Winter Squash Stuffed with Wild Rice, Kale, and Yumm! Sauce

This week's meal uses the Sunshine squash from last week's CSA. I thought it would be fun to experiment and see how Yumm! Sauce and winter squash would go together. As I expected, they go together quite nicely. If you've been reading this blog for awhile you know this girl likes her Yumm! (See examples of my obsession here, here, and here).

For this recipe, I baked the squash until tender, then scooped out the flesh and tossed it together with a mixture of cooked wild rice and sauteed veggies (kale, red bell pepper, shallot). I mixed in a generous portion of Yumm! Sauce, then stuffed this mixture back into the shell of the squash and baked it a little longer. Before serving I drizzled on a bit more sauce. Filling and delicious!

CSA Week 22:

In the box: 1 lettuce, 1.5 pounds Sweet Girl tomatoes, 1 head cauliflower, 1 1/4 pounds broccoli, 1 Delicata squash, 1 bunch kale, 1 bunch fresh ginger, 1 pound grapes.

It's great having friends who hunt and are generous enough to share a small piece of their bounty with us. A friend from work gave us a couple packages of elk and venison steaks, and another friend brought over some venison from recent hunting trip and together we made Jacques Pepin's recipe for venison steaks in sweet-sour sauce. The sauce went perfectly with the steak. The recipe called for current or raspberry jam, but we substituted apricot because that's what we had. To go with, I roasted some miscellaneous veggies (one potato from a previous week's CSA, a couple remaining carrots from last week, and the broccoli from this week).

Tomatoes: we wanted to make that tart again, but they were starting to get pretty ripe and it didn't look like I would have time to fit it in, so I roasted and froze them for later. Looking forward to lots of pasta topped with chunky tomato sauce for dinner this winter.

The lettuce was used for side salads for lunch and dinner. Grapes for snacks.

We used up a whole mess of CSA veggies in one night with these two delicious dishes: Red Lentils and Kale with Coconut, Ginger, and Crispy shallots and Curried Skillet Cauliflower with Cilantro. I love recipes where I can just tick off the ingredients I want to use up right in the title. Both of these dishes were really good, you should check them out. I'm a little picky when it comes to cauliflower, so it's a good sign when I recommend a recipe that uses it.

Winter Squash Stuffed with Wild Rice, Kale, and Yumm! Sauce
serves 2-4

Note: I chose a squash that looked like a small pumpkin so I only sliced off the very top to make a deep bowl and stuffed the squash that way. But if you have other shapes of squash it would work just as well to slice them in half lengthwise and fill them - it will be more open but just as delicious.

1 large (or a few small) winter squash (such as Sunshine, Delicata, Acorn, Butternut, etc.)
1 cup uncooked wild rice (or brown or white or whatever you have)
2 tablespoons grapeseed or canola oil
1 large shallot, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch kale, chopped
1/2 cup Cafe Yumm! Sauce, more or less to taste, plus more for drizzling.

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Depending on you and your squash, you can either slice the top off and scoop out the seeds and stringy flesh before baking, or bake it whole and do that step after it's tender. The first way is a little more difficult since you are trying to cut something that is very hard, but the second way involves working with a hot squash. Either way, place it in a baking dish and bake until tender and a fork pierces the skin easily, which could be 30 minutes, or it could be an hour, depending on the size of your squash.

Meanwhile, cook the rice according to package directions, which is probably something like 2 1/2 cups water or broth, plus 1 tablespoon oil or butter (optional), brought to a boil and then simmered, covered, for about 30 minutes.

In a large nonstick skillet, saute the shallot in the oil for a minute or so, then add the bell pepper and garlic. After about 5 minutes, add the kale, and cook until wilted. Add to the pot with the rice. Don't bother mixing it together, you are just moving it for now so you can use the skillet in the next step.

When the squash is tender, remove from the oven and let sit until cool enough to handle. If you haven't already, slice off the top of the squash (or slice in half lengthwise if using an oval-shaped squash), and scoop out the seeds and stringy flesh. Once you've done that, scoop out most of the remaining flesh, without compromising the stability of the shell, and place it in the skillet. Add a bit of oil and saute for a few minutes, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Add the rest of the veggies and rice to the skillet and toss to combine. Add a heaping portion of Yumm! Sauce (I did about 1/2 cup). Season with salt and pepper.

