Stuffed Acorn Squash

This is a clean eating recipe, inspired by a recipe I read from a Clean Eating magazine.

I never was a squash fan before.  

But the sausage stuffing in this recipe makes the squash not only edible, but delicious.  

I was amazed that my whole family enjoyed it.  Plus, they look so pretty too!

This recipe will make enough to feed a large family or to freeze half of the stuffing for later!

2 acorn squash (for small family and freezing the rest of the stuffing, otherwise use 4 squash)
1 cup diced red onion
1 cup diced celery
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups whole wheat bread crumbs
4 roasted red peppers, drained and diced (found in a jar near the pickles/olive section)
6 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley
4 tsp dried oregano or Italian seasoning
1 lb mild Italian turkey sausage, removed from casing (that skin like stuff)
2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken stock
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Remove stem of squash.  Wash squash and cut in half from stem down.  Scrape and discard seeds.  On a microwavable plate, place squash face side down and microwave for 10 minutes.  Then flip them over (using hot pads) and cook another 5 minutes until tender when poked with a fork.

While squash is cooking, add approx 2 tbsp oil in a large skillet.  Add onion, celery, garlic, red peppers, and sausage to skillet.  Saute until vegetables are tender and sausage fully cooked.

Add remaining ingredients (bread crumbs, parsley, seasoning, and chicken stock) and cook until bread crumbs are fluffy and moist.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Stuff squash and serve!

Pizza in 30 minutes!

 

I got this quick and easy pizza dough recipe from my friend Evelyn. We now make this recipe on a weekly basis. The girls love to help put the toppings on and to roll the dough.

Who doesn't love pizza?

Oh yeah, Raelyn doesn't...or at least she didn't until we started making our own. Now she gobbles up 3 pieces!

1 1/3 c. warm water

1 T yeast

1 tsp. salt

2 T oil

3 c. flour

1 can 15 oz. pizza sauce (I use Contadina brand, found by the tomato sauce)

16 oz. grated mozzarella cheese

Toppings of your choice

Preheat your oven to 425 F.

Mix all the ingredients together and knead for 5-7 minutes. (I usually just mix it in my bread mixer, then take it out after 7 minutes of kneading.)

Divide the dough in half. Roll out one of the dough halves onto a floured surface and shape onto a pizza pan to fit or in my case, pizza stone. We have a round one and a large cookie sheet size one.

Cook pizza crust in oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and spread half of the pizza sauce over the crust. Spread evenly. Sprinkle cheese and then the toppings on top.

Return to oven to cook for another 11 minutes and it's done!!

Repeat the process for the 2nd pizza, using the remaining dough.

This is the adult favorite.

Pepperoni with green bell peppers and pineapple.

The kids' favorite.

Just cheese with Italian seasoning sprinkled on top.

Pizza Margherita

Actually, there's no alcohol content in this pizza! But the flavor will intoxicate you. And the crust, WOW! It tastes and feels like restaurant quality. The key is that you try to use the best ingredients you can find (and afford) since this recipe calls for only a few things to really bring out the flavor. Recipe by Williams Sonoma.

Crust

5 tsp active dry yeast

2 1/4 cups warm water (115F)

2 tsp sugar

1/4 cup oil

5 cups bread flour

1 tbsp sea salt

Topping

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup loosely packed fresh basil, finely shredded
6 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced

1 lb fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced 1/4" inch thick (the wet mozzarella that's sold as a chunk)

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Making the dough.

Dissolve yeast and warm water in large mixing bowl and let stand for 5 minutes, until slightly foamy. Add sugar, oil, salt and 4 cups of flour. Knead on low speed until soft smooth and elastic, adding the remaining cup of flour slowly as needed for the dough to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Prepare a large bowl, lightly greased with oil. Transfer dough into greased bowl and forming into a ball and rotating in the oil so the dough ball is round and smooth. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm area until double in size, about 1 hour.

