What you need:

• About 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 bag of baby carrots
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• Minced garlic, I used about ten cloves
• 3 -4 bay leaves, fresh or dried
• Meatballs, I think I used about 16 – 20
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 1 cups water
• 2 – 3 cups dried pasta of your choice.  I only have linguine, so I broke it in half.
• Fresh parmesan for garnishing

What to do:

1. In a deep pot over medium heat combine oil, carrots, garlic, onions, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Cover pot and cook veggies 5 or 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Uncover your soup pot and add broth and water to the pot. Increase heat to high and bring soup to a boil.
3. When soup boils, reduce heat a bit and drop meatballs to cook in the broth.  Simmer while meatballs are cooking.  If frozen, this will probably take 10 – 15 mins.
4. Add pasta to the soup and stir. Cover and simmer soup 15 minutes.
5. Serve and garnish with fresh parmesan.

Don’t worry about over simmering it, as it will just taste better with the juices of the veggies and meatballs flavoring the broth. This makes 4 entree sized servings.

I apologize for the lack of photos, but I burned myself taking the cast iron griddle out of the broiler and was barely able to limp through the very easy cooking process.

What you need:

• Stuffing Mushrooms, one or two packs
• A few cloves of garlic
• One onion
• Olive oil
• Bread crumbs, about 1/2 cup
• Parmesan cheese, about 1/2 cup, or more

What to do:

1. Cut the stems out of the mushrooms in a circular motion and save the stem
2. Mince the stems along with a clove or two of garlic and some onion, easiest in a food processor
3. Put a little olive oil in a frying pan and cook the mushroom stems/garlic/onions for a few minutes
4. Turn off the heat and add the bread crumbs and parmesan cheese, and mix well.
5. Put a spoonful or more in each mushroom.
6. Bake stuffed mushrooms in the oven for about 10-15 minutes or until the mushroom is cooked.

Do ahead: you can prepare the mushrooms fully, and then pop in the oven right before serving

What you need:

• One butternut squash, about 3-4 lbs
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• At least one pound ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 eggs
• 2-3 cups of grated mozzarella
• A tablespoon or two of nutmeg
• minced garlic, to taste (I used about a tablespoon, maybe a bit more)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup loosely packed sage leaves, chopped
• 1 1/4 cups chicken stock
• Lasagna noodles
• Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 425.  Peel and cut up the squash into one inch pieces.
2. Toss or spray with olive oil.  Sprinkle with pepper.  Spread out on a baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes.
3. Reduce oven to 375.
4. Combine ricotta, eggs, cream, mozzarella, nutmeg, garlic and a pinch or two of salt.
   

   Cheesy mixture

5. When the squash is done roasting, or has a few minutes left, melt the butter in a large sauce pan.  When the butter is fully melted, add the chopped sage.  Stirring constantly, cook the sage & butter over medium heat until the butter becomes very yellow, about 4-5 minutes.
   

   Not quite yellow enough yet

6. If you have a sous-chef, like I happen to last night, have them do this step while you are working on the sage & butter.  Soak about half a pack of uncooked lasagna noodles in hot tap water in a shallow dish.  After 3-4 minutes take them out of the water.  They should still be pretty stiff.
7. Add the squash and chicken stock to the sauce pan with the sage and butter.  Mash most of the squash and stir thoroughly.
8. Assemble the lasagna in a 9×13 baking dish, in this order: Layer of noodles, layer of butternut squash (about 1/3 to half of the mixture depending on how many layers you want), layer of cheese mixture.  Repeat until you run out of squash and cheese.  Top the entire thing with a generous layer of Parmesan cheese.
   

   Bad representation of the layers

9. Bake for 35 minutes.  Let stand for at least 10 minutes before serving, unless you want to burn your face off. 
   

   Delicious!

   The end result was very good, perfect for a chilly night.  It was WAY less time consuming that normal lasagna (if you make your own sauce, as I do), so it’s much more appropriate for a weeknight dinner.

This is almost an exact copy, except my version has pizza sauce on it, only because I just used a premade frozen cheese pizza from costco.  it would be very easy to make with homemade dough, too.

What you need:

• A cheese pizza, or prepared dough brushed with olive oil and mozzarella cheese
• 2 – 3 eggs
• Scallions, chopped up
• Garlic, minced or sliced
• Bacon, I used about 2 pieces for one pizza
• Grated parmesan cheese
• Salt & pepper

What you need to do:

1. Pre-cook the bacon.  I prefer cooking mine in the oven, but it doesn’t really matter.  To bake the bacon, put bacon on a cookie sheet, or in a pyrex, and bake at 400 for about 12 – 14 minutes (if you are cooking it for real, cook it for 20 mins).
2. Lower oven to recommended temp for your premade pizza (or 450 for homemade).
3. Chop up bacon, scallions, garlic, etc.
4. Crack your eggs directly on the pizza.
5. Top with all other toppings.
   

