Stuff Stuffed with Other Stuff

I highly recommend plating this dinner on a colorful plate, I made the mistake of using cream colored plates and this dinner looked so sad!  There is a serious lack of green in this dish, but it's super healthy and delicious, so put it on a green plate and you're good to go!

Well what the hell am I eating, you ask?  Food stuffed with other food!  Feta cheese stuffed spicy chicken breasts and Roasted Acorn Squash stuffed with sauteed carrots and couscous cooked with dried cranberries.  Hearty, healthy and delicious!  There are a lot of little steps to this dinner, but it's super easy.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

Butter (I'll divide as I go here)

Salt and pepper 

1 Acorn squash

Brown Sugar

Carrots

Couscous

Dried Cranberries

a little bit of Frank's hot sauce, maybe about 1/4 cup

Toothpicks

Feta Cheese

Process:

First, preheat the oven to 425.

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.  Cut the acorn squash in half so you have a top and bottom.  Cut a little bit off the top and bottom as needed so the halves can sit level on their butts. Scoop all of the seeds out of the middles and rub a little butter inside.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and as much brown sugar as you'd like.  Place these on the baking sheet with the open side down flat, or with the cup facing down if that makes more sense.  Set this aside, you want to put it in the oven at the same time as the chicken because they take the same amount of time to cook.

Using a sharp knife cut a slit in the thick side of each chicken breast so you have a little pouch.  Stuff the pouch with feta cheese (or blue cheese), then use the tooth picks to keep the pouch closed.  Sprinkle salt and pepper on each side.  Heat some olive oil in a cast iron skillet (or any skillet you can put in the oven) over medium-high heat.  Sear the chicken breasts on each side for 2 to 3 minutes to get some nice color then transfer to the oven along with the acorn squash.  Let both of these bake for about 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the acorn squash is tender when you stab it with a fork (the inside part, obviously).

Meanwhile, put about 2 Tbsp of butter into a little sauce pan with about 1/4 cup of Frank's Hot sauce.  Let these simmer over low heat until the butter is melted.

Cook the couscous according to the package directions, it only takes 5 minutes to cook, so make it close to when the chicken is done.  I added dried cranberries to the couscous and let them sit together for 5 minutes then fluffed with a fork and set aside.  Sautee sliced carrots with a little salt, pepper and either fresh or powdered ginger.

When the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the oven and put on the pates (or if you need to keep it warm for a little longer while the squash cooks, place it in a pie pan on top of the stove) remove the toothpicks and spoon some of the sauce over the top.  You can use as much sauce as you like, it's quite spicy so just keep that in mind.  

Flip the squash halves right side up so you have a nice little cup sitting on your plate.  Fill it with the couscous and sauteed carrots, plop a chicken breast down next to the squash and you've got yourself dinner!  And just because there isn't anything green here doesn't mean it's not healthy.  Squash is very healthy and we all know the benefits of carrots.  Couscous is a great little grain and the dried cranberries really brighten it up.  If you did want to get some green goodness in there you could sautee some spinach with the carrots, but that texture freaks me out so I'll pass.  I usually stuff Acorn Squash with chopped zucchini, summer squash and carrots, but I didn't have those on hand tonight.

Pork Tenderloin

There's a show on the Food Network where this really obnoxious woman makes dinner for 4 for under $10.  This is a great concept, it's good to know that you can eat healthy delicious food without spending your whole paycheck, it's really something that more people need to know.  But this woman who does the show really rubs me the wrong way.  Regardless, I was absentmindedly watching this show one day while working or online shopping (same difference) and caught this woman making a pork roast.  She rubbed some spices on it then roasted it with some sort of green mixture on top, which I think included cilantro, which I detest, and when it finally came out of the oven it looked delicious.  So I decided to make pork tenderloin for dinner that night, with my version of this recipe.  It had to be my own version because I wasn't paying close enough attention to know exactly what the horrible woman used, and I certainly wasn't using cilantro, yuck!  And I'm a master of the pork tenderloin and I've never made a roast in my life, so...use what you know!


Preheat the oven to 425.


In a bowl large enough to roll a pork tenderloin around in, mix together the following spices:
(You're going to be rubbing these on the pork, so use as much of each as you would like)
Garlic powder
Onion powder
salt 
black pepper
cinnamon
curry powder
cumin
paprika


Then in a food processor add a bunch of flat leaf parsley without the stems, the juice of half a lemon, salt, pepper and enough olive oil to loosen the mixture.  Grind this into a nice puree.


