Meal plans and the week ahead

Happy Easter everyone! We have a somewhat busy week this week. Today we are going to Kevin's parents' church for Easter. Then we'll be heading over to my mom's house for a family dinner and egg hunt. Kevin is off on Monday. Tuesday I am meeting my friend's mom at a local country club for some baby shower planning. Thursday I have to drop our milk jars off to Diane. Friday is my flex day. Carson and I will be meeting up with my friend Kati and her son, Anthony, for some walking, talking, and shopping. We might try to do a quick pedicure, too.... we'll see if Carson and Anthony are sleeping in their strollers at the same time. ;) We don't have any firm plans for Saturday. If its nice, we'll stay home and work outside. If the weather isn't the greatest, we'll head down to the Detroit Science Center for the day.

Here's the plan.... I haven't decided what extras I'm going to tackle yet this week. I'll fill them in as the week progresses.  I need to move some raspberry bushes one day this week, but that's really the only definite thing so far.  And that will depend on the weather. 

On a side note... we went to Bordine's yesterday to buy a couple fruit trees.  We had planned to go on Friday, but the rain kept us from going.  But thankfully we had awesome weather all day long yesterday, so we went in the morning.  The rabbits killed three of my new fruit trees last year (2 made it).  So I replaced the Bing Cherry with a Ranier Cherry, and the Braeburn apple with a Golden Delicious apple.  They didn't have the semi-dwarf peach trees in yet, so I'll have to replace the peach tree once they do.  And these new trees are wrapped so the rabbits can't eat the young bark.  So anyway, we planted them yesterday afternoon.  I also did a lot of clean up work outside, but there is so much more to do.  :) 

Anyway... on with the plan...

Sunday - Easter; church; family dinner
B: yogurt; fruit; gf strawberry banana coconut muffins
L&D: at my mom's, much of what we're having are things I'm trying to avoid or really limit... so I am bringing some raw veggies with homemade ranch veggie dip and guacamole, and an asparagus salad

Breakfast options:
strawberry banana coconut muffins; fried eggs with sausage; yogurt with fruit; kefir smoothies

Lunch and snack options:
leftovers; egg salad avocado boats; big ol' salads; raw veggies with dip; fruit rolls; crispy almonds and pecans; yogurt; fresh fruit; sliced cheese

Monday - Kevin is off
primal mushroom pizzas; lettuce salad; fresh fruit

Tuesday - Spring Meadows CC
misc. leftovers

Wednesday -
zucchini egg bake; roasted cauliflower, broccoli and mushrooms; applesauce

Thursday - drop off milk jars at Diane's
salads with grilled marinated flank steak, hard boiled eggs, cucumbers, carrots, avocado, balsamic vinaigrette

Friday - flex; shopping with Kati and Anthony
TBD... possibly eating at Ben and Kati's house

Saturday - Detroit Science Center? Work outside?
TBD.... depends on what we end up doing

Paleo Salmon Florentine

I saw a recipe on Cross Fit Santa Cruz Central's blog that looked delicious - for paleo salmon florentine.  And was it ever!  We all loved it!  This will definitely be going into our recipe rotation.  It doesn't take long to prepare, which is great for us on work nights and it's very healthy.  This would be a great dish to serve for company, as it presents very well.  I didn't really measure anything, just threw in however much looked good.  I had one large salmon filet that my uncle caught in one of the rivers up north in the fall.  His salmon is seriously the best!  Yum!  I used more mushrooms and more spinach than the recipe below calls for, too.  Just use what sounds or looks good to you. 

Paleo Salmon Florentine

2 salmon filets
1 T olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 C sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
9 oz. mushrooms, sliced
9 oz. baby spinach, fresh
1/4 C coconut milk
3 T white wine
spices: about 1/4 tsp. each!
sea salt (optional)
pepper (fresh ground)
cayenne pepper
paprika
garlic powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a saute pan, heat olive oil, and saute onion... add garlic, and cook until translucent. Add sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms. Add a splash (about 3 T white wine), cover and cook for about 5 minutes, until mushrooms are soft and tender. Now add spinach and cook until wilted. Pour coconut milk over everything and mix well. Pour all ingredients onto a baking dish. Place salmon filets over top of spinach mixture and sprinkle with spices. Bake for 15 minutes. Enjoy!

