of shakshuka. If it’s just me, and I’ve got the time, I’ll throw together this delicious and nutritious dish. I toast an Ezekiel english muffin, so that it’s good and crunchy. Then, I mash some buttery avocado with lemon and salt, and finally, I poach a humble egg to perfection to top it all off. You’ve never tasted something so simple, yet satisfying.

There’s nothing better than a silky egg yolk on crusty bread. Follow my step by step instructions for the perfect poached eggs, here. It may take a little practice, but luckily, eggs and water are quite cheap these days :) The results are more than worth it!

1 year ago: low carb portobello pizza

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Tu B’shvat Truffles

This Wednesday, Jews around the world will celebrate Tu B’shvat, the New Year for the trees. Traditionally, we celebrate by eating fruit and nuts that are native to the land of Israel (grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates). Growing up, they’d always give out carob in school, which they called buxer (yiddish for carob). They were long black pods that were difficult to chew. If you made the effort, you’d be rewarded with a sweet taste. Most of the girls would just throw them away, but I’d always chew away at them. Nowadays, you can find many carob products on the market including coffee, chocolate, cookies and butters.

When I thought about what to make for Tu B’shvat, I wanted to use dates and figs, but also incorporate the chocolate flavor of carob. I decided to throw together some dried fruit truffles, or sugarplums. Sugarplums are balls that are made up of dried fruits, nuts and spices. Think of them as a kind of Larabar in the round!

You can make my traditional Tu B’shvat recipe, or come up with your own combination. To make sugarplums, you’ll need:

Dried fruit (dates, figs, apricots, prunes, raisins,craisins, cherries, apples)
Nuts (pecans, pistachios, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts)
Seeds, optional (sunflower, pepitas, anise, fennel, caraway)
Spices (cinnamon,  cardamom, nutmeg, mace, cloves, allspice, sea salt, cocoa, orange zest)
Sweetener, used to bind the mixture (honey, agave, maple syrup)
Butters, optional (almond, peanut, carob)
Extracts, optional (almond, vanilla, rum)
Alcohol, optional (rum, orange liquor, chocolate liquor)
Toppings (powdered sugar, turbinado sugar, coconut, cocoa, nuts, chocolate, sesame seeds)

For a healthy boost, add  some oats or flax seeds.

 

Tu B’shvat Truffles

1 cup pitted medjool dates (about 10)
1 cup dried figs (I used 5 calimyrna and 10 mission)
1 cup almonds, pecans or walnuts
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp carob powder*
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup turbinado sugar or ground coconut

Method:

Toast nuts in a 350 degree oven until fragrant. Remove pits from dates and add to food processor along with figs and nuts. Process until finely chopped. Add honey, carob powder, cinnamon and sea salt and pulse several times until the mixture begins to clump together and pull away from the sides of the bowl. If it is difficult to mix, add to a bowl and incorporate the spices by hand. Roll into bite size balls and dip into turbinado sugar (or ground coconut). Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to one month.

*carob powder is available at health food stores. If you cannot find it, you can use cocoa powder instead.


1 year ago: Mustard Roasted Dried Fruits

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Salad Bar + Quick & Easy Dressings

I can’t tell you how many people I meet who tell me that they just can’t figure out what kind of salad to put together at a salad bar. They usually end up going with classic caeser or greek salad. I, on the other hand, love experimenting with different ingredients and coming up with all sorts of flavor combinations. Otherwise, I’ll just get bored and dread my salad-eating :)

My all time favorite make-you-own-salad-bar combo would have to be:

crisp rommaine
red cabbage
shredded carrots
beets
craisins
red onions
scoop of tuna

For the dressing, I opt for caeser or honey mustard. To make your own at home, follow my easy recipes below.

I thought it might be fun to see what unique salad combinations you all come up with at a salad bar. To get you in the sharing mood, I’m giving away the book of 500 Sensational Salads by Julia Canning. To enter this giveaway, let me know your favorite make-you-own-salad-bar combination in the comments below. I will choose the most original submission on February 15, 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honey Mustard Salad Dressing:

1 cup mayo
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup mustard
1 clove minced garlic

Pareve Caeser Salad Dressing:

1 cup mayo
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1 clove minced garlic

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