Heat some olive oil in a pan over medium high heat and rub the spices all over the pork.  Add the pork to the pan and sear both sides.  Transfer the pork to a rack in a roasting pan and spread a thin layer of Dijon mustard over the top of the pork.  Smear the parsley mixture over the top of the pork.  Use all of it, it will create kind of a thick layer of green covering the top of the pork.


Bake for about 30 minutes or until the pork reaches 160.  Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing and eating.  It's delicious!


I made this with some rice pilaf and "roasted" vegetables.  I say "roasted" because I forgot to put the veggies in the oven soon enough, so I cooked them in a pan on low for a long time to achieve the same effect.  I used carrots, parsnips and apples...yum!  Be sure to put the parsnips in the pan first because they take longer to cook, then the carrots, and the apple close to the end.  I recommend adding some cumin, cinnamon, garlic and salt and pepper to the veggies for some nice flavor.


This meal is certainly under $10 and you can easily feed 4 people with it.

Turkey Pesto Sandwich

There is nothing fancy about this sandwich, it is not difficult to make, it requires no cooking and I stole the recipe from a sandwich I ate once.  All this said...it's a really good sandwich, and you should make one.


You need:
*Two pieces of bread.  A slightly more dense bread I think is best, like a whole wheat or slices of whatever bread you ate last night with dinner.
*Sliced turkey
*Mixed Greens
*Provolone Cheese
*Italian dressing
*Mayo
*Pesto


Do this:
Place a small amount of mixed greens in a bowl and toss with some italian dressing.  Set aside.


On one half of the bread, spread a little bit of mayo.  On the other half, spread a good helping of pesto.  On top of the mayo, place the sliced turkey, provolone cheese (as much as you like, but I really recommend using more turkey and less cheese) and mixed greens.  Put the other piece of bread on top and you've got yourself a sandwich!


Lunch!

A Better Lasagna

One day while taking a shower I was thinking of what I could possibly make for dinner that night.  I wanted lasagna but I wanted to somehow make it a little more healthy, without adding pieces of vegetables, because I think that is the easiest way to ruin a good lasagna.  There is nothing more disgusting, in my opinion, than chunks of vegetables in a rich creamy lasagna, yuck.  So I decided I would roast a butternut squash and a head of cauliflower with a ton of fresh herbs and then puree the two into some sort of delicious veggie puree that could serve as one of the layers.  So I did this, and it was, in a word, AMAZING.  Best freaking lasagna I have ever had.  I scaled way back on the cheese to let the creaminess of the puree give that rich velvety texture, and oh man was this the best idea I've had in a while!


This recipe does require slaving away in a hot kitchen for about 2 hours, but it is well worth it.  And it feeds at least 6 people, so you can either feed a crowd or have leftovers for days.  And now I give to you, the best damn lasagna you'll ever make.


You'll need:
*One butternut squash
*One head of cauliflower
*Fresh basil
*Fresh thyme or oregano or sage or whatever herbs you like really
*Salt and Pepper
*Olive oil
*Lasagna noodles (not the "no cook" kind, I don't like those)
*1 lb. of ground pork sausage, hot or mild, your preference (you could also use turkey sausage)
*One 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes in puree
*One 6 oz can of tomato paste
*5 oz. of goat cheese


Preheat the oven to 425.
Peel and cube the butternut squash, the smaller the pieces the faster it will roast.  Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray (or olive oil or whatever you like) and arrange all of the squash pieces in a single layer.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on salt, pepper and the finely chopped herbs.  Use a lot of these, you really want to give the squash a great flavor.


Chop up the cauliflower and do the same on another baking sheet (only because they won't both fit on one).  Throw in the oven for about 30 minutes or until fork tender.  

Fill a pot with water and boil for the noodles.  Cook according to the package directions.

In another pan, cook the sausage until brown, then add in the tomato paste and crushed tomatoes.  Stir together and let simmer until you're done making the veggie puree.

When the squash and cauliflower are ready, put them into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.  I had to add some white wine and a little of the pasta water to loosen the mixture, you can also use chicken stock.  Set this aside.  PS, this is going to be hot, it's right out of the oven, so use your head.


When everything is cooked and ready to be assembled, grease a 9x13 baking dish then put down a little bit of the tomato sauce, enough to cover the bottom of the dish.


