Chicken and Butternut Squash Hash

In college I learned that I have a knack for making a meal out of whatever is in my pantry and fridge. I try and grocery shop with two weeks of meals in mind but let’s be honest, taking me into a grocery store is like bringing a child to a candy store and giving them free reign. I HAVE to have  a list, otherwise all hell breaks loose. Even then, when I spot that perfect cauliflower or that basket of local Brussel sprouts, I lose all self-control and throw it in my basket. No shame.

But by the time the second week rolls around, I find that those Brussel sprouts are only half eaten and that the butternut squash has no plans. This is the time to pull ingredients together and create something magical. One can only order in Mediterranean food so many times in a month…

Chicken with Butternut Squash Hash

Feeds 2 people

Ingredients:

• 1 package chicken thighs
• 1 butternut squash
• 1 spanish onion
• 6-8 brussel sprouts
• 2 Tbsp apple cider
• sage (fresh or dried)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• sprinkle of salt
• 2 Tbsp seasoned salt, spice mix, or even shake ‘n bake

1. Bring a large saucepan to medium heat. Dice onion, set aside. Add 1 Tbsp of olive oil to the saucepan and throw in onions.

2. Peel and deseed the butternut squash, cut into small 1/2 inch squares. Add to saucepan.

3. Remove bottoms of Brussel sprouts and cut into fourths or sixths depending on the size of the sprout. Add to saucepan. Add apple cider and allow to steam and brown. Sprinkle about 1 tsp of salt. Mix every 5 minutes to allow the veggies to brown evenly.

4. Bring an iron skillet to high heat, add in 1 Tbsp olive oil. Pick a seasoning or season salt, whatever you really have on hand will work. I used an Old World seasoning (salt, sugar, paprika, thyme, onion, celery, etc) and covered the chicken thighs in it. Any seasoning that is savory based, like a cajun seasoning or bbq flavors would work well here. Add the chicken to the pan and allow to sear for 2 minutes, then reduce heat to medium and allow to cook for another 4 minutes. Flip over and cook other side for 5–10 minutes depending on thickness.

5. Remove chicken and allow to rest for about 5 minutes.

6. Butternut squash should be easily maskable, Brussel sprouts should be soft on the outside and toothsome (tougher/crunchier) on the inside.

7. Build your mountain and dig in.

Spiced Pork Loin and Acorn Squash

Wooooof that week and weekend just flew by. I apologize for it taking me this long to write a new post. Guilty of making this last Tuesday for my littles. These girls and I have been attempting to get together for “family dinner” for the past few months and finalllllly were able to find a day that worked. Speaks volumes of how busy this new venture aka being a real person really is. And to me, nothing says family better than meat and potatoes. But having grown up a bit (except for the fact that good mashed potatoes are my personal kryptonite), I tend to try and make sides that are a little bit healthier than a carb loaded with butter. However delicious that makes it.

Originally this started as an attempt to pull down my crock-pot once again. I have fond memories of my mom making pot roast and pulled pork in it as a kid. Here is a lesson to remember: when using a crock-pot in the morning, don’t forget to defrost your meat the night before. Yes– I forgot.

As sad as I was about this loss in my life, pork tenderloin is luckily a very easy meat to keep tender when cooked– hence the “tender” part of tenderloin. So I decided to stick with the meat and just slightly adjust the dinner plan. Seared pork loin it would (have) to be.

Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Acorn Squash

Feeds 6 people

Ingredients:

• 2 (1- to 1-1/2-pound) pork tenderloins (they normally come together in 2’s)
• Spice Mix: 3 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 Tsp red pepper, 1 Tsp cumin, 1 Tsp chili powder, 1/2 Tsp ground allspice, 1 1/2 Tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Acorn squash
• fresh thyme
• sprinkling salt
• drizzle of olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Heat on high a large iron skillet. While warming up, mix together spices and massage into pork loins. Place butter in skillet and once melted, add pork loins. You should hear them sizzle.

3. Brown on all sides and then place in oven for 30 mins or until pork’s internal temperature is above 160 degrees.

4. While in the oven, deseed your acorn squash (I like to keep the seeds and cook them on another baking sheet) and slice thinly. Thankfully, this type of squash can keep its skin on. Extra fiber for you today.

5. Add to two new baking sheets and drizzle some olive oil (about 2 Tbsp’s I’d estimate) over the slices. Sprinkle some salt and add fresh thyme leaves.

