Warm Winter Nights: Baked Shells with Winter Squash

It's been cold and snowy here in the northeast the last few weeks. I'm not so into the cold, but when it snows, it is truly beautiful. I almost forgot how much I love it when it snows. I'd love it more if I could cozy up in my house with a fire and a big cup of hot tea after a bit of frolicking with my hounds, but unfortunately I've had to go to work the last few snow days. If I did get the chance to stay home on a snow day and play in the snow, I think I'd end the day with a warm dish of baked shells.

I love baked shells and was so excited when I found this dish because it's done with my kind of twist! It's cheesy and a little sweet- kinda like me! It's also pretty quick, easy and inexpensive. And if we had some little kiddies running around, I think it'd be a great way to sneak some veggies into their dinner! They'll totally buy it if you tell them it's mac and cheese.

Baked Shells with Winter Squash

butter
4 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, halved and thinly sliced
salt and pepper
2 tsps chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 lb small pasta shells
1 12 oz pkg frozen winter squash puree, thawed
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 slices crusty bread, cut into 1/4" cubes (about 1 1/2 cups)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 9 by 13 inch baking dish. Heat 3 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add onions and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook about 15 minutes, until onions are soft and release liquid. Uncover and raise heat to medium. Cook, stirring until onions are browned, 20-25 minutes. Stir in 1 tsp rosemary.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water about 2 minutes less than package instructions. Drain, reserving 1 1/2 cups pasta water and return pasta to pot.

Stir squash and reserved pasta water into onions. Simmer 2 minutes. Toss squash mixture and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese with pasta. Transfer to prepared baking dish.

Combine bread cubes with remaining Parmesan, rosemary, and oil. Season with salt and pepper. Top pasta with bread cubes. Bake until golden brown, 10-15 minutes. Serves 6.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Sunday Supper: Winter Warm Up Chili

We are in the midst of a winter wonderland and I absolutely love it! My yard is completely snow covered; the geese continue to wade in the brook; and Puppy (our youngest hound) gets up every morning, goes straight to her window seat and looks out the window patiently waiting until we let her out to frolic in the snow. The hubs and I finally got a rug for our living room this morning and then we spent the rest of the day playing in the snow with the hounds. There is something about running around in the snow while playing with my dogs that makes me giggle and completely forget about any other craziness going on in my life.

After a fun filled day of playing in the snow I decided to make a big pot of chili to warm up the hubs and I. I've made chili lots of times but have yet to find THE recipe. This time around, I thought I'd try winging it and it was by far the best chili I've ever made! It was a little smoky, a little spicy, a little sweet, and the perfect thing to warm us up after a day in the snow.

Winter Warm Up Chili

4 slices thick cut bacon, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions (1 sweet, 1 yellow), chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 4 oz jar diced green chiles
3/4 lb ground beef
3/4 lb ground pork
3/4 lb ground veal
1 tbsp chipotle chili powder
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tbsp fresh ground black pepper
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
2 14.5 oz cans fire roasted tomatoes with garlic
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 15 oz can chili beans
1 tbsp of your favorite bbq rub (I used the hubs secret blend that we like to call Nuts & Bolts)

Garnish:
sharp cheddar cheese

Heat oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium high heat. Cook bacon until just starting to crisp. Remove from pot and drain on paper towel. Add onion and cook until softened and golden, about 6 minutes. Add garlic and green chiles. Cook for 1 minute. Add beef, pork, and veal and cook until brown, about 5 minutes. Add chili powder, paprika, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, and brown sugar and stir until well blended. Stir in tomatoes with their juice, tomato paste, chili beans, and add cooked bacon back to pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, about 1 hour until liquid reduces a bit and chili is thick and chunky. Add bbq rub and continue simmering, covered, at least 1 more hour. Serve hot with crusty bread and top with shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

Modern Housewife Tips:
1. The blend of meat adds a lot more flavor. I found the blend that I used all packaged together at my local grocery store which is why I used what I did but most importantly, you want to use beef and pork at the very least.
2. The longer you simmer, the better! I initially was only going to simmer 1 hour but after an hour, we decided to let it go longer to let the flavor really penetrate the meat. You want to try to simmer at least 2 hours.
3. Next time I will try rubbing the meat with the bbq rub and letting it marinate for about an hour before cooking to give it even more flavor.

