Squash Casserole

 

Summer squash was one of the first vegetables that got me past my picky eating phase when I was a kid and allowed me to incorporate more vegetables in my diet.  I usually just sauté them with onions, which is delightful, but if you're wanting something a little more, this squash casserole is quite tasty!  I got the recipe from Paula Dean, and I've pretty much stuck to the original recipe (although sometimes I'll add more sour cream or not add the cracker topping).  Just a heads up, but this casserole does NOT freeze well.  I made this and froze it to eat postpartum, but it became very runny.  

Ingredients:

• 6 summer squash, thinly sliced
• 1 onion
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 sleeve crushed Ritz crackers

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Sauté the squash and onion until transparent.  Add the cheese and sour cream and mix.  Pour into a greased 8X11 baking dish and sprinkle crushed crackers on top.  Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbling.  

Red Beans and Rice

My 3 year old daughter is not a huge fan of meat, and so I've been looking for recipes with beans, lentils, and chickpeas so that she'll eat some of my homemade meals.  So I thought I'd try making this Cajun classic.  Of course red beans and rice has sausage in it, but instead of slicing the sausage, I cut it into small pieces so that she wouldn't notice it.  I also don't have any Cajun seasoning.  As I've mentioned in a previous post, I don't use seasoning blends, so I ended up looking at few recipes for Cajun seasoning, and just sprinkled a bit of different things in there, so I'm not really sure how much of what I put in.  Consequently, I just listed the amount the original recipe called for here, and you can put however much you like in it.  Finally, I have attempted to make this in the Instant Pot, but it didn't turn out as well, so I'm going to just stick to the regular ole way of cooking on the stovetop.

 Ingredients:

• 1 cup basmati rice
• 1 12-oz package of andouille sausage, thinly sliced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 2 celery ribs, diced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1.5 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
• 3 cans red beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 bay leaf

Cook cup of rice with one cup of the chicken broth in the Instant Pot, using the rice setting.  Sauté the onion, bell pepper, and celery, until the onion is transparent.  Stir in the sausage, garlic, tomato paste, and Cajun seasoning, until fragrant, about one minute.  Using a potato masher, roughly mash the beans.  Add the beans, chicken broth, and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.  Uncover and continue to simmer until reduced, about 15 minutes.  Mix in the rice.  

Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup

As I mentioned in my last post, I a huge fan of soup.  I also greatly appreciate how quick Instant Pot makes things, and so this recipe was made for me!  I got the original recipe from here, but I made a few slight changes, mostly to make it vegan and add more veggies.  

Ingredients:

• 2.5 lbs. butternut squash, chopped into small chunks
• 1 onion
• 2 granny smith apples
• 2 carrots, cut into large chunks
• 3 stalks of celery
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 tablespoon garlic
• 2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 14-oz. can coconut milk

Add everything but the coconut milk to the Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 30 minutes.  Natural release for 10 minutes then vent the pressure.  Remove the bay leaves and add the coconut milk.  Using an emersion blend, blend the soup until smooth.

White Chicken Chili

 

As I have mentioned before, I'm a fan of soup, and lately I've been craving hearty soups.  They are so comforting on cold winter days.  February is always a challenging month, because the holidays are over, but spring is still a long way aways.  Consequently, a hearty soup is just the thing to warm you up and comfort you.  I got the original recipe from here, but I made some significant changes.  

Ingredients:

• 1 onion
• 1 bell pepper
• 3 stalks celery
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 4-oz. can green chilies, drained
• 1 can Rotel, drained
• 3 15-oz. cans of cannellini beans, drained
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 8-oz. package cream cheese
• 3 cups shredded chicken
• 1 lime
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1.5 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander

Sauté onion, bell pepper, and celery until softened.  Add garlic and sauté 1 minute longer.  In blender, add 1 can of beans and 2 cups of chicken broth and puree.  Add the chicken broth and bean mixture, the rest of the chicken broth, green chilies, Rotel, and spices to the onion mixture.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes.  Add the cream cheese and stir until melted.  Grate the lime and then squeeze the juice.  Add both the peel juice.  Add the rest of the beans, corn, chicken, and cilantro.  Simmer for about 10 minutes.

Strawberry Frosting

 

This February my mother-in-law came to visit to help with the new baby as my husband went back to work.  She has been so amazing and helpful; she came out for a month last November to stay with my older daughter when the baby was born and to help out around the house.  I very much appreciated all of her help and support!  While she was here, we celebrated her birthday, which was actually a couple days after she left.  She requested a chocolate cake with strawberry frosting.  I had once tried to make strawberry frosting before using fresh strawberries, and it was terrible.  The frosting split; it tasted watery; and it looked disgusting.  After watching The Great British Baking Show, I had heard that using freeze dried strawberries gave you an intense strawberry flavor without all the extra water of fresh strawberries, so I tried that this time.  I got my recipe from here.  I made a mistake when making it, assuming that the 1 cup of freeze dried strawberries was 1 cup after being blitzed in the food processor, but it meant before.  Consequently, I ended up using twice as much strawberries as I should have, but it came out really well, with a very intense strawberry flavor, so I plan to continue doubling the strawberries.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups freeze dried strawberries (about 2 1-oz. packages)
• 1 cup butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup cream or milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In food processor, blitz the strawberries until they are a powder.  In stand mixer, whisk the butter for 5 minutes on high, scraping down the bowl 1-2 times, until it becomes fluffy.  Add the powdered sugar, strawberries, cream/milk, and vanilla and mix on low speed until everything is incorporated.  Then whisk on high for 2 minutes.