Squash the Holiday of Thanks.

Thanksgiving Day; a full day devoted to giving heartfelt thanks for family, friends, good health, prosperity, and, in general, the full bounties of life.  These aspects of life should be thanked for on a daily basis, so why the need for an established National holiday?  Let’s take a brief walk down history lane to find out, shall we?  (From The Thanksgiving Book by Jerome Agel and Jason Shulman)

1610 – Only 60 survivors, of 490, remain of the English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia.  A day of Thanksgiving, in the spring, is dedicated to prayer, and praise for the ships that arrive from England carrying supplies.

1621 – Only 55 survivors, of 102 Pilgrims, have a three day celebration for the first autumn harvest (corn, squash, fish and meat from hunting (no turkey!).  The Wampanoag Indians are invited, and this is cited as the first unity between Native Americans and white English settlers.

1789 – President George Washington declares a “National Day of Thanksgiving” to be November 26^th to celebrate the ratification of the Constitution.  He left it to each State to decide if it should be celebrated or not; it failed to be an annual event due to lack of interest.

1863 – President Lincoln declares the last Thursday of November to be a “Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer”, believing it would help bring an end to the Civil War; all government departments must be closed.  Sometimes it was the 4^th week of the month, sometimes the fifth week until 1941.

1941 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares Thanksgiving to be the 4^th Thursday of November and that’s the way it’s been since.

As you’ve read, the true meaning behind Thanksgiving depended on life, death, governmental achievements, or the attempt to end war.  Even the Mormon pioneers of 1847 did not celebrate Thanksgiving until October 1848.  The Salt Lake Valley was burnt due to the harsh July sun; the desert was barren, alkaline, with sparse sage brush and cottonwood trees.  Much time and energy was devoted to irrigating and cultivating the soil before a real bountiful harvest could be achieved.  “…the pioneers rejoiced with a Thanksgiving harvest festival, literally giving thanks for their continued survival. (Mormon Pioneer Cookbook by DUP)

One item at the harvest table was Acorn squash which gets its name, not only, from the acorn shape, but from the nutty flavor of the flesh inside.  Acorn squash (Cucurbita Pepo) is low in calories, fats and carbs, since it contains no simple sugars; it is high in fiber and digests easily.  A single serving contains vitamins A, C and B6; also thiamin, folate, pantothenic acid, manganese, magnesium and potassium. The squash itself can be cooked by baking, steaming or microwaving; it can be eaten right out of its shell or stuffed, pureed for soup, added to mashed potatoes, or frozen for later use. If you were thinking that butternut or spaghetti squash were the only versatile ones, aren't you surprised now?

One of the typical ways to make acorn squash is by baking it in the oven and then coating the flesh with a butter and brown sugar mixture (the pioneers used molasses salt, cinnamon and nutmeg).  Reading my food related articles, you know I don’t follow typical recipes. Oh, I did bake it in the oven, but then stuffed it where it could be eaten as a meal in itself, or as a side dish.  Vegetarians would be happy with this dish, and while I add Romano cheese to it, it would be their choice depending on how strict a regime they follow.

From the Cokenour family to you and yours, Happy Thanksgiving; and eat up for tomorrow we diet!  Well, not really until the New Year, but it’s the thought of losing pounds that counts.

 

Baked Stuffed Acorn Squash

Ingredients:

2 large or 3 small acorn squash

2 Tbsp. plus 4 tsp. olive oil
¼ each diced onion and red bell pepper
1 Tbsp. minced garlic 4 cups wilted and chopped spinach, kale or broccoli rabe leaves, stems removed
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. Italian seasoning mix
4 tsp. shredded Romano cheese

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350F; line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Rinse squash in water and pat dry; cut in half and scoop out seeds and stringy pulp with a spoon. Place on baking sheet cut side down; bake for 30 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While squash is baking, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet, over medium-high heat; sauté’ onion and bell pepper for 3 minutes. Add in garlic, let cook for another minute before adding the leaves, salt and Italian seasoning. Mix thoroughly and let cook for 5 minutes before removing from heat; keep warm.

 

 

 

 

After 30 minutes, remove baking sheet from oven, turn over the squash halves and place together to help hold each other upright.  Drizzle a teaspoon of oil and sprinkle a teaspoon of cheese inside each half.  Stuff with the leaf mixture; return to oven and bake for 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 4-6 depending on size used.

 

Mary Cokenour

Not a Typical Roast Beef Sandwich.

