Pumpkin and Roasted Butternut Squash Casserole

Happy Halloween!
It's the Great Pumpkin and Roasted Butternut Squash Casserole Charlie Brown!

I thought I would add to the multitude of pumpkin recipes with this one. The only difference was this was created by pure accident because I was testing pumpkin and butternut squash ravioli recipes and "Good grief!" they weren't coming out the way I wanted it to (wonton skins too "slimy"). So I'll mess with that recipe a little more and share a great accidental recipe that resulted instead.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Pumpkin Casserole
(Serves 6-8)

1 1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree-$.75
1 1/2 cup Fat free cottage cheese $.80
3 tablespoons goat cheese $.65
10 leaves of fresh sage finely chopped (about 2 tablespoons) $.85
1 shallot minced $.20
3 cloves garlic minced $.15
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan $.25
1/2 roasted butternut squash (1-1.5 cups)* $.50
1 teaspoon nutmeg $.01
1 egg $.11
Roasted Gorgonzola crackers crushed (Trader Joe's brand or an savory cracker) $.23

Total cost: ~$4.50
Per portion ~$.56-$.75

*Roasted Butternut Squash
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Halve butternut squash. To prevent rocking or tipping, I trimmed a part of the more rounded part of the squash to make it flat and stable. Take out the seeds and pith (the stringy stuff). Pierce or score the fleshy part. Place skin side down. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon brown sugar on each half. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the halves, Salt and Pepper. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Use one half for this recipe. Reserve the other half, either cube it or scoop out into a mash.

Casserole:
Mix everything BUT the crackers. Mix thoroughly. Lightly oil or pan spray sides of a small casserole dish or loaf pan. Place mixture into the pan and top with crushed roasted Gorgonzola crackers. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for ten minutes. Remove foil and brown for 5-10 more minutes. Enjoy! Sorry, we dug into this before I could take a picture!

Happy Halloween!
DD

Orzo Risotto AKA Orzo-tto

Orzo-tto

Orzo is a good dummy-proof way to making risotto. Arborio rice is needy like a sick boyfriend and I don't have the patience sometimes to watch and baby it...but good risotto is worth it if you have the time to invest in it. That being said, I'm going to provide a quicker, easier way to make a dish that looks complicated without the effort. This is a good option for meals you need a starch, but busy with the main course or other dishes. But do not turn your attention away completely. I suggest test running this a few times before serving a large crowd. I've lost half of the dish due to it burning and sticking to the pot.

What is great about risotto (orzo or arborio kind) is that it absorbs whatever flavor that you throw at it. with it being Fall, this is a great recipe to keep in your back pocket for Thanksgiving and other winter holidays.

This is one of the recipes where I believe that butter does help in not just the flavor, but to prevent intense sticking to the pot. I do refuse to believe that a stick of butter is necessary to make this recipe.

Orzo-tto
(about 4 servings)

1 cup orzo
1 tablespoon butter
3 cloves garlic
1 large shallot
1/2 yellow onion diced
About 2 cups of Chicken stock or water
Olive oil
1 Carrot peeled and diced into quarter inch cubes
Handful of Broccoli flowerets, with tops chopped off and the stems diced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Melt butter in the pot, add a few swirls of olive oil in medium-low heat. Add a dash of salt and couple grinds of pepper. Saute the garlic, shallots, and onion at medium heat until translucent. If you like some spice, add a couple swirls of chili oil and/or a few shakes of red pepper flakes. If you want to turn it up more, finely dice some seeded jalapenos.



Toss in orzo and toss to coat. Turn heat down to medium low heat. You will need to watch this as not to burn the orzo. Stir for about 3 minutes. The orzo will look yellowish to tan. Add a cup of stock or water, stir. When the orzo starts to absorb the water and bubble, add another 1/2 cup of water. Toss the remaining veggies. As the liquid absorbs, add another 1/2 cup of water.

Taste the orzo and make sure the the orzo is cooked all the way.
If not, keep adding 1/4 cup liquid until fully cooked. Do not forget to keep stirring. Add the Parmesan in the last step. Add salt only after this step because the cheese will provide a lot of flavor.