Scoop the rice mixture into the squash shell(s), packing it down and overflowing over the top a bit. Bake for about 20 more minutes.

Just before serving, drizzle with more Yumm! Sauce.

Yumm! Tuna Salad

Ah, my new favorite pastime: finding ways to incorporate Yumm! Sauce into everything I eat. This time, I used it instead of mayo in tuna salad. It was delicious, and made a great lunch to take to work!

I'm not a big fan of mayo. I only use it sparingly in recipes if I absolutely have to. I have never been one to spread it on sandwiches or burgers; it's one of those "picky eater" habits I still cling to as an adult. 

I am pretty sure I've always disliked the stuff, but I can say for sure that one experience I had as a kid sealed the deal. My sister and I were in elementary school at the time, and my mom was working there as a staff assistant. Some days after school we had to wait around for her while she was still working, so we'd hang out in the staff break room. One day, we were sent to wait there as usual, and saw a huge spread of food set out that was leftover from a lunch potluck earlier that day. My mom said we could help ourselves. So I grabbed a roll, spread on a large amount of butter - what I thought was butter - and took a bite. 

I could tell something was up with that butter. It did not taste right. I had to take a few bites to figure it out, but we finally realized what had happened: the mayo had turned yellow from sitting out all day, so it looked like butter. ::gags::

And that's why I don't like mayonnaise. That's also why you should never let perishable food sit out for more than two hours.

Remind me to tell you about the time my best friend got me to try tarter sauce - and how she conveniently "forgot" to tell me until afterwards that it's basically composed of mayo and pickles! Ok, that's pretty much the whole story right there. She's still my best friend, but I do not eat tarter sauce...

Anyway, now that I've (hopefully!) ruined your taste for mayonnaise, here is my recipe for Tuna Salad - sans Mayo!

Yumm! Tuna Salad

inspired by Cafe Yumm

makes about 6 servings

2-(6 ounce) cans tuna, packed in water

1/2 cup Yumm! sauce, original flavor

1-2 tablespoons minced red onion

1 tablespoon minced celery (optional)

1-2 tablespoons minced cilantro

1/2 tablespoon lime juice

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Drain tuna. Put tuna into a medium bowl, flaking it apart with a fork. Add remaining ingredients, stir to combine. 

Taste and adjust the flavor as needed by adding more of any of the ingredients as you see fit. I'm pretty sure I added more Yumm! sauce because I wanted a creamier tuna salad.

This will last for a several days in the fridge. It makes a great lunch as a sandwich or as a spread on crackers or crispbread. 

Yumm! Enchiladas: Part Two

I had lots of leftover corn tortillas from the taquitos I made for the Super Bowl, so I decided to do a variation on my original Yumm! Enchiladas I made back in April of last year.  I used Garlic Yumm! sauce instead of Original, shredded leftover chicken (thigh meat) instead of kidney beans, and homemade enchilada sauce!

The enchilada sauce recipe from America's Test Kitchen is almost as fast as heating up a can of sauce on the stove. Seriously. And it has so much flavor, you'll never use canned again. It packs quite a punch on it's own, but not so much that it drowns out the delicious zip of Yumm! sauce. We quickly helped ourselves to seconds, and could barely restrain ourselves from having thirds.

Find my original recipe for Yumm! enchiladas here. Recipe for enchilada sauce follows.

Fast Enchilada Sauce
adapted from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
makes 2 1/2 cups

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, minced (I didn't really mince it - that's just way too tedious)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons chili powder
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons sugar
2 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce (I used 1-15 ounce can, because that's what I had)
1/2 cup water

Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the onion and salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the onion has softened (if you didn't really mince it, like me, you might want to let the onion cook a little longer). Stir in the chili powder, garlic, cumin, and sugar. Cook for about 15 seconds, until fragrant. Add the tomato sauce and water, stir to combine. Let the mixture come to a simmer and cook for about 5 more minutes, until it thickens slightly. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

If you want your sauce to be smooth and authentic, you can strain it. For my purposes I didn't see the need.

