Butternut squash with bacon and blue cheese

6 cups peeled, diced butternut squash
1⁄2 teaspoon coarse salt
1⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
5 shallots, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1⁄4 to 1⁄2 cup crumbled blue cheese, depending on preference
1⁄2 cup crumbled cooked bacon

Preheat oven to 425°F.
Toss butternut squash with olive oil, salt and pepper on a large, rimmed baking sheet, and roast until squash is soft and edges are golden brown and crisp, about 20 minutes, stirring halfway through. Set aside.
Heat butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add shallots. Cook, stirring often, until shallots are soft and golden. Add garlic, stirring to combine. Cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
Toss cooked shallot and garlic with butternut squash. Fold in thyme, sage, blue cheese and bacon. Serve immediately.
Cook’s note: Squash can be roasted a day ahead and reheated in the skillet with the garlic and shallot.

Blue cheese vinaigrette

Nice bright summery taste that you can pair with anything from cranberries and almonds to roasted butternut squash!

-3 tbsp crumbled blue cheese
-2 tbsp water
-1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
-1 tbsp white vinegar
-1 tbsp lemon juice
-1 tsp Dijon mustard
-1/2 tsp dried oregano
-1/4 tsp sugar
-1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
-dash of salt

Almond Cranberry Scones with Lemon Curd

Taste just like Starbucks but better with the lemon curd.

Scones:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen (all I ever have is salted butter and all was fine)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 t almond
1 large egg

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees.

with a food processor just mix dry ingredients and frozen butter (cut in pieces) in processor, process it a few seconds until well blended, add wet ingredients and pulse it until well blended, add raisins or any other fruits or chips you like, just pulse it a couple of times to mix, take the batter out, pat it flat and cut your scones. The batter needs to be well mixed but do not try to get it smooth – scones are supposed to look crumbly.

Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7- to 8-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp. of sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on a cookie sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper), about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool.

Variations!!
Cranberry-Orange Scones
Follow the recipe for Simple Scones, adding a generous teaspoon of finely grated orange rind (zest) to the dry ingredients and substituting dried cranberries for the raisins.

Lemon-Blueberry Scones
Follow the recipe for Simple Scones, adding a generous teaspoon of finely grated lemon rind (zest) to the dry ingredients and substituting dried blueberries for the raisins.

Cherry-Almond Scones
Follow the recipe for Simple Scones, adding 1/2 tsp. almond extract to the sour cream mixture and substituting dried cherries for the raisins.

Copyright 2006 USA WEEKEND and columnist Pam Anderson. All rights reserved.
From: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/simple-scones/

Optional (but not so optional) scone glaze:
2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 t almond
A bit of water

Combine and drizzle over cooled scones.

Lemon curd:
3 lemons
1.5 cups Sugar
3 eggs
1/4 lb unsalted (I never have this so I used salted and it was fine) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
1/8 t salt

Lemon curd:
Grate the zest off the 3 lemons and put them in a food processor With the sugar and make sure it’s well blended (just fits in my little one). Cream the butter and add the sugar lemon mixture. Add eggs one at a time and the lemon juice mixing until combined each time.

Put into a saucepan over low heat for about 10 minutes stirring until it hits 170 degrees. Cool after that to serve.

From: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/lemon-curd-recipe/index.html

Avacado Salsa

My friend Teresa made this for our NYE party and it was an absolute hit.  Pretty sure I ate half the bowl.

1 – 16 oz pkg frozen/canned corn – cooked
1 can sliced black olives
1 red pepper chopped
1 sm onion chopped
5 garlic cloves – minced
1/3 c. olive oil
1/4 c. lemon juice
3 Tbl red or white wine vinegar
1 tsp slat
1/2 tsp pepper
 
mix and refrigerate overnight
 
cut and mix in 4 medium avocados before serving.  makes a party portion. 

serving suggestions: obviously with chips, over pork chops, as a side/topper to any mexican dish, over flank steak.

Chocolate Sake-tini

4-5 shots of sake
1 shot chocolate syrup
2 shots heavy cream/milk

Shake in a shaker and this makes 2 martinis. Rim the glass with coco.

Black Bean Brownies

Surprisingly good – next time I’m going to try cutting some of the oil and sugar to see if it still tastes this good! You would never know these were not regular brownies. If my husband likes them you know they’re good!