To make the dish more in line with Fall and Winter, you can add diced butternut squash with a dash of nutmeg with the veggies or alone to the orzo. Or toss in some chopped up fennel bulb and use the leaves for extra flavor. Add some halved grape tomatoes to add some color. Mix with broccoli or green peas and you have a Christmas themed risotto. Add your choice of meat anything to make it a heartier main course; sausages, prosciutto, chicken strips. In fact, I served the chicken fingers on top of the orzo and drizzled some of the honey mustard and yogurt sauce over the strips and orzo. Toast some pine nuts to mix in for a nuttier flavor. One note, if you want to add spinach, as much as I would prefer fresh, I suggest using frozen for this recipe, since fresh tends to turn a brownish color when it's cooked. It's edible, just some people may be turned off by the color. Have fun!

Salud!
DD, drinking some Chariot red wine

Baked Breaded Chicken Strips

Okay, here goes...my first blog recipe. Portion pricing is not available since a lot of these products were already in existence at my house.

Baked Breaded Chicken Strips
Got leftover chicken breasts? I did after not watching the oven while making OJ Chicken (a recipe I will post in the near future) and the 6 chicken breasts came out drier than I wished. So while my roommate and I choked down the dry chicken breast, my head started formulating in what I was going to do with the remaining 4 pieces left. I checked my fridge to see what I could improvise. If you ever watch Psych on USA network, you know the main character Shawn has this innate ability to pick out things and they do this weird lighted highlight special effect when he locates certain things. This is what I am like a lot of times. Saw a loaf of bread I forgot about, Dijon mustard and Greek yogurt. I thought at first maybe chicken salad made with Greek yogurt (a healthy mayo substitute). After I checked the bread, it seemed a little dry, so I thought why not just dry them all out to make breadcrumbs...breadcrumbs, chicken, breaded chicken...baked breaded chicken strips!!! This is just how my neurotic brain works. So I scoured the web for suggestions on no-fry chicken strips. Many tell you to dredge in flour, then dip in egg, then coat in breadcrumb. That's just incredibly messy to me. Even with the dry hand-wet hand method (I'll get to that in a sec) I always end up with a wad of flour-egg-breadcrumb goop on my hands. So I looked for a non egg-flour recipes and found one here-

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2003/06/04/mustardy-breaded-baked-chicken-strips/

I wanted something to cut the mustard since the Trader Joe's brand we had is very sinus- clearing even in small amounts but still needed a strong "glue"for the breadcrumbs to stick to the chicken, so decided to add the Greek yogurt.

*Real Quick Breadcrumb Recipe: Lay the bread slices out on a sheet pan and toast them at 300 degrees on both sides until they dry out. Any bread will work, timing will vary depending on the type of bread. Just make sure you keep an eye on it, I've burned many pieces of bread by forgetting about it. I happened to have Trader Joe's California Style Complete Protein Bread which makes excellent and healthy breadcrumbs. The wheatberries, corn and oats add a touch of sweetness. After the slices cool down, place dried bread in a large plastic bag, e.g., Ziploc, Glad...and roll over with rolling pin or smash with wooden mallet. Great way to get some aggression out. Crush to as fine as you need it. For this recipe, I like to have it more coarse.

Baked Breaded Chicken Strips

Ingredients:
4 Leftover chicken breasts cut into strips or raw chicken breast cut into strips
3/4 Cup Greek Yogurt (I like 0% Fat Fage)
3 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder or fresh minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
Handful of chives chopped finely
1 cup of breadcrumbs (see above recipe or use ready to use)
3/4 cup Shredded or grated Parmesan
Dried Oregano
Dried Basil
Dried Pepper Flakes
Salt
Pepper
Green onions and/or chives chopped for garnish

*If you're using raw chicken strips, cut up the chicken after all the other steps to prevent cross contamination.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Lightly oil or pan-spray a sheet pan. I prefer to lay foil down first for easier clean up later.

Mix the Greek yogurt, Dijon, lemon pepper, salt, garlic powder, and chives in a bowl. It should look like this:


Set aside a few tablespoons of the mixture in a smaller container.

In a separate shallow bowl or plate, mix the breadcrumbs, Parmesan, 4-5 shakes each of dried oregano and basil and red pepper flakes if desired. Don't afraid to use your hands to incorporate the ingredients well.

With a spoon or butter knife, smear the mustard yogurt mixture on the strips evenly. The hand holding the strip is now your "wet hand." Try not to let it glop in places. Gently place the strip on the breadcrumbs, use your "dry hand" to scoop breadcrumbs on top of the strips. pat down to make sure the breadcrumbs adhere on all sides. Try to only use your dry hand to breadcrumb. Lay the strip down on the sheet pan. Repeat.