6. Put in oven with pork for the last 15 minutes of cook time. Keep an eye on these though. If your oven tends to run on the hotter side, these may only need ten minutes.

7. Double check that your pork is to the correct temperature, remove to another plate and then allow to rest for 10 minutes.  With all red meats it is best to allow your meat to rest after cooking in order for the meat to reabsorb its juices (aka this is how to keep your meat from drying out).

8. Keep skillet juices and place back on the stove top. Add in 1 C. apple cider and 1/4 C. apple cider vinegar to deglaze the pan and then bring skillet ingredients to a boil. Reduce to sauce consistency and drizzle over final plate. Enjoy!

Dip, Meatballs; It’s Party Time

My roommate and I finally threw our housewarming party this past weekend. By finally, I mean like five months delayed. But, being that we R who we R (we have a ke$ha obsession in this household), we decided to throw it as a housewarming/Halloween party. Costumes make everything better. And as I happened to be going as a crazy cat lady this year (sans cats much to my dismay), and him as a hot mess, we were ready to partayyy.

Between the two of us our talents led to a fantastically decorated home and some pretty delicious nibbles. I attempted to help the roomie out with the decor, but after my feeble attempt at drawing a maple leaf, I was told politely to keep to the “regular” types of leaves. We all have our strengths.

For parties it is always necessary to sanction off the home. Where will people be allowed to put coats and bags? Where will the bar and food be, where can people sit and chat, will there be games? So many questions to figure out. After some rearranging, Ian and I moved into our positions: I in the kitchen cooking, Ian moving up and down the apt cleaning and decorating. Is’t he incredibly talented? He even made a skeleton. All while singing along to a delightful “Summer in the 90’s” playlist of course.

As you may have noticed, I am not a baker. I can make a mean chocolate chip cookie but otherwise I need to follow recipes to make almost anything else. Sure I adjust things here and there to my liking, but someone else came up with the foundation. I am a firm believer in offering a range of choices for party food, trying to satisfy all types of eaters.

My menu balance went as follows: sweet but non-chocolate, sweet and chocolate, meat but no cheese, veggies and cheese. Sorry vegans, you will more often than not be out of luck in my kitchen.

For the chocolate lovers I followed this recipe. It was way too sweet for me and unfortunately was probably the least liked at the party. Not that it wasn’t still over half eaten however.

For the non-chocolate sweet tooths, I found a recipe for caramel apple cider cookies. Sounds pretty fantastic right? The original recipe can be found here, but I made a few adjustments myself.

Caramel Apple Cider Cookie

Feeds about 18–20 (total of around 36–40 cookies)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C softened butter
• 1/2 C granulated sugar
• ½ Tsp salt
• 1 box (7.4 oz) Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink mix -not sugar free- all 10 packets
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tsp baking soda
• ½ Tsp baking powder
• 1 Tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 Tsp ground nutmeg
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 bag Kraft Caramels (14 oz)

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.

2. Mix together your dry ingredients in a medium size bowl. *Make sure this is not the bowl you will be using a mixer in.

3. In a large or your mixer’s bowl, whisk together all other ingredients except for eggs and vanillia.

4. Whisk in eggs one at a time. Then add vanilla in slowly.

5. Gradually add in dry mixture until dough is formed.

6. Place dough in fridge until you have unwrapped all the caramels. If you have a helper who has already done this, you can skip the cooling step.

7. Using as little dough as possible, wrap each caramel in cookie dough and place on a parchment or wax paper covered cookie sheet.

8. Bake for 12–14 minutes, or until lightly golden at edges.

9. Allow to cool on parchment before transferring them to a platter.

Adjustments:

• I cut the butter and sugar down quite a bit from the originally recipe due to the high sugar content of the apple cider packets and butter and sweetness from the caramels.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip:

*I have made this a few times, and this is by far the best it has ever turned out. Follow your tastebuds and they will lead you to happiness.

Feeds 8–12 people

Ingredients:

• 2 cans artichoke hearts
• 1 C. shredded parmesan
• 1 C. sour cream
• 1/2 C. greek yogurt
• 3 garlic cloves
• juice from half a lemon
• 1 (10-oz.) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1 1/2 C. shredded monterey jack cheese
• crackers/chips/things to eat this with: my preference is with pita chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. To drain spinach, squeeze excess water out of handfuls over the sink.

3. Mix everything together in a medium sized bowl except for 1/2 C. monterey jack cheese.

4. Spoon into 8×8 baking dish or casserole dish and top with leftover cheese.

5. Bake for 30–40 minutes depending on what pan you use.

*Sorry about the lack of pictures, this one was the last to finish and I already had guests!