Taco Salad with baked tortilla chips

I wasn't sure if I should blog about this one.  It's so simple, it's kinda stupid. But, I think baked tortilla chips are a really good thing to know how to make, and if you don't already have this down, it's worth a try.  I hardly ever have a bag of tortilla chips handy when I want to make taco salad, and I usually don't want to keep them around anyway because they aren't always low in points.

I had some 4-inch white corn tortillas in my fridge that I've been using for soft tacos and fajitas.  Turns out they make really good chips too, and 12 of them (3 tortillas worth) equals only 1 WW Point.  It's a little more than a Point because of the little bit of oil I bake them with, but that's not bad!

For my salad I used green leaf lettuce, chopped tomato, canned kidney beans (drained and rinsed), a little queso fresco, cilantro, and some sliced Ailsa Craig onion.  This is a type of onion that tastes good raw, like you would want for a hamburger.  Of course I had some Chipotle Yumm! Sauce on the side.

Baked Tortilla Chips
(I think I got this recipe idea from someplace, but I honestly can't remember where.)


Preheat oven to 350 F.

If using 4-inch corn tortillas, cut into quarters.  If using 6-inch tortillas, cut into 6 triangles.

Drizzle a baking sheet with a little grape seed or vegetable oil.  Spread it out so it evenly coats the pan in a very thin layer.  Arrange the tortilla pieces on the baking sheet in a single layer.

Put about a tablespoon of the oil into a small dish.  Using a pastry brush, dab each chip with a tiny bit of oil and spread it out over the chip.  This is very tedious, but it helps to be sure you are only using a small amount of oil per chip.  If you don't care about the chips being low fat, just drizzle the top of the chips with oil and spread it out evenly over the chips.

Sprinkle the chips with a little kosher salt.  If you have it, sprinkle some paprika or smoked paprika over them too.

Bake the chips for about 10-15 minutes, or until they are as crispy as you want them.  Keep in mind that they will become a little more crisp as they sit on the pan even after you take them out of the oven.  I like mine with a slight chewiness to it right out of the oven, then after they've sat for a couple minutes, they are perfect.  You can figure out what works best for you.

Hummus, Tempeh, and Cucumber Wrap

Earlier this week, we made these delicious wraps based on a recipe from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch.  

The wraps are filled with tempeh, which is a great meat substitute.  One serving provides almost half of your protein for the day, plus a slew of other vitamins and minerals.  We often eat it on sandwiches instead of deli meat, or we chop it up and add it to enchiladas or salads.  It's cheap, and it freezes well, which is always nice.  In this recipe, you add flavor to the tempeh by cooking it in coconut oil with some ground coriander, garlic powder, and soy sauce.  I thought it was a really great seasoning combination!    

By the way, I'm always looking for new ways to use tempeh, so if you have a favorite recipe, please let me know!

To these wraps I added my first crop of veggies from my spring garden!  I've tried to grow both radishes and spinach in the past, but was unsuccessful.  This year though, my garden seems to be doing very well!

The recipes only calls for romaine and cucumber for veggies, but you could add others, such as other salad greens, carrots, bell peppers, red onion, tomatoes, etc.  There is hummus in the wrap, so just think of veggies you would otherwise dip in hummus and you should be good.  Also, it calls for whatever kind of bottled vinaigrette dressing you like, so we chose the only dressing we ever keep in our house: Yumm sauce, of course!  

If you don't want to use a tortilla, you can also serve this as a salad, like we did for lunch the next day:  

Hummus, Tempeh, and Cucumber Wrap

adapted from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch

serves 4

1 tablespoon refined coconut oil (or you could use vegetable oil)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander (I probably used more like 1/2 teaspoon)

2 tablepsoons tamari or soy sauce

1 (8 ounce) package tempeh, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch strips

4 tortillas, whatever size you want, white flour or whole wheat flour

1 cup hummus

1 cucumber, peeled and cut diagonally into thin slices

1 romaine heart, cut into thin strips, or torn into bite size pieces

1/4 cup bottled vinaigrette dressing, whatever kind you like, or Yumm sauce

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat.  When hot, stir in the garlic powder, coriander, and soy sauce.  Add the slices of tempeh and cook for a few minutes on each side, until nicely browned.  Remove from heat.