This post is linked to:
Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade
Fresh Bites Friday at Real Food Whole Health
Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS
Pennywise Platter Thursday at the Nourishing Gourmet
Grain Free Tuesdays at Hella Delicious
Primal Cave Friday at Primal Toad

Primal Butternut Squash Soup

I made this soup for dinner last weekend.  I needed to use up another butternut squash and thought a soup sounded good.  I had some locally made polish sausage (some would call it ring sausage) in the freezer, so I decided to add that.  And I just threw in some veggies that I had in my freezer.  You could add whatever veggies you have on hand for this.  Corn would be great, but it's not primal or paleo, so I didn't add it.  If I would have left the peas out, it'd be considered paleo.  This soup came together really quickly and it tasted great!  All three of us enjoyed it a lot. 

Butternut Squash Soup

1/4 cup butter
1 large butternut squash, cooked
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 pound locally made, nitrate-free polish sausage, diced
2 cups peas
2 cups chopped zucchini (I used yellow zucchini from my freezer)
1 cup coconut milk
2-3 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

If your squash isn't already cooked and mashed, you'll need to do this first. 

Melt the butter in a large soup pot.  Add in all the veggies, stock, coconut milk, and spices.  Stir to combine.  Let simmer for about a half hour.  Enjoy!

This post is linked to:
Fresh Bites Friday at Real Food Whole Health
Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade
Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS
Pennywise Platter Thursday at the Nourishing Gourmet

Paleo/Primal Stuffed Peppers in the Crockpot

I made these for dinner on Friday night.  It was the first time I've actually made stuffed peppers, but I've had them many times before.  Generally, they have rice mixed in with the meat.  My friend, Jaime, mixes in quinoa.  Both are excellent choices, but unfortunately neither are primal friendly.  I scored some organic red peppers for an amazing price last week... on the reduced produce rack.  I got 8 huge organic red bell peppers for 99 cents total!  Amazing!  I will only buy organic peppers since conventional bell peppers contain an obscene amount of pesticides in them.  I never make exceptions on peppers.  

So anyway, I decided to make stuffed peppers in the crockpot for dinner on Friday.  I did not use a recipe, just added what sounded good.  They turned out so delicious!  We all loved them.  Carson said they were his favorite dinner, he loved them so much. 

Paleo/Primal Stuffed Peppers in the Crockpot

2 extra large red bell peppers
1 pound ground beef
1/4 pound italian turkey sausage, casing removed
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1 cup chopped fresh spinach
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 can diced fire roasted tomatoes
1 egg
spices to taste - garlic powder, oregano, cumin
1 jar pasta sauce, homemade is best

Slice peppers in half lengthwise and remove ribs and seeds.  Set aside.

Mix ground beef, sausage, onion, celery, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, egg and spices in a medium bowl. 

Take each pepper half and fill with 1/4 of the meat filling.  Place into 6-quart crockpot.  Once all peppers are in the crockpot, spoon your favorite homemade pasta sauce over top of each stuffed pepper.  I used about 1/2 pint on top of 4 pepper halves. 

Turn crockpot to low and cook for about 6 hours.  Enjoy!


This post is linked to:
Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade
Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS
Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet

Meal plans and the week ahead

We have a very low key week this week. Hopefully that means we'll be productive. I've been doing a lot of spring cleaning these last 3 weeks or so and would like to finish it up this week. And hopefully the weather is somewhat decent this week, too. 

Today we're headed to church at Resurrection Reformed.  We may go to Longway Planetarium this afternoon since we didn't go a couple of weeks ago, but we'll just see how the afternoon plays out.  We may save it for another day again.  Thursday I will be down in Detroit and Windsor all day for a tour with some U.S. Dept. of State officials.  Kevin may be off on Friday for Good Friday - I think he is, but he doesn't - so if he is off, I may try to work extra each day this week so I can just use a few vacation hours and have Friday off, but at this point I'm working.  Friday is my day to pick up milk and we're still on every-other week CSA pick up, so I'll swing by the mill, too.  Saturday we have no plans at the moment, but we may be doing an Easter dinner with my in-laws since they're going to be gone on Easter Sunday in the afternoon.  So we'll play it by ear for now. 

