Butternut Squash Risotto in 20 minutes

I love Butternut Squash, and so does my little one. Which is a bonus, when you can get away with only making one dish for the family. But did you know you can make it in 20 minutes... no really... from scratch.

Here is what you need:

1 large butternut squash peeled and cubed into about 1 inch long
4 cups of chicken stock or vegetable stock
1 cup of arborio rice
1 shallot diced finely
1 Tablespoon of butter
1/2 cup of white wine (and more for you)
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
shaved Parmesan to taste

Here is what you do:
1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Cut and cube your squash and lay on sheet pan. Bake for 20 minutes.
2. Set two pots next to each other on the stove. 1 will be to keep the stock warm the other to make your risotto.
3. Warm your stock on low heat.
4. In the other pan add your diced shallot, rice, butter, thyme, salt and pepper and toast the rice on until they are slightly golden.
5. Add your wine and stir until absorbed. I love this part, 18 minutes of quiet, stirring a pot.
6. As the liquid becomes absorbed in the rice, continue to stir while adding another ladle-full of hot stock. Continue to do this until the rice is cooked, about 18 minutes or so.
7. Once cooked. Turn off the heat, add the hot butternut squash from the oven. They will be tender and easy to mix into your risotto. According to your like, mix in the squash or mash it in. I prefer chunks maintained, but I tend to squish with my fork when it is in my bowl. Sprinkle with shaved Parmesan and serve with Pinot Grigio. Enjoy

As always, much love, many blessings, and Happy Cooking!!!

Apple Cinnamon French Toast

So normally we make pancakes for Freddy on Fridays... but it recently occurred to us, us being Dave and I, that Freddy's French Toast Fridays had a certain ring to it! Also, it allows me to indulge in my love alliteration. But I digress... so Apple cinnamon French toast, this is yet another recipe born of things in the fridge. We had stale bread, we always have too many eggs, milk, and a jar of apple pie filling from Trader Joe's... Voila 5 minute breakfast is born. I'll tell you how I made it.

What you need
2 eggs
a splash of whole milk (maybe like 1/3 of a cup)
stale-ish bread (I cut three relatively large slices into strips so Freddy can eat them easily)
a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar (1/2 a teaspoon)
a dash of vanilla (1 teaspoon)
butter, oil, or cooking spray
decorations of your choosing: we used, apple cinnamon pie filling, whipped cream, and cinnamon sugar but any fruit, syrup, or cream will do...


What you do
1. Mix together eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon sugar in a bowl.
2. Dip the bread, allow to soak for a little bit, until you are sure that mixture has soaked to the middle
3. Heat a non-stick skillet on medium high heat, coat with butter, oil, or spray
4. Cook the french toast on both sides until crispy and lightly golden brown. If your bread is thick, cover the pan with aluminum foil when it is toasting on the first side. The steam will cook the custard mixture on the inside of the thick bread.
5. Let cool, decorate with deliciousness, serve to your little one, and watch your husband steal from your baby... i.e. make more...

Hope you have a happy Friday!

Much love, many blessings, and happy cooking!

The Cuban Cure

Regardless of why you are sad, sick, or otherwise less inclined to tolerate anyone on the planet, the Cuban Cure in my family is the end all be all in culinary medicine. My mother is Spanish, so I grew up with this cure. It is the ultimate in comfort food. The trick is the sofrito. Sofrito is the Spanish version of mirepoix. It is mixture of onions, peppers, garlic, and spices that flavor nearly every Spanish dish, and it is the sweetest aroma in the kitchen. It just smells like home. The other big trick to mash down about 1/3 of the beans until it is a lovely black purple paste which thickens the dish. My grandmother used to do this with a mallet. Which still makes me smile, but I now do it with a potato masher. So here it is, my silver bullet for all that ails you.

Frijoles Negros (Black Beans and Rice aka the Cuban Cure)

Ingredients

3 cans of organic black beans

2 large red bell peppers

2 large onions

olive oil for the pan

a good palm full or 2 Tablespoons of each: Pimenton de la Vera (smoked paprika), Cumin, Salt

a good pink or 1 teaspoon of each: Black Pepper, Coriander, and Cayenne

4 cloves of grated or minced garlic

1 1/2 c. sherry

cooked rice

Method

1. I admit, I cheat I use canned beans, organic here does make a difference. Chef's say there is a difference I think organic canned beans taste just fine.

2. Making the Sofrito. In a large pot of over medium high heat saute the diced onions and peppers until they are translucent and starting to sweat (i.e. you can smell them.) Add all of the spices, keep them around, you might need more when it is done cooking. Let them toast a bit until fragrant. Add the garlic and stir. Add the sherry and swirl about until a bit has cooked out and you can no longer taste the alcohol.

