Twice Baked Spaghetti Squash

Ready for Stuffing

 This dinner was unreal.  Talk about comfort food.  Talk about perfect for a crowd.  Talk about easy. Talk about it.  Without much further ado...

Equipment Needed:

• Baking Sheet
• Saute Pan

Ingredients:

• 1 Prepared Spaghetti Squash save the shells! Recipe here
• 2-3 Hot Italian Sausage - Whole Foods has my favorite!
• Olive Oil for the pan
• 1 Yellow Onion, quartered and then sliced
• 1 Red Bell Pepper, sliced (see image below)

My slippers are untied.

• 6-10 Brown Mushrooms, sliced.  I really like them so go with 10 :)
• 1 Jar of Tomato Sauce, a light cream sauce is best.  "Rao's" Vodka Sauce is my personal favorite for this recipe
• 3/4 cup Frozen Green Peas, more if you like them, less if you don't
• Salt
• Mozzarella Cheese

There were 3 of us, so I roasted 2 squash.  So.  Many.  Leftovers.  So.  Amazing.

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350
• Slice the sausages into about 1/4 inch slices and put them in the pan with olive oil that's heated over the flame for a minute or two...you want the sausage to sizzle when you drop it in
• Flip them over after about 3-4 minutes so that they brown on both sides
• Cook for another 2-3 minutes and then remove from the pan, leave the oil in the pan!  It will add flavor to the sauce

• Throw your onions, peppers, and mushrooms in the pan, still hot with oil from the sausage
• Add Salt, a few good grinds from your salt grinder
• Stir and let them cook down in the pan a little, about 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Don't let them get too loose, you want them keep their form

See?  They aren't raw, but they aren't totally cooked down.  Still have a bit of that crunch

• Add the sauce, the sausage and the peas and give it a good stir, let it cook together for 3-4 minutes

Make it stoppppp.

• Add your spaghetti squash and mix it all together.  Get it good and coated...this was a challenge because I definitely overfilled my pan.  I just got so excited and so hungry
• Fill the halves of your spaghetti squash shells and top with cheese
• Put shells on a baking sheet and into the oven for 15 minutes.  The cheese will melt and the filling should be nice and warm...flavors all married and ready for consumption.  Ugh, now I'm hungry

Ready to go back into the oven...just like a twice baked potato!

No Counter Space?  No problem.  Check out this work space.

En.  Joy.  I really liked this meal the first time, and then for the next two days I just thought about dinner all day long because I knew I had leftovers.  Talk about serving it.  Let me know what you think!

Don't you want to come over for dinner?  Perfect meal...the glass of wine didn't hurt.

Easy as {Enchilada} Pie

Look at those colors...this has to be healthy.  Totally tasting the rainbow.

I made a version of this recipe awhile ago, and I think it was from Pinterest, but I am not exactly sure, and I didn't double check.  Basically, I winged it, and I succeeded.  There is a decent amount of chopping, but if you put on a good playlist, it's really not that bad.

If you ever need to bring a friend or family member dinner (like if someone has a baby, is ill, has had surgery, etc.) this is perfect.  When fully prepared, it fits in one dish and all the recepient has to do with it is throw it in the oven (I say "throw it in the oven" a lot, sounds like I might be harboring some aggression).  Ya'll ready for this?

Note:  This makes a LOT.  You can definitely cut it in half, but I strongly recommend the leftovers.  Really Strongly.  Share some when it's fresh and then save some for yourself for the rest of the week or for after the bars.

Equipment you will Need:

• Baking/Cookie sheet - probably two
• Tin Foil - love that stuff
• Baking Dish - I used a glass pyrex dish, 9x13, about 2in deep.  I never have size dish that recipes call for, so don't stress if yours isn't exactly the same dimensions.  You'll live, I promise.  And this will still taste good, that I also promise.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium head of caulifower, cut into florets
• 2 poblano peppers, seeds removed, sliced into strips and then strips cut in half - if your grocery store calls them "pasilla peppers," your grocery store and I are talking about the same things but the grocery store is WRONG.  I googled it.  They should look like this:

A whole poblano pepper.

A sliced poblano pepper

• 2 bell peppers, sliced and then cut in half - you pick the colors!  You should pick 1 red and 1 yellow.  Just saying.
• 10-12 Crimini Mushrooms, sliced
• 1 onion - quartered and sliced
• 1/2 of a small butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• Olive Oil, you knowwww like 3-4T?  I don't really know I just pour enough to coat the veggies
• Salt - a few strong grinds
• Cumin - um, like 2T.  More if you like it, less if you want it to be more mild
• Cooking spray
• Simple Jarred Salsa - I used "Herdez Casera Medium"
• 1 Can of Green Chiles, diced
• 3/4 Pound Monterey Jack Cheese, Shredded.  If you want to buy it pre-shredded, go for the gold, it's a little bit more expensive, but it definitely more convenient.  It took me 4 minutes to grate the block of cheese, not really that bad if you ask me.  You can decide how much you value your time.
• 8 corn tortillas, the good ones, auténtitcas (I double majored in Spanish, #yup)