Sunday - church (RRC); Longway? 
(chop veggies for week; prep snacks and lunch items; make kefir; thaw ground beef and stock; clean out front coat closet and playroom closet)
B: fried eggs; sausage; grapes
L: egg salad avocado boats; misc. leftovers
D: butternut squash soup with sausage

Breakfast options:
kefir smoothies; fried eggs; banana pancakes; bacon; veggie omelets

Lunch and snack options:
leftovers from dinner; big ol' salads; egg salad with avocado; sliced cheese with cucumbers; raisins; dried banana chips; pickles; sliced local pepperoni

Monday -
(clean in laundry area in basement)
paleo salmon florentine; peaches

Tuesday -
(clean in laundry area in basement)
paleo salisbury steak; broccoli, carrots, green beans; applesauce

Wednesday -
(clean in laundry area in basement)
leftovers

Thursday - Detroit and Windsor for work
(thaw chicken)
crockpot turkey veggie egg drop soup

Friday - p/u milk and CSA
(clean out shelves next to refrigerator in kitchen; clean out linen closet in bathroom)
crockpot rotisserie chicken; roasted veggies; applesauce

Saturday -
(make chicken broth; hard boil eggs; make deviled eggs and egg salad; clean out dresser drawers in master bedroom)
B: omelets; kefir smoothies
L: deviled eggs; salads with carrots, cucumbers, orange bell peppers, avocado, sliced chicken
D: paleo chicken enchilada bake

Peanut Butter Coconut Bars (grain-free)

Carson and I made a new snack last week... peanut butter coconut bars.  I got the recipe on Nourished an Nurtured.  I thought they'd be a nice snack to have on hand that would be full of protein and healthy fats.  They are really tasty, too.  Carson and I both loved them.  Kevin won't try them because he just doesn't think he'll like them (he doesn't care for nut butters).  I thought the texture would be a little different, more like a larabar or something... but I didn't pay attention to the instructions on Nourished and Nurtured.  You process these until they're smooth, so they really resemble more of a fudge.  I cut them into small squares, about 1.5"x1.5."  It's just the right size.  These have been great to keep in my refrigerator at work for times when I need a little energy boost and they're healthy, semi sweet snack for Carson, too. 

For this batch, I used half crispy almonds and half crispy pecans, dates, and I did not add the honey, as I thought they seemed plenty sweet already. 

Peanut Butter Coconut Bars

2 cups crispy almonds and/or pecans
1/2 cup dates or raisins
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt
1/2 cup unrefined coconut oil (soft enough to scoop easily)
1 Tablespoon honey, optional (I thought the bars were sweet enough w/out it)
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Coarsely chop nuts in food processor. Then add all other ingredients and process until smooth. Grease an 8X8 square baking dish with coconut oil. Pour the nut mixture into your dish and refrigerate to harden.  Store in the refrigerator.


This post is linked to: Sugar Free Sunday at Flip Cookbook

Meal plans and the week ahead

I cannot believe today is supposed to hit 80 degrees!  Granted, it's supposed to start raining and storming (even thought its not yet and it was supposed to have been already... we'll see if it actually storms or not), but 80 degrees... yeah!  :o)  Yesterday was awesome and this week looks pretty great, too.  Carson and I planted some peas, beets, and spinach in the veggie garden yesterday.  We got a lot of yard work done, too.  It was so nice to be outside nearly the entire day and night. 

Today we are headed to church.  We're going to make a trip to Tractor Supply Co. this afternoon to check out the baby chicks and bunnies and pick up a few things.  Thursday I am going out to dinner with some friends and I need to drop our milk jars and cooler off at Diane's house.  Friday is my flex day.  Carson and I are going to do something fun, but I'm not sure what yet.  If the weather is nice, we're going to go to MSU for the Butterflies in the Garden.  Saturday we are headed to Grand Rapids for my niece's 3rd birthday party. 

Here's the plan... I haven't decide what all I'll do for extras this week, so only today is filled in.