They give very specific directions for assembling the wraps, see below, but just do it however you want.  I usually use such a small tortilla that it doesn't wrap very well anyway, so I just fork and knife it.    

To assemble the wraps, spread 1/4 cup of the hummus on each tortilla.  Divide the tempeh strips among the four tortillas and lay them in a column down the middle, leaving a 2-inch border on one edge.  Top each with some cucumber, romaine, and whatever other vegetables you're using.  Drizzle the dressing over each pile.  Fold one side of the tortilla up over the filling, fold in the edge with the border, and continue to roll the tortilla to the other side, making a tight bundle.  Serve seam side down on a plate.  Repeat with the remaining tortillas.  

Yumm! Enchiladas

Besides Yumm sauce, the basic ingredients of a typical Yumm bowl - rice, beans, cheese, salsa, olives, sour cream, and cilantro - are also basic ingredients in lots of Mexican food dishes, such as enchiladas.  So I decided to incorporate Yumm sauce into my usual enchilada recipe and see how it turned out.  Joe and I really liked the result!  It still tasted like an enchilada but there was also that familiar zing of Yumm sauce flavor.

I know the best way to make enchiladas is to lightly fry the corn tortillas in oil, submerge them in warm enchilada sauce, then fill with cheese and/or other filling and roll them up.  That's the way my mom used to make them.  A few years ago, however, she came up with a much easier method and I have been making them that way ever since.  Instead of frying, filling and rolling each tortilla, you skip the fry step entirely and just lay them flat in the pan, add your filling over them, and layer more tortillas on top.  The result is more like a lasagna-type dish.  It's just as good in my opinion, but healthier and not as messy to prepare.

I used a can of enchilada sauce because it had been in my pantry for awhile and I wanted to use it up, but next time I would like to make my own.

This recipe is for a small (9 x 9) pan because I wasn't sure how they would turn out so I just made a small batch.  I just used canned red kidney beans and cheese this time, but you could fill them with just about anything.  In the past we have used Mexican spice tempeh and cooked shredded chicken.

Yumm Sauce Enchiladas
inspired by Cafe Yumm 
Serves 4

1-19 ounce can enchilada sauce (or make your own)
9 corn tortillas
1-15 ounce can dark red kidney beans
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup Yumm Sauce (that might be a conservative estimate, I didn't measure)
Optional garnishes: sliced black olives, diced tomatoes, sliced green onions, chopped fresh cilantro, dollop of sour cream, sliced avocado

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Warm the enchilada sauce in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.

In a 9x9 baking dish, spoon a little of the enchilada sauce over the bottom, spreading it out in an even layer.

Place a layer of tortillas over the sauce, breaking them into pieces to fit into the corners as needed.

The next layer is your "filling", so add about half the beans, and 1/3 of each of the cheeses.

Add about half of the Yumm sauce in dollops over the whole surface, then use a spatula to spread it out a bit more evenly.

Next, add another layer of tortillas, the rest of the beans, another 1/3 of each cheese, and the rest of the Yumm sauce.  Cover with the remaining tortillas.

Pour the remaining enchilada sauce evenly over the top.

Top with the rest of the cheese, and scatter sliced olives over the top, if using.

Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes, or until it's bubbling excitedly around the edges and the cheese is melted on top.

Remove from oven, and preheat the broiler.

Top with diced tomatoes, cilantro, and green onions (if using).  Return to the oven and broil for a few minutes, just to warm up the toppings you've just added.  Let stand for about 5 minutes before cutting into wedges.  Serve with sliced avocado and sour cream if desired.

Steamed Artichokes

A week ago I saw a nice looking basket of artichokes at the Co-Op, and, on a whim, I bought one.  Up until this point, I'd never made anything that started with an actual, whole artichoke. I'd only used jarred or frozen artichoke hearts, and usually the end result was spinach dip, so you couldn't taste the artichokes anyway.

