Butternut Squash Ravioli Pizza

If you know me at all, homemade pizza night is my favorite night of the week.  We usually have it on Fridays, but since today was a lovely holiday and we didn't work, we decided to make it today.  Whenever we make pizza, we always drink a nice glass of wine.  It's so much fun, like date night but at home. Since I have a wee one growing in my belly, I opted not to drink the wine tonight... tear... but would have loved this with a nice glass of chardonnay... or bottle... or box... whichever you like. Can I just say once more that I am thrilled to be able to cook and eat awesome foods again?  There is nothing worse, when you're a complete foody like me, than not being able to eat the foods you love... or any foods for that matter.  

This meal was hands down awesome.  I was thinking about making butternut squash lasagna, but really didn't feel like rolling out the pasta dough, so... a pizza it was.  Completely delicious and pretty darn easy too, even with a homemade crust.  

I can't wait to make this again and maybe next time, enjoy a glass of wine with it.  Enjoy your pizza nights folks!!

Butternut Squash Ravioli Pizza
Serves: 2-4

Ingredients: 
1/2 homemade pizza dough (get the recipe here)
1/2 butternut squash, thinly sliced (about 2 cups worth)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 yellow onion, sliced
1 cup fresh mozzarella
1/2 cup ricotta
10-15 fresh sage leaves
1/2 cup Parmesan, grated
salt and freshly cracked pepper

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 400, make the crust according to recipe and set aside.

Bring a large sauce pot of water to a boil. Blanch the squash for 3-5 minutes until barely soft.  Drain water and set aside.

Melt butter in a small skillet and cook on low to brown the butter.  Once the butter is a nice brown color and smells nutty, remove from heat and add a dash of salt and pepper.  Make sure not to burn the butter.

Spread the pizza crust onto a large baking sheet or pizza pan, add the brown butter sauce and spread over crust.  Add one layer of butternut squash and onion.  Top with fresh mozzarella, followed by dollops of ricotta and fresh sage leaves.  Top with remaining squash and finally top with Parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Place in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until cheese is brown and bubbly and crust is crispy.  

Place on a cooling rack to cool for a couple of minutes and then slice.

BLT Wedge Salad

Well hello there.  I understand it has been months since my last post and I do have a very good and exciting reason.  For the past few months, I have suffered from what some might call... "morning sickness."  I, however call it, "all day nausea."  While I'm not complaining, because I had it pretty good compared to some people I know, it did put a damper on my cooking.  Most nights, dinner was either mac & cheese, french toast or cereal.  Or sometimes just a big bowl of fruits and veggies.  I planned ahead on meals, like I usually do, but by the time the day came, whatever I had planned did not sound appetizing at all.  That was probably the worst part about it all... being that I'm such a foodie.  But... good news, I am over the hump... food is sounding good again, I didn't think that could happen, but I will hopefully blog more in the near future! 

Tonight is movie night, which includes a big bowl of popcorn (freshly popped by my awesome husband) so I wanted to do something a little lighter for dinner... being that I'm pregnant, it needed to be filling too.  We kept raving about this salad all throughout dinner.  I usually hate when people talk about how awesome their food is during dinner... just shut up and enjoy it... but we were those people tonight.  I guess maybe it's cause we were expecting just a plain boring salad. But it was amazing. The dressing is the star of this salad. Just to let you know.

BLT Wedge Salad

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1 bundle of romaine lettuce

10-15 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 cup homemade croutons, (just slice two pieces of ciabatta bread, drizzle olive oil over, toss and bake in 350 oven for 7 minutes)

1/2 avocado, cubed (this make it a BLAT salad, but the avocado adds some healthy fats)

Dressing: 

1/4 olive oil

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 Tbsp. mayo

2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup

4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled (I used morningstar bacon cause it's delicious, but you can use turkey bacon or pork bacon or whatever kind of bacon you like, just don't use jarred bacon bits... yuk)

dash of salt and pepper

Directions:

For dressing, in a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, mayo, maple syrup and taste.  Add bacon and a little salt and pepper. Whisk until combined.

For the salad, cut the romaine bundle in half and plate cut side up.  Add sliced cherry tomatoes, avocado and croutons and top with maple bacon dressing.  Enjoy!

Cookies 'n' Cream Cookies

I think that making anything cookies and cream flavor, would be delicious.  Think about it... cookies and cream ice cream... amazing!! Cookies and cream fudge... um yeah!! Cookies and cream brownies... more please!! I'm really thinking we need more cookies and cream.  Just think.... cookies and cream hot chocolate? Cookies and cream pie? Cookies and cream cake? I'm drooling just thinking of the possibilities. 

