Thank you to Molly for our ingredient of the week: Delicata squash! 

Week 3: Delicata Squash

From Wikipedia: This squash is a winter squash with distinctive longitudinal dark green stripes on a yellow or cream colored background and sweet, orange-yellow flesh. It is also known as the peanut squash, Bohemian squash, or sweet potato squash.  Although considered a winter squash, delicata squash belongs to the same species as all types of summer squash, including zucchini and yellow crookneck squash.

Delicata squash is most commonly baked, but can also be microwaved, sautéed or steamed. It may be stuffed with meat or vegetable mixtures. The seeds of the squash are also eaten, usually after being toasted. This squash is not as rich in beta-carotene as other winter squashes, but is a good source of dietary fiber and potassium, as well as smaller amounts of vitamins C and B, magnesium, and manganese.

We found some great recipes to try out!  Check back soon…

This meal was really quite tasty but, unfortunately, it doesn’t photograph well.  I followed the Food Network recipe pretty closely, although I omitted about half of the butter and salt and added Jenny O’s Italian sausage-flavored ground turkey.  This particular ground turkey is one of my most favorites– If I could, I would have it everyday.  It’s also really good in a red sauce over pasta.

All in all, our adventure with kale this week was a complete success! I’m big on leafy greens and this ingredient has found a spot in our weekly rotation.  In fact, I already have a kale recipe planned for one of our non-food experiment meals next week!

Photo: Not so appetizing. Actual taste: Delicious!

For our second kale meal, we used Bobby Flay’s sauteed kale recipe— we didn’t include the  vinegar, but did add extra garlic.  (I love garlic.)  We also made a pork tenderloin recipe derived from one of our favorite restaurants, Osteria la Spiga.  The pork was cut into medallions, floured and pan-fried.  The orzo was boiled per the package instructions and finished with some butter and parsley.

The final product:

Voila! Tasty AND healthy!

Tonight we made Williams Sonoma’s chicken parmesan, baked on a bed of kale. It was pretty easy to make and turned out very tasty.  And guess what?  We discovered that we love kale!  We followed the recipe pretty closely, but we added a tablespoon of minced garlic to the kale while it was wilting on the stove top.

Yum... Cheese...

Ingredients:

• Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• Olive oil
• 1 Trader Joe’s bag of kale, leaves stripped from stems
• Marinara sauce 
• Shredded mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses

Here’s the final product:

Our first kale meal

Week 2: KALE!

This week’s special ingredient is KALE!

From Wikipedia:

Kale or borecole is a form of cabbage (Brassica oleracea Acephala Group), green or purple, in which the central leaves do not form a head. It is considered to be closer to wild cabbage than most domesticated forms. The species Brassica oleracea contains a wide array of vegetables including broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens, and brussels sprouts. 

We have a lot of fun meals planned for this next week!  Check back soon.

I found this chicken breast with glazed root vegetable recipe in the Williams Sonoma catalog (who knew?!) and Brandon made it.  It is  a new favorite of ours.

We altered the recipe a bit, we made a smaller quantity and made it a little more healthy. Here are the ingredients:

Veggies: Sliced, diced and ready to go!

• 2 boneless chicken breasts
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
• 2 parsnips, peeled and diced
• 1 rutabaga, peeled and diced
• 12 brussel sprouts, quartered
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 Tbs. honey
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• Dried thyme and parsley

Definitely check out this recipe and try it! On a side note, this was my first rutabaga experience and I discovered I love them!!

Final product: DELICIOUS!

Yum, yum, yum!  We made turkey burgers and parsnip fries and they turned out so well!  We’ll definitely try this recipe again!

Parsnip fries: Before

We made up the turkey burger recipe and  got the parsnip fries recipe from Allrecipes.com.  It included:

• 4 parsnips, peeled & cut into sticks
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• ground black pepper, to taste
• chopped fresh mint and chopped sage

UPDATE! Without further ado: our turkey burger recipe

Turkey burgers: Before

We made up the turkey burger recipe, and it very much resembled our favorite turkey meatloaf recipe from Everyday Food.  For the burger, we used:

• 1.25 lbs of ground turkey (93% lean)
• .5 c Panko bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 2 large mushrooms, minced
• 1 T minced garlic
• Salt and pepper 

This made 4 really good sized burgers; enough for dinner and lunch leftovers!  We served them in ciabatta rolls and I added provolone to mine.

Parsnip meal #2: DELICIOUS!!

I strongly encourage you to try these out– they’re so good!  (And good for leftovers too!)

Enjoy and happy cooking!

So far our cooking adventure is off to a great start!  We perused allrecipes.com and found several good recipes with parsnips.

Our first parsnip meal was a fall harvest pork stew cooked in the crock pot. Basically we prepared all of the ingredients, added them to the crock pot and waited:

Fall harvest pork stew: Before

• 2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell’s® Condensed French Onion Soup
• 1/2 cup apple cider or apple juice
• 3 large Granny Smith apples, cut into thick slices
• 3 cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 2 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

I’ve never knowingly eaten or prepared parsnips before and so far, so good!  They are a lot like a starchy, white-ish carrots with a very unique, delicious taste.

Fall harvest pork stew: After

The stew turned out alright.  It’s probably not something we’ll make again, but it was nutritious and delicious for a dinner and lunch leftovers.

Next parsnip recipe: Parsnip fries and turkey burgers!