Spicy Mexican Squash Stew - Moosewood recipe

I found a recipe on the Moosewood Restaurant site and tried it the other night. Everyone ate it up! I served it with plain yogurt. I also added a can of Romano Beans to add a bit of protein.

I am puzzled by "spicy" in the title as it was quite mild. I might add another jalapeno pepper next time. Enjoy.

http://www.moosewoodrestaurant.com/recipes_archive.html#60

This recipe is from their book: Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Moosewood-Restaurant-Daily-Special-More-Moosewood-Collective/9780609802427-item.html?ikwid=moosewood+restaurant+daily+special&ikwsec=Home

Moosewood Pumpkin Cheesecake

My favourite cookbook for desserts is: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Moosewood-Restaurant-Book-of-Desserts-Moosewood-Collective/9780517884935-item.html

Every item I have made in this book turns out incredibly perfect. And, I always make them gluten-free - their recipes with my substitutions.

Tonight I am making the pumpkin cheesecake on page 158. I used the Mi-Del brand ginger snaps (about 20 of them) for the crust.
http://www.midelcookies.com/gluten_free/ginger_snaps.shtml
Be careful if you buy these - they make non gluten-free stuff too and I once got the packages mixed up.

Check out the Moosewood website - they have quite a few recipes posted here: http://www.moosewoodrestaurant.com/

I can smell the cheesecake cooking - wow.

Stuffed Pumpkin

My Mother-in-law brought an amazing stuffed pumpkin to our dinner party last night. It was truly outstanding! Here is the recipe from the National Post. I think this will be a must have for years to come.
We put this right in the centre of the table - it was a beautiful dish as well as extremely tasty.

NOTE for people who eat gluten-free: My Mother-in-law made this gluten-free by substituting cooked rice (Basmati I think) for the bread.

DORIE GREENSPAN’S PUMPKIN STUFFED WITH EVERYTHING GOOD
Around My French Table is author Dorie Greenspan’s culinary memoir of 30 years of cooking the French food she loves so much. It also shows the transformation of French cooking from an intimidating cuisine to something approachable and easy to cook at home. This yummy recipe uses small pie or sugar pumpkins, which are ideal for cooking (save the larger ones for jack-o’-lanterns).
• 1 3 lb (1.5 kg) pumpkin
• salt and fresh ground black pepper
• 4 oz (125 g) stale bread, sliced and cut into ½-inch (1 cm) cubes
• 4 oz (125 g) cubed Gruyère, Emmenthal or Cheddar cheese
• 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped (or one head roasted garlic)
• 4 strips bacon, cooked crisp, drained and chopped
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) chopped chives or green onions
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) fresh thyme leaves
• ½ cup (125 mL) whipping cream
• freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) chopped fresh parsley
1. Cut top off pumpkin and scoop out insides. Season inside generously.
2. Toss bread, cheese, garlic, bacon and herbs together in a bowl. Season with pepper and salt only if necessary. Spoon into pumpkin. It should be well-filled. Stir cream with nutmeg (and some salt and pepper if necessary) and spoon into pumpkin. Add more cream if necessary to moisten filling. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
3. Put cap back on and bake 1½ hours in a preheated 350F (180C) oven. Remove top and bake 20 to 30 minutes longer until crusty on top. Sprinkle with parsley. Carefully transfer to a serving platter, bring to the table whole and cut into wedges to serve.
Makes 4 to 6 servings

Read more: http://life.nationalpost.com/2010/10/01/bonnie-stern-this-year-turkey-can-be-the-side-dish/#ixzz12096Lc7x

Gluten-free Thanksgiving Stuffing / Dressing

Last night I made Thanksgiving Dinner for our family and some friends. I wanted to share some of the dishes that we had...

Wild Rice and Fennel Dressing (my husband calls it stuffing, I call it dressing for some reason)

1 cup of uncooked wild rice (cook this following the directions on the package) - can be prepared ahead
1 fennel bulb - thinly sliced and then chopped up into pieces (not too small)
1/2 onion chopped into small pieces
3 cloves garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1 and 1/2 cups of cranberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup of toasted sliced almonds
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage (or use a 2 teaspoons of poultry spice (or ground sage) if you don't have fresh sage)

saute the onion and the fennel in about a tablespoon of olive oil until soft
add garlic continue to saute for about a minute
add salt and pepper (couple of dashes /grinds of each)

In an oven proof casserole combine the rice, fennel mixture, cranberries, sage and almonds. Mix well and heat through just prior to serving. I heated mine at 300 for about 35 minutes.

This is a nice nutty alternative to bread stuffing. GF (Gluten-free) bread stuffing sometimes turns to mush so I just cook this outside the turkey in a casserole dish.