3. The paste: Add about a third of the beans to the sofrito and spices. Cook for a few minutes until the pot comes to a boil. Using a potato masher or a hammer if you are inclined mash down to a lovely purple black pulp.

4. The delish: Add the rest of the beans and allow the sauce to reduce, about 10 minutes or so.

5. The serve: over rice with fresh cilantro and some salsa, with chicken, with anything, I would eat this on cardboard.

As always, many blessings, much love, and happy cooking.

Honey Bread Minis

Did you know the Honey Bee species is endangered? http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wildtv/endangered.html. Well, to do our part, we supported the http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/ and for Christmas I requested and received wonderful raw and natural honeys. But once you have, as I have, horded all your honey, what to do with it. This sweet golden elixir uses are countless, but what to do? You can only put so much in your tea and toast with cheese. Unlike the beloved children's character Pooh I cannot stomach it off of my fingers.

For this recipe I used a German Rap Seed Honey a raw wild flower honey, which was a pale yellow creamy color with a strong floral scent but a delicate and almost tongue-tingling taste. It was a Christmas gift from my dear friend Kristine. The wild flower honey complimented the ginger in this recipe perfectly, but any wonderful version of the bees' elixir will do.

Honey Bread Minis

2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of ginger

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 cup of honey

1 cup of milk

1 egg lightly beaten

Heat your oven to 375 degrees F

Spray your muffin tin or silicone of choice. Usually I am big proponent of the old fashioned metal muffin tins, but this recipe benefits from silicone because the top and bottom of the muffins are more so evenly cooked.

Add all of the ingredients into your standing mixer and let it go low and slow for about 10 minutes, so the gluten develops and the honey has had a chance to be infused with the spices and blossom in flavor. A little trick to measuring honey, always use an oil/butter spray on your measuring cup and the honey will just slide out perfectly. I do that with anything super sticky, works great with peanut butter.

Pop it in the oven for 20 minutes and let cool.

Serve with butter, jam, or as I like a compound butter made of butter, cream cheese, blueberries and a little sugar. Lemon curd would also be divine if you were serving this with a good strong tea.

As always much love, many blessings, and happy baking.

I will leave you with my favorite Winnie the Pooh, exercise song. Very appropriate for a woman on Weight Watchers.

Up-Down From "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh"

Composed by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman

Up - Down - Up

When I up, down, touch the ground it puts me in the mood

Up, down, touch the ground in the mood for food

I am stout, round and I have found speaking poundage-wise

I improve my appetite when I exercise

Oh, yes, I'm rumbly in my tumbly

Time for something sweet I am short, fat, and proud of that and so with all my might

I up, down, up-down to my appetite's delight

While I up, down, touch the ground I think of things to chew

With a hefty, happy appetite I'm a hefty, happy Pooh

With a hefty, happy appetite he's a hefty, happy Pooh

Easy, fast, delicious blueberry muffin recipe

You can never underestimate the power of a fresh baked breakfast. When you can do it in 20 minutes or less, you should. So here goes…

Makes nine plump muffins, or 12 skinny ones.

1 cup of flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder (powder not soda)
½ teaspoon of regular ol’ salt (did you know that salary means salt money)
1 egg or 2 egg whites
¼ cup of melted butta or ½ a stick
1 cup milk (skim if you are watching it)
½ cup of sugar bowl sugar
1 cup of blueberries dusted in some flour

1. Pre-heat your oven to 375

2. Pam up your muffin tin

3. Sift together all of your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) and let it hang out until you are ready. I use a piece of parchment or roller’s mat to easily pour into your mixer bowl.

4. In your standing mixer throw in all of your wets save the blue berries. So the eggs, butter, milk, and sugar. (Sugar melts, so it is treated like a liquid.)

5. Once mixed, add all the dry ingredients at once. This is called the muffin mixing method. Don’t over mix, when it looks completely mixed and fluffy stop.

6. By hand fold in the blue berries.

7. Spoon into buttered muffin tin. I don’t use cupcake liners, because well, they aren’t cupcakes, and I love the brown soft crust that appears from a dark pan and direct contact.

Voila, delicious, light, and easy, and low cal should you choose. On the planet Weightwatchers, the low cal version with egg whites and skim milk is 2 points for a plump muffin. Keep the chubby in the muffins and not in the pants.

I will try and procure my soon to be mother in law’s Blue Berry Bread recipe next. It is quite delectable.

As always, much love, many blessings, and happy baking.