Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Noodles with Bacon, Spinach and Pecans

Ingredients

• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled, Blade C
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 cups cubed skinless butternut squash
• 1 cup packed spinach
• 1/4 cup crushed pecans
• 4 strips of bacon
• olive oil for drizzling
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup vegetable broth, low-sodium
• 1/2 cup light unsweetened almond milk

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 405 degrees. Once preheated, add the cubed butternut squash into a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Dust lightly and evenly with the cinnamon. Mix together to combine and roast for 35 minutes.
2. While the butternut squash is roasting, put a large skillet over medium heat. Add in the tbsp of olive oil and the sweet potato noodles. Cook for about 6-8 minutes or until sweet potato noodles cook through and are soft. Set aside.
3. Place a large skillet over medium heat and add in the bacon strips. Cook the bacon until crispy and set aside on a paper-towel-lined plate.
4. Once the squash is done roasting, add the cubes directly into a food processor. Add in the almond milk and half of the vegetable broth. Pulse until creamy.
5. Place a large skillet over medium heat and add in the squash puree and the rest of the vegetable broth. Cook until the broth reduces and the puree is creamier. Add water or more vegetable broth, if not creamy.
6. Once the sauce is done, add in the spinach and sweet potato noodles and mix to combine thoroughly. Let cook until spinach wilts.
7. Plate the sauced noodles into a bowl and crumble in the bacon. Top with crushed pecans and enjoy!

Molasses Gingerbread with Mascarpone Cream

From Food and Wine.com

Ingredients
2 1/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoon(s) ground ginger
1 teaspoon(s) cinnamon
1 3/4 teaspoon(s) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
3/4 cup(s) plus 2 tablespoons canola oil
3/4 cup(s) plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/2 cup(s) plus 2 tablespoons molasses
1/4 cup(s) plus 2 tablespoons honey
2 eggs
1 teaspoon(s) finely grated lemon zest
3/4 cup(s) boiling water
1 orange, zest peeled with a vegetable peeler and sliced lengthwise into 1/8-inch strips
4 cup(s) water
1/2 cup(s) sugar
1 cup(s) mascarpone, at room temperature
3/4 cup(s) heavy cream
3/4 teaspoon(s) finely grated orange zest
2 tablespoon(s) confectioners' sugar
pinch(s) of salt
Directions
1. Make the Cake: Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray a 9-inch square baking pan with vegetable cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine the flour with the ground ginger, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk the canola oil with the brown sugar, molasses, honey, eggs and lemon zest until smooth. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined. Whisk in the boiling water. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Set the pan on a rack and let the cake cool completely, about 2 hours.
2. Meanwhile, Make the Orange Confit: In a medium saucepan, combine the strips of orange zest with the water and sugar. Bring to a boil and cook over high heat until syrupy and the orange zest is soft, about 30 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the orange confit to a plate; discard the syrup.
3. Make the Mascarpone Cream: In a large bowl, using an electric mixer at medium speed, beat the mascarpone with the cream, orange zest, confectioners' sugar and salt until soft peaks form.
4. Cut the molasses-gingerbread cake into squares and transfer to plates. Dollop the mascarpone cream on top, garnish with the orange confit and serve.

Mushroom Celebration

From Carol Gordon't Sleep On It

5 cups cubed day-old bread
3 T butter, melted
2 T olive oil
1 pound mushrooms
1/2 c. diced celery
1/2 cup diced peppers
1/2 cup diced onions
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Salt and freshly groung pepper
1/2 c milk
2 large eggs
1 cup condensed cream of mushroom soup

Place the bread in a large bowl and drizzle with the melted butter; toss to combine.  Spread about 2 cups of the bread across the bottom of a 9x13 inch glass baking pan.  Place a large skillet over  medium heat and add the olive oil and mushrooms, sauteeing until tender.  Remove from the heat and add the celery, onions, peppers, and mayonnaise.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and then spread this over the bread
Top with 2 cups of bread cubes.  In a small bowl, beat together the milk and eggs until blended and poour over the casserole.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat the Over to 325.  Pour the cream of mushroom soup over the casserole and top with remaining cup of bread cubes.  Bake, uncovered, until browned, about one hour.

