Stuffed Acorn Squash

Another Taste of Home goodie. I made this once with ground beef since I didn't have any sausage. It was still good, but not as good as the sausage. Luke eats the cranberries and the meat, and then Nick eats the stuffing pieces and the squash so it works out pretty well.

The squash is cooked in the microwave which is so easy! And very fast. It looks gourmet and time consuming but it couldn't be easier. My acorn squashes were 2lbs each, but I still ended up with extra stuffing. I also never made this with the spinach called for.

Ingredients

• 2 medium acorn squash
• 1 pound bulk spicy pork sausage
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup fresh baby spinach, finely chopped
• 1-1/2 cups soft bread torn into stuffing sized pieces
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions

• Cut squash in half; remove and discard seeds. Place squash cut side down in a microwave-safe dish. Microwave on high for 10-12 minutes or until tender.
• Meanwhile, crumble sausage into a large skillet; add onion. Cook over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. In a large bowl, beat egg and milk; stir in the spinach, bread crumbs, cranberries and sausage mixture.
• Turn squash cut side up. Stuff with sausage mixture. Cover and microwave on high for 2-3 minutes. Yield: 4 servings.

Baked Chicken Enchilladas

My mother in law sent me a box recently with all sorts of treasures... Including my favorite, cooking magazines! This came out of taste of home :) Next time I make it I will probably through in some corn. I cut the sour cream in half and substituted with fat free cottage cheese. It was still nice and creamy without being a calorie fest. Luke refused to eat this. I don't know if he was just being cranky, but mommy and daddy liked it! (oh and don't worry, Luke ate dessert so he didn't go to bed hungry)

Ingredients

• 4-1/2 cups chopped chicken (I threw two chicken breasts in the oven for an hour that morning)
• 1 can (28 ounces) green enchilada sauce
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup cottage cheese
• 9 corn tortillas (6 inches), shredded into 1-1/2-inch pieces
• 16 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I used a little less)

Directions

• Mix chicken together with enchillada sauce, sour cream, cottage cheese, and most of the shredded cheese 
• In a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish, layer the chicken mixture alternating with the shredded tortillas. The final layer should be torillas. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese
• Cover and bake at 375° for 40 minutes. Uncover; bake 10 minutes longer or until bubbly. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Pumpkin Banana Bread

I had a lonely cup of pureed pumpkin sitting in my fridge. It was left over from last week's pumpkin donuts. It wasn't enough to make a pie, plus I don't have cloves. I tried making a pumpkin pie without cloves last fall and it just wasn't the same :(

It's hard to say if this is Banana Pumpkin Bread, or Pumpkin Banana Bread. Both flavors come through in this very moist fall-ish bread. Andy really liked it, Nick really liked it, Luke really liked it, and the floor got to taste some too. I sliced the bananas thin instead of mashing them before tossing them in the batter. The bread had actual banana pieces in it which made it so moist. Thanks food.com!

1 cup brown sugar (I reduced it to 3/4)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 bananas, sliced
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon clove
1/2 teaspoon allspice

( I don't have cloves or allspice, so I sub'ed 1/2tsp of pumpkin pie spice)
1/4 cup milk (or 1/4 cup yogurt)

Directions:

1 Preheat oven to 325°F.
2 Mix together sugars, oil and eggs.
3 Add sliced banana, pumpkin, and milk (or yogurt).
4 Mix dry ingredients together. Slowly add to wet ingredients, mixing as you go. 

5. Pour into a greased loaf pan, leaving about an inch of room at the top.
6. Bake in preheated oven for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Mine was done at 1hr and 17 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Enjoy!

Pastry Crust

Lately I have been making butter crusts. You can use this same recipe with vegetable shortening, like Crisco. For now though I am on a butter kick, especially since butter in Iowa is 1.99$ a pound. Since I'm used to paying at least 3$ a pound I just can't help myself!


The secret to making pie crust not so painful is get the dough COLD COLD COLD. You want to use COLD butter, and ICE water. Once your dough is assembled stick it in the fridge for 30 minutes before you even attempt rolling it.

I have used this crust for pot pies, meatball calzones, and fruit pies. The site where I found this states this is enough for two crusts. Perhaps I roll mine too thin, but I get enough dough for three 9" pies every time I make this.

