Spaghetti Squash

Where else do you find a great vegetable that gives you so much?  Spaghetti squash not only tastes great, provides a bowl for serving, but when you are finished you put the shell out for your pet goat, Bob, and he loves it!!

OK, I'll admit that not everyone has a pet goat who will help with the clean up.  For those who don't, think of starting a compost pile for the remaining shells.

Both Daughters and I are cutting back on calories and wanting to add more vegetables to our diet.  We still love beef (especially the ones we raise -- home grown, grass fed, organic), so our first trial was substituting spaghetti squash in our favorite spaghetti and meat sauce recipe.

Worked beautifully! Hardest part was splitting the veggie in two.  I had to use my largest chef knife (I have a wonderful son-in-law who provided two for my kitchen) and work pretty hard to split it down the middle. After that, simply clean out the seeds and seed-compartment strings, and cook.

I choose my sister's methodology -- a pan that can hold the squash cut side down, add a cup or so of water and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for between 45-60 minutes, depending on size.  Check for doneness by sticking a sharp knife into the shell.  When it slips through easily, it's ready to remove, cool enough to shred, then decide whether to serve in the shell or not.

Others prefer using a cookie sheet, oiled, then baking cut side down for about the same length of time.

Seasonings will depend on what the plans are for serving.  Frankly, it's a great dish with a touch of butter, salt and pepper.  We simply returned the shreds to the shell and loaded with a serving spoon of meat sauce.  There are dozens of recipes available --  I just found it simpler to start with one I knew what taste to expect.

Oh, did I mention the seeds are good, too?  Just like roasted pumpkin seeds.  Wash them, dry them, then roast them with a bit of oil and seasonings on parchment covered cookie sheet.  Use about 275 degrees for about 20 minutes (shorter time if the seeds start to pop.) Use your favorite flavors -- salt, flavored salt, garlic, a bit of chili, pepper -- the taste is up to you.

If you're laughing at me because you knew all of this before (except for Bob, of course) power to you!!  You know how good it is.  If you haven't tried spaghetti squash -- I hope this will help you put it on your regular grocery list.

Precious Pineapple Cake - AllRecipes.com

The picture comes from the source of this outstanding recipe.  I've made it three times in less than a month and have yet to get a photo of it.  No way could I have made that cute chocolate lace! And, I don't know what the touch of green is in the photo.  But, this is about the best cake I've ever tasted. If I'm not in a hurry next time, I'll get my own photo.

The original AllRecipes.com recipe called for three 8" layers put together with cream cheese icing. That would have been overkill!

We cooked them in bundt pans, no icing and there wasn't a crumb left. The photo's correct - a touch of whipped cream is sufficient, or a dusting of powdered sugar for looks. Use a sugar-free cake mix and you're ahead on calories, too.

My Oklahoma Sister-in-law made it and had the same results.  I've given the recipe out four times in that same month, and see that as great references.  It is a very simple cake.

1/2 cup margarine, softened
3 eggs
1 18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Grease and flour a bundt or bundt-type pan.
In a large bowl cream 1/2 cup margarine until smooth.
Blend in the eggs. Add the cake mix and crushed pineapple with juice and mix until smooth. Stir in the 1/2 cup chopped pecans.
Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centers of the cakes comes out clean.
Allow to cool, and remove from pan.

This will serve eight comfortably, with absolutely no leftovers.  You can do smaller slices, but be prepared to share the recipe.  Guaranteed!!

3, 2, 1 Voila! Dessert Mixed and Fixed!!

Thanks to Jessica, who maintains several devotional blogs. She posted this on Facebook and I thought how wonderful it would be for Beloved Husband -- especially since we can get mixes sugar-free -- to have a quick dessert without tempting me.

This is Jessica's photo -- I promise to replace with my own once we make this ourselves.  But the Mix and Fix directions are so easy, I know I'll be doing this soon.

[Mix]

1 Angel food cake mix

1 cake mix of favorite flavor

Combine the two cake mixes in a gallon-sized zip lock bag, or other sealed container and mix well.

[Fix]

3 tablespoons of above mix

2 tablespoons of water, mixed well with above

1 minute in the microwave

Whenever the mood strikes you, follow the 3, 2, 1 and serve.

Cranberry Salsa

This is during prep -- and you can see all the ingredients before melding together into a tasty salsa that goes great with crackers.  Hallie, Second Daughter's remarkable sister-in-law (and mother to equally remarkable children!) served this at their family's Christmas gathering.  SD brought some home and was telling me how addictive it was as she shared with me.  It is!!!  So, I went out and bought the produce to fix some for our New Year's party Saturday night. I posted the recipe in anticipation of being asked for it.  It worked.