Chicken, Bacon, Apple Meatballs:

Growing up in the midwest means that meatballs were probably at every party you’ve ever been to. Bbq meatballs, Italian meatballs, some kind of unknown sweet sauced meatballs, its just a thing that we do. They are also easy to make and hard to mess up. Which is ideal when you are hosting a party and trying to cook four recipes in one day. Meatballs are also subject to experiment. Like my recipe philosophy, these little guys follow the rules for proportion. Because to make the perfect meatball, you need the perfect amount of meat to fat to spice ratio– don’t forget your binder (eggs+breadcrumbs).

The Meatball: beef (your foundation meat), pork (your fat), sometimes veal for more flavor, and then your flavor profile (Italian, Moroccan, Mexican, you name it, there is probably a meatball made there).

My Meatball: chicken, bacon, apples and sage (shall we call this the Fall Meatball and just move on?)

Feeds about 20 people (40 meatballs)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs ground chicken
• 1 package of bacon
• 1/2 Tsp salt
• 2 apples, peeled and cut into confetti size pieces
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 C. breadcrumbs

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Put bacon and chicken in a food processor. Blend until bacon is fully incorporated.

3. Spoon meat mixture into large bowl, add all other ingredients.

4. Form into small, inch diameter, ball and place on parchment papered cooking sheet.

5. Bake for 20 minutes.

Pork Chops, Cabbage, and Apple Cider

I have enough soup to last me through the next two months. Ok, maybe I have enough soup to last me the entire winter. I am really, really, done with soup (for now). After finishing up the lentil soup, like me, you probably had almost a full head of cabbage left in your fridge. When I see cabbage, for some reason, my mind immediately jumps to the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory scene where they live off of cabbage soup. Or I jump to Siberia, because I don’t know, I feel like they may have to eat a lot of cabbage throughout the long winters. Cabbage thus comes off as a cheap, tasteless, and ultimately lowly vegetable that most people avoid. But I think it has a bad rap.

Being from Wisconsin, and having a German background, I happen to LOVE cabbage. It is one of those items that just needs a little push to transform into something amazing. Pickle it and it because the ultimate condiment (sauerkraut), braise it and it becomes lush and flavorful– the perfect side to a hearty dish. Ah, if I could put sauerkraut and lemon on everything I would be so happy. Unfortunately, I doubt that would be socially acceptable. If only…

So I see this cabbage and I think, possibilities. Do I braise it with some bacon and throw an egg on top? Mmmm definitely in the future. What about braising it with some red wine, red meat, and head to central Europe? Maybe. Then, I saw some apple cider in my fridge and knew. Fall guided me towards the inspiration I needed.

Apple Cider Vinegar braised Cabbage.

Oooh and pork, pork would be good with that. I headed to my local butcher, picked up two pork chops that had literally been cut ONE HOUR before (I mean really), and pulled out my cast iron skillet.

Seared Pork Chop with Braised Cabbage and an Apple Cider Gastrique

Feeds two people

Ingredients:

• Leftover cabbage or half of a large cabbage
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 2 pork chops
• 1/2 C. apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 C. apple cider
• Chinese 5 spice (or just salt and pepper if necessary)

1. Chop cabbage lengthwise making strips. Melt 2Tbsp butter in large sauce pan and add cabbage. Toss cabbage in butter, turn heat to medium-low, cover.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put cast iron skillet over high heat. Season your pork chop with Chinese 5 spice or just salt and pepper. Test with side of pork chop, you should hear some major sizzle. Once hot enough, add pork chops and let sear for about 3-5 minutes. You are looking for the edges to be golden brown. Flip and cook on fat side for 3 minutes, flip to opposite fat side for two minutes. Now sear the last side for 3-5 minutes. Pop into oven for 5–10 minutes (depends on how think your pork chop is).

3. While in oven, add 1/4 C. apple cider vinegar to your cabbage. Bring to low and cover.

4. Take pork chops out of the oven and let rest on a plate. Keep the drippings in the skillet and place back on stove on medium-high heat. Deglaze the skillet with the apple cider, then add rest of apple cider vinegar. Allow it to boil down into a sauce consistency (this is your gastrique! so easy right?).

5. Your cabbage should be about done. The texture should be smooth and with a slight crunch in the thicker sections. The taste should be slightly pickled.

6. Layer cabbage then pork, add sauce on top and dig in!