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
• 1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) salted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 6 to 8 Tbsp ice water

Pour half a glass of water, then fill the rest with ice.

Mix butter with flour, salt, and butter until it forms little crumbs with pea sized pieces of butter. I do this with my hands.

Add water 1TBSP at a time. Stop at 6Tbsp and mix it together well by hand. Too much water will make the dough tough, so don't add the last two tablespoons of water unless you need it. 

Work the dough just enough to form two disks do not over-knead. You should be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These small chunks of butter are what will allow the resulting crust to be flaky. Sprinkle a little flour around the disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes to 1 hour. If it is in the fridge longer than and hour you will need to let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes so that it is not too stiff and cold to roll.

Put 1/4 cup or so of flour down on your clean rolling surface. Place dough on floured surface, sprinkle more flour onto dough and roll it out adding more flour if dough sticks to rolling pin. Take a dinner knife (not a sharp pointy knife!) and slide it gently between counter and dough to loosen it from counter. Gently lift it and place into pie plate. I like to use the rolling pin to roll it up off the counter.

Trim overhang to 1/2 - 3/4 inch and fold under against the pie plate and flute edges. After I roll out both of the crusts I collect the scraps, form a ball, wrap with plastic, and stick in the freezer for another time.

Taste of Home has a nice step by step picture tutorial here.

Frozen Peanut Butter Pie

I love this recipe. I'm not usually a big fan of peanut butter pie because it tends to be so rich that it kinda makes me feel sick after a couple bites. This recipe isn't like that. It truly is perfect! I have made it twice now. The original recipe wanted you to get TWO pies out of this filling. Unless you want to be known as the "chintzy pie lady" use this filling for one 9" pie.

• 6oz package cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat)
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup milk (skim is fine)
• 1 16 ounce package of cool whip thawed, reserve 3/4 cup for the top
• 1 prepared crust
• 1 cup of cookie crumbs mixed with 2Tbsp melted butter (Oreo's, Nutter Butters, or graham crackers)
• Press into greased pie plate, bake at 350 for 8 minutes

Instructions

1. Beat together cream cheese and confectioners' sugar. Mix in peanut butter and milk. Beat until smooth. Fold in whipped topping.
2. Pour into prepared crust
3. Spread reserved cool whip on top
4. Garnish with whatever you want... left over cookie crumbs, shaved chocolate, etc etc
5. Freeze until sold. 
6. Remove from freezer 10 minutes before cutting
7. Store any leftovers in freezer

Rustic Peach Pie

I love peach pie!! I always do mine with canned peaches. It is just a little too much work for me to blanch, peel, pit, and slice peaches! Canned peaches also lets you make this year round. If you use canned peaches drain them in a colander but save 3Tbsp of juice to add back in. I have made peach pie with peaches that I drained a little too well and it resulted in a dry pie without any of that amazing juice.

You *really* should make the pie crust, especially since you're saving all that time using canned peaches! Once you taste it you will be oh so happy you took the time to make the crust. I found a crust recipe that I love because it makes enough dough for three crusts. That way I can stick some dough in the freezer for next time.

Double Pie Crust (or single pie crust if you want to do a crumb topping)

Filling
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
8 to 10 large fresh peaches, pitted, peeled and sliced
(or 2.5 LARGE cans of peaches, drained, with 3tbsp juice added back in)




Egg wash
1 egg whisked with 1 Tablespoon water
course sugar for topping


Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. In a medium bowl, use a fork to combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter. Mix until crumbly.

3. Place one pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate. Scoop in one layer of peaches. Top with some of the crumbly sugar mixture. Layer more peaches and more crumbles. Continue until you've used up all of your peaches and crumbles.

4.Top with second pie crust in a latice fashion, or with crumb topping
(A found a great lattice tutorial here)

5. Brush the top with the egg wash, and sprinkle with coarse sugar


Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and reduce temp to 350. You do not need to take the pie out, just reach in carefully and place the sheet of aluminum over the pie. It only needs to rest on the pie. My pies generally need another 30 minutes from this point. The top should be well browned and the filling should be bubbling when it is done.