For a more flavorful dough (and it's worth it), let rise as stated above, then punch down dough with palm of hand, recover with plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator in the morning so it's ready to work on a 4PM for dinner prep.

OR you can skip the refrigeration and just punch down dough (after the first rise, of course) with palm of hand and cut/divide dough in half. Lightly oil your counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Gently shape into loose balls and cover with plastic wrap for a short second rise of 10 min.

In your oven, move the rack to the lower third in your oven (in mine, it's the second to the bottom slot) place your baking stone on rack. Preheat oven with stone in, to 475 F degrees for 30 minutes.

Back to the dough. Lightly dust the dough with flour. Roll it out using a rolling pin and starting from the center, working out to the edges, until you have made a 12-14 inch round. If you have a baker's peel (a large spatula designed for lifting and transferring pizza dough) then you can skip the following step.

Lightly flour the top of an inverted half-sheet pan (turn your cookie sheet upside down basically). Transfer your spread out dough round to the floured sheet.

Add the toppings equally for each of the two pizzas in the following order: parmesan cheese, basil, tomatoes (make sure they're seeded & not too wet!). Add mozzarella slices, nestled around the tomatoes. Sprinkle with sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

Remove hot pizza stone from oven and transfer the dough with a baker's peel or the cookie sheet method onto the stone. You may need a second set of hands for that part.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, until crust is crisp and golden brown. Slice and Serve. Repeat process with second pizza. Enjoy!

Creamy Broccoli Soup

This is what The Sage Cafe is famous for. Well, as famous as you get in McMinnville, OR. I loved this comfort soup on a rainy or cold day, which was almost every day during the winter I worked there between college in 1999. It's heavenly and addicting.

Soup base:
7 cups water
1 1/2 tbsp Lawry's seasoned salt (No MSG)
1 onion, finely chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 cups green cabbage, chopped
4 cups broccoli, chopped
1+ cups carrots, peeled and chopped (or the pre-shredded kind in a bag if in a hurry)
1 cup light sour cream
2 cups grated cheddar, or monterey jack/cheddar blend cheese

Reux: (French name for thickening agent to make the soup thick)
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/a cups flour

Whisk together until all the little lumpies are gone.

Combine all but the sour cream and cheese soup base ingredients into a large pot and bring to a boil. Make sure there is enough water to cover 2" over the top of the vegetables, adding more water if needed. Cook on high heat, until vegetables are lightly done and tender. Turn heat to the lowest setting.

Making sure soup is on lowest setting, slowing mix in the Reux. S.L.O.W.L.Y. mix in the Reux, stirring soup constantly.

Add sour cream, stir until smooth. Add cheese and stir until melted. Remove from heat and serve with fresh bread. YUM!

Feeds a small crowd.

Mexican Lasagna

Recipe from Jen Bolton's Sonoran Chicken Recipe

(Dufur High School) from her "how to" speech in 11th grade

I've changed it a little...

1 can (10.5 oz each) Cream of Chicken, reduced fat
2 cans (15 oz each) Hormel Chili Turkey with beans
1 can (4 oz or larger) diced green chiles
¼ cup milk
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
10 Tortillas, burrito size

Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix all canned items and milk together in large bowl. Cut tortillas into 1 inch squares approx. Pour half the chili mixture into a 9x13 baking dish. Then layer half of the tortilla pieces onto the chili mixture, overlapping to cover completely. 

Pour remaining chili mixture into dish and cover with the rest of the tortillas. Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 20-30 minutes or until bubbly.

Yummy!*This is one of Trevor’s favorite dishes*
**Note - we use Hormel Turkey chili w/ beans because it isn’t as spicey for the kids. The original recipe also called for cooked shredded chicken added to the bean mixture, but that was just too much work for me. Now it's just so SIMPLE to make!

Spinach and Ham Strata

This smells so good while it's baking. We made it for dinner, using up leftover Christmas dinner ham the first time I made it. The sourdough bread is a must to make this recipe really stand out!

