Winter Squash Pasta

Easy, delicious, fast, rich. Those are your descriptors for this one. Enjoy.


2 Tbs butter
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup cooked squash*, blended until smooth
5 leaves of sage, minced
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup cheese (we used a combination of parmesan and white cheddar)
salt and pepper to taste (a lot of pepper)

Pasta (we used shells)

This sauce will take about as long to make as it takes for pasta to cook. Time accordingly.

Cook garlic in butter for 1 minute in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add squash and sage and cook until squash is warmed through. Reduce heat to low and add cream. I find it easiest to use a whisk here to blend the squash and cream. Add cheese and salt & pepper. Turn up the heat until the sauce is just bubbling. If the sauce is still thin, you may need to cook a little longer to reduce down a bit.


*To cook squash: We used acorn squash, but any variety of winter squash should work. Cut squash in half (please do not cut off any fingers or gouge your hand in any way). Scoop out the innards (creepy). Place face down in an oven-safe dish. Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of water to the dish. Cook at 400 for 40 minutes, or until the flesh (creepy) is soft.

Summer vegetable pasta

This is so simple it could hardly be called a recipe. Its more like a reminder make creative use of whatever you have on hand. At the beginning of the summer, we joined a crop-share out of curiosity. That means we get a box full of vegetables once a week, and we only know about 24 hours in advance exactly what we'll be getting. We never would have made this if these ingredients hadn't been thrust upon us, but I'm glad we did.  We used beets, summer squash, and green and yellow beans to make a really light pasta dish.

Boil beets exactly as you would boil potatoes.


Slice your favorite summer squash and fry in butter or oil


Concurrently, boil noodles (we used shells). Toss in some fresh green and yellow beans with 5-7 minutes left to cook.


Drain pasta and toss everything together. Season with red wine vinegar and oil, salt and pepper.

Comment on Avocado

Everyone should be eating avocado year round. Avocado, like bananas, are one of the very few fruits that properly ripen after being removed from the plant. This means they can be transported safely and cheaply while they're still rock hard, don't need refrigeration, and have a pretty nice shelf life, as fruit goes. Their harvest period can also be staggered, so there is virtually no time when they're truly out of season. Unless you're buying your fruits and vegetables locally, you can't really do better than avocado.

Also, they're fantastically delicious and super good for you.

Curried Chickpeas

This is a slow cooker recipe that takes a very long time. It uses dry chickpeas; I have no idea how the recipe would be altered using canned, but it would drastically reduce cooking time. Like the last recipe, this is great because it's Indian food that tastes good, made at home, and you just toss everything in at the beginning. No fuss.

This recipe nearly filled a 6.5 qt slow cooker.

3 cups dried chickpeas, washed
1 medium yellow or red onion, finely chopped
1 tomato, diced (or a can)
2 inch cube ginger, grated
4 cloves garlic, minced or grated
3-5 serrano chilies (This was hot, adjust accordingly)
1 T cumin seeds
1 T ground coriander
1 T garam masala
1 T chana masala (a bit hard to find; important for authenticity)
1 T red chili powder
1 T salt
2 t tumeric
10 cups water
2 T cilantro, chopped

Everything into the slow cooker except the cilantro. Cook on high for ~12 hours, or low for 10 and high for 6 hours. Cook times vary wildly by slow cooker. Near the end of cooking, mash or puree some of the chickpeas to thicken. Garnish with sliced red onion, lime wedges, or nothing. 

Eat with basmati rice and/or naan (purchase frozen from Asian grocery).

Indian Spiced Califlower and Potatoes

This recipe and the next are from a book called The Indian Slow Cooker. Obviously, you'll need a slow cooker to make this. Carolyn had tried and failed at Indian food several times in the past. This book is fantastic because the food came out tasting great, and you just put everything in at the beginning, like a slow cooker aught to be used.

We have a 6.5 qt slow cooker, and this recipe nearly fills it.

1 large head califlower, 1 inch pieces
2-3 large potatoes, 1 inch pieces (we used russet)
1 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1 tomato, diced (or a can)
2 inch cube ginger, grated
3 cloves garlic, minced or grated
3-4 serrano chilies (this dish was hot, adjust to your tastes)
1 T cumin seeds
1 T red chili powder
1 T garam masala
1-2 t salt
1 t tumeric
3 T veg/other oil
1-3 T fresh cilantro, chopped


Everything goes into the slow cooker except the cilantro. Cook for ~3 hours on low. May need to mix once about 1 hr in, to ensure nothing sticks to the cooker. Cooking times vary wildly by crock pot.

Eat with basmati rice and/or naan (buy frozen from Asian grocery--very good)

Sesame Crusted Tofu

After a long hiatus, we're back! I'm going to be honest, a lot of the reason we stopped doing the blog was due to the difficulty in coming up with clever things to say. Also, worry about getting good image of the food. So for the next little while at least, these posts are going to be recipes and little else. First up, a dish we've been eating quite a lot of, Sesame Crusted Tofu. Eat this in a salad or with stir fry; use the left over marinade to make your dressing or stir fry sauce.

Marinade:
2 T soy sauce (or Tamari soy sauce)
2 T sesame oil (love this stuff)
1 T rice vinegar
1 t chili garlic sauce
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 inch cube ginger, grated

1 block firm or extra firm tofu, drained (see our Marinated Baked Tofu recipe for how to drain properly)

Cut tofu crossways to make 2 slabs; cut each into 6.  put tofu and marinade in shallow pan or dish. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes, turning tofu once.


2 T sesame seeds
3 T flour


Mix on a dish. Dredge each piece of tofu. Fry in a pan of 1 T sesame oil and 1 T canola (or whatever) oil on highest setting for ~5 minutes on a side. Will get golden brown. A little black isn't bad.