Roasted Butternut Squash Rice

Its cold here. And to make it worse, it is rainy too.  A major bummer since I'm the type of person that is really unhappy when I have to pull out (and actually wear) the one pair of jeans I own that haven't been cut off  into shorts yet.  Disappointing as it may be, I know how to comfort myself.  Something warm, gooey, and delicious for dinner.  Duh!  Anyways, this recipe for roasted butternut squash rice is perfect for days like today.  And guess what?!  Its actually pretty healthy.  You've got your butternut squash full of all that vitamin c and beta-carotene, and brown rice that is definitely not bad for you.  Now, there is butter, but that can easily be left out our exchanged for vegan margarine or a little oil.  It is only there to add a little extra flavor and creaminess!

Ingredients: 
1 butternut squash - cut in half lengthwise and seeds scooped out
1 head of garlic - top quarter inch or so cut off to expose cloves
a little oil (whatever kind is fine)
1 cup brown rice
2 onions - diced
1 tsp thyme
3 tbsp butter (optional - can be replaced with a small amount of oil)
handful fresh parsley  - finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste

What to do: 
1. Roast Stuff:
    -preheat oven to 425
    -line baking sheet with foil
    -place butternut squash and garlic on baking sheet and oil it all down
        -oil the top and bottom of the squash and garlic; pour a little more over the top of the garlic
    -stick it all in the oven and roast until softened
       -about 25 min for the garlic and 40 min for the squash
2. Make Rice (these are general brown rice making instructions y'all)
    -put your rice and 2 1/2 cups water in saucepan.
    -Put lid on your pan and bring to a boil.
    -Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer with lid on for 45 min.
3. Make your butternut squash mix
    -once you remove your now softened squash from the oven,you probably want to let it cool a little
    -use a spoon to scoop out all of the meat and discard the skin.
    -squeeze the garlic to release the roasted cloves.  Throw them in with the squash.
    -use a fork to mix it all up.  Make extra sure to really mash up those garlic cloves (they are the best part)
4. Mix it all up!
    -melt butter (or oil) in skillet on medium heat
    -saute the onions in butter until softened
    -add thyme - and saute for about a minute more
    -add butternut mixture, rice and stir well to combine.
    -remove from heat, add salt and pepper and throw in the parsley.
    -stir it all up and serve warm.

How to Cook Greens - A Basic Recipe

I am one of the few people I know lucky enough to grow up eating greens. Lots of greens. Collard,
Mustard, and Turnip greens to be precise. I’m always surprised when people haven’t tried, or even
heard of greens! What did your granny feed you people?!

Now, there are a lot of different types of greens, and even more ways to cook them. I've been cooking
greens ever since I had my first kitchen away from home, and this is my absolute favorite way to make
them. My technique isn't much like the traditional, cook the living daylights out of them and load it
down with some sort of pork product, method (this is totally delicious by the way), but my way is still
delicious and way more healthy than cooking them the oldie fashioned way.

What you will need:

One bunch of greens, 2 if they are really tiny any variety is fine (I used Yakatta-Na, an asian variety, but its also great with mustard, turnip, collard, and kale greens - NO SPINACH)

1tbsp olive oil

2-3 thin slices of onion quartered widthwise

2-3 large cloves of garlic sliced very thin

½ lemon

Instructions:

Prepare the greens:

Cut off the large stalks at the end of each leaf – you may need to remove the bottom inch or so of the
leafy part if the stalk is really big. Cut each leaf in half lengthwise and then cut it into one inch pieces
width wise. (I think the best way to do this is make a little stack of leaves so you can cut more than one
leaf at a time). Put your chopped up greens in a colander and give them a good washing.

Steam your greens:

Put an inch or so of water in a stock pot. Insert a steaming basket and then pile in your washed and
chopped greens. Cook on medium high with the lid on your pot. Rearrange the greens with a pair of
tongs occasionally so that they will steam evenly. Steam until your greens are nice and tender (how
tender depends on you, some people like them a little crunchy, and some people like them all the way
soft).

Season your greens:

While your greens are cooking, heat up the oil in the skillet on medium heat. Suate the onions for a few
minutes until softened. Add garlic and cook until golden brown (keep a close watch so you don’t burn
the garlic). When your greens have reached an acceptable tenderness add them to the skillet along with
a pinch or two of salt. Toss well to coat the greens with the oil. Remove from heat and squeeze the juice from the ½ lemon on top. Serve while still warm.