Sometimes I have a craving for a particular type of sandwich; not a sandwich really, but a sub.  The Philly Cheesesteak Sub - a massive amount of meat, onions and melted cheese crammed into a crusty sub (hero, grinder, hoagie - depending on your area) roll. Sometimes sautéed sweet and/or green bell peppers, hot peppers, mushrooms; it depends on who is making it.  Same thing for the cheese - maybe provolone or an orange cheese sauce called "Cheez Whiz"...me?  I use good old American cheese slices; 12 slices for every pound of meat.  The meat is normally thinly sliced Ribeye; just the right amount of fat and meat to keep it moist and tender.  You can have it sliced by the butcher, do it yourself, or find it already sliced and packaged in the frozen food section; the frozen Ribeye looks like small steaks, but when cooking, they break apart easily.

Stopping someplace local for lunch, seeing Philly Cheesesteak on the menu; why I get a bit excited thinking about that tender meat smothered in cheese, onions and peppers.  Then the actual item is placed in front of me; warmed slices of roast beef (maybe), raw onions, lettuce, tomatoes, and a slice of American cheese on a roll.  “Excuse me, but what is this?” I ask in confusion.  “That’s our Philly Cheesesteak!”  I look at the waitress, look at the sandwich, look back at the waitress and say, “No hun, this is a roast beef sandwich, and if I wanted a roast beef sandwich, I would have ordered one.  Has your cook ever even been to Philadelphia?”  …and away she walks, mumbling under her breath about dumb customers.  You know, if you took the ingredients out, placed it between fry bread, well I guess you’ve got a Sheepherder sandwich; guess what, it’s still not a Philly Cheesesteak.

According to Visit Philadephia.com (http://www.visitphilly.com/), “Often imitated around the world, the cheesesteak is rarely duplicated successfully outside of Philadelphia.”  Even in Philly, shop owners compete for who makes the best cheesesteak.  At the Reading Market, lines form down the aisles from the cheesesteak counter.  This is a big deal!  So here’s what I am gonna do for you (sorry, just slipped into Brooklyn accent); tell you how to make an authentic Philly Cheesesteak.  Cold meat, raw onions, lettuce, tomatoes….get outta here!

 

 

Philly Cheesesteak Sub

Ingredients:

1 lb. thinly sliced Ribeye steak

1 medium onion, cut into strips
1 medium bell pepper, cut into strips (sweet, green or hot; your choice and optional)
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
12 slices American cheese
3 (6") sub rolls (can’t find crusty rolls, toast them at 350F for 5 minutes)

Preparation:

In a large skillet, medium-high heat, brown the steak; it will be tender enough to break apart in the skillet while browning.  When removing meat to plate, drain all excess grease except two tablespoons.

 

Put the onions, bell pepper, black pepper and garlic into the skillet; sauté' until the vegetables begin to soften and brown on the edges.  Add back the steak; add the cheese, use two spatulas to break apart the cheese and mix with the meat and vegetables thoroughly.  Turn off heat.

   Pack each sub roll with the mixture.

Makes 3 subs.

Now that’s an authentic Philly Cheesesteak!

Mary Cokenour

 

 

 

 

The Zen of Tortellini.

A favorite movie quote comes from 1984’s “Dune”, featuring Kyle MacLachlan, Patrick Stewart, Sting and more too numerous to mention; “Fear is the mind killer”.  Fear keeps us from completing goals, beginning new tasks, exploring the unknown, jumping head first into dangerous situations (that’s a good thing though).  However, if fear kills the mind, stress goes after the entire body inside and out.  It ages the skin, elevates blood sugar and pressure, leads to eating disorders and causes various organ diseases.  These two factors, stress and fear, are partners in crime as they both lead to unhealthy, unhappy lives.

Stress and fear appear in disguises; they slink into your life, and as Chef Emeril Lagasse would say, as he spices up a recipe, “Bam!!!” they destroy you.  I have to admit that I don’t like his recipes much; just seem to have too many ingredients and steps to the final result.  Very rarely do any of my personal recipes have many ingredients and/or steps, and that’s mainly due to my own lack of patience.  Actually, I’m much better at being patient than in earlier days, and that has attributed to helping to bring my stress level down.  Take a deep breath and count to ten, or more if needed; smile and nod; imagine yourself in a happier, quieter place…yes, these techniques all work a lot better now.  Not perfect, just better.

In cooking, I have, more and more, turned away from using premade, packaged meals; and found easier, tastier ways to make them from scratch.  Better for health to get away from all those preservatives and additives, and lots better for the ego, “Hey, look what I made!”  Yes, better seems to be the catch word for now; not perfect, just better.  Some recipes, that started out as just a side dish, found their way to becoming a meal of their own.  Just an additional ingredient here or there, or different technique; nothing long drawn, seems to make the difference.

