December 26, 2013

Spaghetti squash patties with cilantro-lemon yogurt


I'm back with a recipe for week 8 of the 12 Weeks of Winter Squash. With all the holiday recipes and general craziness of the season, I missed week 7 - hopefully I'll be able to do all the remaining weeks though. It's the time of year when we try to eat from our freezer and pantry a lot, including a big stash of winter squash and all the goodies I canned the past year. We ate these patties with some pork chops and green tomato and apple chutney. All the flavors went together perfectly! I spiced these spaghetti squash patties to compliment the chutney, but you could use other spices as well -- spaghetti squash really provides a blank canvas for flavors. The idea for these patties was inspired by a recipe I saw a while back from Sprigs of Rosemary. I thought it would be a delicious way to enjoy some of our spaghetti squash stash and I was correct.

December 19, 2013

German cinnamon stars

Stack of German Cinnamon Star cookies.


I guess I'm a little behind this year when it comes to cookie baking. I have my list ready of the ones I want to make and these German cinnamon stars (Zimtsterne) were at the top. 

December 12, 2013

Chicken, butternut squash, and spinach skillet pasta bake

Skillet of finished chicken, butternut squash, and spinach pasta bake.

We had the hugest butternut squash I have even seen. It came from my father-in-law's garden and was just really massive. We used 1/3 of it to make a side dish for Thanksgiving (that produced leftovers) - that's how big it was. 

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So, needless to say, we've been eating a lot of butternut squash. I threw this pasta dish together using a lot of leftovers -- more of the squash, some chicken, a hunk of mozzarella, etc. It was a really satisfying and tasty pasta dish and was a perfect meal for a cold and snowy evening. 

This dish will feed about 4-6 people, so we had a lot of lunch leftovers (my favorite).

Spoon scooping some finished pasta bake.

December 9, 2013

Sauerkraut two ways

Jar of jalapeno saukerkraut with some being scooped into a serving bowl.

Homemade sauerkraut can be made in small batches using a Mason jar and a few other items.

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I tried a couple batches of sauerkraut this fall and recently pulled them out of the back of the fridge to give them a smell and taste. They are good, and definitely have a funk that you expect from ferments and sauerkraut. I think that I still have a way to go before "perfecting" my ferments though. 

I'm finding that so much depends on the temperature when you start the ferment. You need to check it to make sure it's still bubbling and that it's not getting too warm (should be room temperature). I have used the recipes in Nourishing Traditions as a baseline for making my sauerkraut. These recipes make one quart and use 1 medium head of cabbage to two tablespoons of sea salt. 

It can come out a bit salty and I'm hoping to find ways to use less -- you definitely don't want to use a super fine grain salt, it will be too much. I discovered that you can use reCAP Mason jar lids to turn a Mason jar into a fermenting crock (find instructions here). 

It's great! Plus when you finish the fermenting process, you can use them to cover the jars in your fridge, or replace them with a regular Mason jar lid and use the reCAPs to make more ferments. They are also great for using your jars to make salad dressing, syrups, etc. that you can easily pour and store.

The two sauerkraut recipes I made are for jalapeno kraut and caraway kraut. Both make 1 quart of sauerkraut. I'm hoping that these recipes will inspire more people to try fermenting and preserving foods.

Jar of finished caraway sauerkraut.

December 5, 2013

Concord grape tart with cinnamon crumble

Slice of Concord grape tart.

I've never really liked "grape flavored" foods, but I've always loved eating fresh grapes. As I've gotten older, I've started to really enjoy foods made from real grapes like jelly or juice (or wine), but I still can't stand anything grape flavored (e.g., fake grape flavors in candy).

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For the past couple of years I have been wanting to make a concord grape pie. We live in an area surrounded by grape growing and wine making, and I guess grape pie is pretty common (although I had not seen or tasted it in real life before I made this tart). 

But, I was intrigued by the idea of it and during the peak of concord grape season, I prepared the filling and froze it to make a different pie for Thanksgiving this year. It ended up being a tart because I had less grapes than I needed to make a pie -- but it worked out well because the grapes are so sweet, that the layer was thick enough for me! 

Everyone enjoyed this tart and the grape flavor was so bright and pronounced. I highly recommend saving this recipe for next fall and giving it a try! If you want to have it at your next Thanksgiving dinner, you can freeze the grapes after they cool and then just stir in the remaining ingredients after they thaw. 

This recipe will make one 9-inch tart.

Top view of Concord grape tart with a cinnamon crumble top.