Sunday ~ church; TSC
(make kefir; hard-boil eggs; make egg salad; cook ground beef; prep veggies for week; make parmesan cheese crisps; make apple pie larabars; clean out cabinet under sink)
B: fried eggs; sausage
L: egg salad avocado boats; raw carrots and cukes; berries from freezer with cream
D: grilled salmon; roasted veggies; applesauce

Breakfast options:
fried or scrambled eggs; sausage links; egg-sausage-veggie muffins; avocado-asparagus-cream cheese omelets

Lunch and snack options:
leftovers; big ol' salads; egg salad mixed with mashed avocado; raw veggies with ranch; cheese crisps; fresh fruit; apple pie larabars

Monday ~
(clean out far right drawers in peninsula; clean out upper cupboard above peninsula)
balsamic glazed pork chops; asparagus; cauliflower; carrots; peaches

Tuesday ~
stir-fry with chicken, green beans, broccoli, peppers, onions

Wednesday ~
(clean out cupboard with plates in it; clean out utensil drawers in peninsula)
spaghetti squash casserole; asparagus; peaches

Thursday ~ drop milk bottles/cooler off at Diane's; dinner with friends
S - Mongolian BBQ with friends; K&C - leftovers

Friday ~ flex; MSU Butterflies?
(hard boil eggs; make mayo; make egg salad; make kefir; plant shell peas; dig raspberries up for Melissa; clean out side flower bed)
crockpot beef roast with carrots  crockpot paleo stuffed peppers; broccoli and green beans from freezer; applesauce

Saturday ~ Rebecca's bday party
(clean out and organize Carson's art table; clean out and organize tv stand)
dinner at SIL's for Rebecca's birthday

Bacon Wrapped Salmon Cakes

This was another idea that I got from Life as a Plate.  AndreAnna made these amazing looking and sounding appetizers by wrapping salmon cakes and asparagus spears in bacon.  I'd like to make the appetizers the same way she made them for a party one of these days.  But I decided to just make the salmon cakes and wrap them in bacon as a main course for one of our dinners this week.  I used canned salmon instead of the salmon fillet that AndreAnna used, too.  Just because I have some in my pantry to useup.  I also changed up some of the ingredients for what I had on hand.  Use the link at the beginning of this post to see the original recipe.  I've written it below as I made them. 

Wow, these were delicious!  We all enjoyed them a lot.  I prepped the salmon cakes and wrapped them in bacon, then put them in a glass Pyrex storage dish on Sunday afternoon.  Then I just had to remove the lid from the container and pop them in the oven to bake for dinner on Monday night.  This made making dinner a cinch on Monday! 

Bacon Wrapped Salmon Cakes

1 can salmon
pat of butter
1-2 Tablespoons finely diced onion
1 garlic clove, finely diced
2/3 cup pine nuts
1 Tablespoon mayo
1 teaspoon Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon old bay seasoning
1 egg
bacon

In a saute pan, melt the butter and saute the garlic and onions until translucent.  Set aside to cool.

In a food processor, blend the pine nuts for a few minutes.  You want to take them past the chopped, crumbly stage, but not quite all the way to a butter stage.  These will help bind the salmon cakes together while giving them a nutty taste. 

Put the drained salmon into a medium mixing bowl.  Add the blended pine nuts, garlic and onions, mayo, dijon, cheese, seasoning, and egg.  Mix well.  You can put this mixture into the fridge for a half hour or so to firm it up, or you can just assemble the salmon cakes now.  Chilling the mixture makes it easier to work with, but I just kept going. 

Form salmon cakes with your hands.  Wrap bacon around the cakes and place the ends of the bacon underneath the bottom of the cake.  I used two pieces of bacon.  Place in a glass baking dish. 

You can either refrigerate the assembled cakes until you are ready to cook them, or bake them immediately. 
Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes, checking often. The length of time you need to cook them will depend on how thick your cakes are, as well as the thickness of the bacon.


This post is linked to:
Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop
Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS
Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade
Gluten Free Recipe Parade at Heavenly Homemakers
Fresh Bites Friday at Real Food Whole Health

