Stuffed Acorn Squash

Ingredients:

• 1 medium acorn squash, halved and seeded
• 2 ½ cups water
• ¾ cup brown rice
• 1/8 cup onion diced
• 1 tblspn butter
• ¼ cup of shredded carrots
• ¼ cup fresh basil (whole leaves)
• 1 apple, cored, peeled and diced
• ¼ cup of cranberries
• 1 link of Italian chicken sausage cooked and diced

Instructions:

Place squash open side down in a baking dish with 1 cup of the water. Bake for 40 minutes at 350°F. Let cool about 5 minutes.

 

While waiting for the squash to cook. Bring remaining 1 ½ cups of water to boil. Stir in rice, onion, butter, and carrots; reduce heat, simmer covered until water is absorbed and rice is tender (about 40 minutes). In separate bowl, combine rice mixture with apple, basil, cranberries and sausage. When the squash is cool enough to handle, spoon rice mixture into cavities. Place squash halves, stuffed side up, back in baking dish,and cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes.

 

To serve: Cut each half in half and sprinkle with cinnamon to taste if you so choose

Note:

• If you are not counting calories: Before placing stuffed halves back into oven to bake, line the exposed squash with butter and cinnamon for added flavor.
• This can easily be made vegitarian by leaving out the chicken sausage or replacing it with tofu.

Spinach Apple Citrus Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 cup shredded spinach
• 1 cored apple thinly sliced
• 3 Clementine oranges peeled and parted
• ½ cup carrots shredded
• 2 tblspn Lemon juice
• 2 tblspn Olive Oil
• ¼ cup golden raisins
• 1/8 cup almonds sliced
• Feta cheese

Instructions:
Combine spinach, apple, oranges, and carrots in a large salad bowl. Drizzle lemon juice and olive oil and toss to coat. Mix in raisins, almonds, and feta cheese to taste.

 

Notes:

• I also suggest adding a sprinkle of Sea Salt and Pepper to taste.
• To make it Vegan, remove the Feta Cheese
• Goes great with Whole grain bread!

Spinach & Brie Quiche

Ingredients:

• 1 Tart Pastry (see Davis's Tart Pastry post)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 ½ cups milk
• ¼ cup sliced onion
• 1/8 tspn black pepper
• ¼ tspn salt
• dash ground ginger
• dash ground cloves
• 6-7 slices cooked turkey bacon (optional)
• 1 cup fresh baby spinach
• 6 oz Brie (thinly wedged and roughly de-rind)
• 1 roma tomato sliced

Instructions:
Prepare and roll out Pastry for Single Crust pie. Line a 9" pastry plate with pastry, and trim or crimp edge as desired. Bake in a 450° F oven for 8 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.

In a medium bowl stir together eggs, milk, salt, pepper, ginger, and cloves. Place spinach evenly in bottom of prepared pie crust and sprinkle the onion over it. Cover spinach and onion mixture with whole sliced bacon creating a "layer" effect. Pour in all but 1/3 cup of the egg mixture. Place Brie wedges in circular pattern on top. Cover the edge of crust with foil (best if you cut a circle out of a square of foil) to prevent over browning the edges. Bake at 325°F for 20 minutes.

Carefully spoon remaining egg mixture over top of the melting Brie, being careful not to overflow the crust. Then place tomato slices in a circle along the outer edge of the quiche. Continue Baking at 325°F for an additional 25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let stand about 10 minutes before serving.

Notes:

• This layering method prevents the lighter ingredients (spinach and onion) from floating to the top and becoming crispy and burnt.
• Waiting to add the tomatoes keeps them from over cooking while adding a decorative touch to the quiche.
• You can substitute real bacon, or remove the bacon all together.

Davis's Tart Pastry

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ cup cold butter
• 2 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 tblspn cold water

Instructions:
Mix flour and sugar together in a medium bowl, and cut in butter until pea sized. In a separate small bowl mix egg yolks and water together until frothy. Stir in egg yolk mixture to flour mixture, and using your fingers gently knead the dough until a ball forms. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes or until pastry is easy to handle.

Using a lightly floured surface, use your hands to flatten pastry. Then with either a wooden rolling pin, or a chilled rolling pin, roll out dough from center to edges into a circle about 12” in diameter.

Roll pastry onto rolling pin, and transfer to whatever pan will be used, follow fill and baking instructions for that recipe.