1 large loaf fresh sourdough bread, cut into 1" chunks

1 glug of oil (I use canola)

1 pkg (10oz) frozen spinach, thawed and drained very well

1/2 onion, finely chopped

1 red bell pepper, finely chopped

1+ cup ham, cut into small bite size pieces

7 eggs

2 1/2 cups milk

2 handfuls Italian mix shredded cheese (parmesan & mozarella mix)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 shakes of ground nutmeg

In a saute pan, add oil, red bell pepper and onion. Cook until just tender. Add spinach and ham and cook for about 3 minutes on med-high heat. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Then whisk in milk. Set aside.

In another very large bowl, combine bread chunks with the spinach/ham mixture with 1 handful of cheese. Spread mixture into a 9x13 baking dish.

Pour egg mixture evenly ontop of bread/spinach in pan. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

Bake at 350F degrees for 45-55 minutes or until set. YUMMY!

Wendy's Chili

This is a great chili recipe that I've been making for over 4 years. I found it off Top Secret Recipes, back when they would give away a free recipe of the week. It actually tastes better than the restaurants version too!

We love to serve it with fresh cornbread and top it off with cheese, of course! We find that the cornbread helps the chili not be as spicy for the girls, and we give them milk with their dinner to help cut out any remaining burn. It's slightly hotter than a mild chili recipe, but kids just don't have that high of a tolerance as adults do.

Wendy’s Chili

1 lb ground beef (I use ground turkey)
29 oz can tomato sauce
29 oz can kidney beans (with liquid)
29 oz can pinto beans (with liquid)
1 med. onion, diced
½ cup diced green chilies
2-3 stalks celery, diced
3 medium tomatoes, chopped (I peel them, but it isn’t necessary to do so unless you hate the skins or you can use 1 can diced tomatoes)
2 teaspoons cumin powder
1 tsp chili powder (or to desired spiciness)
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt
2-3 cups water (to desired thickness)

1. Brown the meat with the onion in a skillet. Using a colander, drain fat and rinse with water. (This will remove excess fat).

2. In a large pot (8 quart), combine meat and remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring every 15 minutes. If you are in a rush, then bring to a boil and simmer for about 1 hour.

*Leftovers can be frozen! Let cool first before freezing or storing in the fridge.

Mad for Meatloaf

Trevor will argue with anyone that doesn't think this is the best meatloaf recipe out there. Last week he kept closing his eyes with every bite saying,"Mmm" and "Oh Babe! This is SO GOOD!" And Raelyn ate more than me!

Meatloaf

2 cups Italian style breadcrumbs (may have to add up to 3 cups for desired consistency)
½ onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 lb. lean ground turkey
1 egg
¼ cup ketchup
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1-2 glugs Worcestershire sauce
1 cup salsa (mild or hot, depending how hot you can handle)
1 chopped red bell pepper (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat 9x13” pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, add all ingredients together and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Put into the prepared 9x13 baking dish. Smooth mixture down until evenly distributed.

Bake uncovered for 45-55 minutes, or until done.

Spinach and Ham Quiche

2 Frozen Pie Crusts OR Refridgerated pie crusts by Pillsbury (not the tube kind)
6 large eggs
1 pkg frozen chopped spinach*
8 oz. chopped Ham (or 6 slices cooked bacon, chopped)
1 ½ cup milk
1 tsp. Salt
¼ tsp. Pepper
Pinch of Nutmeg


Preheat oven 350 F. Unwrap spinach package. Thaw out spinach quickly by microwaving it on a plate for 2-3 minutes. Drain spinach into a strainer and really try to get as much liquid drained as possible.


In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Then whisk the milk into eggs. Place spinach into pie crusts by little fingerful amounts spread evenly inside crust (just however much you want). Add ham to each of the pie crusts. Pour equal amounts of egg mixture into pie crusts.