Beef Stew with Butternut Squash

I made beef stew for dinner one night this week.  I've made beef stew many, many times over the years.  We love it.  It's a great, hearty winter meal.  I don't really ever make it the same way twice.  It just depends on what I have in my pantry and freezer, usually.  This week, I made it with some cut up beef roast, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, zucchini, celery, and onions. We are avoiding most potatoes and grains right now, as we are trying to eat primal.  I would normally put potatoes in my beef stew.  And I'd normally use some flour to make a roux to stir in at the end to thicken up the stew.  Both of these options were out.  Of course, I could sub arrowroot powder for the flour to make a roux, but I got an idea to use butternut squash as a thickener from Life as a Plate.  So I thawed some butternut squash and stirred it in towards the end.  It really worked, too!  And it was a great way to get some squash in Kevin's and Carson's diet since they're both not crazy about the texture. The couldn't even tell it was there, yet we had a good, thickened stew.  It was delicious!  We sent some leftovers for Kevin's mom to have for lunch while she was watching Carson this week and she loved it, too.  We've found that if she's eating the same thing we send for Carson, he's more likely to eat it without any resistance... even though he'll love something and chow down two helpings of it at dinner at home, he'll tell her he doesn't want it since he knows he's got his grandma wrapped around his little finger.  ;o) 

Beef Stew with Butternut Squash

stew meat (I cut off about 1/3 of a beef roast and chopped it up for the stew)
veggies of your choice ( this time I used carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, zucchini, celery, and onions)
beef broth, homemade is best
salt and pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 bay leaf
other spices of your choice
1 cooked, mashed butternut squash

Put the meat, veggies, broth, salt, pepper, bay leaf, and spices into your crockpot.  Cook on low all day.  About a half hour or so before serving, stir in the cooked and mashed butternut squash.  I just used some from my freezer.  Enjoy!


This post is linked to:
Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop
Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS
Fresh Bites Friday at Real Food Whole Health
Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade
Gluten Free Recipe Parade at Heavenly Homemakers

Cheesy White Chicken Chili

A few weeks ago, I tried a recipe for cheesy white chicken chili from my friend Melissa's blog.  Melissa writes that this chili has won several chili cook-off competitions and always goes over well.  I can see why because it is delicious!  We all loved it!  I'm sure I'll make it again and just count it as part of the 20% non-primal food allowance on the days that I do 80/20.  :)   I did add some of the optional sour cream and homemade cream cheese, but only about half of the recommended amounts below.  I also only added about a quarter of the shredded cheese.  This would be great without all the cheeses, as well!

Cheesy White Chicken Chili

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans green chilies
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoons oregano
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
30 oz. chicken broth, homemade is best
3 cups chicken breast meat, cooked & chopped or shredded
4 cans white beans, drained, home-canned or soaked are best
1/2 - 1 cup sour cream, optional (I used less than 1/2 cup)
4 - 6 oz. cream cheese, optional, homemade is best (I used about 2 oz.)
2 cups frozen corn
2 cups frozen peas
12-16 oz. grated Mexican blend cheese (or you can use any combination of Monterrey Jack, pepper jack, or cheddar, stay away from mozzarella b/c it is stringy when melted... I only used a handful)

In 4 or 5 qt. pan, heat oil over medium-high heat and soften onion and garlic. Add green chilies, cumin, oregano, and cayenne pepper. Cook a few minutes, then add broth, chicken, and 3 cans of the drained beans. Mash the fourth can of beans (use a potato masher, fork or pastry blender and mix in a little bit of the broth from the soup to make it a little easier) and add it to the pot.

Turn heat to low, wait until it is hardly simmering and add cheese slowly until completely melted. If you add the cheese while the soup is bubbling ferociously then the cheese will clump and stick to the chicken.

You can add the sour cream, cream cheese, and/or corn if you would like, but the soup is great without them, depends on your taste.


This post is linked to:
Grain Free Tuesday at Hella Delicious

Egg Salad Avocado Boats

Last week, I posted a recipe/method of serving tuna salad in avocado boats.  I mentioned in the post that egg salad is delicious in avocado boats, too.  I made these for lunch one day last week and snapped a picture, so thought I'd post it.  I make a very simple egg salad.  All three of us love it.  Carson often requests it, even.

Egg Salad in Avocado Boats

avocado, halved and pitted
hard boiled eggs
mayonnaise, preferfably homemade
dijon mustard
celery, diced

Chop up your hard boiled eggs into a medium sized bowl.  Add some mayonnaise and dijon to your liking and mix up.  Add diced celery to your liking and mix.  Spoon into avocado halves (a.k.a. boats) and enjoy!


