fancy nachos

There are two kinds of nachos. There is the kind you make as an after school snack, where the ultimate goal is really "melted cheese", so you just put some chips on a tray with some cheese and throw them in the toaster oven. (Some would say nacho snacks are the number one reason to opt for the toaster oven vs. the pop-up toaster). Then there are the shmancy nachos that you can justify as dinner because they involve lots of toppings (chopped perfectly, if you have a handy man around like I do), herbs and spices.

Tonight's nachos featured spicy chicken (left over from last night), tomato, green pepper, onion, cilantro and garlic powder. Oh, and how could I forget the key ingredient? Cheddar cheese! I really liked how my boyfriend tackled assembly. Rather than "sprinkling" each ingredient on the chips, he put all the chopped veggies and the chicken in a bowl and mixed them all together with garlic powder and cilantro. THEN he did the "sprinkling". Ok, this isn't an earth-shattering nacho-tip, but I thought it was pretty clever.

french onion soup

French onion soup is so simple to make, it's really foolish not to make it all the time:

- sautee onions until caramelized
- add beef bouillon cube and water
- let simmer until onions are melty
- while soup is simmering, cut bread into cubes and toast to make croutons
- put soup in ramekins, add croutons then top with a slice of cheese (preferably gruyere, but we used swiss and it was great)
- place under broiler until cheese begins bubble

Ta-da! Slightly sweet, soupy, bready (and most importantly) cheesy goodness! Seriously, if you aren't picking the melted cheese off the side of the bowl, you've done something wrong.

all four food groups present and accounted for

Baked chicken breast with home-made barbecue sauce (tomato, cooking wine, garlic, red pepper, salt, rice wine vinegar, creamed honey, paprika, chili powder)

Fried acorn squash mac & cheese cake

Sauteed bok choy

acorn squash mac & cheese

Acorn squash mac & cheese 
acorn squash (roasted & mashed), sharp cheddar cheese, cream cheese, milk, butter, dijon mustard, sage & paprkia


Served with a side of sauteed green beans

acorn squash balls: sweet & heat strikes again

Whenever my boyfriend hits a home run with a random dish, there is a good chance he employed his secret weapon: sweet & heat. If all of the other ingredients are savory, my boyfriend adds a touch of something sweet (in particular maple syrup and honey are great for adding this kind of sweetness), and then a touch of something hot to contrast. This is a simple way to make the flavor of whatever you're making a bit more complex, and it hasn't let us down yet.

Pork chop and sauteed green beans and radishes

Squash balls
- sautee acorn squash
- mash with caramelized onion and garlic, creamed honey and red pepper flakes
- roll into balls and coat with panko bread crumbs
- pan-fry then top with thinly sliced soft blue cheese

pumpkin ravioli

Slowly but surely we are mastering our pasta maker. Of course, things were much easier tonight since we didn't have to bother with the noodle-cutting attachment, which is usually where we run into problems. But, my boyfriend (who was in charge of rolling out the dough while I formed the raviolis, we actually had a very efficient system going) did comment that my doughs are getting easier and easier to work with. So I'll just go ahead and pat myself on the back.



Pasta Dough
- sift 2 and 1/3 cup of pasta flour onto large work surface and make a well in the center
- pour 2 lightly beaten eggs into well
- add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of olive oil
- gradually combine ingredients with a fork, adding warm water gradually until the dough comes together (total water = 2/3 cup)
- knead dough until you can form a soft manageable ball (approx. 10 minutes)
- cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour prior to use

Filling (what I made, which is why I can give you approximate amounts)
- 1 small roasted pumpkin & 1 roasted acorn squash
- approx. 7 oz ricotta cheese
- dash of nutmeg
- 4 cloves of garlic
- salt (to taste, 1/2-1 teaspoon)
- tablespoon of pumpkin butter

To form raviolis, roll dough out into sheets. On one sheet of dough, place dollops of filling (approx. 1 tablespoon) spaced 1 inch apart. Cover with second sheet of dough. Press down edges, cut out individual raviolis, trim excess dough, then press edges with fork.

Sauce (what my boyfriend made, and he is either incapable of estimating the quantities or he just refuses to)
- white cooking wine
- creamed honey
- butter
- sage
- ricotta
- dash of cinnamon

roasted

Roasted chicken stuffed with peppers and chimichurri sauce

Roasted potatoes & delicata squash

simply prepared (with potato chips)

I think it is so interesting how tastes change as we grow up. There is a very long list of foods I didn't like as a kid that now I love. Some of them are probably common to everyone (e.g., brussel sprouts), but there were other foods I didn't like that everyone else did, and only now do I get it. I obviously have something specific in mind as I am writing this: salt and vinegar chips. I hate to think about all the time I wasted eating plain chips instead of salt and vinegar chips...it is time (and chips) I will never have back...

ANYWAYS, tonight's dinner was for the most part very simply prepared. But as always, there had to be one stroke of creativity. Tonight, that was the salt and vinegar chip crust on the salmon. This didn't hold up to cooking as well as we would have liked, but still, I have to applaud the idea.

Salt & Vinegar chip-crusted salmon with caramelized onions and sauteed yellow zucchini and bok choy. 

the best acorn squash soup. ever.

I wasn't planning on taking a picture tonight, because we were "just having soup", and it was an eerie neon yellow colour that I didn't think would photograph well. Little did I know this would be the best soup my boyfriend has ever made. No exaggeration. The. Best. I am literally excited to eat the leftovers tomorrow. So we had to take a post-eating picture of the last bite, just so I could write a post about it. Yes - it was that good.

The soup excelled for two reasons:
1) Balance of flavor. I'm pretty sure my boyfriend didn't measure any quantities of anything (he never does), so unfortunately our recipe is not that helpful...But I will mention a surprise ingredient that I'm sure helped here, creamed honey. As you may recall, my boyfriend has an obsession with adding maple syrup to just about everything, because sometimes you need a little sweet to really accentuate the savory. Well, creamed honey is the new maple syrup.

2) Texture. Here I can be a bit more useful, because I am convinced that the perfect silky texture can be attributed to the coconut milk. I tend favor the creamy soups, and this is the first time my boyfriend really nailed it; this is also the first time we've used coconut milk for soup. Coincidence? I think not!

Actually, I suspect that coconut milk was a key player in getting the flavor to be so subtle and perfect...so really I think what I wanted to say can be summed up in a single sentence: Use coconut milk when making winter squash soups, it is not a mistake.

The Best Acorn Squash Soup. Ever.
- roasted acorn squash
- caramelized onions & garlic
- coconut milk
- creamed honey
- cloves
- ginger
- turmeric
- cumin

sunny-side up egg, frittata-style

 Why am I calling this "frittata-style"? Because the eggs were cracked into the pan with all the other ingredients, so everything cooked together, and the other ingredients are integrated into the egg white. If we had done the same thing but had beaten the eggs first, this would be a frittata.

Sunny-side up egg with pork sausage, onion, avocado, cilantro and goat cheese