Bake the quiche until top is lightly browned and the filling is set when you give the dish a gentle shake, about 40-45 minutes.

Yield: (2) 9" Quiche
*Spinach is optional, but you can't really taste it in this dish.

**Even Brynlee, our egg hater, loves this dish!

Asian Lettuce Wraps

This recipe is from Jen's Blog (Trev's cousin), and she got it from here.

It is so good that I was "Mmmm-ing" off and on throughout our meal

and couldn't wait to eat the leftovers the next day.

Asian Lettuce Wraps


2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Cup finely chopped onion
1 lb ground turkey or chicken
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1 (12 oz) bag of broccoli cole slaw
1 small can drained water chestnuts - optional (I left them out)
1/2 Cup Yoshida’s Teriyaki Sauce - (couldn't find this brand and used Soy Vay Island Teriyaki -super yummy!)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
About 15 lettuce leaves (iceberg or butter lettuce)


1. Place oil into a large skillet or pan over medium heat. When hot, add onion and cook for 5 minutes to soften. Add ground meat, salt, pepper and garlic salt. Brown and crumble until cooked through. Place in colander to drain and rinse fat off with water. (still tastes the same, just less fat!)


2. Return turkey to pan, stir in broccoli slaw, water chestnuts, teriyaki sauce and sesame oil. Cook for another 10-15 minutes or until broccoli slaw is softened. Reduce heat to low until ready to serve. Serve large spoonfuls inside lettuce leaves.

Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

4-5 russett potatoes

1/2 onion

2 cans (10.5oz) cream of chicken

1-2 cups cheddar cheese (or Mexican blend cheese)

1/2 pkg of cooked Ham

Cut potatoes into thin slices (thicker slices take longer to cook) and place into a large bowl. Slice Ham into small chunks approx. 1 inch and add to the bowl. Next, add chopped onion to the bowl. Add cream of chicken and mix well.

Transfer the potato mixture to a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with cheese and bake uncovered at 350F for 40-45 minutes.

**For quicker potato slicing, I use a mandoline. So easy!

Spinach Lasagna

1½ lb ground turkey
1 jar spagetti sauce (28oz jar)
1 can tomato sauce (8oz can)
1 tub cottage cheese or ricotta (24oz)
1 pkg (no boil) oven ready lasagna noodles (8oz)
1 egg, slightly beaten
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried oregano
1 bag baby spinach
4 cups shredded mozarella cheese
2 tsp crushed chili flakes*

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large skillet, cook meat until brown. Drain into a strainer and rinse with water (this removes excess fat). Return to skillet and stir in spaghetti and tomato sauce.

In a small bowl, combine egg, cottage cheese, spinach, basil, oregano, and chili flakes. In a 13x9x2inch baking dish, spread just enough meat sauce enough to cover the bottom of pan. Place 3 pieces of uncooked pasta on top, making sure pieces do not over lap or touch sides of pan. Spread ¾ cup cottage cheese mixture over pasta, covering pasta completely. Spread 1 cup meat sauce onto cottage cheese. Repeat layers of noodles and cottage cheese and meat sauce until you’ve used up ingredients. Sprinkle with mozarella cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake for 10-15 minutes or until hot and bubbly. 10-12 servings.

*We love this spicy version, but if you can’t handle the burn…omit the chili flakes and it still tastes great.

**Note - I usually triple or quadruple the recipe so that I can freeze them! It only takes me an extra 20 minutes to do which saves me a ton of TIME in the long run!

Just buy 3-4 foil lasagna pans and assemble as usual EXCEPT do not add the cheese. Cover with foil and freeze. Before baking frozen lasagna, make sure it has thawed out (otherwise it'll take forever to bake). Before placing thawed lasagna into oven, add 2 cups or more of additional spagetti sauce to prevent it from being too dry after baking. Add the cheese on top, cover with foil and bake for 1 hour or so on 400F.

