Baked Squash Casserole, food from my garden

Come, join us for dinner.

Squash casserole is one of my favorite comfort food dishes.
When I was a teenager, my Mother and I would go to a restaurant called “The Black-eyed Pea” and order veggie plates. Plates full of broccoli rice casserole, fried okra, cheese-y broccoli soup and the most amazing squash casserole.
It was one of our favorite dinner spots, and one of my favorite teenaged memory clusters.
Once I was all-growed up (yes, I said growed up) I began trying to replicate the squash casserole.
Years and years ago I found a copy-kat recipe that I have altered until I was happy with it.

Baked Squash Casserole

• 5 -6 medium size Yellow Squash
• 1 cup Bread Crumbs plus additional 1-2 tablespoons for topping
• 1 stick Butter or margarine (melted) *I use light butter, and I usually use less than a whole stick*
• 1/4 cup of Brown Sugar
• 1/4 cup of Onion (chopped)
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 1 teaspoon of Black Pepper
• 1 teaspoon of Salt
• 1 teaspoon of tarragon

Cut the ends off squash and cut each squash into 4 or more pieces.

Place the squash into a pot of boiling water, use enough water to cover the squash. Reduce heat and cook until tender. I cooked my squash fir about 12 minutes. Drain and mash.

While the squash is cooking, mix the beaten eggs, 1-cup breadcrumbs, melted butter, sugar, salt, onion, tarragon and pepper together in a bowl.

Combine the mashed squash with the crumb mixture.

Place the mixture into a casserole dish that has been lightly sprayed with a non-stick baking spray.

Sprinkle the top with the 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned.
I used the broiler at 500 deg. For the last 5 minutes to give the top a nice crust.

I have Phun with iPhone Photos!

How to succeed at pie making without really trying

Take one semi-lazy baker.

One text conversation about desserts.

And 1 hour.

What do you get?

Mixed Fruit Pie.

This recipe will make 2 pies.

• 5 cups of random frozen fruit from said baker’s freezer
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (or preferred flour)
• 1-1/2 to 2 cups sugar (depending on how sweet you like your pie)
• 3 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 tablespoon butter or margarine or cooking oil

Mix all of the above together in a bowl.  Make sure to mix it well.

2 pre-made pie crusts or homemade crust  (see links below)

Vegan Pie Crust

Pie Crust

Gluten Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free Pie Crust *the recipe is half way down the post…scroll down*

1 crumble topping

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup butter, margarine or cooking oil , melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Pour the filling into the pie crusts.

Sprinkle any left over flour-sugar-spice mixture over the frozen fruit.  Place the crumble topping over the fruit.

Pat down gently to make a nice crust.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until done.  Once a knife can be inserted into the center of the pie with little to no resistance your pie is done.

Allow pie to fully cool before cutting for best results.

Enjoy.

Chicken Taco Salad

Taco Salad, remade.

 

When I was young,  my mother made taco salad all the time.    Ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, pinto beans, Catalina dressing and Doritos.   We had this version of taco salad almost weekly.

When I married and became the “cook” I began making the salad too.

It’s very kid friendly, it’s easy to assemble and made with ground chicken it’s healthier.

This salad is also yummy, meat free.

Very simply….

• 1 pound of ground chicken, browned
• 1 head of lettuce or one bag of salad mix
• 1 tomato diced
• 1 cup of shredded cheese (more or less at your preference)
• 1 can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 1/2 – 2 cups of Doritos, (placed in a bag and broken up into small pieces *but not crushed*)
• 1/3 cup + of Catalina dressing, I make my own.  Recipe follows..

To make the salad, add all the ingredients (except the dressing) into a bowl.  Mix well, slowly add dressing until the salad is covered, but not drowning.

Catalina Dressing

Makes about 2 cups of dressing.

• 1/3 cup ketchup, any brand
• 1/3 cup of white sugar or 1/4 cup of honey
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup onion , grated
• 2/3 teaspoon paprika
• 1/3 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 2/3 teaspoon (to taste) salt and pepper

Place all the ingredients except the olive oil into a blender or food processor, pulse or blend until smooth.

Slowly add the oil, while continuing to blend.  Place into a mason jar or other container.  Store left over dressing in the fridge.  Shake before using.

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Chicken Migas

grab a tortilla and sit a spell.

Generally I agree with The Pioneer Woman on most food related issues.

To me though, Migas is not Migas without Chorizo.

