Confident Kitchen

OK I’ve been kind of winging it a lot lately. There seems to be stages of cooking. First stage: tackling relatively easy recipes with precise measurements. Then comes the experimentation stage where you start subbing ingredients for those you would rather have, plus forgoing accurate measurements of spices after learning from experience. Then there is the stage where you look in the fridge, see what you have on hand, and toss stuff together because you’ve learned the groups of ingredients that taste well together. It’s taken me almost 5 years to reach this stage, honestly, and I’ve been coming up with some pretty fantastic stuff (and frankly, a few very meh/bland dishes as well!). One night recently, I tried to bake some veggies that just didn’t fit, and we ended up at the local burrito joint at 10:30pm for dinner. Mistakes happen, and it’s not the end of the world!

I had some feta cheese, some greens from the local farmer’s market (the vendor said they would be great sauteed), and some really nice olives in the fridge. I also had the last bit of a batch of homemade Italian sausage to use up as well.

Ingredients:

• feta cheese (maybe 1/6 cup)
• greens that can be sauteed (spinach, chard, etc)
• olives (any kind you prefer, pitted)
• linguine
• sausage

Cook the linguine.  Cook the sausage, add greens until wilted.  Layer linguine, sausage and greens, olives, and feta cheese.  Enjoy hot.

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Original recipe here. This one is easy to adapt to the season or what you have on hand. I usually pull this one out in the fall, when the wind starts to carry a bite in it, and I start digging through my sock drawer.

Ingredients:

• 1 acorn or delicata squash, halved. (Any squash with a sweet flavor will work)
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1/4lb Italian sausage (I used some homemade that we had in the freezer)
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 bunch chard, stems and leaves separated, stems chopped.
• 1/2 cup cooked farro
• garlic cloves, chopped (I used about 8, but we are crazy for garlic)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• feta cheese, to taste

Halve the squash, remove seeds, place face down on an oiled cookie sheet.  Bake for 25-30 minutes in a preheated 350F oven.  In the meantime, cook the sausage in a medium-sized skillet.  The sausage should have enough fat that you won’t need to add any oil, but feel free to add a dash or two if you want.  Once the sausage is almost cooked, add chopped onion, bell peppers, chard, and garlic.  Saute until the veggies start to soften, then add cumin and chili powder.  Stir to incorporate the spices, then add chopped chard leaves.  Cover the pan and let the leaves wilt, about 2-3 minutes.  Stir the mixture.

Remove squash from the oven.  Set bottoms in rammikins so they are upright.  Fill cavities with sausage/veggie mixture.  Add feta cheese on top.  Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes or until feta is browned.

Forgive this photo, I ate 1/3 of it before remembering to take a photo. Oh man it was so good that we are repeating it tonight with the leftover filling. Last night we used acorn squash, tonight we will use delicata squash.

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I’ve asked myself multiple times why this isn’t on my recipe blog, though I’ve made it half a dozen times.  It’s versatile, either cake or cupcakes.  I’ve even used it for birthday cakes before. It holds up well with frosting, stuffed with whipped cream for moon pies, covered in ganache, or plain with strawberries.

Ingredients:

• 3c flour
• 2c sugar
• 6T cocoa powder
• 2t baking soda
• 1t salt
• 2c cold water
• 3/4c veg oil
• 2T vinegar (I like basamic, it adds a certain depth of flavor)
• 2t vanilla

Whisk up the dry ingredients, add the wet. bake @ 350 for ~ 30-40 minutes.  If making cupcakes, start checking around 7 minutes.

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