Tamale Pie

We could have this dish at least once a week,

it's THAT GOOD

recipe from Joan Arrington (from Apache Park Ward)

1 lb. hamburger
1 chopped green bell pepper
1 chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced
16 oz. can diced tomatoes
6 oz. can tomato paste
12 oz. can corn, drained
1 can sliced olives (optional)
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2-3 tsp. chili powder
Dash of pepper
1 ½ c. sharp American cheese, grated
3 c. cold milk

1 c. yellow corn meal
1 tsp. salt


Brown the first four ingredients together. Drain the fat and add tomatoes, tomato paste, corn, olives, sugar, salt, chili powder, and pepper. Simmer heated through. Add cheese and stir until melted. Pour into 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

Make corn meal topping by heating milk to a boil. Remove from heat. Add salt and quickly stir in corn meal with a whisk (use a silicone coated whisk if you have non-stick pans). Mix completely. Spread over top of meat mixture. Bake at 400* for 30 minutes.

*For Kid Friendly, just use 1 tsp of Chili powder or omit it entirely. We just add Cholula hot sauce to the adults' plates and it's so GOOD!

In the photo, I ran out of green bell pepper so I improvised with zucchini instead. Tasted Great!

Cheesy Stuffed Shells by Kraft

1 container (16 oz.) Low Fat Cottage Cheese
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained
1 cup 2% Milk Shredded Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese, divided
1/4 cup 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
20 jumbo pasta shells, cooked, drained
1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1 large tomato, chopped

PREHEAT oven to 400°F.

Mix cottage cheese, spinach, 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning until well blended. Spoon 1 heaping Tbsp. of the cheese mixture evenly into each pasta shell.

COMBINE spaghetti sauce and tomatoes; spoon half of the sauce mixture into 13x9-inch baking dish. Place shells, filled sides up, in baking dish. Spoon remaining sauce mixture over shells. Cover with foil.

BAKE 25 min. or until heated through. Uncover; top with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese. Bake, uncovered, an additional 2 min. or until cheese is melted.

KRAFT KITCHENS TIPS
Make it Easy Spray foil with cooking spray before using. Place, sprayed-side down, on casserole to prevent sticking.

Make Ahead Prepare as directed except for baking; cover. Refrigerate up to 24 hours. When ready to serve, bake, covered, at 400°F for 35 min.

*This one is from Kraft and is super easy and YUMMY! Healthy because it's made with cottage cheese and spinach too! The girls loved this, didn't even mind the green stuff! Very economical too!

You should hop on over to www.kraftfoods.com

They have a recipe search, tons of pics (because I won't make anything unless I've seen a pic of it first) and you can even make grocery lists, menu plans, find nutritional content, etc! Even formulate your own exercise/meal plan with calories or whatever. Really useful site!

Easy Chicken & Black Bean Enchiladas

We were out of some ingredients for a new recipe that I was trying to make. So I improvised changing the beef to chicken, and adding a few more ingredients to make this completely ORIGINAL wonderful dish! I was quite pleased it turned out so well. The best perk is that this can be cooked in the microwave in 10 minutes!

Easy Chicken & Black Bean Enchiladas3-4 chicken breasts, cooked
16 corn tortillas
1 can (15oz) black beans
1 can (28oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (10oz) enchilada sauce
1 can (4 oz) diced green chilies
3/4 bunch of fresh cilantro
1 white onion, chopped
2 cups part skim mozarella cheese
2 tsp. cumin
Lettuce
*Cottage Cheese

Chop/shred chicken and put in small bowl. Place tortillas in a stack and cut into 1-2 inch thick strips, set aside. Combine all canned ingredients and cumin into a large bowl. In a 9x13 dish, add 1/3 of the chicken to the bottom of pan. Pour enchilada mixture over bottom of pan until covered completely. Layer tortillas evenly across pan. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese and cilantro on top of tortillas. Repeat layers. Finish by covering the top with a layer of tortillas and sprinkle cheese on top. Bake in oven 375F for 30-40minutes. Serve over a bed of lettuce if you wish!

