Sausage and Winter Squash Cassoulet

This recipe really deserves a photo and I know I should get back to practicing my food photos, but its so much easier to post without taking pictures.

I came up with this recipe last year in one of my periods of being determined to find a recipe with squash that my hubby will eat. This one was not just ok it was a definite keeper and one of my favorite recipes I have ever come up with. It is also the epitome of comfort food while being surprisingly healthy.

Sausage and Winter Squash Cassoulet

1 1/2 cups chopped onion
3 cloves garlic chopped
2-3 celery stalks chopped
2 carrots chopped
1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped herbs (Thyme, sage, parsley, basil)
1 acorn or other winter squash cooked, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 to 1 1/2 lbs Italian sausage
3-5 slices bacon chopped
30 ounces cooked or canned white beans (half of them mashed)
1 large can stewed tomatoes
1/4 cup Marsala wine
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Cook sausage and bacon in a dutch oven drain grease add in veggies and cook until soft. Add herbs, salt and pepper Marsala wine, cider vinegar and tomatoes bring to a boil then simmer for 10 mins. Add squash and beans (half of the beans should be mashed with a potato masher) cover and simmer 30 mins. Cook covered in a 325 degree oven for 1 hour. Uncover sprinkle with breadcrumbs and cook an additional 30mins.

This dish is rich and creamy, we like to enjoy it with some nice crusty bread. It would also be good with a sprinkle of cheese on top but it is really not needed. While this dish does take a while to cook traditional cassoulet's take much longer and this one is well worth it!

Stuffed Pork Chops with Roasted Tomatoes

I have a favorite manicotti/shell stuffing that I make in the fall and freeze in batches. I make it in the fall because one of the ingredients is chard and I have an abundance of that this time a year. Also basil but my basil this year is already done with. I had one last batch in the freezer from last year and decided that I could do other things with it then just stuffed manicotti. So I decided to try stuffing pork chops.

Now I didn't do this recipe exactly as I had planned. I have been very busy lately and loving my crock pot so I put this all in the crock pot and cooked on low all day. I had planned to put it in the oven and while it was fine and good in the crock pot I think the oven would have been a little closer to what I was thinking as it turned out instead of like pork chops a little more like a pork pot roast!

Swiss Chard filling:

2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup shredded/chopped swiss chard
1/4 cup shredded basil
1/4 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup Parmesan
1 cup Cottage Cheese
Salt and pepper

Cook garlic and onion in a pan until translucent then combine all ingredients in a food processor and mix/incorporate thoroughly.

Roasted Tomatoes:
Fill a pan with chopped tomatoes, garlic, onion and toss in olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in a 400 oven until bubbly and caramelized.  For this recipe I then lightly pureed it.

I make this and freeze it to add to well whatever, soups sauce etc. You can puree it or leave it as is but it really brings out the flavor in tomatoes especially if they are not perfect ripe off the garden vine.

4 thick cut Pork chops.

Cut a slit in the pork chops and spoon in cheese mixture, salt and pepper both sides. Put in a single layer in the crock pot pour over the tomato puree, cover and cook on low all day. I was going to sprinkle with some cheese at the end but forgot! Cheese makes everything better but it was still yummy.

I am going to be using my crock pot a lot in the near future maybe all winter. It is so great for busy days like yesterday, I had to leave the house at 9am and had a late lesson at 5 meaning i wasn't back in the house until 7pm. But dinner was pretty much ready when I came in so no complaining about  eating at 9!

Easy Yummy Baked Oatmeal

Shane and I had a fun but very long day yesterday. We not only left in the wee hours of the morning we returned well... almost in the wee hours of the morning! After a day of long travel and eating out we both craved something simple and comforting for breakfast this am.

So I set out to make a batch of baked oatmeal and this is what I came up with. It is quite good!

Baked Oatmeal

2cups oats
1/4 Brown Sugar (or a little less)
1tsp + Cinnamon
1/3 c dried cranberries
1 tsp baking powder
2-3 Tbs ground flax
2-3 Tbs wheat germ

1 1/2 cups milk
2-3 Tbs apple butter
3 tbs agave nectar
1 egg
2 tbs melted butter cooled

Combine dry ingredients and mix well. Whisk the wet ingredients together and then mix well with the oat mix making sure to coat everything. Pour into a sprayed 8x8 baking pan and bake at 375 for 20 mins.

A different Zucchini Bread

Today I made zucchini bread with almost the last of the squash out of my garden. I wanted to try a recipe that was a little different, and going of the lemon zucchini blueberry muffins I made last week I decided to stay with the lemon theme. This bread doesn't have any cinnamon in it and also I used a very small amount of sugar so it has just a tiny hint of sweetness, you could certainly use more but it came out batter like and once cooked stayed almost cake like and very tender.

Zucchini Bread

2cups shredded zucchini

2 Tbs sugar
1/3cup sugar
1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt
2 eggs
juice from half a lemon (this was all I had otherwise I might have done a whole lemon)
6Tbs Butter melted and cooled or very soft
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1cup whole wheat flour
1cup white flour

After shredding zucchini place in a colander and sprinkle with 1-2tbs sugar let sit 30 mins to drain, then gently push down on the zucchini to get any excess moisture out. In your mixer or by hand beat 1/3 cup sugar, eggs, butter, yogurt and lemon juice until combined, fold in the zucchini. Mixing thoroughly after each addition add in baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour last one cup at a time. Pour into a greased and floured bread pan bake at 375 for 55-60 mins.

Baked Potato and Squash?

Ok so I know I have not been on here in forever! The worst part about that is being able to remember the recipes you wanted to share. I meant to post this recipe for for a potato bake that I came up with weeks ago but it has seemingly escaped me. Sorry I was never able to catch any photos of this dish either. Food photography seems to be one of the bigger challenges for me, not only taking the pictures but taking good ones! Who has time to stop and take pics while they are cooking anyway and I would usually rather taste my food warm then spend an hour trying to stage it and make it look pretty!

I made this dish twice and changed it a little the second time because I had different ingredients on hand.

Thin baked potato and squash casserole

2small to medium summer squash sliced very thinly (if you have a mandolin use it)
3-4 medium waxy type potatoes very thinly sliced(you could use any but I think those are best)
1/2 a brick of cream cheese cut into chunks
1/3cup of feta or goat cheese
1/3cup grated cheddar
1/3cup milk
Parmesan
salt and pepper
generous handful of basil shredded or you can use dried

Layer 1/3 of the potatoes and squash in the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper dollop with half of the cream cheese and feta sprinkle on some Parmesan and basil repeating with another layer. Then put on the last layer of potatoes and squash, salt and pepper, basil, cheddar and Parmesan, pour milk over the dish cover with foil and bake at 400 for 25-30 mins then remove foil and bake an additional 15 mins to make the cheese bubbly and crispy.

I have also just made this with plain cheddar and Parmesan and it was just as good. Shane gobbled it up and even had seconds not complaining about the squash!