Roasted Butternut Squash Pizza

Butternut squash is my latest secret ingredient that our family has fallen in love with.  Honestly, I only ever roast it but after that point it can be used a bunch of yummy ways.  I put this pizza together with some other favorite ingredients for my book club the other night.  Here's the recipe - it's another one of those un-recipes...  I'll tell you the ingredients and how I prepped them but you can add however much of each that you like.

I started with an awesome pizza dough recipe I came across online.  It's thin and chewy with an nice taste.  Left my old thick crust recipe behind for this one.  I found it here.

This recipe makes enough for six 12" pizzas and my family is usually good with 2 for dinner, with sides.  The rest keeps great in the freezer.  Of course, you can use your own recipe or prepared crust or flatbread or tortilla, you get the point...

All the toppings I prepped ahead of time - the squash and onions take a long time.  They aren't labor intensive, you just need to plan ahead.  Also, you could make a huge batch of everything and make a couple freezer meals out of it.

To roast the squash:

Peel and seed the squash.  Cut into 1/2" chunks.  Coat with olive oil - be generous here, otherwise you get dry, chalky squash instead of creamy, caramelized goodness.  Season with salt and pepper.  I usually also mix in chopped garlic and any herb I feel like that day, fresh or dried both work great.  Cook at 350 degrees for a long, long time until soft in the middle and deep golden brown on the outside, usually takes 3-4 hours.  Stir a couple times in between and add more olive oil if you notice it drying out too much.

Note: I under salted the squash a little since I planned to salt the pizza.

To caramelize the onions:

Cut sweet or yellow onions into rounds or strips.  Sometimes I cut them thicker, like 1/2" and sometimes I do them thinner - doesn't really matter as long as they are uniform.  Cook in a frying pan on the stove on low heat for a long, long time until soft and golden brown, usually 2-3 hours.  The key here is to cook them low and slow - you don't want them to fry or cook too fast or they won't caramelize.  Season with salt and pepper.  I also usually add in some chopped garlic the last half hour.

To prep the sage:

Wash and dry some fresh sage.  Cut into 1/4" strips.  Coat with some olive oil so they crisp up in the oven.  You could probably just put them on without the oil but I was worried about them just getting burned instead of crisp.

To put the pizza together:

Get your crust to the point where you're ready to put toppings on it.  Coat the top with a thin layer of olive oil.  Top with some roasted squash, caramelized onions, feta and sage.  Add some crushed sea salt and bake according to your recipe.  Enjoy!!

By the way, since we're talking about squash and you took all that time to roast it, my family also loves it on pasta.  I'll roast it like above, and put it over spaghetti (but you can use what ever you like).  Take your fresh sage leaves and cook them in some butter until they are nice and crisp.  Spoon a little sage and butter over the squash.  Be advised - it's rich!  If you want a healthier version, mix the roasted squash up with some cooked mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, feta and quinoa.

Pumpkin Spice Baked Oatmeal

3 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup oil

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree

1/2 cup raisins

• Whisk together eggs, oil, milk and vanilla.  Then stir in pumpkin puree.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together oats, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices.
• Combine egg mixture and oat mixture.
• Add raisins.
• Pour into an 8x8 baking dish.  Then cover and refrigerate overnight.
• In the morning, give the oatmeal a little stir.  I found if you don't do this, the egg mix tends to settle into the bottom.  So give it a little stir.
• Then put the dish into a cold oven, and bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes.
• If I am making it for my family I cook it right away and don't let it sit overnight.

Serve with cream or milk or you can cut the oatmeal into squares to serve, or just scoop it out as you wish!

Sugar Cookies

Here's my favorite traditional sugar cookie recipe, the kind you cut out and ice.  Just made some for a halloween party and forgot to factor in the fact that they will expand in the oven.  I bought a cookie cutter the size I wanted to cookies to be and they turned in to mega-cookies!  Oh well, still yummy.

Sugar Cookies

Cream together:
1 1/3 C. butter, softened
2 C. sugar

Add:
4 large eggs

Dissolve together:
2 t. baking soda
1/2 C. milk
2 t. vanilla
Add this to the butter mixture and mix well.

Add:
8 C. flour
1/2 t. salt
Mix well.

Chill dough at least 1/2 hour.  I like to divide in two and wrap in plastic, flattening into disks - makes it easier to roll out.  Roll out on a lightly floured surface or between two sheets of plastic wrap.  Cut out.  I like them nice and thick so I roll them out to a little under 1/2".  If you like them thinner, you will get more cookies that way.

Bake on an ungreased pan for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees or until they just start to crack.  I like mine on the softer side so I don't let them brown much at all.  Cool completely.  Frost.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 T. milk
1 t. vanilla
4 C. powdered sugar
food coloring (opt.)

Beat cream cheese until smooth.  Add milk and vanilla and beat until smooth.  Add sugar and mix until well blended.  Add food coloring.