Pearled Barley Salad with Apples, Pomegranate Seeds and Pine Nuts

I found this recipe several places online.

1/3 cups pine nuts
1/4 cup plus 2 T extra-virgin oilive oil
3 T white wine vinegar
1 small shallot, minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 cups Thyme-Scented Pearled Barley (see below)
1 large tart apple, such as Honeycrisp, cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds (from 1 pomegranate)
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
Preheat the oven to 350°. Spread the pine nuts in a pie plate and toast until golden, about 5 minutes. Let cool. In a bowl, whisk the oil with the vinegar and shallot and season with salt and pepper. Add the Thyme-Scented Pearled Barley, pine nuts, apple, pomegranate seeds and parsley; toss before serving. If you make it ahead, leave the pine nuts out until the second day.

Thyme Scented Barley
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups pearled barley (10 ounces)
1 small onion, finely diced
2 thyme sprigs
3 cups water Kosher salt
In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil. Add the pearled barley and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until lightly toasted; the grains will turn slightly opaque just before browning. Add the onion and thyme and cook over low heat, stirring, until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add the water and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over very low heat until the water is absorbed and the grains are tender. Fluff the grains and discard the thyme sprigs. Season the grains with salt and serve.

Harvest Time Pumpkin Cake

I rediscovered this recipe - obviously not made for decades!

1 pkg yellow cake mix
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp baking soda
1 can (16-oz) pumpkin
2 eggs
1/4 water
1 pkg (8 oz semi-sweet chocolate morsels)
1 cup chopped nuts



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a BUNDT pan. In a large bowl combine cake mix, spice and baking soda. Add eggs, pumpkin and water. Beat 3 min. on med. speed of mixer or until batter is smooth. Fold in morsels and nuts. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 min or until cake test done. Cool for 15 min. in pan. Turn out and continue cooling on wire rack. Top with spice glaze and a sprinkle of chopped nuts.

Spice glaze:
1 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
1 T milk
1 T. light corn syrup
1 tsp. spice of your choice

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and beat until smooth. Use rubber spatula or a large spoon and put glaze on top of cooled cake. Then use a table knife to spread around top of cake wedges. The glaze will then run down the sides slowly and beautifully.

Blue Apron? Plated? Peach Dish, Just Add Cooking or Hello Fresh? And How About That Marley Spoon? And the Latest on Green Chef and Purple Carrot

Updated December 5, 2018 - If you don't want to read through this whole post (what follows is a lengthy discussion of my own experimentation with these services), we recommend Purple Carrot and Blue Apron wholeheartedly with Marley Spoon, Green Chef, and Hello Fresh as close seconds. We have tried at leat eight of the services available for delivery in New England, including Blue Apron. NEWS** SunBasket was out and we tried it May 22, 2016.  Not impressed. Think we need to stay away from any service with the word "paleo" in the choices.

RECYCLING NEWS** Blue Apron has postage -free recycling - print your label and schedule a USPS (US Postal Service pickup).  SunBasket has UPS free pickup and return of recycled boxes and fillers IF you don't have recycling in your area. The both accept clean, full, defrosted ice packs by return. It looks like Hello Fresh, Green Chef. Others, like Purple Carrot have all begun recycling efforts in the ensuing years since I wrote this article. 

Here's a link to an interesting article with some comments that resonate with others about the carbon footprint that results from these food services. In defense, I wasted a lot more food, actual food, when we weren't using these services. Let's face it, most of us don't buy three stalks of asparagus, 1/4 of a red cabbage, two tablespoons of demi-glace. One comment claims that a cookbook and a farmer's market will do the same for you for 1/5 the price. Au contraire, I say. We use the boxes over and over for storage, for transport, etc. Yes, we do throw some of the cardboard in recycling, but we throw a ton more away at my place of work than I do at home. The ice packs are used over and over when I bring food elsewhere. I think if you live life wisely (and perhaps raising your own food, slaughtering your own animals, and canning and preserving every morsel is the wisest but totally impractical for my family), this service can actually reduce the carbon footprint that others are complaining about.