Chorizo is really greasy and fatty though. A local market, I adore Sprouts Farmer’s Market, sells ground chicken chorizo. I decided to give the chicken a try and boy, howdy I’m glad I did. Chicken Chorizo is excellent.

I adapted a Pioneer Woman recipe, I added 1 pound of chicken Chorizo I browned it, drained off the minimal fat and proceeded with Ree’s recipe.

A few things I altered.

• I omitted the Jalapeño, due to a tween with a low spicy tolerance.
• I used 2% milk instead of Half-and-half
• I used cheddar cheese

Here is the original recipe ingredient list.

• 4 whole Corn Tortillas
• 1 whole Jalapeno, Seeds And Membranes Removed, Finely Diced
• 4 whole Plum Tomatoes, Roughly Chopped
• 1 whole Green Pepper, Roughly Chopped
• 1 whole Red Bell Pepper, Roughly Chopped
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Chopped
• 12 whole Large Eggs
• 1/4 liter Cotija Cheese, Grated (may Use Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Etc.)
• 1/3 cup Cilantro, Chopped
• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup Half-and-half

To view entire recipe click here.

Serve with refried beans and corn or flour tortillas.

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Rainy Day Garden Gab

The wind blew away most of my seed markers.

Welcome to rain-apocalypse 2012

at least that is how the weather team on T.V. is treating it.   It’s  been raining here for a little over 12 hours.  Storming, wind howling, thunder booming, lightning flashing, big, cold drops of rain falling.

Since we just planted the garden, this is a blessing and a curse.   Water is great, a good soaking rain is great.

Puddles, not so much.

Yesterday we had high wind, crazy wind.  Crazy blowing away most of my seed markers wind.  This year the garden will be a little but of a surprise…. I can not remember where I planted everything. Ha!

Seeds are all about snorkeling, right?

Clearly we have some high and low areas....

Below the garden is a swamp....

My swamp.

These strawberries are survivors from last summer. They laugh at the water, they are already planning strawberry-topia 2

The raised bed is protected from much of the rain. The cats and birds are another story though.

There is no real update on my Grandmother, she is still hospitalized, they believe the mental confusion is due to a slight bladder infection.  She is fighting her treatment.  She keeps removing her I.V.

If you’re a prayer sort of person, I’d appreciate your prayers for her.

Irish Stew

Stew and whole wheat soda bread....a perfect pair.

Stew is one of those meals that feels like a hug in a bowl.

My family is Irish, Scottish, German. Our varied heritage means we embrace a little bit from each piece of our backgrounds. Well, mostly we embrace the Irish and the German. I should work on the Scottish.

Irish stew is one of my favorite dishes.

Most Irish stews are made with lamb. The reason, lamb is less expensive in Ireland.

Purist Irish stew is lamb (mutton), potatoes, onions, and water…

This is not a purist stew.

1. I am not using lamb, because of the higher price of lamb vs. beef and because the idea of eating a lamb always causes a mutiny in my household.
2. I add carrots, turnip, garlic and barley.

This stew recipe should work with either lamb or beef.

• 2 1/2 pounds of stew meat (I used beef)
• 1 medium yellow or white onion, diced
• 2 cups of carrots, diced or sliced
• 1 small turnip, peeled and diced
• 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1 clove of garlic, diced
• 4 cups of beef stock
• 1- 12 ounce Irish stout beer *optional* if you’re not adding beer, increase your stock my 1 & 1/2 cups
• 1/2 cup of pearl barley
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of freshly cracked pepper
• 1 teaspoon of parsley
• potatoes *4 large potatoes peeled and diced, or 1 bag (about 4 cups) of small potatoes left whole*
• 1 Tablespoon of olive oil

Heat the oil in a cast iron dutch oven or large stock pot. Add the flour to the meat, coat the meat as evenly as possible. Brown the meat. Once the meat is browned (8-10 minutes), add the beer to the pot. Add the onions, carrots, turnip and garlic. Add the seasoning and spices. Add the beef stock. Add the pearl barley. Stir to combine.

Place the lid on the pot and cook on a medium heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. After 1 hour, add the potatoes. Stir to fully combine the stew with the potatoes. Return the lid to the pot and continue cooking for 1 more hour. (Total cook time, 2 hours).

The lid can be removed for the last 30 minutes to thicken the stew if you wish.

The finished stew

How do you make your stew?