Super Easy Maple Vanilla Whipped Cream

There is a whole other world of whipped cream out there than the one you squirt out of a can from a grocery store.  You can dress it up with flavor extracts, make it super sweet with brown sugar, syrups, or plain o' granulated white sugar, or leave it a little less sweet.  Its all up to you!  There are all sorts of ways to make it into exactly what you want it to be!  PLUS, any desert you top off with a dollop of whipped cream is instantly transformed into something fancy.  No kidding, just put a little on a graham cracker and see the fanciness bloom in front of your very own eyes.    I can't get enough!!     I've been putting it on berries, pies, and using it in parfaits with homemade granola.  As you can see, whipped cream is a worthy thing to become obsessed with.  Here is my recipe for a lightly sweetened variety with maple syrup and vanilla.

What you will need: 

A Tool:  You can use just about any mixing tool to make whipped cream.  I prefer a stick blender, but I've had great luck with a hand mixer or a stand mixer too.  If you really want to get in touch with your whipped cream or exercise your forearms, you can use a whisk or a fork, but if you choose this tool please disregard the "Super Easy" in the title and replace with the words "Super Annoying".

Ingredients: 
-1c. heavy whipping cream
-2tbsp maple syrup
-1/2 tsp vanilla paste

Instructions:
-Put your heavy whipping cream in a bowl and use your tool of choice to mix on high.  Mix until your cream thickens into the consistency of your average whipped cream.  Add the maple syrup and vanilla.  Mix until incorporated.  For a thicker whipped cream refrigerate for about an hour.  For a thinner whipped cream, eat right away!

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Hatch Chile Pepper Guacamole

This time of year I hear a lot of  buzz about hatch chile peppers.  They are featured prominently in grocery store fliers and piled high in produce displays everywhere I look.  With all this hubbub, you would think everybody waits for hatch chile season so they can make some spectacular special dish.  Not the case.  Almost no body I've talked to has a clue of what to do with them! 

Now there are a lot of things you can do with peppers, but my favorite thing by far is roasting them!  They taste sweeter and who doesn't love a little char?!  Well, in honor of hatch chile peppers and figuring out how to cook with them, here is my recipe for roasted hatch chile pepper guacamole.  You can eat it with chips or be more adventurous and add it to tacos or salad.

Ingredients: 

-3 hatch peppers

-3 cloves garlic peeled
-large avocado

-juice from 1 lime

-1/2 roma tomato seeded and roughly chopped

-salt to taste (about 1/2 tsp)

Instructions:  

1. Preheat oven/toaster oven to 425.  Wash and dry the hatch peppers.  Cover each pepper with a thin coat of oil (I like to use a spray oil like pam), and place on a baking sheet. Put the peppers into the oven and roast for 20-30 minutes. 

2.  Remove peppers from oven once they have large burnt spots on the skin.  Allow peppers to cool until they reach a comfortable temperature to touch.  Once cool, cut the stems off the peppers and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds (you don't have to get all the seeds, do your best).

3.  Place the peppers along with the garlic cloves in a food processor.  Pulse until the peppers are diced up and no large pieces of garlic remain. 

4.  Cut avocado in half and remove seed.  Scoop out flesh with a spoon and add to food processor.  Add the lime juice and the tomato to the food processor.  Pulse until avocado is creamy and ingredients are well combined.  Add salt to taste and serve.  

Family Recipes: Toad in a Hole

Family recipes always make me think of cooking and eating at my mawmaw and pawpaw's house.  Mawmaw will always be one of my role models and favorite people.  She is so warm, loving, and hardworking.  I attribute my love for all things food and cooking to her.  She taught me so much in her kitchen!  As a child I enjoyed flipping trough cookbooks and fantasizing about actually being able to prepare the recipes.  Mawmaw would let me try things under her supervision.  Toad in a holes are one of those recipes I found and made with her help.  It is basically a fried egg made in a slice of toast.  They really are perfect for children to make; simple and straight forward.  I made them frequently with Mawmaw throughout my childhood, so I deem this recipe a "family recipe" because it is a recipe I love making with my wonderful family.  First Mawmaw and now my husband!  

How to get your Toad in a Hole on:

Ingredients:
-1 slice of bread - I use homemade pain de campagne but any bread will do.
-1 egg
-1 1/2 tsp butter
-sprinkle of salt

Instructions:
-Cut a hole in the center of your slice of bread.  Do your best to imagine how much room your egg will need.  A big egg will need more room than a small one.  Gobble up the piece of bread you cut out of the center as a pre-meal snack.

-melt butter in skillet over medium heat.  When butter is melted.  Place your slice of bread in the skillet and rub it around a little so it absorbs some of the butter.  Now flip the bread over and rub it around again to get the butter on this side also.

-crack the egg into the hole in the toast.

-I don't like runny yolks so I pop mine and spread it around a little with a fork, but you don't have to do that if you are one of those people who like runny yolks.  Sprinkle a little salt onto the egg part of your toad in a hole once you have decided what to do about the yolk.

-after the bottom of your egg has firmed up, flip your bread with a spatula.  Cook until the egg is thoroughly cooked.


-That is it.  Now you can eat it.  Its is really tasty right!?!