You better add this recipe to your cookie swap.  It's amazing.  I mean... crushed up Oreos within a cookie? What could be better?!  I thought of this recipe when I was thinking about my two favorite desserts to make. Oreo Balls and Chocolate Chip Cookies... I thought... "Why not combine them?" And I'm so glad I did. These cookies are so delicious and different! Definitely a crowd pleaser.  

Cookies 'n' Cream Cookies

Makes: 4 Dozen

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 pkg (4.2 oz) Cookies and Cream pudding mix (you could also use white chocolate pudding mix)

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

16 Oreo cookies, roughly chopped or crushed

1 cup white chocolate chips (you could sub a 5 oz Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme chocolate bar, roughly chopped... and that would be amazing as well.)

Directions:
Heat oven to 350F.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add the pudding mix and blend. Add in the eggs and mix until completely combined. Add in the vanilla.
In another bowl, combine the baking soda, flour and salt. Gradually add into the creamed mixture and mix until combined. Fold in the Oreos and white chocolate chips or Cookies 'n' Creme bar.
Form dough into tablespoon sized balls and place 2 inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 8-12 minutes, or until golden on top.

Grilled Chicken Curry Risotto

Sometimes I come up with things in my head that are amazing. And other times I think... "why would I even think of putting those ingredients together"?  I was a little skeptical of this dish because normally when I mix Italian and Thai foods, it's a disaster.  This however, was not a disaster.  I'm always amazed when I think, "wow, I'd totally make this again... in fact... I WANT to make this again!"  That's what I thought for this meal.  It's delicious and it actually works together! I can't wait to make this again.  Enjoy!

Grilled Chicken Curry Risotto

Serves: 4

Ingredients:
Chicken:

1 1lb package or chicken tenders or 4 chicken breasts
poultry seasoning
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsp red curry paste
1 Tbsp. soy sauce

Risotto:

1 cup arborio rice

4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup white wine

1 Tbsp red curry paste

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp olive or grapeseed oil

1/2 red pepper, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

1 carrot, sliced into matchsticks

1 cup chopped broccoli

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
For the Chicken:
In a glass container, mix the coconut milk, curry paste, soy sauce and seasoning.  Add the chicken and coat.  Let sit in marinade for an hour. Remove from marinade and grill until chicken is completely cooked. 

For the Risotto:

In a medium sized sauce pot, bring veggie or chicken stock to a boil, then turn down to a simmer to keep warm.

In a large saucepan, heat a drizzle of oil over medium heat and add garlic and curry paste.  Stir and cook about 2 minutes.  Add the rice and stir to coat with oil.  Saute until it turns a golden brown, about 2 minutes. Add white wine and stir.  Add coconut milk and stir until absorbed  Add 1/2 cup of the broth and stir continuously until it absorbs.  Repeat this step until the rice is plump, but still has a bite.  You don't want it to be mush. 

Meanwhile, heat the grill to a medium heat.  Place the veggies in a grill pan and grill until soft. 

Mix the veggies into the risotto and add salt and pepper to taste.  Plate risotto and serve chicken over the top. 

Autumn Turkey Burgers

I'm new at this burger making thing.  I never made them before we got our grill.  I feel like I want to make them at least once a week now.  There are so many different delicious things you can add to a burger to make them even more delicious.  The past few times I made burgers, they had about 30 ingredients in them.  They all turned out okay, but these... these burgers were amazing... and totally blog worthy.  We had a friend over when I made them (which is strange because I don't normally make new things for company... ha) and afterwards he told me that I needed to open up a restaurant.  That's always awesome to hear. 

Anyway, once again... I create a fall version of something amazing already.  The turkey burger.  These were probably in my top 3 burgers I've ever had... I'm not a huge burger eater anymore, but I've been to some awesome places for burgers.  The top place for a burger is in Jerome, AZ.  Uh... I always called it Ghost Burger, but I just Googled it and apparently it's called the Haunted Hamburger... anyway, whatever it's called, it's awesome.  The views, the city, the burger... it's a pretty unique experience.  

Back to my burger.  It's delicious and very easy to make.  Goes very well with sweet potato fries too! Enjoy!

