Mac 'n Cheese Stuffed Squash

Hello friends! I hope 2015 is finding you well. The past few months have been almost a blur for me. November and December found my fingers busily crafting away on Christmas gifts for husband’s family. I decided to make blankets this year as Christmas gifts and I had a wonderful time doing so. I also opened an Etsy shop in November. I’ve been plugging away at brainstorming and putting together Boxes of Sunshine. I’ve also been spending quite a few hours in front of my sun light fighting Seasonal Affective Disorder. SAD really hit me hard this year but thankfully the days are getting longer and my family has really been a support to me. I’m happy to say that I am feeling a little more like myself these days. I still have tough days when the sun disappears but I’m on the upswing!

This yummy macaroni and cheese recipe graced our dinner table back in November. As usual I forgot to halve this recipe so we had an overabundance of yummy leftovers. I have been on a quest to bring more vegetables into our weekly meal plan. It is easy to get into a vegetable rut (green beans and broccoli) when you aren’t a huge fan of most vegetables. I’m always doing what I can to not raise a picky eater so the more variety I can bring to the table the better. I wasn’t a huge fan of acorn squash when I was little so I tried this recipe to try and change my own mind. I’m happy to report it worked!

I did make a few changes to the recipe. I used dried sage instead of fresh but if you have fresh I’m sure it would be amazing. I used cheddar instead of the five cheese blend that was suggested. I just love extra-sharp cheddar. I also left out the apple. I understand why the apple was included in the recipe but I knew it wouldn’t work for my family. Unless you have a crowd I suggest halving this recipe.

As a mom I felt good serving this to my family. This recipe is really really easy to make. My family loved it. I liked that there was a serving of vegetables mixed in with the macaroni. I don’t hide any ingredients from little one. I’m upfront about the food I am feeding him so that we hopefully don’t have food issues down the road. Little one thought it was fun that the macaroni was served in half a squash. The Italian sausage made this an all-in-one dish. I added a side salad to round out our meal.

Enjoy!

4 acorn squash, cut lengthwise in half, seeded

¼ cup KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing

2 pkg. (7-1/4 oz. each) KRAFT Macaroni & Cheese Dinner

1 lb. Italian sausage

1 Tablespoon dried sage

1 cup sharp cheddar, shredded

Heat oven to 425ºF.

Shave a little squash off the bottom of the squash so that it will stand flat for serving. Brush the insides of squash halves with dressing then place, cut sides down, on a parchment-covered rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes or until tender.

While the squash cooks, prepare the macaroni and cheese in large saucepan as directed on package. While macaroni is cooking, crumble the sausage into medium skillet and cook until done, stirring occasionally. Drain.

Scrape pulp from squash halves into large bowl, leaving ¼  inch thick shells. Add macaroni and cheese, sausage, and sage to the squash and mix well. Spoon mixture into squash shells and top with shredded cheese. Bake for 10 minutes or until filling is heated through and cheese is melted.

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/mac-n-cheese-stuffed-squash-166339.aspx

Ground Beef, Porcini Mushroom and Barley Skillet Dinner

Cold weather has certainly set in for those of us in Minneapolis. Sunday night there wasn’t a trace of snow to be found and today there is about six inches outside the front door. I have mixed feeling about this. The snow is beautiful and makes the cold weather easier to swallow. But Thanksgiving is still on the calendar and I am firm believer that Thanksgiving is a fall holiday. Snow does not equal fall, snow equals winter. Oh well, there isn’t a thing I can do about it other than embrace the cold weather and make those hearty meals I have been craving for the past few weeks.

 

I had a container of dried porcini mushrooms sitting in my pantry for a while. I’ve been looking for a recipe to use the mushrooms and while flipping through my American Heart Association Low-Calorie  Cookbook I came across a winner. I love my AHA cookbook and I find myself turning to it when I am craving something comforting and filling. The recipes are simple, delicious and healthy. The recipe I used called for shiitake mushrooms but I had a feeling using the dried porcini would be just as delicious. This recipe isn’t a quick fix meal. You have to give the mushrooms time to soak and cooking barley takes almost an hour. Thankfully the recipe calls for very little effort and the meal is delicious!

