Twice Baked Butternut Squash

Simple and delicious... if you like butternut squash and blue cheese that is.

Twice Baked Butternut Squash (with quinoa
and gorgonzola)
Author: Erin Alderson Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 75 mins Total time: 1 hour 35 mins

Ingredients
1 large butternut squash 1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium shallots
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water
1/2 cup gorgonzola cheese, plus extra for topping 
pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 ̊. Slice butternut squash in half and scoop out seeds. Place each half cut side down in a 9x13 pan and pour 1/2" of water in the bottom. Place in oven and bake until tender, about 45­60 minutes. Once done, remove and set aside.
   
2. Rinse quinoa and set aside. In a medium pan heat olive oil over medium low heat. Dice shallots, add to oil, and saute until shallots are fragrant. Stir in quinoa and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer at let cook until water is absorbed, 12­15 minutes.
   
3. While quinoa cooks, scoop out butternut squash, leaving a 1/4"­1/2" on the sides and bottom. Drain water from pan and return butternut squash to the pan, cut side up.
   
4. Mash butternut squash and stir in gorgonzola cheese. Once quinoa is done, add it to the butternut squash. Taste and add salt if need be.
   
5. Scoop filling evenly into butternut squash halves. Sprinkle with gorgonzola cheese and return to oven. Let bake for 10­15 minutes or until cheese has melted and the tops begin to brown. Remove from oven, cut eat half in half, and serve.
   
6. Evenly spread filling back into butternut squash
   

Notes
​The butternut squash can be roasted the day before cutting out a good majority of the time it takes to make this!​ 

Crock Pot Refried Beans

In.Credible. Never buy canned refried beans again. Never. Promise? So cheap and so good. I want to make Mexican food just so I can make these as a side dish. This makes quite a bit, but you can freeze the beans in smaller portions (I have). And there is nothing "fried" here ... but there is butter :)

3 C dry pinto beans
5 chicken bouillon cubes
1 TB garlic salt
1/2 medium sweet onion**
1/2 C (1 stick) butter

This is for a large 5 qt+ crock pot.

First, lay the beans out on a cookie sheet. Pick through to make sure there aren't any funky beans in there. Then rinse the beans.

Put beans in a crock pot and fill with at least 8 cups of water. You'll need to check the water level periodically to make sure the beans stay covered (although a few will start floating near the end).

Add bouillon cubes and garlic salt. You can either chop up the onion into big chunks, or leave it just one big chunk. I've done it both ways.

Cook on high for 4 hours (again, depends on your crock pot, beans need to be soft).

Strain beans, but keep the liquid! You'll want to save at least 1 Cup of "bean liquid".

Add 1/2 cup butter, and 1/2 cup of bean liquid. Use an immersion blender (or do this in batches) to blend the beans/butter/liquid. Gradually add more liquid until the beans are your desired consistency. I usually add 1 cup, maybe a little more. You don't want them too stiff, since they set up.

**If you leave the onion as a big chunk, you can just take all/most of the onion out before you blend. When I've cut it into chunks, I take out some, and blend the rest with the beans. I liked it both ways.

Sweet Potato Quinoa Chili

If you use vegetable stock, you can make this a vegan chili. I only had chicken stock on hand. I cannot fully express how satisfying this is! Even Brandon thought so. Oh, and don't worry about the kids liking it. Miles ate 2 bowls for dinner, 2 days in a row. On the second day he saw me getting it out of the fridge and said "Is that chili, Mama?" and went right to the table.


1, 29 oz. can black beans (or 2, 15 oz cans), rinsed & drained
1, 6 oz. can tomato paste
32 oz. vegetable (or chicken) stock
1 onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced (or to taste, it's not garlicky per se)
1 TB chili powder
1 TB cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 TB olive oil
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
1 C dry quinoa (I used white)
salt & pepper to taste
avocado (didn't have, but I'm sure it takes the chili to the next level)

Heat olive oil in a pot over medium low. Add onions and cook until they start to brown. Add garlic and cook 1-2 minutes. Add tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, and oregano and cook for about 2 minutes (stir constantly). Add beans, stock, potatoes, salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add quinoa. Cook for 20-30 minutes (check along the way) until potatoes and quinoa are cooked, and it's thickened to your liking. Serve with avocado.

Mine definitely took around 30 minutes, and I put the lid on the pot for about 5 minutes to get the potatoes working.

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

Whipped up a batch of this in December. WICKED good! Seriously, I have no desire to buy hot cocoa mix again, especially since it uses things I generally have on hand. I used the Hershey's cocoa powder, and next time I want to try a more decadent cocoa.

3 C nonfat dry milk powder
2 C powdered sugar
1.5 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1.5 C white chocolate chips
1/4 tsp salt (I forgot this, didn't miss it)

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. Pour half (or however much fits) into a food processor and process until the chocolate chips are finely ground. Repeat with remaining until everything is nice and fine, like hot cocoa powder. :)

Can be stored in an airtight container for 3 months.

To make hot cocoa:
1 C hot milk
1/3 C hot cocoa mix

Makes about 20 cups of hot cocoa.

Lime Fish Tacos

It's the dead of winter and I really needed a summer-food pick-me-up. These fish tacos are crazy easy to whip up and just right to get you through another cold and dreary day. Ahhh, summer.

1 lb. fish (orange roughy, tilapia, whatever) cut into 1" chunks
1 garlic clove finely diced
7 teaspoons fresh lime juice
2 TB butter
1/4 tsp pepper
2 TB sour cream
2 TB mayonaise
dash hot sauce
small corn (or flour) tortillas
shredded cabbage
good salsa

Melt butter in a skillet. Add 5 tsp lime juice. Saute garlic in butter and lime juice for ~30 seconds. Add fish and pepper and cook on medium heat until flakes with a fork (flip half-way through).

Combine mayo, sour cream, 2 tsp lime juice, dash hot sauce. Stir well.

Heat up tortillas in the microwave (corn tortillas need longer than flour to get soft).

Top tortilla with fish, shredded cabbage, white sauce, and a little salsa.

I can get easily get these on the table in 20 minutes, 15 minutes if I'm really efficient.