 

A favorite pasta of mine is Tortellini; little pasta rings filled with cheese, spinach, chicken, just about anything nowadays; the larger version is referred to as Tortelloni.  It comes dried, frozen, and fresh; packages small enough to take up very little storage space in the freezer or pantry.  This pasta can be served with virtually any type of sauce, in soups, salads, as a side dish, or a main meal; you can’t go wrong with it.  If you haven’t tried it yet, give yourself a little taste adventure; play with ingredients to add with it.  Have fun playing in the kitchen, create something unique, smile and see how much better you feel.  Not perfect, just better…for now.

 

Simple Tortellini Salad

Ingredients:

1 (16 oz.) package tortellini  

½ cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. dried Italian herb mix
4 Tbsp. Vidalia sweet onion relish (jarred or fresh made)

Preparation:

Cook tortellini according to package directions.

Place cooked tortellini into large bowl; add remaining ingredients and mix together gently so as to not break up the pasta.

Makes 4-6 servings; can be served warm or cold.

Or, for the more adventurous:

 

Tortellini Salad

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. olive oil

½ lb. asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
½ cup mushrooms, chopped
2 Tbsp. (packed in oil) sundried tomatoes, diced
3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. fresh marjoram (if not available, use dried)
Dash each of sea salt and ground black pepper
1 lb. tortellini, cooked

Preparation:

In a large skillet, heat oil on high; sauté asparagus spears, mushrooms and tomatoes for 7 minutes.  Reduce heat to low, add in vinegar and garlic; let simmer for 5 minutes.

Add in marjoram, salt, pepper and tortellini; toss gently to coat and remove to serving dish.

Makes 4-6 servings; can be served warm or cold.

 

Mary Cokenour

Lasagna that is Meatless and Very Little Cheese.

Typically, when you hear the word "Lasagna", images of long, tender noodles holding layer upon layer of meat sauce and mixture of Italian cheeses might come to mind.  This new recipe I am going to post today is about a lasagna without meat, no typical red tomato sauce, and very little cheese indeed.  I'm writing about a vegetable lasagna, the same long, tender noodles, but instead there are layers chock full of sautéed vegetables, fresh spinach leaves and a béchamel sauce.  Béchamel is a white sauce, but since I did melt in a fair amount of shredded Parmesan cheese, it becomes an Alfredo sauce.

Even though the noodles are undercooked slightly, they will be pliable and not fall apart.  Will they cook evenly while baking?  Yes!  The sauce, plus natural liquid from the vegetables, will finish cooking the noodles; they will be tender and absorb flavors of both the sauce and the vegetables.  The Alfredo sauce allows the vegetables to retain their individual flavors and truly enhances them.

Vegetable Lasagna Rustico

Ingredients:

For the Lasagna Filling:

12 Lasagna Noodles (full size, not the no-cook variety)

¼ cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 green bell pepper, julienned
½ lb. shredded carrots
½ sliced mushrooms
1 large zucchini, cut into ¼ inch slices
1 large yellow squash, cut into ¼ inch slices
2 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp Italian herbal mix
½ lb. spinach leaves; divided into 1/3 portions
5 cups Alfredo sauce

For the Alfredo Sauce:

Ingredients:

8 Tbsp. butter
8 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
6 cups hot milk
1 (8 oz.) package shredded Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

Preparation:

Prepare noodles according to package direction, but undercook by 5 minutes to leave the noodles pliable.

Prepare the Alfredo sauce which should be kept warm until ready for use.  In a large saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat until melted; gradually add the flour, stirring until smooth.  Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture turns a golden brown color, about 6 to 7 minutes; this is the roux.

Add the hot milk to the butter mixture one cup at a time; whisk continuously to avoid burning or clumping. When mixture is completely smooth, add the cheese and whisk until smooth again; remove from heat; season with salt and nutmeg.

 

Prepare the vegetable filling; in a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat; add onions, red and green bell peppers and carrots; mix and let cook for five minutes.  Add in the mushrooms, zucchini and yellow squash; mix and let cook for five minutes.  Mix in garlic and Italian herbal mixture; remove from heat.

 Preheat oven to 375F and lightly spray a 4-quart baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

 

Begin the layering process: one cup sauce spread over bottom of baking dish; three noodles alongside each other; one third of the vegetables from the skillet spread over the noodles; one third of the spinach leaves spread over the vegetables; three noodles; one cup sauce spread over the noodles; lastly top with remaining two cups of sauce.

