Twofer

Squash, squash, squash I love squash. I can think of a million ways to use squash and that is something I absolutely look for in a main ingredient. Not to mention they are relativity cheap!! Butternut squash is in my top three favs, it is incredibly versatile and because it is pretty well received in general it is a safe bet when cooking for company.
I LOVE throwing dinner parties. It gives me a chance to test out new recipes for work and feel like I had a night out at the same time. Now that most of my friends and I all have kids, planning a meal for everyone has been a learning curve. While trying to accommodate everyone it usually turns out to be a bigger (and more expensive) ordeal than it has to. For your next dinner party invite the kids along, make this pasta and enjoy your night. Especially because the ... remains.. will be just as delish when you reincarnate the sauce for dinner tomorrow night, making this recipe an awesome twofer.

Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce:

• 3 small or 2 medium Organic butternut squash
• 1/2 a medium Organic yellow onion
• 2 ribs of organic celery
• 2 small carrots
• 1 Organic red bell pepper
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 1/2 tbs organic tomato paste
• 1 package fresh oregano
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flake
• salt & pepper
• 1 package of good quality pasta

Cut the squash in half lengthwise and place on a cookie sheet. Stick one or two sprigs of the fresh oregano in the cup of the squash, drizzle each squash half with EVOO and hit it with some salt and pepper. Pop them in the oven at 400 for 40min or until cooked through. About 10 min before it is done I add the bell pepper after I have cut and seeded it.

when the squash comes out let it sit to slightly cool. Small dice the poix (onion, carrot, celery) and sweat it with a little bit of EVOO in the bottom of a sauce pot. I actually dump the liquid from the squash cups in the pot to get it started. Pull the leaves off the remaining oregano sprigs and toss in with your diced bell pepper and red pepper flake.
The most efficient way to separate the squash from the skin is to flip them over flat side down and peel it away. Once the veg in the pot is cooked down you can finish this one of two ways-

Food processor-
Add the cooked veg and pulse until almost pureed. add the squash and tomato paste and puree.

Immersion blender-
Throw the remaining ingredients into the pot with the cooked veg and blend away. I prefer this method because you still get the tiny specks of color from the veg.

If you would like.. a little butter to finish this sauce is nice (UNSALTED!!).

Either way you choose you may need a small amount of hot water to get things movin. you can use chicken stock or veg stock if you like as well.

Toss with your al dente pasta and garnish with some fresh herbs (sage would be lovely), pine nuts and/or reggiano if your into it.

To adapt this for a smaller baby you can make rice instead of pasta. 6-9 months I would throw the rice in the food processor to break the rice up a little better.


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Gratin, yum. Vegan gratin.. not so yum. This is a not so vegan recipe but can be easily converted and I will indicate how. But if you are a 'mostly vegan' like me~ forget about it! WOW WOW WOW, your gonna thank me for this one later.

So away from blogging (in real life) my company specializes in reducing produce waste from farmers. There are a lot of ways you can help cut down on food waste at home as well, such as properly using everything you buy and not buying more than will be consumed before it goes bad. Properly using everything means using all consumable parts of your produce. So lets do that, I am about to blow your broccoli mind.

This has been a trick of mine for years, not until I had a kid did it become even more handy. Olive conditionally likes broccoli florets, she unconditionally loves broccoli stalks. 

Not So Vegan Veggie Gratin

1 small bag Organic creamer potatoes (multicolored is good)
4 heads Organic broccoli (you want long stalks, don't mind the florets) 
 1 cup Organic white cheddar (for Vegan use your favorite cheese or ground cashews)
1 1/2 cups Organic butternut squash pasta sauce from above
1 bunch Organic sage
(this is to fill a loaf pan)

Wash your potatoes, cut the florets off the broccoli and put in the fridge. Grab your veggie peeler and get those arms ready. Broccoli stalks have a thick multilayer .. um, bark, if you will. Luckily they are also multicolored so you will know when you have hit the goods. If you are confident with your knife skills you can stand 1 stalk upright and slice a thin layer off all sides for a head start. If you feel more comfortable with just the peeler then have at it. The stalk has the outer layer, a beige layer, a white layer and finally the opaque green and that's what we are looking for. You can kind of see from the picture the top is half way peeled and the bottom is what you want. I recommend a mandolin for this but if you don't have one try try try to get the thickness uniform. Cut the stalks and potatoes the same disc size.

Heat up your.. residual.. sauce. Start layering your veg in the bottom of the pan. I do 3-4 layers (alternating broc for potato). Next a very thin layer of your organic cheddar and 1/2 the sauce you have left. layer the remaining veg and top with the rest of the sauce and a final layer of cheese. If you want to do a crust you can mix breadcrumbs with the top layer of cheese if you would like. Cover this with foil and pop into a 400 oven for 45min. When the timer goes off let that cheese have it! Remove the foil and crank the oven to 450, once the cheese is to your liking remove from oven and let stand for 10 min.

In the meantime heat some EVOO up in a skillet on medium high. Make sure the oil is up to temp every time you fry something or it just soaks up oil like a sponge. When the oil is ready drop in your sage a few leaves at a time. Flip them once and remove to a paper towel to drain. Total cooking time for these guys is maybe 30 seconds. Please don't skip this step it makes SUCH a difference!!

 Because the sauce has a creamy texture you wont even miss the cream of a standard gratin. We rarely eat dairy in this house so this is such a treat. Lets stop and think why this is different from a lasagna or gratin. It's all whole vegetables! Can't go wrong. No kid I have ever made this for has turned it down. Adult either! Your welcome ;)

To adapt for a smaller baby when it comes out of the oven and sets cut the pieces of veg up so it is easier for your baby to eat on a spoon.