Roasted Acorn Squash with Quinoa Pilaf

I have made this gem two times now, once with quinoa and once with bulgar wheat.  In my opinion, I preferred the quinoa - it was a bit lighter, but no less filling.  The bulgar wheat was a bit creamier, but didn't have the same flavor or lightness that the quinoa had.  Either way, it is a deliciously easy weeknight meal that is healthy yet filling.  I somehow came across this on a blog "We are not Martha" and I adapted it just slightly.
Here's what you are working toward:

Here's what I used:
1 acorn squash, carefully split in two halves, seeds scooped out and discarded
1 TB butter
1 cup quinoa
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 TB olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes (I subbed these for 2 habanero peppers, chopped finely.  If you enjoy a spicy dish, use the habaneros instead of red pepper flakes)
1/2 cup chopped mixed mushrooms - I used shitakes, oyster, cremini
2 cups of fresh spinach, uncooked and chopped into bite size ribbons
1/2 cup feta, crumbled
1 TB parsley, chopped
1 TB fresh lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 375 while you are prepping your ingredients.  Put the 2 squash halves on a rimmed cookie sheet, sprinkle with salt and pepper and put 1/2 of the butter in each squash.  Pop them in the oven when it's preheated and set the timer for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, you can prep the stuffing.  Put the quinoa / bulgar wheat / farro / whichever grain you would like to use in a pot and cook per the directions, using broth instead of water for a bit more flavor.

While that cooks, add the olive oil to a pan and sautee your mushrooms, onion, garlic, and pepper (habanero or red pepper) until they are nice and cooked - about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add the lemon juice to the mixture. Turn the heat to low and add the cooked quinoa when it's done. Stir to incorporate and add the parsley, feta, and spinach.  Reserve a bit of the feta and parsley to top the squash if you like.
Once the squash is cooked, fill the squash with your quinoa mixture, top with feta and parsley, and enjoy!

Mushroom Bourguignon

Happy New Year! Here's a veggie one for those of you looking to start the year off right...
My dear friend Mary came for dinner, so I combed the internet for the best possible vegetarian recipe I could find.  I settled on Mushroom Bourguignon from Smitten Kitchen, and it was a earthy, hardy take on vegetarian that worked for Mary and my larger-than-average husband (he's 6'6".) 
While this was quite tasty the first time around, the leftovers were not great- the mushrooms became a little slimy - so I would scale this up or down to exactly what you need to cook.

Here's what I used for 5 large portions:
2 TB Olive Oil
2 TB butter, softened
2 lbs portobello mushrooms, cut into 1/4 in slices, stems discarded
1/2 carrot, finely diced
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup full-bodied red wine
2 cups beef or vegetable broth
2 TB tomato paste
1 tsp fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried
1 1/2 TB flour
1 cup pearl onions (thawed if frozen)
Egg noodles for base

Tomato Paste Tip: I was tired of buying tomato paste, using one TB and throwing the rest out after it went bad.  So I spooned the tomato paste out by the TB onto a sheet of parchment paper and laid them down in the freezer. After they were frozen, I wrapped them in plastic and popped them in a ziplock.  Now, when I need a TB of tomato paste, I can just grab one of my frozen TBs from the freezer and not feel so wasteful.

A close-up of these beautiful mushrooms and carrots post my trip to Brooklyn Kitchen for an excellent knife skills class!

 Ok, enough about the ingredients.  To get going, heat a large dutch oven (I used the 4.5 qt one that Mary's mother gave me) with one TB olive oil and one TB butter. Once those are melted together, add the mushrooms to give them a sear.  You'll want to let them turn dark brown, but take them back out of the pan before they start releasing any juices.  While I did this all in one go, it would probably be a bit easier to do in batches.
Once all the mushrooms are back out of the pan, add the second TB of olive oil and add the carrots, onion, thyme, and some salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Turn the heat down to medium and let them cook for about 10 minutes.  Add the garlic and let that cook for an additional minute.

Stand back and add the wine, making sure to scrape up any deliciousness on the bottom of the pan.  Turn the heat up and reduce until it's about 1/2 the liquid - it should take about 15 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and broth and add back the mushrooms (plus any juices that have collected in your bowl) to the pot. Let those simmer for 25 minutes.  For the last 10 minutes, add the pearl onions so they get nice and soft.

Finally, combine the flour and butter with a fork until it looks like a paste.  Add to the pot to thicken and let it cook for a final 10 minutes. Season to taste - mine needed quite a bit of salt.
Serve over egg noodles or rice and feel free to garnish with sour cream, parsley or thyme.
Enjoy!

Quinoa and Kale Crustless Quiche

I was left feeling a little guilty about all the sausage pasta I ate last week, including getting to the leftovers before hubby. :) So I decided to make a healthy choice from a new food community I just found, Food52.  Well, it's clearly not new, but it's new to me.  The community seems to have more than an affection for kale, so I decided if all these foodies are into it, maybe its not just for people in Williamsburg (jk jk - I heart Brooklyn.)
I decided to try the kale and quinoa quiche, figuring it was the healthiest sounding quiche I'd ever heard of and since it was a quiche, maybe it would still taste rather delicious.
Well, I was right! Healthy and delicious, and while not on the same level as the sausage and mushroom cheesy baked pasta, it hit the spot for our warm Sept day.

Here's what I used:
1/2 cup quinoa (I got mine from Trader Joe's awhile ago)
1 bunch of kale
1 vadalia onion (definitely use a Vadalia. The sweetness was great.)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup of sharp white cheddar, shredded
3 oz of cream cheese - might add a little more next time
4 eggs

First, preheat your oven to 350 and spray cooking spray on a pie plate.  Then get the quinoa going with 1 cup of water or so.  You want the quinoa to absorb all the water and not drain out, so don't add too much.  I think I used a little more than a cup, but not much more.

Then get chopping. I chopped the vidalia onion in slices, not a dice. Get a sauce pan going with some olive oil, and when hot (not smoking... mine was smoking because I was talking on the phone...) add your onions and let them sit there and get a good caramel color. Stir only enough to keep them from burning.

Then, while the onions were cooking, I chopped the kale up.  The recipe said "ribbons" but I would probably chop it pretty fine next time so that there are not such large portions of kale leaf in the quiche. Make sure to remove the stems, as those do not look tasty. Mince your garlic, grate your cheese, and dice your cream cheese so that it can be mixed more easily.

 Once the onions are done, remove them from the pan into a large mixing bowl and add the kale to the same saucepan. Don't fret if all the kale does not fit right at first... it will cook quickly and shrink down, and then you can add the rest. Let it cook for 2 min or so until it is softened, bright green, and fits in the pan!

Make sure there is no water in the pan (if so, strain first) and add to the onions.  Then add the cooked quinoa, garlic, and cheeses and stir together. It should all be pretty incorporated, though I had a tough time with those big kale pieces and the cream cheese not really being melty enough. I would try to work with hot kale next time - I let mine cool in a strainer (but no water strained out!)

Then whisk together 4 eggs and add to the mixture. Stir until incorporated and add salt and pepper.
Pour the mixture into your pie plate and pop it in the oven for 45 minutes.

The quiche will pull away from the sides and be a little browned on top when it's done. It smelled and tasted great and the sweet onions were delicious.  I found the cream cheese to be a little lumpy and not that flavorful.  I bet this would be delicious with feta. That's what I would try next time.
Best part - I only had to buy the kale and cheeses (I had a vadalia, quinoa, and eggs.) That means dinner was only about $8! That and there is one piece leftover :)
I served with the last of the summer corn on the cob and a loaf of pretzel bread with mustard for a spread. Yum!