Autumn Turkey Burgers

Serves: 4-6 (6 small patties, 4 larger patties)

Ingredients:

Burgers: 

1 1/4 lb ground turkey breast

1/2 cup chunky apple sauce (I didn't have apple sauce so I just cut an apple into chunks and boiled it in about an inch of water for 30 minutes until soft and mashed it)

1 tsp poultry seasoning or whatever you have

1/2 cup cooked wild rice

2 Tbsp pure maple syrup

1 Tbsp mustard

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

hamburger buns (we used ciabatta rolls)

Toppings such as lettuce, spinach, tomato, onion

Maple Dijon Mustard:

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons real maple syrup

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, add all ingredients except turkey, buns and toppings.  Mix well and add the turkey.  Mix to incorporate, but do not over mix.  Form into patties and grill on a hot oiled grill for about 5-6 minutes per side.  

Serve on buns with a dollop of Maple Dijon Mustard and favorite toppings. 

*adapted from Food Network: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sandra-lee/apple-maple-turkey-burgers-with-maple-dijon-sauce-recipe/index.html

Pumpkin Oreo Truffles

Tis the season, where I add pumpkin or apple to literally everything I make. I love it!

These truffles (normally called balls, but I'm trying to be all professional here) are heroic.  My normal Oreo Truffles are raved about wherever I take them.  I went to a picnic this summer and brought a double batch (that's over 100 truffles) and they were literally gone in less than 5 minutes.  Not joking at all. They are amazing and if you need to make friends, make these. 

Anyway, I wanted to fall up my Oreo Truffles and I thought, why not make them pumpkiny?  So I used the Golden Oreos and added pumpkin and spices.  These seriously taste like fall exploded into your mouth.  They are pretty amazing and a nice little snack to take to your autumn pot lucks.  I feel like they have gotten better since sitting in the fridge for a day.  The spices have really come alive and you can really taste the pumpkin.  I'm excited to share these... but for now, the whole batch sits in my fridge all for me!  Oh yay! Enjoy!

Fall Oreo Truffles
Serves: 25 (if you limit yourself to 2... which you won't)

Ingredients:
1 package of Golden Oreos
4 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp cinnamon, plus more for sprinkeling
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
6 squares of white chocolate candy coating

Directions:
In a good blender, blend up the Oreos until fine. Do not over blend, mine took about 5 seconds. 

In a large mixing bowl, cream together cream cheese and pumpkin.  Add spices and stir.  Stir in the cookie crumbles and mix until the dough can form a ball.  Place in a sealed container and freeze for an hour up to overnight.

Roll the mixture into balls.  Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave in 30 second increments. Dip the balls into the chocolate and place on parchment paper to harden.  Sprinkle with cinnamon before completely hardened.  Enjoy!  Store leftovers in fridge. 

Gluten Free Pumpkin Dump Cake

When I was little, Dump Cakes always made me giggle.  To be honest, they still do.

My mom made a dump cake when she was pregnant with me and went to deliver it to the new neighbors.  She tripped over a cord in the garage and dumped the dump cake all over the driveway.  That's how I thought the name was invented.  I really thought I was part of the beginning of dump cakes.

It's finally cooler in the evenings now and I've been in the mood for fall weather and food since June.  I love fall so much.  It's cool and delicious.  And all of the October beers come out and they are amazing as well.  

I decided to start my fall cooking adventures out with this pumpkin dump cake.  Made it gluten free too by using a gluten free cake mix.  I used Hodgson Mill which, unless you Dr. it up, tastes like corn bread.  You can use your favorite gluten or gluten free cake mix though.  If you go with Hodgson Mill add some sugar and vanilla to the recipe to make it sweeter. Or add sweetened coconut milk.  The recipe is pretty sweet though so you might be good.  

This was delicious.  A perfect start to fall!  Not too pumpkiny, and you couldn't even really tell it was from a can.  My dump cake was really runny (sorry, I still think dump cakes are humorous) because I replaced the eggs with apple sauce... at least that's why I think it was so runny.  But runny or not, the taste is super good! Enjoy!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Dump Cake
Serves: 10-12

Ingredients:
1 15oz can organic pumpkin (or you can use 1 3/4 cup pureed pumpkin)
1 1/4 cup canned coconut milk
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
3 eggs, beaten (I used 1 3/4 cup of applesauce mixed with 2 tsp of baking powder as egg replacement... apples are fall too so it just added to the awesomeness)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 box gluten free yellow cake mix
2 sticks butter, melted (I used 1 stick and 1/2 cup coconut oil)
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350

Spray a 9x13 baking pan lightly with cooking spray

In a large mixing bowl, combine the pumpkin, coconut milk, sugar, syrup, eggs or applesauce mix, and spices.  Stir to combine.

Sprinkle the entire box of cake mix on top, followed by the chopped pecans.  Pour the melted butter evenly on top. 

Bake 45-50 minutes until center is set and edges are lightly browned.