Well this time, I wanted to cook the artichoke as simply as possible, so I decided the simplest way would be to steam it.  Then I wanted to eat it leaf by leaf, down to the heart, so I could really appreciate what an artichoke actually tastes like.  However, I hadn't the foggiest idea of where to start.  After consulting numerous online cooking sites and my trusty How to Cook Everything Cookbook, I learned how to turn this strange looking vegetable into a tasty meal.

If you've never eaten an artichoke before, what you do is peel off the leaves, one at a time, put the base of the leaf between your front teeth and scrape off the tender flesh.  Discard the remaining leaf.  As you get closer to the center, the leaves get more and more tender.  Dipping the leaves in melted butter is standard, though we also tried Yumm sauce (the standard condiment in our house) which was really good as well.

Joe and I started out eating each leaf slowly and thoughtfully, savoring the flavor and complimenting ourselves for trying something new.  As we neared the center, we started eating faster and faster, excited for what (we had read) would be the best part, the part that made the whole thing worth eating - the heart.  We had to pause briefly after we finished off the leaves in order to scrape out the "choke", i.e, the stringy thistle which you don't want to eat, but what remains after that is totally edible, and totally delicious!

 You can also remove the choke before you serve it - just pry open the very innermost leaves and scrape it out with a spoon.  Just be sure to let it cool down a bit first.

Steamed Artichokes
adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
Serves 4

4 large or 12 small artichokes (or, if you are just experimenting, use one like I did)
Melted butter, lemon wedges, olive oil, and salt for serving (optional: Yumm Sauce!)

First, you want to cut off the stem so it sits flat, leaving about 1/2 an inch or so, then trim about 1/2 an inch off the top.  Next, snip the pointed ends of the leaves off with kitchen shears.  Rub lemon juice all over the freshly cut surfaces to prevent browning.

Fill a large pot with about 5-6 inches of water and bring it to a boil.  I added a handful of thyme sprigs and the rest of my lemon juice to the pot for added flavor  (Bittman suggests tarragon, thyme, onion, garlic, lemon juice, or vinegar).  Once the steam gets going, turn the heat down a bit, set a steamer basket in the pot, and set the artichoke bottom up in the steamer.  Cover and cook for 20-40 minutes.  Make sure the water in the pot doesn't dry up.

To check to see if it's done, pull off one of the outer leaves and taste it; the leaf should pull away easily and the flesh should be tender.

Drain upside down for a minute or two if serving hot, or just leave it upside down and let it cool completely if you plan to serve it at room temperature.

Serve hot with melted butter, lemon juice and/or olive oil and salt.  He also suggests serving it at room temperature with mayo.  Sick...I mean...sure, if you like that sort of thing.

Homemade "Yumm" Bowl featuring Cabbage Rabe

This week in our CSA we received a bunch of cabbage rabe (also may be called raab, both pronounced like 'rob').  At the end of the growing season, cabbage plants go to seed, sending up shoots of leaves with flowers at the end.  The leaves, flowers, and thin parts of the stem are all edible and nutritious.  Kale, collard greens, and broccoli all do the same thing (though not to be confused with "broccoli rabe", which does not come from the regular broccoli plant...confusing, yes?).

We sauteed our rabe in sesame oil with a little garlic and ginger, along with a few other things (kohlrabi bulb and leaves, onion, spinach, frozen peas) and made a nice little Yumm Bowl out of it.

Sauteeing the veggies, that blur in the background is Joe toasting cashews:

Clean out the Fridge Night: Homemade "Yumm" Bowl

This is something we have for dinner (and lunch) quite often.  Cafe Yumm is one of our favorite places to eat, and we buy their Yumm Sauce by the huge one liter bottles so we can make our own versions of their fabulous Yumm Bowls at home.  (Side note: It also makes a great salad dressing!)

Tonight's version was composed of basmati rice, black beans, stir fried veggies (leftover crudities from our Super Bowl party: carrots, celery, radishes, kohlrabi, and broccoli), Yumm sauce, a little salsa, and some toasted flax and sesame seeds.