Put down a layer of the noodles, then about half of the puree (or however much you think looks good, you might end up with leftover or you might use it all, it's really your preference).  Spread this evenly over the noodles then add half of the goat cheese, breaking it apart with your fingers and evenly distributing it over the entire lot.  On top of that add half of the tomato sauce, spreading it as evenly as possible.  Add another layer of noodles, the rest of the puree, the rest of the goat cheese, and the rest of the sauce.  Sprinkle freshly grated parmesan cheese over the top and put in the oven for about 30 minutes or until golden on top and bubbly.


Remove from oven and let sit for about 10 minutes before diving into.


You will really be surprised at how flavorful this lasagna is.  Every layer is jam packed with rich, creamy flavor, so you can avoid the 30 pounds of cheese you would normally use.  This goes great with a nice simple salad and a chunk of bread.  YUM!  You might want to wear sweatpants to dinner.

Spring Rolls

Spring Rolls are my favorite vegetable delivery device.  The best part is you can make them as you go, so each one can taste different, or the same, depending on what you put in.  You can make Spring Rolls with any vegetable or fruit you like that tastes good raw.


These are my favorite ingredients:
*Carrots
*Cucumber
*Red Bell Pepper
*Mango


Slice up the vegetables into matchsticks about 3 inches long and place in neat piles on a plate for easy picking.


Heat olive oil and soy sauce in a pan and toss in tofu cut into strips.  Add more soy sauce over the top so each piece receives some flavor.  Simmer the tofu for about 15 minutes or until it has soaked up the soy sauce and browned at least a little bit.


Meanwhile, fill a teapot with water and boil.  Place some thin rice noodles in a large bowl and cover with the boiled water.  Let them soak for about 5 minutes or until soft.  Remove from the water and place in another bowl (again for easy picking).  Save the bowl of water to soften the spring roll wrappers.


If you've never worked with spring roll wrappers before, they're a little tricky, they're like plastic wrap, they like to stick together and make your life difficult.


Quickly dip a wrapper into the water making sure the entire thing gets wet then lay flat on a plate.  In the middle, lay down a small amount of the rice noodles, then a couple pieces of tofu and the veggies, and a dash of peanut sauce.  You can make your own peanut sauce very easily, but the store bought stuff is great too.  Then roll it up like a burrito!  For those of you who haven't been professional burrito rollers at one point in your life, you fold over the short sides first then fold the side closest to you over the top of all the stuff and roll, making sure the rice paper sticks to itself and seals in all the goodness.


Eat!


Other delicious things to add are cooked shrimp, bean sprouts, fresh mint leaves, hell, you can add anything you want.  Shrimp sauteed in salt, pepper and curry powder are delicious.

Don't Eat Dessert First, but Definitely Eat It

I love Puff Pastry.  I have no desire to make it myself, that seems like a lot of work, and I don't really enjoy baking, but I do love to use the pre-made stuff!  Here is one of my favorite desserts to make when I'm looking to impress someone (who doesn't love to be the hit of a dinner party?!) or when I just want to make something I KNOW is good.


I call it...Puff Pastry with Balsamic Strawberries, Mint and Cream Cheese.  Clever, I know.


Here's what you'll need:
*Puff Pastry sheets, thawed.  The number of sheets you'll need is directly dependent on how many people you're looking to feed.  One sheet makes around 6 little treats, depending on how large you cut them.  You'll want to cut them into an even amount of squares, because you need "tops" and "bottoms", 2x2 inches is a great size for your mouth.
*Chopped fresh strawberries, these don't need to be pretty
*Balsamic Vinegar
*Sugar
*Fresh Mint
*Cream Cheese


Here's what you do:
Put the chopped strawberries in a bowl with a little bit of sugar and enough balsamic vinegar to make a nice little marinade.  Stir this together and put in the fridge for as long as you can.  The longer it sits, the better it will taste.


When you're ready, preheat the oven to 375, or whatever the package says on the Puff Pastry.


On a baking sheet, lay out half of your squares.  You should probably put down parchment paper or put cooking spray on the baking sheet, whatever you like to do to keep things from sticking.


On each square put a small dollop of cream cheese, a small amount of the strawberry mixture, and one mint leaf.


Cover with the "top" square and pinch together all of the edges to seal in the goodness.


Bake for about 15 minutes, or however long the pastry package tells you to, take them out when they're nice and golden and puffy.


Enjoy!  


For a tasty little appetizer I like to fill one square with a couple dried cranberries and feta cheese, yum!  Or how about brie, honey and chopped walnuts?!  The possibilities are endless really.