Butter or cooking spray for greasing pan
3/4 cup black beans rinsed
1/2 cup veg oil
2 eggs
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup sugar
1 t instant coffee or espresso
1 t vanilla
1/2 cup choc chips, divided
1/3 c flour (I subbed garbanzo bean flour to make it healthier and it worked beautifully)
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/4 c confectioners sugar for dusting if you’re fancy

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9×9″ pan (or a 9×13″ pan if you want to double the recipe). I use my larger insulated baking pan for these.

In a blender, purée the beans with the oil. Add eggs, coffee, sugar, vanilla, and cocoa. Melt 1/2 the choc chips and add to the blender. Blend on med high until smooth.

In a separate bowl whisk together the dr ingredients: salt, flour, baking soda and add to the blender a bit at a time until just incorporated. Stir in remaining choc chips and our into the pan.

Bake about 20 min (if you double about 30) and let it cool for 15 min until cutting and serving.

From: Melissa Darabian on foodnetwork.com

Roasted Sweet Potato Salsa

*Disclaimer: have not tried this yet.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salsa
makes 4 cups

1 large sweet potato (1 pound), peeled and diced small
1 red onion, diced small
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium tomato, diced small
1 avocado, diced small
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (from 2 limes)
coarse salt

1 Preheat oven to 450°. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss together potato, onion, and oil. Roast until potato is tender and browned in spots, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool completely.

2 Add tomato, avocado, cilantro, and lime juice. Season with salt and toss to combine.

per 1/4 cup: 55 cal; 3 g fat (0 g sat fat); 1 g protein; 8 g carb; 2 g fiber

This recipe came from the Martha Stewart EVERYDAY FOOD magazine iPad app. Download the iPad app now!
For more great recipes or to subscribe to EVERYDAY FOOD magazine, please visit everydayfood.com.

Mole – for real

3/4 of a bag of chiles – mix mild and spicy if you want. Reconstituted & stemmed & seeeded (if you want to strain of all the seeds and skin)
1 whole onion
4-5 garlic cloves
2 T bullion cubes
Blend and put in a deep stock pot, bring to a boil and if you feel like an overachiever that day – add already charred onions tomatoes and a couple whole cloves that have been blended as well.

This will be best with pork or chicken. Put the paste onto your meat and cook in slow cooker or the deep stock pot and cook for a while.

From my sisters Latina friend!

Mid-week Chicken

When you’re in a hurry, this is the least amount of prep time ever.

1.5 lbs chicken
3/4 cups rice (or sub quinoa like I usually do)
1 cup water
1/2 t paprika (and a pinch of cayene if you like it with a little more spice)
1/2 t black pepper
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Stir all ingredients accept the chicken in a low 2 qt baking dish. Add the chicken on top and sprinkle with more paprika. Cover and bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Creamy awesomeness.

This picture reflects doubling the recipe and subbing quinoa.

Fire Cracker Chicken Wings

• 

Cant wait to make these.  Will post an update later.

What You Need:
* 5 pounds chicken wings
* 6 cups water
* 1⁄4 cup kosher salt
* 1⁄3 cup chili – garlic sauce
* 1 cup honey
* 2 tablespoons soy sauce
* 1⁄2 cup Sweet Soy Sauce 
* 3 tablespoons sriracha sauce
* 1⁄4 cup apple cider vinegar
* 1⁄4 cup minced ginger
* 1 teaspoon ground sea salt
* 1 tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper
* 1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted
* 1 tablespoon minced green onions

Note: To toast the sesame seeds, just put them over low heat in a dry skillet and watch them carefully. 

 

Directions:
1. Cut the wings apart at the joints, and discard the tips. In a large glass bowl, combine the water, kosher salt, ¼ cup of the chili – garlic sauce, and ¼ cup of the honey. Stir until the salt is dissolved. Add the wings and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to four hours.

2. To make the basting and dipping sauce, in a small bowl, combine the remaining chili-garlic sauce, the soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, sriracha, the remaining honey, vinegar, and ginger and mix well. Set aside half of the sauce for serving in order to avoid contamination.

3. Preheat a grill to medium-high. Drain the wings and season them with sea salt and pepper. Grill the wings until golden, 15 to 20 minutes, turning as needed. When the wings reach the right color, continue cooking over indirect heat until they’re at the desired doneness, then baste them with the sauce, turning as needed until the wings are glossy and well coated. 

Garnish the wings with the sesame seeds and green onion and serve with the reserved dipping sauce

Serves: 4

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/11/28/guy-fieris-firecracker-wings/?test=faces#ixzz1f0nwzQ6Q