Directions (I am so excited for you to make and eat this!!):

• Preheat the oven to 400
• Line your baking sheet(s) with tin foil
• Put allll your veggies on your baking sheet(s).  Use two if they are over-crowded
• Drizzle with Olive Oil, grind your salt, and sprinkle with Cumin
• Toss the veggies with the seasoning.  Just use your handsssss.  Ina Garten says that our hands are a chefs best tool...just wash them first por favor (there's that Spanish major again)
• Throw those veggies in the oven and let them roast for 20-30minutes, tossing every 8-10minutes so that they brown on all sides
• While the veggies are roasting, spray your baking DISH with cooking spray
• Mix together your salsa and your diced green chiles.  Literally, dump the green chiles in the jar of salsa, or dump them together in a bowl and stir.  Whatever you like.
• Spoon a little bit of salsa into the bottom of the dish, like 2T 'ish
• Tear up 1-2 tortillas into pieces and lay the pieces in the bottom of the dish, over the salsa

Little bit of salsa, and pieces of tortillas starting to lay down in there

• When the veggies are done...take them out of the oven (shocking, I know)
• Spoon enough veggies into the baking dish to cover the tortillas
• Sprinkle cheese over the veggies.  Oh come on, don't be so shy...a little bit more...
• A little bit of salsa
• A layer of tortillas
• A lot of salsa
• Veggie layer
• Make as many layers as your dish will fit, finishing with tortillas, salsa and then cheese on top (at this point, this dish is transferrable to the sick, to those with a new babe, or if you offered to bring the main course to a friends house...bless your soul if this is the case)

I love cheese.  Almost ready to bake!

• Bake for 20-30 minutes until its bubbly and the cheese is melted.
• Spoon it out like a casserole and enjoy

Yummmm

Just like cheesey, saucy vegetables...but still so healthy

**Optional:  Serve with guacamole and/or sour cream.  The leftovers are reallyyyyy good with eggs.  Really good.

***Also, if you have leftover veggies, they are so good in salads and 

Chicken Noodle Soup that Rivals Your Grandma's

Can you see the steam?  I can.

There is something so traditionally comforting about Chicken Noodle Soup.  Maybe it's that it's the go-to soup when you aren't feeling well, maybe it's that you have this idea that Grandma's make it (although I don't think mine ever did), or maybe it's just that is really good and warms you from the inside, out.  Love that.

I like my Chicken Noodle Soup, simple and classic, just how I like my men.  The best part of that?  It's easy to make and doesn't require a ton of ingredients.  Double win.

Equipment you will need:

• Stock Pot

Eagerly awaiting the addition of broth.

Ingredients:

• Olive oil, 1 1/2T, just enough to cover the bottom of your pot, don't measure it.  You don't want oily soup so don't go overboard
• 1 Yellow Onion, diced
• 4 stalks of celery (4 single stalks, not 4 full hearts.  That would be overwhelming.), sliced into little half moons, about 1/4in wide.  Small.
• 2-3 Carrots (2 if they are big, 3+ if they are little guys), cut lengthwise and then sliced into half moons.  The celery and the carrots will be about the same shape
• Home Made Chicken Broth, ideally (if you don't have time, I won't look while you empty a carton into the pot).  If you are trying to impress anyone, you should really make your own broth, not to be pushy. Recipe is here.  If you are buying it, get at least 2, 32oz boxes.
• Leftover shredded chicken - could be from a rotisserie, from last nights dinner, from the carcass that you used to MAKE your chicken broth.
• Fresh noodles, I like fettuccine, broken into 2-3in pieces
• Fresh Parsley (optional, but really adds a bright flavor at the end).  Half of a bunch, roughly chopped
• Salt and Pepper

Way to long to be eating with a spoon, which is why your tear them.  I love fresh noodles. So much.

This is home made.  Amazing body.  Not because it works out, but because of the depth of flavor

Directions:

• Heat your olive oil in your stock pot over a medium flame
• Add the onion and a few grinds of salt of pepper and cook until the onion pieces start to get translucent and soft
• Add your celery and carrots, stir with the onion so that the olive oil is distributed on all the veggies
• Hit it with a little more salt and pepper.  Then hit me with your best shot.
• Add your broth.  You are waiting for me to give you an amount, I know.  It's up to you.  Do you like it "brothy?"  Add a lot.  Do you like it "hearty?" Don't add so much.  I love Homemade Broth, so I like it brothy, homemade brothy.  Am I making myself clear?
• Cover with the lid and let the broth warm over a low-medium flame
• Once the broth is warm, add your noodle pieces.  Fresh noodles cook really quickly, like 3-4minutes.
• A few minutes after you add the noodles, add chopped parsley and the chicken.
• Let it all cook together until the noodles finish cooking and the chicken is warm
• Ladle it up and start warming yourself from the inside out