Slow Cooker Monday, this week in FAIL

Cream of Leek and Potato soup

I wanted to make something that could be made for meatless Monday or could be made Vegan.

I decided to make Julia Child’s recipe.

I made a few small changes. Instead of water I used homemade veggie stock, I used little potatoes instead of large russets and I did not peel them & I used half & half instead of heavy cream and sour cream.

• I cooked the soup in my slow cooker on High for 5 hours
• I used my immersion blender to make the soup creamy
• The soup was perfectly creamy without the milk products added to it. *Stop here for Vegan*
  
• I added the half & half to the soup and allowed it to cook on low for 1 more hour.

The soup was not entirely successful. Two of us liked it, two of us hated it so much that we only ate salad for dinner.

Hopefully Allie has a more than 50% successful post for us today.

Please join Allie and me by linking up your new or previously posted slow cooker adventures!

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• Slow Cooker Monday, Breakfast Style (adashofdomestic.wordpress.com)
• Slow Cooker Attempt #1 (myreciperesolution.wordpress.com)
• Last Chance Winter Soup (blendedgoodness.wordpress.com)
• Southwestern Red Bean Vegetable Soup (challengeu2cook.wordpress.com)

Texas Sized Turkey Egg Rolls

Yes, I said turkey.

Turkey Egg rolls, large and in charge...aka Texas style.

We love egg rolls!

I recently tried my hand at making my own egg rolls, it went so well that I tried it again, this time with ground turkey.

Egg rolls trick my “Veggie Resistant” teenager into eating cabbage, carrots and onions.

The process is a little time-consuming, but well worth it.

Here is the ingredient list:

• 1 pound of ground turkey
• 1 tsp. minced ginger
• 2 (+) cups of cabbage, chopped *I use a bag of cole slaw shreds, the whole bag*
• 1/2 cup of shredded carrots
  
• 3 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 TBSP of soy sauce, 1 TBSP of honey and 1 tsp of minced garlic *I use this instead of 2 TBSP of Oyster Sauce*
• 1 package of egg roll wrappers
• *optional* 1/4 pound of bean sprouts
  

Brown the ground turkey and minced ginger....

Drain the fat, if there is any.

Add the veggies.

Add 2 (+) cups of chopped cabbage, carrots and onions.

Keep cooking….

Keep cooking to wilt the cabbage, and cook the carrots & onions.

Done.

Now…on to wrapping!

wrap your rolls....

Fold one end over the filling....

fold the sides in....

Roll the egg roll up. Repeat until all the filling or the wrappers are gone.

Bake for 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees on a greased cookie sheet (brush the tops with olive oil)

Frying In a large skillet (or cast iron pot) heat Canola oil to 350 degrees. Place the egg rolls *flap side down* into the hot oil a few at a time. Turning the egg rolls if needed. Cook until golden about 2-3 minutes.

Drain the egg rolls on a paper towel before serving.

Yum.

Since the iPhone is major awesome, I’m participating in the iPPP link up that Liz and KLZ host.

Myths, Emails and Bananas

I’m participating in the iPPP link up that Liz and KLZ host.

My Mother likes to forward chain(ish) e-mails to me.
I’m sure many Mothers do.
Recently, my Mother forwarded one to me titled “Clever ideas at home worth knowing”.
Sounds interesting right? I believe it to be full of myths.

So, I’m testing the “Clever Ideas”.

First up.

 

Take bananas apart at home.
They ripen faster if left connected.

So, I bought a bunch of bananas on Thursday.
I separated half of them and left the rest bunched.

I took pictures 3 days in to the experiment. Notice I am 1 banana short. My assistant got hungry.

I took pictures this morning. At day 5, the bananas that are bunched look the same as the un bunched ones.

Do un-bunched bananas keep better? I’d say there is no difference between bunched or un-bunched (except the counter top space they hog)

What myths have you heard about food or home related items?

Deep Fried Avocado

I’m southern. You knew that, right? So, it should not surprise you to know that I like to experiment with deep frying things.

I’ve had deep fried avocados at On The Border (a Mexican food restaurant) near me. They’re tasty, greasy, crispy goodness.

I wanted to “try” to make them healthier at home.

1. Take 1 Avocado.
2. Slice it.
3. Dredge it in whole wheat flour mixed with a tsp of salt and a tsp of pepper.
4. Place the slices into pre-heated oil. I used canola oil.
5. Allow to cook until nice and crispy.

Serve with salsa or ranch.