Enchilada-Inspired Polenta Pie

This dish was kinda funny. It was tasty & filling, but the polenta never got firm. You cook the polenta with onion & spices first for 6-8 hours, then add the bean-corn-chilli-salsa mixture on top. I cooked the polenta even longer, but it stayed the consistency of cream of wheat cereal the entire time. I used cornmeal like the recipe stated, but I think it might have been better to use coarse polenta grain instead. I would try it again to see before crossing it out.

Winter Squash & Sweet Potato Soup

Yum, winter squash. Over the summer, I grew acorn & butternut squash in the garden. Then I put them in the cupboard for winter. It got cold towards the end of December, so it was the perfect time for hot soup from the slow cooker. This recipe was super easy & delicious.

Basically you slow cook onions, sweet potatoes & butternut squash in veggie stock with thyme & sage. Then blend. Full recipe can be found in Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker.

Ginger-spiced Walnuts

I made these as part of my Dad's Christmas gift, cause what do you get for a man that has everything? First coat the walnuts with oil, then add brown sugar, cover & cook on high for 15 min. Then uncover & cook on low for 2 hours until the walnuts are crispy, stirring occasionally. Then stir in the spice mixture & let cool on cookie sheet. He loved them!

1 lb unsalted raw walnut halves
1/4 c corn oil or other mild oil
1/3 c packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp ground crystallized ginger - use spice grinder or chop very finely
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice

Flageolet Beans with Rosemary and Thyme

Damn good. This recipe came from the December issue of Sunset magazine. It was super simple & took very little time to cook. The fresh herbs came straight from the backyard and really made the beans flavorful. I used small white beans from the regular grocery store instead of trying to find the called for flageolet.

Ingredients:
12 oz dried flageolet beans
6 garlic cloves, peeled
2 tsp salt
2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme
2 carrots, cut into 1/2 in slices on diagonal
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

1. Put all but parsley into slow cooker. Add 5 cups boiling water & stir. Cover & cook until beans are very tender & most of water is absorbed, 2-3 hrs on high or 4-4.5 hrs on low.

2. Stir in 3 tbsp of parsley. Transfer to serving dishes. Add more oil to taste if desired. Garnish with sprigs of rosemary & thyme & remaining parsley.

Winter Squash Stuffed with Couscous, Apricots and Pistachios

I made this the week before Christmas when David & I were both busy with holiday parties & after-work shopping. It was super easy, but did require a bit of work to prepare before throwing everything in the crock pot. Next time I would make the couscous stuffing the night before so I wouldn't have to cook in the morning when still half asleep. I used the bottom part of a giant butternut squash from the garden (!) which took up the whole crock pot, but only used about half of the couscous stuffing. It was nice to have extra for leftovers, but I think you could also just cut the recipe in half. I might have put too much water in to steam the squash as it got really, really soft. But it was also cooking for way more than the recommended 6 hours or rather it was on stay warm for 3-4 hours after it was done. I also just noticed that the book recommends putting the squash in the microwave for a few minutes to make it easier to cut in half. I would do that if you have a microwave because it was really hard to cut into equal halves good for stuffing.

Leftovers!

Ingredients:
2 cups apple juice
1 cup couscous
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1 c chopped dried apricots
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lg yellow onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 c pistachio nuts, chopped
1 lg winter squash, kabocha or buttercup, halved & seeded
1 c hot water

1. Bring juice to boil in medium pot. Add couscous & spices. Reduce heat to low, cover & simmer 10 min. Remove from heat, stir in apricots, cover & set aside.

2. Heat oil in large skillet. Add onion & garlic, cover & cook until soft, ~5 min.

3. Fluff couscous with fork, add onion mixture & pistachios. Season w/ salt & pepper. Mix well.

4. Put squash in slow cooker. Pack stuffing in squash. Pour water into cooker around squash. Cover & cook on low until tender, ~6 hours. Serve hot.