Stuffed acorn squash

We make this dish a lot throughout the colder months, especially in the fall. And since it is almost too chilly out to run in the mornings I am officially dubbing this early fall. What I like about this dish is that it's an all in one that isn't a standard casserole. In fact, when baked and served in the shell of the squash the presentation is rather unique and pretty—good enough for company, I'd say. I've never tried it, but I'll bet it could also be baked in a small baking dish, although I'm not sure if the eges would get too cooked that way. If you try it, let me know.

Stuffed Acorn Squash
Yield: 6 servings
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
  ● 6 medium yellow or acorn squash
  ● 1/2 lb. pork sausage or ground beef
  ● 1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
  ● 1/4 cup mushrooms, sliced
  ● 1/4 cup celery, chopped
  ● 1/2 cup herb-seasoned stuffing
  ● 1/4 tsp. salt
  ● 2 1/2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese, romano or a mix thereof is just as good

Directions:
Wash squash thoroughly and trim off stems (I do this by hitting the stem against the counter, although it usually flies into the next room this way). Microwave on high for ~2 minutes—this isn't to cook them, just to make them soft enough to cut. Cut in half and remove seeds. Place open side down in a pan with an inch of water. Bake at 350 for aobut 30 minutes.

Remove squash from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Scoop out most of pulp, leaving enough to keep shells in shape. Set pulp aside and place shells, open side up, in baking dish.

Meanwhile, cook meat, mushrooms, and onion until browned, stirring to crumble; add celery half way through. Remove from heat, drain. Stir in squash pulp, stuffing and salt. Spoon meat mixture into shells; sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Seven grain bread

I think I said this a few weeks ago about the multi-grain peseant bread for sandwiches, but THIS is now our new go-to bread in general. You can have more than one, can't you? We love this bread. The only downside is that it requires a little more work. Still, yum.

Seven Grain Bread

Ingredients:
  ● 1/2 cup rye flour
  ● 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted, finely chopped
  ● 1/2 cup oats
  ● 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
  ● 1/4  cup toasted wheat germ
  ● 3 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
  ● 3-1/2 cups bread flour, (up to)
  ● 2 packages active dry yeast
  ● 2 tbsp salt
  ● 1-3/4 cups milk
  ● 1/4 cup honey
  ● 1/4 cup butter, 1/2 stick
  ● 1 to 1-3/4 cups  whole wheat flour
  ● untitled ingredient

For crust
  ● 1 egg whites, lightly beaten
  ● 1 tbsp water
  ● sesame or sunflour seeds , for sprinkling (optional)

Directions:
1. Heat milk, honey, and butter over medium heat until just bubbling (100-130 degrees).

2. In mixing bowl combine 2-1/2 cups bread flour, yeast, and salt. When ready add milk mixture and stir until combined. Add rye flour, nuts, oats, sunflower seeds, wheat germ, and sesame seeds and mix until well combined. Add whole wheat flour until a soft dough is formed that leaves the side of the bowl.

3. turn dough out onto a generously floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, or until it is soft, smooth, and elastic, adding enough flour to keep the dough from sticking.  Place dough in a greased bowl and turn to coat evenly. Allow dough to rise for about 1 hour, or until just about doubled in size.

Cherry fennel bread

What do they say? If it's too hot get out of the kitchen? Well, that's kind of what we've done for most of the summer. I've still been cooking some, but I find that most of the summer we grill or eat raw or cold foods. It just feel right that way, and since we don't use air conditioning, starting up the stove or the oven on a 90 degree day just isn't appealing. So we've taken a break, but we're getting back to it a bit now, and I suspect that fall will find us in the kitchen more than ever now that I have such a fabulously helpful and interested little kitchen assistant. Today we braved the heat to make cherry fennel bread with some of the beautiful organic Michigan cherries we've been getting from Whole Foods. You can read more about the experience here, and about the process below.

Cherry Fennel Bread

Yield: 1 loaf
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
  ● 1 tbsp. toasted fennel seed
  ● 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  ● 3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  ● 1 tsp. salt
  ● 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  ● 1 egg
  ● 1 1/4 cups milk
  ● 1/4 cup honey
  ● 3 tbsp. butter, melted
  ● 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
  ● 1 lb. cherries, stemmed, pitted and halved (at room temperature)

Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9-by-5-inch loaf dish.

2. Grind the fennel seed using a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, then combine in a large bowl with the flour, baking powder and salt. Sprinkle the brown sugar over and mix to thoroughly combine, pressing out any lumps.

3. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg then add the milk, honey and melted butter. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk mixture. Stir until almost combined before adding the pine nuts and cherries, then stir just until evenly mixed.

4. Spoon the dough into the loaf dish and spread evenly. Bake until the center tests done with a wooden pick, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Check the bread 10 minutes before the timer goes off; if the bread is browning too quickly, tent loosely with foil. Let cool slightly before running a knife around the sides of the loaf dish to loosen, then invert onto a cooling rack and let cool to warm before slicing.

Each serving: 232 calories; 6 grams protein; 36 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams fiber; 9 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 28 mg. cholesterol; 356 mg. sodium.

