I Finally Found my Camera Cable and Stuffed Acorn Squash

Wow, I just realized that it's been over a month since I have last posted.  I'm sorry about that, and I really find in unacceptable.  My excuse, though not a very good one, is that I had lost the cable that connects my camera to my computer, but I have finally found it.  I've finally found a good routine with school and life, so expect to see a lot more posts in December.  There is also an upcoming trip, and a lot of homemade Christmas goodies, so I will post pictures from that when it happens.  It should be an exciting month.

Even though I made this dish almost 3 weeks ago, I thought I should post it right away because at least where I live, you can still buy acorn squash.  My husband gave me a strange look when I set this dish on the table, but he really liked it after giving it a try.  To me this is a perfect combination of sweet and savory, and if you omit the sausage and use vegetable broth it is a great vegan entree.  This would be a good dish for vegan or vegetarians at a Christmas dinner because it seems special, but it's easy enough to make on a weeknight too.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

• 1 acorn squash cut in half and seeds removed (you can save the seeds and bake them)
• 1/2 loaf of sandwich bread white or wheat, torn into bite sized pieces
• 1 lb. ground turkey or sausage (leave out for a vegan meal)
• 1tsp. salt
• ground pepper to taste
• red pepper flakes to taste
• 3 stalks celery diced
• 1/2 onion diced
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1 tablespoon dried sage plus 1 tsp. dried sage
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup vegetable broth or poultry broth

1. preheat oven to 350 F.  Place acorn squash cut sides down on cookie sheet and bake for 1/2 hour.  Set aside while preparing stuffing.

2. Meanwhile, brown turkey in a skillet with about 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tsp. ground sage, 1tsp. salt, pepper, and pepper flakes to taste.  If you are using sausage you can omit the salt and pepper.  Do not drain fat from browned meat.

3. In a large bowl add bread, celery, onions, dried sage, cranberries, broth, remaining oil, and browned meat with fat.  Mix together until the bread has soaked up the broth.  You are looking for broth to come out of the bread when squeezed, but not so much broth that there are puddles in the bottom of the bowl.  Think of a saturated sponge.  You can now taste the stuffing mixture for seasoning and add salt, pepper, or more sage if needed.

4. Stuff mixture into prebaked acorn squash halves.  I usually have extra stuffing which I bake in a small casserole dish.  You could omit the acorn squash completely and bake all the stuffing in a casserole dish.  The squash and stuffing can be wrapped at this point and held in the refrigerator overnight.

5. Bake stuffed squash for 1 hour.  When you eat this pull some of the squash out with the stuffing to enjoy the sweetness of the squash and the savory stuffing. 

Banana Bread: Problems Solved

I read a lot of vegan cookbooks and blogs.  This reading has lead me to the discovery that banana can be used as an egg replacer.  When I was looking for a banana bread recipe to use up the three sad looking bananas in my refrigerator I refused to use a recipe that contains eggs because they aren't needed.  I looked through my vegan cookbook stash and turned to The Alternative Vegan.  It contained a banana bread recipe that of course contained no eggs, but also no fat other than peanut butter.  I was intrigued.  The recipe also suggested not baking the bread in a loaf pan because the middle might not get cooked through.  Brilliant!  I've had so many loaves of zucchini bread that were not all the way cooked through because they were loaves.  I mixed up all the ingredients for the bread and popped it in a greased pie plate.  I was a little concerned about the bread because it came out of the oven very dark, and I thought it had burned.  However, when I tasted a piece I realized it was fine.  This was a great banana bread, and I wrapped it up as a Mother's Day gift for my mother-in-law.  I will, from now on, bake bread like this in pie pans rather than loaf pans, and I will not use egg in recipes that call for bananas.

Day one: Kale and food anxiety

Today was day one of the 21 day vegan kickstart.  I'm doing this program Monday through Thursday.  

I woke up this morning a little concerned about breakfast.  I have been wrapping a piece of bread around a piece of cheese and eating it as I headed out the door.  This worked really well for me, but I would not be able to have my cheese this morning.  Apple cinnamon oatmeal was on the agenda for today, but I forgot to buy the apple juice concentrate, so I had cereal instead.  I was happy with the cereal, but hungry by lunch and fantasizing about skipping the program and eating school lunch.  That's how strange my mindset was.  I wanted school lunch!  

I was concerned about lunch, but I was pleasantly surprised.  The Couscous Confetti Salad was very filling and great.  Everyone looked at it with food envy, and I was asked to bring this to the next carry-in.  I will make this again.  I also had the Carrot and Red Pepper soup.  This wasn't terrible, but I was soups with something in them to chew.  I have it for lunch tomorrow, and I think I'll just sip it out of a coffee mug.  I may feel better about it that way.

When I came home, I was dying for a snack.  I had 2 pieces of sourdough toast with peanut butter and apricot jam.  They were delicious and held me over for supper.  Supper was Kwick Kale and Hoppin John Salad.  The salad was okay, a little lemony and bland.  I won't make this again with the suggested dressing.  The Kwick Kale was great.  I ate 2 bowls full (the entire recipe).  I've always loved cooked greens, but I've always slow-cooked them with some kind of pork.  It's nice to have a quick meat-free option.  

Overall, it's been a decent start.  I have had a lot of food anxiety, which really shows me the extent of my addiction to food.  I really am always thinking about food.  I even have dreams about food.  Tune in tomorrow to see if there is anymore anxiety.

Above is my supper, perched on my lap.  Notice the stylish ducky pajama pants.

40 days: Fat Tuesday ends, the detox begins.

Something about roasting red peppers makes me feel really cool.  I get to play with fire, and I know it's something that my dad wouldn't approve of me doing.  I roasted these peppers tonight in preparation for lunch tomorrow.  In honor of the Lenten season (no, I'm no Catholic), I decided that on Monday - Thursday I would participate in the 21 day Vegan Kickstart program http://pcrm.org/kickstartHome/.  I've been wanting to do this for awhile to see how it would make me feel, but I've always had the problem of weekend activities revolving around food that would mess this up.  I decided that if I do this program on the weekdays I would still be able to do what I needed to do on the weekends, post recipes and weeknight kitchen posts (I'm behind, I know), but I would still get the benefits of healthier eating during the week.  Tomorrow is day one, and I roasted pepper last night for the carrot and roasted red pepper soup.  I'll let  you know how it tastes tomorrow.

In the meantime, Happy Fat Tuesday!  Live it up tonight because tomorrow is a time for reflection and possibly hangovers.