   Ready to bake

6. Bake the pizza.  Start checking on the pizza after 15 or 20 mins.  Bake until the eggs look fully cooked.

What you need:

• A sugar pumpkin (or two, we had 9 people, double the following for two pumpkins)
• Bread, any kind really, about 4 slices
• Garlic, minced
• Italian seasoning, just a pinch or two
• Nutmeg, about a teaspoon
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 6 ounces cheese: I used cheddar cubes and grated romano
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
• Salt & pepper
• crackers, crostini, etc for serving

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Cut the top off the pumpkin and keep it.  Scoop out the seeds, but no need to worry about all the stringies as long as the seeds are gone.
3. Cube bread and cheese.
4. In a large bowl, mix the following together: bread, cheese, spices. garlic, breadcrumbs, basically everything but the cream.
5. Add mixture into the pumpkin, and really pack it in as much as you can.
6. Add heavy cream to pumpkin, put top back on pumpkin (I secured mine with toothpicks).
7. Place pumpkin in a dutch oven, or pyrex dish that you don’t mind serving it in and bake for 60 – 90 minutes.
8. After it’s done, stir up the dip, and scrape the inside of the pumpkin to get the pumpkin meat off.  Stir again, then serve!

Hope everyone had a great holiday!  Here are some more pictures of some of the other stuff I served.

Creamed corn w/ parmesan

Simple salad with home made croutons

Garlic red mashed potatoes

Green beans sauteed in bacon fat, topped with parmesan and bacon bits

honey glazed carrots

What you need:

• 2 normal (15 oz) cans of chickpeas, or one gigantor (29 oz) can
• 1 to 1.5 pounds of shrimp, raw & peeled
• as much garlic as you can stand, for me this was about 3 tablespoons of minced garlic
• 2 lemon’s worth of zest
• 1 lemon’s worth of juice
• 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes, depending on how spicy you like things
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped parsley
• 1/2 or so of breadcrumbs
• Salt
• Olive oil
• lemon wedges for serving

What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 450.
2. Rinse the chickpeas thoroughly.  Add to a large baking dish (I used a 9×13 pyrex) and spray/drizzle with olive oil and a bit of salt.  Make sure they are arranged in a thin layer.  Bake for 20 – 25 mins.
3. While the chickpeas are baking, marinate the shrimp in the lemon juice and zest, red peppers, the garlic and a tablespoon or two of olive oil.
4. When the chickpeas are done, add a layer of the shrimp and any extra marinade on top.  Sprinkle with the breadcrumbs.  Bake for another 7 – 8 minutes.
5. When it’s done baking, take it out of the oven and top with the parsley.  Serve with lemon wedges for more juice to taste.

I was perusing the interwebs, looking for a cool recipe to try out and stumbled upon this one, which I adapted for this dish.  Also, ricotta was on sale at Sprouts, so it was perfect.  I actually roasted my own pumpkin and made the puree the day before.  You can google instructions on how to roast a pumpkin, but it’s basically exactly like roasting a spaghetti squash, only without the salt and pepper.  I roasted two 2-3lb sugar pumpkins and it made double the amount needed for this recipe (popped the rest in the freezer for later).

pumpkin puree!

What you need:

• 16 ounces of whatever type of pasta you prefer (although shorter noodles like penne or bowtie are better)
• 4 – 6 cups of ricotta
• 15 ounces or about 2 cups of pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 6 ounces yogurt
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1 or 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic (about a bulb)
• 3/4 – 1 cup slivered almonds
• 3/4 cup grated parmesan
• 1 cup of mozzarella or a few ounces of heavy cream
• About 1/2 a cup of breadcrumbs
• Olive oil
• Ground pepper

What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 and lightly oil a 9×13 baking dish or pan.
2. Cook the pasta VERY al dente, and drain.  Add back into the pot and toss with a bit of olive oil to keep it from sticking.
3. In a larger bowl whisk the following together; ricotta, mozzarella, pumpkin puree, eggs & yogurt.
4. Add the salt, nutmeg, pepper, ginger, italian seasoning, garlic, parmesan and almonds and stir until combined.
5. Add contents of bowl to pasta pot and stir into pasta until thoroughly mixed.  
6. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish.
7. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top.
8. Bake for about 35 minutes.

ENJOY!