Recipe from the LA Times

Multi-grain peasant bread

This is our new go-to bread for sandwiches. It makes two beautiful loaves (I use 9x5 bread pans) and once they're cool I freeze one, then I only have to bake bread about once every other week (because clearly we don't go through a lot of bread).

Multi-grain peasant bread
Proving yeast
  ● 1 tbsp dry yeast
  ● 1/4 tsp. sugar
  ● 1 c. warm water
Bread
  ● 2 c. all purpose flour
  ● 4-5 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
  ● 1 c. rolled oats
  ● 1/3 c. cracked wheat or bulgur
  ● 1/4 c. plus 1 tbsp. yellow cornmeal
  ● 3 tbsp. sesame seeds
  ● 2 1/4 tsp. salt
  ● 2 c. warm water
  ● 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
Glaze
  ● 1 egg white beaten with
  ● 1 tbsp water

Directions:
1. Sprinkle yeast and sugar over 1 cup warm water in small bowl; stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy.

2. Meanwhile, combine all purpose flour, 2 cups whole wheat flour, rolled oats, cracked wheat, 1/4 cup cornmeal, sesame seeds and salt in bowl of heavy duty mixer fitted with dough hook. (I have also added sunflower seeds from time to time).

3. Slowly add 2 cups warm water and oil and beat until well combined. Mix in dissolved yeast. Add whole wheat flour slowly until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. Continue beating 3 minutes (dough will be slightly sticky). Let dough rest in bowl several minutes.

4. Turn dough onto heavily floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (the finger poke test should produce a lasting divet), kneading in additional flour if necessary (sometimes I don't have to do this part at all). Lightly oil large bowl. Add dough, turning to coat entire surface. Cover with damp towel and let rise in draft free area until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

5. Sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon cornmeal on baking sheet or grease bread pans. With well floured hands, divide dough in half. Pat one piece into 9 inch wide rectangle. Starting at one 9 inch side, roll up tightly jelly roll fashion and shape into an oval loaf. Repeat with remaining dough and place loaves seam side down on prepared sheet or pans. Cover with towel and let rise 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slash tops of loaves with sharp knife. Bake 20 minutes. Brush top with glaze and vontinue baking until loaves brown and sound hollow when tapped, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and turn out to cool on racks. Wait about 5 minutes, then try a piece while it's warm!

Whole Foods Strawberry Cake (in train formation)

On the morning of his birthday I came down the stairs and asked Calvin, who was already deep in the building of a large train system, what kind of cake he wanted for his party. Having really exercised my scratch cooking skills over the past year I figured the open ended question was safe. Without so much as a pause, or a glance up from his track building for that matter, the child answer strawberry. Strawberry cake? It's nice to know that he sees my powers in the kitchen as limitless, but strawberry cake? So I spent my morning coffee on a search through cyber space comparing recipes, tips, and ideas and ultimately deciding to use a recipe I found that was attributed to Whole Foods. The hardest part about baking this cake, actually, was the trip to the store. Other than that it was a smooth process and one that produced enjoyable results. I have to say that to me the cake had good flavor but seemed incredibly dense, which, when I went to make the cake into a train during afternoon quiet time, turned out to be a good thing.

Whole Foods Strawberry Cake

cake ingredients:
• 2 cups Flour
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 tbsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Sea Salt
• 4 Eggs
• ½ cup Butter, melted
• 1 cup Pureed Strawberries, fresh or frozen and thawed
• ½ cup Milk

Icing ingredients
• 16 oz. Cream Cheese (room temperature)
• ½ stick Butter (room temperature)
• 2 cups Powdered Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla

directions:
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9x13 cake pan and set aside.
• Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat remaining ingredients together. Add to dry, beating with a wire whisk. Pour into prepared cake pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until done when tested with a toothpick.
• To make the frosting, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Nutrition Info
Recipe makes 12 servings. Per Serving (140g-wt.): 410 calories (120 from fat), 13g total fat, 8g saturated fat, 1g dietary fiber, 5g protein, 71g carbohydrate, 100mg cholesterol, 350mg sodium (with first frosting)

My own notes: I made this using King Arthur organic pastry flour, Whole Foods frozen organic strawberries, and I colored the frosting using India Tree natural food coloring.

As for making the cake into a train? I turned the cake out onto cooling racks and when it was mostly cool wrapped it in wax paper and put it in the freezer for 2 hours so it would be stiff enough to work with. Using a bread knife I cut train car shapes (rectangles) and stacked them as need be to give the train more height (since the cake was denser than I'd expected and therefore thinner). Looking at the picture you can see where I cut larger or smaller rectangles and stacked them to give the engine and caboose their shapes. To make the rounded engine front I used the bread knife to give one of the rectangles rounded edges, making it half a cylinder.

The track is made with organic pretzels for cross ties and organic fruit twists for tracks. The wheels are organic cookies, the smoke stack an organic ice cream cone with the pointed tip cut off. The sides of the box cars, which are carrying raspberries, blueberries, and a 4 candle, are just very thin slices of the cake itself, and the bars on the animal cage are more pretzels, and four of them are candles. The animals, of course, are an elephant and a hippo from a box of organic animal cookies. At candle lighting time we filled the smoke stack with ice cream, just for fun.