Butternut Squash, Fennel, and Sausage Galette

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

1 1/2 cups flour

½ Tbs. sugar

¾ tsp. salt

½ cup cold, cubed unsalted butter

1/3 cup cold water

For the Filling:

1 pound butternut Squash

2 Tbs. olive oil

¼ cup fresh rosemary, minced

¼ cup fresh sage, minced

½ large red onion, thinly sliced

1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced

3 hot Italian sausages

1 honey crisp apple, peeled and thinly sliced

1 cup loosely packed shredded Gruyere cheese

1 egg white

Preparation:

For the Crust:

Add the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Pulse 5 times to mix. Add the butter and pulse about 15 times, or until a coarse meal forms. Pour in the cold water and pulse until dough forms. Form the dough into a ball and cover with cover with wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

To prepare the butternut squash:

Preheat oven to 500°F.  Wash and peel squash. Cut into small cubes (about ½ inch by ½ inch). Arrange butternut squash on a baking dish and drizzle with 1 Tbs. olive oil, mix. Place dish in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until fork is easily inserted in the squash. Set aside. (I cooked a 2 pound butternut squash and saved half of it for my chili recipe)

For the filling:

Heat a small nonstick cooking pan over medium high heat. Squeeze the sausage out of the casings into the pan and saute until fully browned. Set aside.

Heat 1 Tbs. olive oil in a large nonstick cooking pan over medium high heat. Add the onion and saute for 3 minutes, or until translucent. Add the fennel, and saute for 3-5 minutes, or until translucent. Remove from heat. Add the cooked sausage, apple, rosemary, sage and ½ cup shredded Gruyere cheese.

To assemble:

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Roll the chilled crust on a floured surface into a large thin circle. Transfer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Pour filling onto center of crust and spread out, leaving 1-2 inches of bordering crust. Top filling with rest of shredded cheese. Fold border of crust over filling. Brush crust borders with egg white. Place in oven and cook for 40-45 minutes, or until crust is golden.

Crust Recipe from Sunset Magazine (I halved it)

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/easiest-pie-dough-50400000123745/

 

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup pumpkin puree (or canned pumpkin)

1/3 cup coconut oil (or canola oil)

1/3 cup applesauce

1 ¾ cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

¼ cup water

2 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. ginger

Optional: ½ cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease and flour 2 loaf pans.

Combine all dry ingredients (except sugar) in a large bowl with a whisk.

Combine coconut oil and sugar in a medium bowl. Mix in the pumpkin puree, eggs, vanilla, water and applesauce. 

Combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Pour evenly into the loaf pans.  Bake for 30 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Nutritional Information:

For 1 slice

calories: 192

fat: 5.6g

sat. fat. 4g

Carbs: 34g

Sugars:21g

Fiber:1g

Cholesterol:21mg

Sodium:117mg

Protien:2.56g

Good source of vit a

Makes 2 loaves, each loaf with 10 slices

Fall Chili

Fall Chili

Ingredients:

2 Tbs. olive oil

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, diced

1 can Hormel’s Hot Chili with Beans (or another brand)

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with liquid

1 (14.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (14.5 ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 (14.5 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 (14.5 ounce) can tomato sauce

3 Tbs. tomato paste

1 cup chicken broth

2 tsp. oregano

1 Chipotle pepper in adobe sauce, diced (1 for mild hotness, 2 for hot, 3 for crazy hot)

1 Tbs. cumin powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 Tbs. brown Sugar

½ butternut squash (1 pound total)

Toppings: Greek yogurt and Cilantro

Preparation:

To prepare the butternut squash:

Preheat oven to 500°F.  Wash and peel squash. Cut into small cubes (about ½ inch by ½ inch). Arrange butternut squash on a baking dish and drizzle with 1 Tbs. olive oil, mix. Place dish in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until fork is easily inserted in the squash. Set aside. (I cooked a 2 pound butternut squash and saved half of it for my galette recipe)

For the Chili:

Heat 1 Tbs. olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add diced onion and garlic, sauté for 2-3 minutes, or until onion becomes translucent. Add the next 13 ingredients (can of chili through brown sugar). Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer. Simmer chili for about 20 minutes, or until beans have softened. Add the roasted butternut squash and ladle chili into bowls. 

Top with a dollop of Greek yogurt and a handful of cilantro.

More Visitors!

 We had some more visitors recently! Mom and dad came to see our new home, and just in time before the weather turned to rain! We had such a good time with both of them!

 After experiencing St. Honore bakery with Matt and Sarah, I knew they would love it! So we headed over there after a nice time in the city and sifting through Powell Books. We each enjoyed a hot chocolate and shared pastries.

 We also strolled around the Rose Garden. I think that mom stopped to sniff just about every rose at the garden!

 This is such a cute picture of them!

 We also headed over to Cannon beach and satisfied their cravings for fish and chips!

Another day I took them over to the Silver Falls state park, which I think was their favorite sight to see. They braved the 6.5 mile hike to see 9 waterfalls! They were good troopers!

 The picture above is from behind one of the waterfalls.

 We hiked Steffen-Style, with hiking poles! I think they rather liked them!

They were so nice and hunted down pumpkins and fall leaves for my church activity with me! Mom was in heaven going to fish and farmers markets. We enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen (we made stuffed trout and beet cupcakes)! Dad enjoyed talking with me about politics :) Cory was unable to go on all our adventures but he made up for it in playing games with us in the evening! We played Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Catan (which Mom won by pretending like she was loosing!) Cory and I were so sad to see them leave!

Butternut Squash and Zuccini Pasta

Butternut Squash and Zuccini Pasta

Ingredients

2 Cups Pureed Roasted Butternut Squash (directions follow)

1/3 cup half and half

½ tsp. chicken stock paste

1/3 cup water

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

1/3 cup shredded Romano cheese

½ cup shredded part-skim mozzerella cheese

1 zuccini, diced into large chunks

1/3 cup diced onion

1 tsp. olive oil

Whole grain thin spagetti noodles

Walnuts to garnish

Directions

To prepare the butternut squash:

Preheat oven to 400 F°. Slice squash in half, lengthwise. Scrape out the seads. Place in a baking dish, face down. Fill the baking dish with ½ inch of water.  Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a fork is easily inserted into the squash. Let the squash cool for 15 minutes. Peel the skin and place squash in food processor and pulse until the squash forms a creamy puree. Measure out 2 cups and freeze or refigerate the rest.

For the pasta:

Prepare noodles according to directions.

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Saute the onions until translucent. Add the zuccini and saute for about 3 minutes. Take off heat and set aside.

In a medium sauce pan combine the squash, half and half, water, chicken stock paste, salt, pepper, and cheeses. Heat pan over medium heat, until the sauce is warmed through and the cheese is melted.

Place 1 serving of noodles on a plate, then spoon sauce on top. Spoon onion and zuccini mixture on top and garnish with about 1 tbs. chopped walnuts. 

Nutritional Information:

Calories: 266

Total Fat: 12g

Saturated Fat: 4g

Sodium:150 mg

Cholesterol:21 mg

Carbohydrates:11g

Sugars:6g

Fiber:3.5g

Protien:11g

Good source of vitamin A and vitamin C

Serving size: ½ cup cooked pasta, 1 tbs. chopped walnuts, ½ cup sauce and ¼ cup zucchini and onion mixture