Spaghetti Squash Surprise! (aka What's That Smell?)

It's been a rough week here. 2 pizza nights and lots of other chaos that you guys don't need to hear about. But, I got one good meal to tell you about!

Friday's dinner was supposed to be spaghetti squash with chicken. It was going to be a wonder mish-mash of flavors on top of a big bed of spaghetti squash. A pasta dish without the pasta. I was so excited!

Squash will last for weeks in the right environment (months if it is cold and dark enough!). The one problem with this is when you bring your squash home, you don't know how old it is. I did not think about this. So, when I cut open this delicious looking spaghetti squash, I got quite a surprise. It was a smell. Not a bad smell but, not the right smell. I opened the squash up and very quickly realized I was smelling sprouts. Oops. The seeds were sprouting! After a quick look online, I found out that we would not enjoy it's very bitter tasting flesh so I said bye bye and moved on to something else.

We ended up with a pasta dish and man was it delicious. I could not have been happier! Here is what I did:

Boil water for the pasta (I regret that I only had white pasta in the house. Usually we are whole wheat all of the way!)

Meanwhile, cut up everything else to be sauted together:

3 Garlic cloves (minced)

Olive Oil

1 small butternut squash

Most of a white onion

1/2 cup grape tomatoes

2 chicken breasts

4 tbsp basil (frozen fresh from the garden!)

Italian herbs

Pepper

Cook that stuff up and pile it on top of your spaghetti and you got yourself some awesomeness!

This week's menu (and Spinach-Black Bean Lasagna)

Better late than never, right?

Translation:

M - lamb chops

T - spinach-black bean lasagna

W - hamburger with sweet potato fries

Th - fish

F - spaghetti squash with chicken

S - wedding (which means pizza for the 3-year-old)

S - soup

The Spinach-Black Bean Lasagna we had last night is one of my favorite freezer meals. I will often cook it in a 9x13 and then freeze the leftovers because there is no way we can eat that much. It's also an easy one to double and then assemble in 4 8x8 pans. It's great to have on hand for us but also for friends that may be in the need for a meal. (And this one tends to be a hit!) If you are making a whole one just to freeze, no need to cook it first! Only if you are freezing leftovers.

I have no idea where this recipe came from. It is not mine originally. 

Spinach-Black Bean Lasagna


Ingredients: 

9 lasagna noodles

2 large eggs 

2 cups ricotta cheese 

1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

4 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded and divided

2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained

3 cups prepared marinara sauce

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin


[1] In a large pot of boiling water, cook, lasagna noodles until done but firm to the bite. Drain and set aside on waxed paper.

[2] In a large bowl, stir together the eggs, ricotta, spinach, cilantro and salt. Add in 1 cup of the Monterey Jack cheese; set aside.

[3] Mash beans with a potato masher or fork in a large bowl; stir in pasta sauce and cumin. Spread one-third of bean mixture on bottom of a lightly greased baking dish.

[4] Layer with 3 noodles, half of spinach mixture, and 1/3 of the Monterey Jack cheese; repeat layers. Spread with one-third bean mixture; top with remaining 3 noodles and remaining bean mixture and remaining cheese. Cover tightly with foil, affix the cooking label and place flat in the freezer.


COOKING DIRECTIONS
Thaw
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Bake, covered for 1 hour, remove the foil and bake for 10 minutes or until golden.

Lamb Chops with Brussels sprouts and mashed 'taters

I don't have this week's menu made yet.... I hope to have it up tomorrow. You will know as soon as I do!

But, on to more important things... Tonight's Dinner!

All of the main ingredients were locally grown and my goodness they were delicious! I didn't use much seasoning. Everything tasted so fresh and, well, as it should taste.

Lamb Chops:
Preheat oven to 450.
Heat oil in an oven-safe pan. Sear the lamb chops until brown on each side. About 2 minutes.
Move to oven and bake for 8-10 minutes (9 worked for me!)
Be careful taking that pot out of the oven! Use an oven mitt!

Brussels sprouts:
Put sprouts with a bit of water into a microwave-safe bowl. Cover with vented top.
Cook for 2-3 minutes, depending on how soft you like them. (I like my veggies a little crunchy so I only did 2.)
Drain water and add just a little spray butter

Mashed Potatoes:
Wash, peel and cut into pieces
Add to pot with just enough water to cover them
Cook until soft enough to mash
I didn't have enough water in the pot so they got a little dry.  I added just enough butter (tsp?) and milk (1/4 cup?) to make them super yummy! I also added a little garlic salt 'cause that's how my husband likes them.

Over all, a very easy and very yummy meal!

Tacos!

We love taco night. It doesn't happen often enough around here. I had some ground beef from a local farm in the freezer, lettuce, tomato and avocado from our organic weekly delivery and cheese and salsa. All we needed was the shells and seasoning! I saw that Ortega had some new Whole Grain/Whole Wheat product and decided to check it out!

I am always skeptical of big-name products that claim they are whole wheat. They usually aren't very whole wheat at all. For instance, last week when I was making the spider pizza, I was looking for some premade whole wheat pizza dough. I had 2 choices, Boboli that was almost $5 for 1 pie or a different brand that was $2.50 for 2 pies! Seemed like an easy choice, right? They both had "100% whole wheat" on their packaging. Upon further inspection, on the Boboli was actually 100% whole wheat. The other one had enriched white flour as the first ingredient. Whuk?! I just don't get it... but, I digress, I am happy to report that Ortega passed initial inspection.

This is such a fun and easy dinner. Our toddler gets a kick out of assembling her taco (even though she takes it all apart and eats each piece with her fingers), it's fun for adults, easy to cook and not necessarily that bad for you! Especially if you load up on the veggies.

Pasta with Asparagus and Pine Nuts

We had a delicious pasta dinner last night that was so incredibly easy to make. I'm definitely keeping this simple recipe in my back pocket for nights when I don't know what else to do. You can sub any vegetable and any nut!

The original recipe is from Real Simple and is called Linguine with Asparagus and Pine Nuts. I'm sure it would be amazing with fresh pasta and fresh shaved Parmesan, but, using what we had on hand (which is another part of this blog... everything has to be easy and convenient!), I used regular ol' spaghetti noodles and the Parmesan cheese that comes in a shaker. Easy enough!

I almost always have pine nuts in the house for cooking and I had asparagus in the freezer from our CSA earlier in the summer. I added a nice salad on the side and it was perfect!

Mmmmm.... look at those big garlic cloves. YUM!

Turkey Burgers

We love turkey burgers. I prefer the homemade variety but I tend to keep some frozen ones in the freezer. They are so quick to cook and you don't have to thaw them! Jenni-O makes some great ones and while they aren't local or organic, they only have 2 ingredients: turkey and seasoning. I'll take that (even though I'd love to know exactly what "seasoning" is.)

We aren't big on buns in this family either. This is what a burger looks like in our house:

Locally grown organic tomato, organic avocado and a little mozzarella cheese all wrapped up in some locally grown organic lettuce. Delicious!

This week's menu

 

Translation:

M - Turkey Burgers

T - Deli Sandwiches

W - DATE NIGHT!

Th - Pizza party at school

F - Pasta with Asparagus

S -Tacos

S - Chili