A Second Attempt at Butternut Squash

Happy Halloween Everyone!

I can't, for the life of me, remember if I posted my original attempt at butternut squash (and I'm too lazy to go check at the moment) and I know this is a day late, but even so, here I go:

The last time I tried out this lovely gourd, I was very much a novice when it came to cooking things in the oven (especially thickly skinned things like these buggers). I forgot to add a tad bit of salt to off set the sweet and it was just...not good. I had pretty much decided I was never going to try again.

However, I'm not one to give up so easily. So, knowing that this family as a whole needs a good bit more nutrition in their diet and butternut squash has plenty to give, I figured I'd try again.

So what did I do?

Well, I took

• One butternut squash
• some thyme
• a pinch of salt
• brown sugar
• cooking oil

and

1. Peeled the buttenut squash (a regular peeler works fine, but you'll have to go over it a few times before you get to the good stuff) and cut it into cubes.
2. Did my normal, coat the cubes in oil, sprinkle the spices, and then mix it all together with my hands thing.
3. Popped it in the oven 

Now this is where it gets tricky. I put it in for 25 minutes at 350 because I was pretty sure that's what the recipe online said (I know the time is right at least), but all of the cubes were still pretty hard (no fork was puncturing them with any sort of ease). So, I decided to up the temperature to 400 and left them in for at least thirty more minutes. I can't remember the exact time though, so you'll just have to keep an eye on things.

Overall, I found it to be pretty tasty, but I'm not positive the whole family shared my opinion...so we'll have to see when and if I attempt to conquer this veggie (or fruit?) a third time.

Barbecue Pork Chops

It's not that I was getting tired of my normal pork chops per say, but I think it's probably good to know how to cook meat in more than one way, so yesterday, I went in search of a way to cook them in the slow-cooker (I was feeling pretty lazy).

Basically, everything just said to put them into the slow-cooker covered in a bottle barbecue sauce   and whatever additives you want (with possibly a little extra water so they don't dry out) and cook them on low for 6-8 hours. It sounded simple enough. I was even reassured that, if I wanted to, they'd be tender enough to make into pulled pork...something I will be trying, but not with four little pork chops.

Anyway, I got all excited and got my stuff together, only to find that the barbecue sauce we had went bad in May (whoops). So, I tried to make my own...meaning the pork chops were basically cooked in tomato soup mixed with a variety of spices and several random sauces/condiments. For what they were, they were actually pretty good, but I definitely learned to make sure you have everything before you start cooking (a lesson I think I've already been taught once or twice in the past...I'm just hard to calm when I get excited and intent on something).

I'll definitely be trying this again and if I get around to it, you can bet I'll tell you how well it works for pulled pork.

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

Ever since I was in the 7th grade (we're talking somewhere around 12-years-ago) I've been making this sweet potato pie recipe (sometimes as many as 12 at a time during the holidays). What I hadn't made however was a pumpkin pie.

A few weeks ago, I asked my culinarily gifted (and certified) friend Jeremy what recipes he knew for pumpkin. His reply was that I could really take any recipe that called for sweet potatoes or butternut squash and replace it with pumpkin. So, when one of my other friends asked if I wanted to make a pumpkin pie from scratch this year (it would be her first time too), I jumped at the chance and knew just what to do.

One thing I was worried about though, is the fact that I've always used canned yams for my pies, which already have a ton of sugar and what-not added to them. I was scared that maybe that was why my pies worked out each time. So, we bought two medium-sized pie pumpkins, gutted them, halved them, and put them in a dish with about an inch of water; but before we baked them for an hour, we added several spoonfuls of brown sugar (oh yeah, to be healthy, we were also substituting brown sugar for the normal white sugar) to the water in hopes that it would get soaked up into the pumpkins as they baked.

Once they were finished, we scooped out the pumpkin, made three pies (I should note that doubling the recipe actually produces enough for 3 pies, not just 2), and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves once they were cooled off. Next time, I want to make my own crust too. I normally make a good graham cracker crust, but we just went with the pre-made kind to save time this time around.

Sorry if this seems rushed, I'm just feeling it after staying up most of the night last night, entranced in my book. Happy baking! Night!

Hamburger Steak with Surprisingly Easy Brown Gravy

When I woke up this morning, I didn't think I was going to have a recipe to blog...besides maybe eggs in a basket. Around five o'clock though, I got lucky. You see, this weekend we went to Costco, and in trying to learn how to buy in bulk, we bought 7 pounds of ground beef (that I later had to divide up and repackage in cling wrap--fun stuff). That's all the meat we had in the house too, so unless I wanted to eat pasta (which we also bought in bulk on our trip before last) every day, I needed to come up with something else.

Thomas has always said that my hamburger steak is his favorite dish that I make, and I used to love making it, but lately it's become a hassle because we don't have near the amount of spices I used to have when I lived with my dad and I've lost my knack for making it on the stove without it turning into the smallest chunk of meat ever. So, I peered around online and found this recipe:

Now, if you know me, I generally don't take recipes as is. For the Hamburger Steak, I toasted two pieces of bread, ripped them up into a big bowl, squirted in some A1- Smokey Mesquite and some ketchup, and then hand mixed in about a pound of ground beef. I divided it into three patties, covered it in the soon to be mentioned brown gravy, and then baked it for about 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees.

For the gravy, I actually followed the directions (because I was out of my element), except I substituted a beef bullion cube for the salt to taste. Up until now, I've been using the packaged brown gravy (you know, the kind that stays lumpy), but no more! I also had enough left over to go on some rice (or you could just as easily make mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower). 

Overall, I was very happy with it. The steak was cooked perfectly and though the gravy was actually a tad bit sweet, it wasn't the overpowering kind you can get stuck with. 

Happy Eating!

Those Mini Pumpkins aren't just for decoration

So, if you've talked to me in the last week or so, there's a GOOD chance that I've told you all about this new revelation of mine...which is, as you can guess, that you can easily cook and eat those little pumpkins everyone always buys for decoration and then never really figures out what to do with. This enlightenment came about early last week when I decided that, since it was fall, it was about time I had something pumpkin (yes, I'm one of those people who flocks to coffee houses so they can partake in pumpkin spice lattes or pumpkin bagels with pumpkin spice cream cheese).

Anyway, while I was at the store, I double-checked that they were edible (and not, for some ungodly reason, poisonous), and happily threw a bag of 4 or 5 of them into my cart. After I got home, I found and put into practice (for a single pumpkin) this recipe:

Ingredients
-Mini Pumpkin
-Brown Sugar
-Cinnamon
-Butter
-Apple Sauce

What to do
1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Wash the pumpkins, cut off the tops (but save them), and clean out the seeds and strands.
3. Spread a layer of butter on their insides.
4. Mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and apple sauce in a separate bowl. As always, just add enough spice to satisfy your own tastes.
5. Fill the pumpkins with the mixture you just made.
6. Put the tops back on/in.
7. Place them in a container with about an inch of standing water and then bake for an hour.
8. Once the pumpkins are soft enough to be poked into with a fork, take them out, cut them in half and enjoy scouring out the warm goodness.