When done breading and all strips are the pan, sprinkle a little more olive oil on the tops of the strips and place in oven.

Bake about 10 minutes on each side. If using raw chicken, check for doneness by making sure only clear liquid comes out when you cut into the chicken.

Be warned that some of the breading may come off, so carefully remove from pan using a spatula. You can see some balding strips in the pic above. Put those on the bottom of your chicken strip pile when serving=)

Mix the reserved mustard yogurt mixture you set aside earlier and add 1 tablespoon of honey or this wonderful product called Blue Agave Sweetener (can be found at Trader Joe's). This will be your dipping sauce along with whatever your favorite sauce is. I added Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce in the dish next to the mustard yogurt mixture. Garnish chicken strips with chives or green onions if desired.

Dip in your sauce. Eat. Repeat.
I apologize for the orientation of some of the pics. I can't seem to figure out how to fix it yet.

Ganbai!
DD

My Very First Blog!

Hello All...(it's probably just one of you),

Due to my extraneous time brought on by my unfortunate participation as a casualty of the current economy...AKA laid off, terminated, fired, eliminated, unemployed...I have decided to start blogging my recipes.

I've never done this before so forgive me if links and images don't load correctly. Any insight or suggestions are appreciated. And if I violate any copyright thing, I apologize ahead of time...I'm just doing this because I'm bored, not trying to make money or whatever off someone else (I'm talking to you Nelly Furtado and management!)

Since I've had so much more time on my hands, (one can only apply to so many jobs a day)... I've been cooking...ALOT...some recipes are ones that just pop into my never-stop-running- head of mine, others are inspired by what I've seen e.g. mags, websites, Food Network (one of my favorite channels). I will try to tell you where I got the original recipe from or what I am basing it off (sometimes, it's from my dad's own head!). I'm also going to make an effort to get prices of everything to help for those budget-minded...

Many times when I see a recipe that seems interesting I usually start figuring out what I can do to make it healthier or more organic. Most of the time, I think it comes out tasting better...though I have to admit, the ones that call for butter tend to have that je ne sais pas flavor, but if you don't add that much or not at all, you don't even know you're missing it=) That said, instead of Paula Deen's admirable habit of throwing a whole stick in, I do try to see how little fats and oils I can get away without compromising flavor...because fat IS flavor as I learned in my prior life selling meat (animal meat, not the illegal kind>)....)

So a few of disclaimers for those who are looking specific recipes or ask for ANY recipe...

Measurements-I've grown up watching my dad cook. He can eyeball pretty much on the dot and I like to think I have that ability, but I also like to improvise, mixing it up as I go, so when it comes to measurements, I start out with an idea, start conservatively, then add to taste...BUT, I promise to get measurements down as much as possible.

Seafood- Allergic... I know, it sucks big time...what Asian can't have seafood?! What makes it worse is I've DEVELOPED this stupid allergy so I've already tasted the goods so I KNOW what I'm missing...what yummy abalone tastes like and velvety shrimp and fluffy scallops taste like. it's been so long that I'm not even sure if that's what the mouthfeel is... so no seafood recipes unless I get a real goody from my dad to pass on...occasionally I will throw canned tuna recipes because apparently I can have that (in small quantities). Some recipes should be transferable to fish and I would encourage trying it...

Salt- I am pretty sodium phobic, as I always believe that you can always add more salt, but you can't always take it out after you put it in...I'm a big fan of using natural flavors ( I know, I know salt is natural) like garlic, shallots, onions ginger etc...plus people tend to add salt automatically before they even take a bite (technically an insult to the chef). So for those salt-philes out there, you may want to add more salt than I state in the recipe...unless otherwise noted.

Cuisine- I like to make fusions with different cuisines, taking the best of all worlds, Mexi-Asian, Cal-Italian, Germ-Indian., Mexicalifrenchilicious...just kidding=). But not all will be fusion, and some will call for specific ingredients from specialty stores. I will provide substitute ingredients where possible since I realize not everyone has a Ranch 99 near them.

So. I should be posting my first recipe after I finish taking the pictures and refining the recipe measurements, hopefully by the end of the weekend.

Sorry about the long intro...
Looking forward to your comments...=)

Cheers,
DD