We've recently been addicted to Purple Carrot. Go figure! We are carnivores but we love the three nights of vegan meals. The taste? Amazing. The ingredients? Very varied and experimental for us. The health? Go, Purple Carrot! One of my colleagues is vegan and she was so excited to try this because she spent so much money and time planning her weekly menus. I figured I'd give it a try to include more legumes and other foods that we didn't include in our diet. So far, after a few months? We are exclusively Purple Carrot three days a week. It's a bit more expensive, but delicious and healthy. It does have an Asian focus, but many of the food services do. You can choose between Chef's Choice, Hi-Protein or Quick and Easy. We choose Chef's Choice. They are all $12 per meal ($72 a week.) You also have the Tom Brady TB12 meals for $13 per meal (high-performance.) We are stickin' to Chef's Choice and we love them.

These are older updates:
For quality, price, taste, and wholesomeness, we do still feel loyal to Blue Apron for carnivores and pescivores.  For awhile, we mixed it up and ordered in a four-week pattern from one or the other. (Blue Apron one week, Marley Spoon the next week, Green Chef the third week, and Hello Fresh the fourth).

Note that they all have their strengths: Peach Dish has a terrific southern style, Just Add Cooking is local to Boston, Marley Spoon has some great ingredients, Hello Fresh lists allergens and removes most of them from their recipes (gluten and nuts, for instance), and Green Chef used all organic ingredients. Sun Basket offers paleo options. However, Blue Apron is consistently good, especially for the price, recipe cards, and packing.

At first, I was reluctant to sign up for Blue Apron, a home-cooked meal delivery service that a half-dozen of my colleagues had subscribed to last summer, 2014. I dug in my heels and said, "What? Why?" Gerry likes to shop daily, after all. We both love to cook.  Why did we need a service to choose our meals and send us food?

Well, one night in the fall of 2014, Gerry (who up until now has planned meals during the week; I planned weekend meals) was especially uninspired. He brought home a small jar of ordinary pasta sauce and a box of store-brand spaghetti from the grocery story. For dinner. That's it. No fresh herbs. No unusual spices. No greens. And certainly no fresh vegetables.

Sous Vide Center-Cut Beef Shanks and Butter-Poached Baby Potatoes

I've had my Anova Sous Vide stick for at least a year and a half and have never had the courage to use it! It seemed so complicated with its plastic bin, rack and heat cover.

This weekend, while searching for recipes online for center-cut beef shanks (a cheaper cut that needs to roast or cook for a long time to be tender), I decided to rip off that bandaid and get out the sous vide and vacuum sealer. Now, why did I wait so long?

And here's what I did:

I took each beef shank (1 pound each) and sprinkled it on both sides with freshly-ground salt and pepper. I placed a sliced onion and sliced garlic clove on top and a sprig of fresh thyme and vacuumed sealed each in its own bag. When the water bath had reached 155 degrees, I placed the bags in the rack ... and waited for the 20 hour cook. They will be done at 3 pm ... tomorrow.

I sliced the baby potatoes and sprinkled with freshly-ground salt and pepper. I placed them in vacuum bags with 1 long slice of butter and some fresh parsley. They will cook in a 195 degree water bath for two hours.

I also sliced large red beets and placed them in a vacuum bag and sealed with salt and pepper and some balsamic vinegar. They will cook in the 195 degree water bath for 45 minutes to an hour.



When all is done, the beef will be seared in a very hot pan for a minute or two a side before serving. The potatoes will be browned quickly in a hot pan. The beets will be dried with a paper towel, sprinkled with oil, more salt and pepper, roasted walnuts and goat cheese. In addition, I will roast a combination of sliced fennel, carrots, garlic, onions and red, yellow and orange peppers and serve my mother's spinach salad.  Bon appetit and Happy Indigenous People's Day!