What you need:

• 2 loaf pans
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 packet of active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water – 100 degrees is best (digital thermometers are awesome, you guys)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 5 – 6 cups all purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon butter softened
• stand mixer
• very helpful to have a digital thermometer

What to do:

1. In a small saucepan, heat milk and the 1/4 C butter over medium heat until butter is melted. Let cool to around 100 degree F.  Do this absolutely first, because it takes forever for it to cool down.  While it’s cooling you can start prepping for everything else.
2. In the mixer bowl, stir together yeast, water and sugar. Let stand until yeast begins to foam, about 5 minutes.
3. Add warm milk mixture and salt. Attach the flat beater and mixer bowl to the mixer. Set to speed 2 and mix until well combined.
4. Add 4 cups of flour, 1/2 cup at a time and mix until a dough forms.  I lost count when I was doing this, so my flour might have been a 1/2 cup off, so don’t worry about messing it up too much, because my bread was still perfect.
5. Remove the flat beater and attach the dough hook. Set to speed 2 and knead, adding flour 1/2 C at a time until dough forms a smooth and elastic ball that cleans the bowl. Continue to knead for 2 minutes, adding flour 1 tbsp at a time as necessary to keep dough from clinging to the bowl. You can tell when it’s ready when, for the most part, it starts pulling away from the bowl, instead of sticking to it.
6. Using your hands, form dough into a ball. Place back in the mixer bowl, rub with softened butter and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1-2 hours, or until doubled in bulk.  (At this point I just put it in the fridge overnight.  When I took it out, I let it warm up/ rise for another hour before continuing on to step 7.)
7. Uncover dough and punch down several times to work out air bubbles. Form back into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.  And as far as the timing for the rise goes, it’s definitely variable.  In my place, it always takes at least double the suggested time.  You can’t really let it rise too much, so just make sure it’s roughly double in size.
8. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and cut in half. As you work with one piece of dough, keep the other covered. Working with one piece at a time, pat dough into a 10×8 inch rectangle. Starting with a long side, roll dough up jelly-roll style, then fold under the ends. Pinch the seams closed and place in prepared loaf pan, seam side down.
9. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 45-60 minutes, or until the top of the dough is nearly level with the top of the loaf pan. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
10. Using a pastry brush, coat tops of loaves with the beaten egg.
    

    See how much they need to rise?

11. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until loaves are golden and reach an internal temperature of 200 degrees F. Remove from pans and let cool completely on wire racks before slicing.
    

    SO GOOD, and makes your house smell warm and homey

Suggested variations:

• Herb Bread: Add 1 tsp each dried oregano, basil and thyme to the milk and butter in step 1.
• Cheese Bread: Before rolling dough in step 5, sprinkle each half with 3/4 C any shredded cheese of your choice.
  
• Cinnamon Bread: Before rolling dough in step 5, sprinkle each half with a mixture of 1/3 C granulated sugar and 2 tsp ground cinnamon.

I can’t wait to try again and experiment with adding herbs or spices!  Hope you enjoy!

What you need:

• 1 cup of butter, softened
• 1 or 2 tablespoons of garlic
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 3/4 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon Hungarian paprika

What to do:

1. Put everything in a bowl and mix it together.  That’s it.  I used my kitchenaid stand mixer, which worked beautifully.  

What you can do with the garlic butter:

• Make garlic bread: spread butter on top of french bread and bake for 10 minutes
  

  Before baking

• Add some acid and use as a marinade
• Spread on top of fish before baking (deliiiiiicious)
• Put a few dollops on top of veggies before sauteing, roasting or steaming
• Add some to rice before cooking
• Eat it with a spoon, hah, kidding!

Here is the finished product of garlic butter tilapia and garlic butter roasted veggies

When figuring out how exactly to roast this sucker, I stumbled upon a great tutorial with lots of photos, which I used as a guide.  I only roast things in the oven, so I used that method.  Seriously the hardest part about this is cutting that thing in half… once you have that outta the way, you’re golden.

What you need:

• Spaghetti Squash
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• A really sharp and sturdy knife

What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 400
2. Rinse off the squash and dry it well.
3. Get out your big knife and begin to CAREFULLY slice the squash in half, longways.  This may take some time and muscle.
4. Once you have two halves of squash, scoop out the stringy seed goop with a spoon.
5. Cover in olive oil and salt and pepper, then place skin side UP on the baking sheet and pop in the oven for about 35 to 40 minutes.
   

   Covered with OO and S&P

   

   Ready to roast

6. When it’s done in the oven, let it cool for a few minutes, then grab a fork, a sturdy bowl and a pot holder.  Place one half of the squash in the bowl and hold with one hand with the potholder, so you don’t burn yourself.  Simply drag the fork through the meaty part of the squash and you will see that it begins to come out and it really does look like spaghetti!  Do it until all you have left is the shell of the squash.
7. Continue with the other half, then season with sauce, or more olive oil, or whatever you like!