For My Loving Cup: Lettuce Cups

I first met lettuce cups on the hubs and my very first dinner date after moving to San Fran. We had been in town about a week, it was our first Friday night in the city by the bay. We found an Asian fusion restaurant by the name of Betelnut and the hubs made a reservation. Everything sounded insanely delicious on the menu, including the dirty sake martini, which I enjoyed immensely. We ordered a bunch of different items: chile-crusted calamari, Szechuan green beans (the hubs' fave!), something with Kobe beef that I don't recall the name of but it was damn good, and of course... lettuce cups!

I've tried to re-create these lettuce cups many times and somehow I manage to lose every recipe I've found after the first time I use it. Some of them have been great, others... not so much. BUT- I found this delicious recipe on one of my new found food blog loves- Crepes of Wrath. I made a tweak because sometimes I'm kind of a dummy and forget major components at the grocery store and in this instance, I forgot the beef... oh silly me! But alas, a good little modern housewife must be able to improvise and thus, I did just that. I had some ground turkey and ground pork in the freezer so I combined the 2 and well, it wasn't half bad... and healthier to boot! I have to say though, that is one of the best things about this dish. We originally had it with chicken at Betelnut and the Crepes of Wrath recipe calls for beef. I love it with beef, but all proteins work well. So all in all, this recipe was a success and now that I've documented my source here, I'll never lose it again!

Asian Lettuce Cups

16 lettuce or cabbage leaves
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 pound ground turkey1 tbsp cooking oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 tsps sesame oil


Rinse lettuce leaves with water and pat dry. Set aside.


In a large skillet over high heat, brown pork and turkey in oil. Drain and set aside. Cook onion in same pan until starting to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar, green onions, sesame oil, and continue cooking just until the onions begin to wilt, about 2 minutes more. Serve mixture in a bowl with lettuce leaves on the side for diners to make their own lettuce wraps. 


Recipe adapted from Crepes of Wrath

Scrumptious Sides: Twice Baked Potatoes

The hubs and I had a wonderful holiday in the north country with my family this year where I ended up doing most of the cooking for our Christmas dinner. I hadn't planned on it so I didn't do much prep work in planning my menu therefore, it wasn't my best showing. It was good, but definitely not great. My brother requested that we have twice baked potatoes and since I have a super yummy recipe, I gladly obliged. Unfortunately though, I left my recipe in Jersey so I ended up winging it. They were ok, but I found that there are 3 main components in making a really great twice baked potato:

The potato, the cheese, and eggs!

Yukon gold potatoes are the way to go! They are more buttery in flavor and they make fluffier mashed potatoes. They also look prettier. I like to use Gruyere cheese because it's mild enough that it doesn't overwhelm the whole potato with cheese and it adds more creaminess to the filling. And finally, adding egg yolks to the filling make it so deliciously fluffy.

I had to remind myself of why this recipe is so good so I made these potatoes on New Years Eve and they turned out perfectly! Next time, I won't forget this one.

Twice-Baked Potatoes

12 small Yukon gold potatoes (or 6 large)
6 large egg yolks
4 tbsp butter, room temperature
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups grated Gruyere cheese
1 tbsp plus 2 tsp coarse salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prick potatoes in several places with a fork. Bake on a baking sheet until tender when pierced with a fork, about 1 hour. Let cool.

When potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut each in half. Scoop out flesh, leaving skin in tact. Mash flesh until smooth. Stir in egg yolks, butter, cream, 1 cup cheese, salt, and pepper. Scoop filling into skins. Place filled potatoes on baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake in 400 degree oven until cheese is golden brown, about 25 minutes.

A couple tips:
1. Leave about 1/4 inch of flesh in the skins when scooping out to help keep shells more stable.
2. I like my potatoes to be full so I typically will use the flesh of one of the halves and discard that skin so that I have a bit more filling for the rest of the potatoes.

recipe adapted from "Martha Stewart Holiday: Season's Eatings Holiday 2008" magazine

Sunday Supper: Chile Garlic Chicken

With the Christmas holiday only a week away and all of us busy preparing, this weeks Sunday supper is a dish that tastes like it's been simmering for hours but will only take you a cool 45 minutes to prepare. This would also make a great weeknight meal to last a couple days. Make a big pot of this chicken and you'll have delicious leftovers for the next day. I found this dish in my inbox a couple weeks ago a la my ever trusty Martha Stewart daily recipe newsletter. Simmering the chicken in the sauce makes it so moist and flavorful and I found that it was even better heated up the next day. The chicken soaked up the flavor even more. Just throw some rice in your rice cooker and dinner is done!