 

-        Or  -

One Cup Sauce
3 Noodles

1/3 Vegetables
1/3 Spinach Leaves
3 Noodles
One Cup Sauce
1/3 Vegetables
1/3 Spinach Leaves
3 Noodles
One Cup Sauce
1/3 Vegetables
1/3 Spinach Leaves
3 Noodles
Top with remaining two cups of sauce.

 

Bake, uncovered, for 40-45 minutes; until golden brown.  Let rest for 20 minutes before cutting into portions.

Makes 9 servings.

After resting, the cut portions hold their shape.

Mary Cokenour

One-Two-Three-Four and Time for Coffee Too.

One new recipe.
Two families to cook for.
Three complete meals for a week.
Four hours to prep, prepare and clean up.

No, this is not a new nursery rhyme geared towards the kitchen, and it doesn't rhyme in the least anyway.  This was my accomplishment for this morning; can't decide if I'm leaning towards Super Woman status, or Totally Hot Culinary Goddess.  Besides providing meals for myself and my hubby, I also send meals down to my mother-in-law and her other son who live down in Moab...but I'm getting ahead of myself on the 1-2-3-4 scale.

One New Recipe.

                                                     Roasted Potato Wedges

Ingredients:

3 lbs russet or red skinned potatoes, washed and patted dry (leave skin on)
1/2 cup crushed dried parsley
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 olive oil

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375F; use a nonstick jelly roll pan (baking sheet with 1/4 inch lip around edges).

Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise, angle the knife to cut the first wedge; turn the potato half cut side down and repeat wedge cut with knife; repeat.  Depending on the size of the potatoes, there will be 3-5 wedges with each potato half; place in large bowl.  Add the parsley, salt, black pepper and cheese; toss to coat.  Add the olive oil and toss again making sure to mix in any ingredients that may have settled to the bottom of the bowl.

Spread the wedges on the pan; roast for 25 minutes; turn the wedges over and continue to roast for 20 minutes more.  The outside will be slightly browned and crispy while the inside will be fluffy.

Note:  the olive oil was added last to give the other ingredients a chance to better coat all the potato wedges, not just the top layer which the oil would cover first and make everything stick to it.

Makes 6 servings.

Two Families to Cook for.

As I mentioned earlier, I cook for my husband's family also, so hence the two families.  My mother-in-law enjoys the meals I send down to her, and I enjoy doing it.  Simple as that...and yes, I have a mother-in-law that not only enjoys my cooking, but appreciates it and me as well.  Eat your heart out!

Oh, and don't let the upcoming photos fool you.  There are two trays of each complete meal.

Three Complete Meals for a Week.

Meatloaf with Roasted Potato Wedges

 

Ramen Noodle Beef Stir Fry

 

 

Homemade Italian Dressing Chicken with Vegetables

 

Four Hours to Prep, Prepare and Clean Up.

 

First off, I made sure to get a pot of coffee going; I love my coffee in the morning!

 

After getting the chicken and marinade in a bag and settled into the refrigerator, I began making the stir fry.  What made my time go faster is that I often buy extra vegetables that I use a lot of: bell peppers, onions, zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli and cauliflower.  I cut them to the sizes I need, blanch or steam if necessary and portion them out into sealable plastic freezer bags.  When I need them, there they are ready for the using.  The thin round steak was defrosting overnight in the refrigerator, but still slightly frozen when I pulled it out.  This made it so easy to cut thin strips which I mixed with a cup of Hoisin sauce; then I just followed the instructions as listed on my recipe (click  the link over the photo).  While everything was cooking, I had time in between to clean up and start the next meal which was the meatloaf.

 

Again, simply follow the recipe (click the link over the photo); 45 minutes after placing the meatloaves into the oven, I added the tray of potatoes and they finished up at the same time.  I cleaned up and sauteed the vegetables that would go with the chicken.  Fifteen minutes before the meatloaf and potatoes were finished, I began the initial cooking of my chicken which had marinated for the maximum time of four hours.  The chicken was on the baking tray and ready to finish up in the oven as the other items came out.

 

Basically, I began all this at 8am and was completely finished up, including cleanup and packaging up the meals, by 12pm...four hours!

 

During all this, I sipped on Vanilla Nut Creme coffee; dodged cats and dogs milling around my legs, hoping I would drop pieces of chicken or beef; and actually downed a muffin for breakfast.  So, I have decided that not only am I a Super Woman, but definitely a Goddess also.  I'm now going to take a well deserved nap; have a great day everyone!

 

Mary Cokenour