This post is linked to:
Sugar Free Sundays at Flip Cookbook

Meal plans and the week ahead

Today we're headed to church.  We're going to give the First Baptist Church in Swartz Creek another try this morning.  We may head up to Longway Planetarium this afternoon for a children's show.  We'll see what the weather ends up being... if it's raining, we'll go to Longway.  Otherwise, we'll save it for another weekend.  Tuesday we're going to see a Berenstain Bears live production.  Soccer is done now, so we have our Wednesday evenings back.  We had fun, but it'll be nice to have our evening back now that the weather is starting to get nicer.  Friday is milk and CSA pickup after work.  Saturday we will possibly be celebrating my nephew's birthday.

I will be meeting up with another cow share owner one night this week... probably on Wednesday.  We live about 2.5 miles apart and are going to start sharing the responsibilities of picking up our milk... so I'll only have to go every other week from now on.  This will be great, especially with the price of gas going up.  We'll figure out schedule and whatnot when we meet up this week, but I'm really hoping I can start this week... picking up the milk on the weeks I work Fridays.  Especially right now when CSA Farmer's Market is only on every-other-week pickups and they fall on my work Fridays.  I have to be out in Argentine, anyway.  Plus, its easier for me to swing out that way to get the milk and CSA on my way home from work than it is to make a special trip out there on my flex Fridays.  So hopefully that works out.  I'm looking forward to getting to know this couple.  Diane and I spent about an hour and a half on the phone chatting last night.  Sounds like we have a lot we can both learn from one another. 
Here's the plan...

Sunday ~ church; Longway?
(chop/prep veggies for week; hard-boil eggs; make kefir; make peanut butter coconut bars)
B: fried eggs; bacon
L: leftovers
D: beef roast in the crockpot with carrots, onions, and sweet potatoes; chocomole

Breakfast options:
fried or scrambled eggs with bacon or sausage; grain-free blueberry banana muffins; yogurt with granola; kefir smoothies

Lunch and snack options:
big ol' salads (greens, chicken, cucumbers, avocado, hard boiled eggs, crumbled bacon, leftover cooked veggies, etc.); leftovers from dinner; apples with almond butter; sliced cheese; raw veggies with homemade ranch; peanut butter coconut bars; peaches or applesauce

Monday ~
bacon wrapped salmon cakes with asparagus; yellow beans; applesauce

Tuesday ~ Berenstain Bears at FYT
beef stew in the crockpot; peaches

Wednesday ~ meet up with Diane?
ham from freezer; roasted carrots, brussels, and cauliflower; applesauce

Thursday ~ nephew's birthday dinner and gifts
(make kefir)
almond crusted chicken; peas; corn; broccoli  dinner at SIL's house for nephew's birthday... we're having sloppy joes

Friday ~ milk & CSA p/u; funeral home
(culture milk for soft cheese; start beef stock in roaster)
quiche with ham, broccoli, leeks, and provolone

Saturday ~ Joel's bday party?
(make butter; hang soft cheese; continue cooking beef stock)
B: kefir smoothies; leftover quiche
L: leftovers
D: turkey noodle soup in the crockpot

Pecan Glazed Butternut Squash

I have a few more butternut squash that I need to use up, so I tried a new squash recipe this week for Pecan Glazed Butternut Squash.  I found the recipe on Grain Free Foodie.  This was awesome!  I don't think I've ever put pecans on top of a squash or sweet potato casserole, but I'm sorry I haven't yet because it is so good.  I did not add any honey to the filling and it was plenty sweet, although I'm sure it'd be tasty with the honey in the filling, too. 

Pecan Glazed Butternut Squash 

Filling:
1 small butternut squash
1-2 Tablespoons honey (I left this out)
2 Tablespoons butter
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Glaze:
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds.  Place in a baking dish with some water in the bottom and roast at 400 degrees for about 30-45 minutes, until squash is fork-tender.  Remove from oven and let cool until you can handle it.  Scoop out the flesh and mash into a 2-quart or 8x8 glass casserole dish.  Mix in remaining filling ingredients.  I just did the mixing all in the casserole dish to save a bowl to wash.

Next, make the glaze.  Mix butter, honey, and salt in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the mixture begins to carmelize (honey will turn slightly darker). Do not overcook, it will continue to carmelize in the oven. Add pecans, and spread glaze over filling.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes or until glaze looks consistent and filling looks firm.


This post is linked to:
Foodies Follow Fridays at Hella Delicious
Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet
Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade
Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS
Sugar Free Sundays at Flip Cookbook