Chile Garlic Chicken

1 tbsp vegetable oil
4-6 chicken legs, thighs and/or drumsticks
4 garlic cloves, chopped
3/4 cups white vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup sugar

Heat oil in a large saucepan over med-high heat. Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan, skin side down, and cook until skin is golden and crisp, about 5 minutes. Turn over and cook about 2 minutes more. Transfer chicken to plate.

Discard all but 1 tbsp fat from pan. Add garlic and cook, stirring, about 30 seconds. Stir in vinegar, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, and sugar. Return chicken to pan, skin side up, and submerge in liquid to cover as much as possible. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low until liquid is gently simmering. Cook 15 minutes. Uncover, raise heat to medium and cook until liquid is reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Serve chicken over rice.

recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Holiday Cocktail: Warm Apple Cider for Grown Ups

My license says I'm an adult, but I'm not so sure my friends would agree. I'm just a big kid at heart and like kids, I love the holiday season! Yesterday the hubs and I spent a lovely Sunday celebrating the holidays. We went and got our tree and some holiday decorations to dress up the farmhouse. It was a very chilly Sunday so by the time we got home we couldn't think of anything better to warm us up while decorating our tree than a hot toddy in the form of warm apple cider, grown up style.

I made up this recipe a few weeks ago when my mom was visiting and it turned out pretty yummy. The first time I made it though I didn't add any sweetness other than the natural sweetness of the apple cider and it was good, but the lemon was a bit strong. This time around, I added some honey which cut the acid just enough and made it even yummier. I suggest grabbing your biggest pot and making a triple or even quadruple batch of this cider for any holiday celebration, even if its just you and your hunny. Keep it warm on the stove and it'll keep you warmed up all night!

Grown Up Warm Apple Cider

1 cup whiskey
3 cups apple cider
1 tbsp honey
lemon, 2 slices about 1/2 inch thick
8-10 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks

Mix whiskey and apple cider in a small pot or dutch oven. Add honey. Make 4-5 small slits in outer edge of lemon and insert one clove in each slit. Add lemons and cinnamon sticks to pot. Heat mixture over med-high heat and bring to a boil. Let boil 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat, let stand about a minute so still hot but no longer boiling and serve.

Sunday Supper: Turkey Meatloaf with Mushroom and Herbs

It's getting cold here in central New Jersey and I'm craving warm comfort food. My mom introduced me to turkey meatloaf a year or two ago when she came out to San Francisco on one of her many visits. She made a delicious BBQ turkey meatloaf which one day, I shall share with you. From then on, I've tended to gravitate towards recipes using ground turkey rather than the classic ground beef, which is against the wishes of the hubs. He loves the classic version- straight off the french onion soup box. But then again, who doesn't!?

I found this recipe from epicurious.com and since we love mushrooms in this house I thought I'd give it a shot. I think it'd make a perfect Sunday supper on a cold day. What sounds better than a warm fire, some comfy clothes, slippers, and a steaming plate of comfort food after spending the day tree trimming and decorating for the holidays? I sure as heck can't think of anything!

Turkey Meatloaf with Mushrooms and Herbs

2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups day old crustless bread, cut into 1/3 inch cubes
1 cup chicken broth
8 ounces sliced mushrooms (crimini or white button are great)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup minced shallots
2 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley (or 1 tbsp dry)
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme (or 1/2 tbsp dry)
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1lb ground turkey (about 15% fat)
1lb ground turkey breast

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush a loaf pan with olive oil.

Toss bread with broth in a large bowl. Let stand about 10 minutes, until bread absorbs liquid and softens. Mix in mushrooms, eggs, shallots, parsley, thyme, salt, and pepper. Add turkey, mix just until blended. Transfer to loaf pan.

Bake about 1 hour 25 minutes, until thermometer inserted into center reads 170 degrees. Let rest 15 minutes before serving.

recipe adapted from epicurious