I did make a few small adjustments to this recipe. I did use porcini mushrooms instead of shiitake mushrooms and the taste was wonderful. Use what you have or what you can find at the store. Dried mushrooms are not always the easiest to find or the cheapest ingredient when you do. I am not a fan of large chunks of cooked tomatoes in anything so I used a can of petite diced. I was pleasantly surprised that this recipe tasted like a bowl of spaghetti but with the barley I knew it was so much better for me.

Enjoy!

½ oz. dried porcini mushrooms

1 ¼ cups warm water

1 tsp. vegetable oil

1 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

8 oz. ground beef

8 oz. button mushrooms, sliced

1 ¼ cups pearled barley, uncooked

2 cups V8

15 oz. petite diced tomatoes

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried basil

Put the porcini mushrooms in a small bowl. Add the water and let soak for 20-30 minutes, until softened. Drain and retain the soaking liquid. Coarsely chop the mushrooms. Strain the soaking liquid through a coffee filter and into a small bowl to collect any grit.

Heat a large nonstick pan over medium heat. Pour the oil into the pan then add the onion and garlic. Cook for three to four minutes or until the onions are tender. Add the beef and cook for three to four minutes, until browned and breaking up into small pieces. Pour into a colander and rinse under hot water to remove any excess fat. Drain and return beef to the pan.

Stir in the porcini and button mushrooms, cook for one minute. Stir in the barley and cook for two minutes stirring frequently. Stir in reserved mushroom liquid, V8, undrained tomatoes, oregano and basil. Bring to a boil over high heat then reduce heat to low and cook, covered, for 45-50 minutes.

Adapted from: American Heart Association Low-Calorie Cookbook

Yummy Fish

Over a year ago I received a sample magazine from AllRecipes. I paged through the magazine and I liked what I saw. They had some yummy recipes that I knew my family would enjoy. I also knew that I wouldn’t be ordering the magazine. I could see what their magazine style was going to be and it wasn’t a style I enjoy. When a magazine arrives at my door with over 100 recipes to try it makes me a little panicky. I would rather stick to my trusty Fine Cooking and discover a recipe from AllRecipes.com when I am in need. I did, however, pull out this recipe and a few others for future use and I am so happy that I did.

We call this recipe “Yummy Fish” because it is so darn yummy. You can change up some of the ingredients, like I typically do, and end up with a delicious dinner. One of the things I love about cooking fish is how quick and easy it can be. Even if I have frozen fish fillets in the freezer I can have dinner on the table in half an hour. The recipe below is the basic one I work from. It is changed from the original and it is typically changed when I cook dinner. But the recipe below is a great starting point. I’ve used left over aioli, sour cream, seasoned mayo and a large variety of spices.

Enjoy!

 

¼ cup Parmesan cheese

2 T. butter, softened

1 T. plain yogurt

1 T. lemon juice

1/8 tsp. dried basil

1/8 tsp. black pepper

1/8 tsp. onion powder

1 lb. tilapia fillets

Preheat your broiler. Line a broiling pan with foil.

In a small bowl, mix everything but the fish.

Arrange fillets in a single layer on the pan. Broil a few inches from the heat for three minutes. Flip the fillets over and broil for three more minutes. Remove the fillets from the oven and cover them with the Parmesan cheese mixture on the top side. Broil for two more minutes or until the topping is browned. The fish should be cooked through and flaky.

Adapted from: allrecipes.com/recipe/broiled-tilapia-parmesan/detail.aspx?scale=4&ismetric=0

Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese - quick fix

I’m a cook-from-scratch kind of girl. Something in me just loves pulling out all my ingredients and preparing a delicious meal from them. I try my best to make my dinners from scratch each night but I also know that some nights that just won’t be possible. I hate fast food as much as I love cooking from scratch. So on nights where I’m in a time crunch I need a quick fix meal that will make my family happy but will keep me out of the drive-thru lane.