Notes:

• Do not use a warm rolling pin as this will cause the butter in the pastry to begin to melt and make the pastry sticky and unmanageable.
• To make diabetic friendly, substitue Splenda for sugar!

Davis's Whole Grain Pan Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 1/3 cups White Flour
• ¼ cup packed brown sugar (can be removed)
• 2/3 cup butter (softened)
• 1 oz yeast (3 store bought packs)
• scant 2 cups water
• 1 tbls salt
• ½ cup rolled oats
• 1/3 cup corn meal
• 1/3 cup Wheat Bran
• ½ cup Bulgar

Instructions:
Put Flours, sugar and butter in a bowl and cut in butter until pea size. Place yeast in ½ cup of the (room temp) water with a pinch of sugar to activate. Pour yeast mixture on one side of the flour mixture, and put salt on opposite side (combining them too early will kill the yeast), and pour one cup of water into the center of flour mixture. Begin mixing by hand and slowly add remaining water and rolled oats until all the flour has been picked up. Note: this should be a relatively sticky dough. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed for 5 minutes, due to wetness of dough you will need to re-flour surface a number of times. When you have a soft and pliable dough, place it in a slightly oiled bowl and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour (or until double in size if not in one hour).

Punch dough down in bowl, and add corn meal, wheat bran, and bulgar, fold into the dough until dough is once again soft and pliable. Lightly oil two 8 ½” x 4 ½” loaf pans, split dough in half, and shape each half into the bottom of pans.

Preheat oven to 450°/ 230° C

Let rise for at least 1 hour (loafs should at least double in size). Just before baking, either; dust the dough lightly with flour, and using a knife make slashes length wise across the top, or use water to dampen tops and pat on rolled oats. Bake for 25-30 minutes, then turn out of pans onto wire racks to cool.

Notes:

• Very strong flavored bread, excellent served just with butter or as a sandwich.
• You can add more grains, or different grains of your choosing, just try to keep it to about 1 and 2/3 cups.
• This can be made diabetic friendly by removing the brown sugar, or substituting Splenda Brown Sugar.

mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

• ½ cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 cup water
• 2 roma tomatoes, diced
• ½ cup shredded fresh spinach
• 1/3 cup chopped red onion
• 2 tblspn lemon juice
• 2 tblspn olive oil
• ½ tspm salt
• 1 avocado, halved, seeded, peeled and sliced
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

Instructions:
In a small saucepan, bring quinoa and water to a boil; reduce heat and simmer covered about 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.
In salad bowl mix together spinach, tomatoes, and onion; add salt, lemon juice, olive oil, and toss to coat. Mix in cooked quinoa. Serve on plate topped with feta cheese and a few slices of fresh avocado per serving.

Notes:

• If preparing ahead of time, brush avocado slices with lemon juice to prevent browning.
• To add flavor to the quinoa, substitute 1/2 of the water for broth of your choice.

Suggestions:
This is an excellent side dish for the Stuffed Peppers. To make a complete meal serve fresh Pita and Hummus as an appetizer!

Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

• 14 ounces vegetable or chicken broth
• ½ cup shredded carrot
• ¼ cup chopped red onion
• 1 teaspn olive oil
• ¾ cup bulgar
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 2 large sweet green bell peppers, halved and seeded
• ¾ cup shredded mozzarella
• ½ cup water
• 1/8 cup chopped pecans

Instructions:

Sautee carrot and onion in a hot saucepan with olive oil until onions are lightly browned. Add broth and bring to boiling; reduce heat and simmer covered for 5 minutes. Stir in the bulgar and cranberries, and remove from heat. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes, drain off excess liquid. Stir cheese into bulgar mixture and spoon evenly into pepper halves. Place pepper halves in skillet (stuffed side up!). Add the ½ cup water to bottom of skillet and bring to boiling. Once boiling, reduce heat, simmer covered for 5 to 10 minutes or until peppers are tender but still crisp.

To serve: Sprinkle with an additional bit of mozzarella and then the pecans

Notes:

• Green bell peppers can be substituted for color of choice.
• You can tell a bell pepper is sweet if it has 4 lobes, the 3 lobed ones are spicier.
• Cranberries can also be substituted for dried cherries or raisins.
• Pecans can be substituted for sliced almonds.

Suggestions:
With Stuffed Peppers as a main dish, the Mediterranean Quinoa Salad makes an excellent complement as a side dish. To make a complete meal, serve fresh pita and hummus as an appetizer!