*Note:  I've also just shaped the dough into a log and chilled until solid.  Then I sliced them and froze them.  When I wanted fresh cookies I'd just take out and let sit on a cookie tray for a little bit and bake as above.

Miss A's favorite scones

Found this scone recipe and made a few tweaks.  I'm calling them this because my youngest (aka Miss A) would eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dessert if I wasn't trying to give her a well rounded diet.  Doesn't hurt that the version I made for her has mini-chocolate chips.  She LOVES her chocolate!  I don't mind letting her have them for breakfast because of all the other good stuff in them.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 C white flour (original recipe called for whole wheat but it was a little too hardy for us... I bet oat flour would be great too.)
1 T baking powder
3 T sugar
1/8 t salt
5 T cold unsalted butter
zest of half an orange (original recipe called for zest of one lemon)
1/2 C mini chocolate chips (original recipe called for 3/4 - 1C blueberries, fresh or frozen)
1/2 C plain low fat greek yogurt (I used 0% fat yogurt by Fage)
1/2 C low fat milk (I used skim)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Combine flours, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and whisk together.
3. Slice cold butter and drop into dry ingredients.  Cut in with a pasty cutter or knife.
4. Add zest and chocolate (or berries).  Gently stir.
5. Gently mix in yogurt and milk.  Eventually you'll need to use your hands to knead in the last of the flour into the dough.
6. Form into a circle that's about 1" deep all around.  Cut circle into 8 slices.
7. Separate slices and place on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper or foil.
8. Bake for 15 minutes or until light brown.

I was surprised at how easy it was to throw this recipe together.  Second time around, I double it and froze them.  Each morning (or whenever Miss A wants one), I just pull one out and pop in the microwave for 30 seconds.  Good to go!

Cookie request

Made these cookies last week and was asked to share the recipe.  I had a bunch of M&M's from a party so I subbed them for half the chocolate chips.  Yummy and colorful!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 C butter, softened
1/2 C crisco, butter flavored
3/4 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
2 t vanilla
2 eggs, room temperature
2  3/4 C flour
3/4 t salt
1 t baking soda
2 1/2 C chocolate chips

Beat butter, crisco, and both sugars until light and fluffy.  Add in vanilla and eggs and mix well.  Add in flour, salt and baking soda and mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips (and in my case M&M's).  At this point, the recipe says to bake.  However, I chilled my dough and I think it helped them keep their shape a little better.  It would also be easy to scoop the dough and freeze, then bake when you need them.  When you're ready to, bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes or until barely cracked on top and lightly browned on the bottom.

Summer Pasta

Here's my latest favorite quick meal.  Besides being quick, it's light and tastes like it's fresh from the garden.  In contrast to high calorie alfredo pastas, this one has just a hint of sauce and allows the basic ingredients to shine.  The first time I made it, I did it with just zucchini and tomatoes.  This version has some chicken and mushrooms in it.  Honestly, I liked the first version better!

OK - this is one of those recipes that you use how much you like and need to feed your family.  To make your own fresh summer pasta:

Boil water for pasta and cook according to package instructions.  

In the meantime, cut zucchini in 1/2" chunks.  You can also slice some of the biggest baby tomatoes in half but leave a good amount whole.  Clean and slice the mushrooms.  Chop some onion and garlic.  I used frozen onions and garlic from a jar - I'm all about convenience in these quick meals.  Slice up some fresh sage and hold on the side for the end.

Cut the chicken in chunks and fry in a hot pan with a little bit of olive oil.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Remove from pan.

Add some chicken broth to the same pan.  I used 1/4-1/2 C.  Dump in all your veggies and cover with a lid to steam a little bit.  This part goes really quick, maybe 5 minutes, stirring once or twice in between.  You just want them tender but not mushy.

Before draining your pasta, add about 1/2 C of the pasta water to the veggies.  Return the chicken to the pan.  Stir in the sage.  Add 1 T butter and stir until melted.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve veggies over pasta and sprinkle with some parmesan cheese.  OK, a lot of parmesan cheese!  Enjoy.

Garlic Green Beans

So I've made a goal to add some more interest here by adding photos (when possible).  Good excuse to combine two of my loves: food + photography = food photography!  Why it's taken me this long, well, all you moms out there know why...

Back to the food part.  This is one of my family's favorite side dishes.  Even my youngest who is a veggie purist (doesn't like any sauce or seasoning on her veggies) likes it.  Super easy and fast, and so fancy feeling.

Ingredients:

french green beans (frozen or fresh)

garlic, chopped or pressed

olive oil/butter or combo of both

sea/kosher salt

pepper

It's one of those recipes that you tweak to the way you like it.

1.  Heat a little olive oil and/or butter on high in a large saute pan.  Add garlic and green beans.  Cook to desired tenderness.  We like the little bits of burnt beans and crisp garlic.

2. Season with salt and pepper.