OR

Instead of 9x13 pan, use a VERY deep casserole dish (or Pampered Chef's deep dish baker, which I did). Anything that isn't metal and small enough to fit in your microwave. Cook for 10 minutes and it's DONE! I love that I can use my stoneware in the microwave instead of using the oven during the summer! It tastes GREAT!

*For a kid friendly recipe, add cottage cheese to their individual dish. This helps take away some of the spice!

Raman Chicken Salad

This is a perfect summer salad that can be made year-round! We LOVE this and often eat it for dinner alone.

Raman Chicken Salad

4 tsp. toasted sesame seeds
1 cup toasted slivered almonds
4 cooked chicken breasts (about 2 cups shredded)
1 16oz. bag coleslaw mix
4-6 stalks celery sliced
2 pkgs. chicken flavored top raman noodles (uncooked and crumbled)

Dressing:
4 tblsp. white vinegar
½ cup olive oil
4 tsp. sugar
1 ½ tsp. salt
2 chicken flavored top raman seasoning packets

Toast almonds in medium sized sauté pan over medium heat, stirring often. After the almonds start to look a little more golden, add the sesame seeds. Continue stirring until golden brown (careful not to burn it). Quickly remove from heat and empty into a bowl, set aside. Then combine first six ingredients into large bowl. In a small bowl, combine ingredients for dressing and beat or whip for 1 minute. Pour dressing over coleslaw mixture and mix well. Ready to eat or refrigerate for a cool salad. Pepper to taste if desired.

*One of our family favorites, especially for big get-togethers!*

Egg Rolls with Sweet & Sour Sauce

Quite honestly, you will NEVER find a better egg roll and sauce. We can no longer order them in restaurants because they just can't COMPARE to these wonderfully wrapped up rolls! (Not the healthiest since they are fried in oil though.)

Egg Rolls
4 Chicken Breasts, cooked and shredded
1 16oz. Bag raw coleslaw vegetables
3-4 celery stalks, sliced
5 green onion chives
1 pkg (20count) Wonton wrappers
1 egg
Ginger
GarlicSweet & Sour Sauce
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbs. Corn starch
1/3 cup white vinegar
2 Tbs. Soy sauce
1 cup pineapple juice
2/3 cup Heinz ketchup
½ tsp. Ginger, freshly grated

Put shredded chicken in big bowl with enough soy sauce, ginger and garlic to marinate chicken. In a large stir fry pan, cook coleslaw mix, celery and green onions until just tender with 1 tbs. oil. Add veggies to chicken bowl, along with 2 tsp. Salt, ½ tsp. Pepper, 3 tbs. Sugar, and mix with spoon.
In a small bowl, whisk one egg with 1 part water. To fill the wonton wrappers, place a heaping spoonful of meat mixture into the center of one wonton. Dip your fingers into egg and smear along the edges of wonton (this helps the egg roll stick together when rolled.) Then take one set of opposite corners and bring to the middle, or close to it. Take one of the remaining corners to the middle and roll toward the flat side. Try to seal up the wrap, allowing no stuffing to poke through, using more egg mixture on fingers to help it stick together. Fill all wrappers, then start the deep frying process. In a wok, fill enough oil to deep fry egg roll. Wait until oil is hot enough before putting egg roll inside. (Test by sprinkling a few drop of water, if it POPS, then ready.) You’ll have to monitor the speed of frying so that you don’t burn your egg rolls, and turn down heat as necessary…and watch out not to burn yourself with oil splatter! Fry until golden brown and serve immediately.
For the sauce, combine all ingredients in a pot. Stirring frequently with a whisk, bring to a boil. Cook until it thickens and it’s ready!!

This recipe comes from my mother-in-law, Karen Whiting, and is the best! Unless the girls are sleeping, I always need a second person around to help make this dish.