Yeah! Mac and Cheese!

I tried out this recipe last night. I was in a super time crunch and the shrimp stuffed shells I had on the menu just weren’t going to be done on time. It was an easy choice to swap one pasta meal for another. I was able to pull this together in about 20 minutes. Husband did put a pot of water on the stove to start the water boiling and that did help so much. I already had the chicken cooked, chopped and portioned out over the weekend. Prepping what I can on the weekends has made my life so much better.

The only change I made to this recipe was adding extra buffalo sauce. I just wanted a little extra kick. I knew that the mac and cheese wasn’t super high on the healthy scale so I made a large garden salad and heated up some green beans. Seeing lots of green on our dinner plates made me a happy girl.

Enjoy!

1 pkg.  (12.6 oz.) Kraft Homestyle Macaroni & Cheese Dinner

1 ½ cups  chopped cooked chicken

1 T.  Buffalo wing sauce

½ cup cheddar, shredded

1 T.  green onions, chopped

Heat oven to 425ºF.

Prepare macaroni and cheese as directed on package, except do not top with bread crumb topping.

Toss chicken with buffalo sauce then stir chicken into the mac and cheese. Spoon into a 1 ½ quart casserole sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle with shredded cheese and crumb topping. Bake for five to ten minutes or until cheese is melted. Top with onions.

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/buffalo-chicken-mac-120033.aspx 

Creamy Tortellini Soup

Soup weather is finally here and I don’t think I could be any happier! I’ve been avoiding making soup over the summer. It has been a very difficult task because soup is one of my favorite foods in the entire world. Our air conditioner is crazy old and wasn’t consistently working over the summer. We had a repair man come out twice to get it through the summer. We are planning on getting a new AC next year but we did everything we could to plow through the summer heat. We were lucky that the summer wasn’t too hot. I avoided hot foods where I could, reduced stove/oven time and grilled as much as possible. But now it is OCTOBER! The AC is off for the rest of the year. The leaves are glorious shades of fall wonderfulness. The weather is delightfully cool. Sweaters are being paired with jeans. Coffee is now served hot instead of iced. Soup is making an appearance on the menu at least once a week.

This soup recipe was a quick fix in the slow cooker. I made it on a Friday night when I was planning on having some friends over. Every other month I get together with a few of my sorority sisters for our book club. We always meet at one of our houses to share a meal (sometimes just appetizers) and a few bottles of wine. Since the weather was finally cool I was excited to serve soup and crusty French bread. I find it so much better to serve uncomplicated and comforting dishes when serving a crowd. Nothing is more uncomplicated and comforting than soup.

The soup was delicious and a few of the girls went back for seconds. You could easily adjust the recipe to fit your tastes. The flavor of spaghetti sauce will make a difference. I typically avoid jarred spaghetti sauce because I often find it too sweet but when mixed with all the other ingredients jarred is perfect. I used sweet Italian sausage but you could use any meat that sounds good to you. Try ground beef, hot Italian sausage or a mixture of meats. While I used cheese tortellini you could easily use a meat filled tortellini. Make sure you use full fat cream cheese. Reduced fat or fat free cream cheese could curdle instead of melting.

 

Enjoy!

24 oz. spaghetti sauce

1 lb. sweet Italian sausage, browned

4 cups chicken broth

8 oz. cream cheese, cubed

8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced

5 oz. fresh spinach leaves

16 oz. cheese tortellini

Combine spaghetti sauce, sausage, cream cheese, chicken broth, and mushrooms in a slow-cooker. Cook on low for 6 hours, on high for 2-3. Stir the soup from time to time to help cream cheese melt.

Half an hour before serving, turn heat to high and stir in spinach and frozen tortellini. Cover and cook until the pasta is warmed through.

http://www.heatherlikesfood.com/creamy-slow-cooker-tortellini-soup/