INGREDIENTS

1 pkg. fresh cranberries, chopped (use food processor)
1 8oz can crushed pineapple (drained)
2/3 cup sugar (Hallie used Splenda)
1/2 cup green pepper, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons finely chopped onion
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh cilantro, chopped

The photo showed after chopping in the handy blue KitchenAid at the back, before mixing, while the pineapple is draining.  You can see the sugar hasn't melted yet.  Mix all together in a bowl, then cover (sealed well) and chill for at least two hours to allow the flavors to blend.  I don't how long it will stay good because it's gone so quickly!

As for flexibility -- there are variations of this in several places.  Some call for lime or orange juice, and that would be good.  As we were scarfing it down, we mentioned that a spoonful of mandarin oranges pulsed with this sounded good.  I didn't make changes this time, but will update this if I do in the future.

Have a happy new year, and be safe while celebrating!!

Freezing Soup

Soup filling your largest pot seems to taste the best -- but when there are just two of us, we cut back on the recipe and lose some of the flavor. Freezing is a solution, but how much in what size containers -- and where are those containers stored when clean?

Southern Living's How To Freeze Soup -- screen capture above --shows a great answer.  Use quart or gallon freezer bags!  Also showing how these can be stacked card style, making them not only save space, but allow them to be viewed on end.

Don't forget to include the date -- they suggest a month, but I've had good results a bit longer than that.

Of course, this works the same way for our tasty chili!!

Respect The Bird!!

Were you tired of Christmas music being played during your Halloween shopping?

Do you think the Veterans Day remembrances are drowned out by "Santa Claus is Coming"?

I was, I do, and I found others who feel that the commercialization of Christmas is pushing us past some fun holidays that have meaning for us.  Today I received an e-mail telling me about those who feel the same way I do.

That e-mail sent me to Respect the Bird's website.  Unfortunately, my website didn't support their widget, but if it did, I'd certainly used their toolkit to put the widget on my site.  Instead, here's a quick link on this graphic:

When you take the pledge yourself, upgrade to:

Take the pledge if you want to surround each of our traditional holidays with their own celebratory music, decorations and traditions.  I did.

Tetrazzini

Talk about flexible!!  Tetrazinni has few limits -- look at the Wikipedia entry: "There is no universal standard for the dish, so various parts are missing or substituted in various recipes."  The wiki photo, shown above, is labelled Turkey Tetrazzini, but it bears little resemblance to the one I fixed today.  I worked from a Chicken Tetrazzini recipe, but I changed it a lot.  Wiki also says:

Tetrazzini is an American dish usually involving a non-red meat (often diced fowl or seafood), mushrooms, and almonds in a butter/cream and parmesan sauce flavored with wine or sherry and stock vegetables such as onions, celery, and carrots. It is often served hot over spaghetti or some similarly thin pasta, garnished with lemon or parsley, and topped with additional almonds and/or Parmesan cheese.

There are soooo many different recipes out there.  Food Network has one by Giada de Laurentiis that is too busy for me, but it sounds delicious.  Allrecipes.com offers an Easy Chicken Tetrazzini that uses cheddar cheese instead of Parmesan, and canned soup. Under the Wiki definition, both would fit.

I did not document the source for the recipe I have on hand, and it has been adjusted several ways. Today for lunch I made further changes -- using turkey for the meat, and adding ground almonds since I didn't have slivered ones (grinding is much easier than slivering) to get the flavor. I didn't use mushrooms, either, because Beloved Husband really doesn't like them. We had the giblets, chopped very finely, and I used them instead. I  earlier substituted the jar of Alfredo Sauce for the grated Parmesan simply because it is easier to have on had for use at a moment's notice.

1 tablespoon butter or stick margarine
2 cups presliced mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped shallots, green onions or sweet onions
1/4 cup finely sliced celery
2 cups chicken broth
1 jar Alfredo Sauce
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast (about 1/2 pound)
4 cups hot cooked spaghetti (about 8 ounces uncooked pasta)
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1/2 cup frozen peas

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add mushrooms and onions; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in Alfred Sauce, broth, and stir with a whisk until blended.
Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer 8 minutes; stir constantly. Stir in chicken and 1/2 cup cheese; cook 1 minute.
Remove from heat; add pasta, nuts, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Spoon into a 3-quart casserole coated with cooking spray; top with 2 tablespoons cheese.
Bake at 350° for 40 minutes.
Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

I haven't tried this with shrimp, though I think it would be just as good as the chicken or turkey that I have had. Do a Google search for Tetrazzini recipes and check out the possibilities.  Then try the one that sounds best to you -- or this one.