Recipe: Savory Spaghetti Squash

I stuffed up a spaghetti squash the other night, needing something easy for dinner. It turned out really well - but needed more salt than I had thought. Perhaps the nature of the squash just needs an extra pinch.

Savory Spaghetti Squash

1 Spaghetti Squash
1 lb. ground pork (this would also be excellent with ground goat...)
1 bag frozen, chopped spinach
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
2/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese (optional - without the parmesan it's paleo!)
1 tbl. smoked paprika
1 tbl. oregano
Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400. Halve the squash and roast upside down in a baking dish until you can pierce the skin with a fork. I don't scrape seeds before I roast squash - much easier to get them out when the flesh is soft!

Once the squash is cool enough to handle, scrape the seeds out, and then scrape the flesh into a large bowl. Preheat the oven to 350.

In a large frying pan, cook the onion, garlic, and pork. Toss in the spinach at the last moment to soften it. Add the frying pan contents to the squash. Mix throughly, adding the spices and remaining ingredients as you go. Top with extra parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and/or paprika.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!

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I used Deck Family Farm pork, as always. I organized my deep freezer the other day and realized that I am running low on meat - it must be time to think about ordering sides!

Recipe: Broiled Lamb Chops with Fresh Herbs

I concocted a recipe for broiled lamb chops the other night. It was wonderfully fresh for a summer night - but I did heat up the kitchen quite a bit with the broiler. When I pulled the packs of Deck Family lamb chops out of the freezer, I pulled a pack of goat chops too on accident. I cooked them both up anyway and found out that 1) this recipe works well with Lamb or Goat, and 2) a side-by-side comparison of the two meats was really interesting. The Lamb is super tender and rich, the goat is somewhat tougher but has a more complex flavor.

The measurement of the garlic is best determined by the cook. Our family loves garlic, so I put in the full 6 cloves. However, because of the way the herbs crisp during the broil, the garlic retains almost all of its fresh spice. One option would be to lightly saute the garlic before mixing it with the oregano, another would be to use less garlic. Also, because of the final broiling step, I'm not sure that this could transfer to the grill, but possibly someone with more grilling expertiese could figure it out.


Broiled Lamb Chops with Fresh Herbs

8 Lamb (and/or Goat) chops
Worchestershire sauce
Fresh squeezed lime juice
Salt & Pepper
2-6 cloves of garlic
3-4 tbl. fresh oregano

Defrost the chops and sprinkle them with the lime and Worchestershire sauce - I didn't measure this, but just made sure that each chop had a drizzle. Marinate at least 45 minutes, flipping them over and redistributing the juice about halfway through.

Heat your broiler for at least 5 minutes. Mince the garlic and the oregano and combine, setting aside for now. Spread the chops on the broiling pan. Sprinkle lightly with salt & pepper. Flip over and sprinkle salt and pepper on the second side.

Broil, close to the heat, until the meat browns and the fat begins to carmelize. Remove from the oven and turn over. Spread the garlic-oregano over each chop evenly and broil again for 5-7 minutes. Fully cooked (medium-rare) lamb or goat chops should register an internal temperature of 145F.

We served this with cous-cous, salad, and roasted sweet potatoes. Super tasty and super easy - my favorite kind of cooking.

Recipe: Simplest Strawberry Pie

I promised some strawberry recipes - results of our wonderful strawberry picking expedition at Riverbend Farm. Their u-pick strawberries are done, but I've heard tell of all kinds of other berries coming ripe. This pie would work with any kind of berry, as long as you get a good corresponding jam.

Really, this is so easy it shouldn't count as a recipe. But here you go anyway.

One baked pie shell - I wrote out my thoughts on pie crust here, or you can check out this tasty almond (and therefor gluten free, paleo-friendly) crust here.



Approximately 4-6 cups of washed and cut strawberries.
1 cup strawberry jam (fresh made? use up last years?)
Zest and juice of one lemon

8 oz. whipping cream or 4 oz. whipping cream & 4 oz. marscapone cheese
Pinch of sugar (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla

Put the jam, lemon juice, and zest in a small sauce pan. Heat to thin the jam and mingle the flavors. Mix with the strawberries. Taste - add sugar or honey if you feel it needs it. I never think it does.

Fill the crust with the berries. Whip the cream till it forms soft peaks. Use 4 oz. if you are adding the marscapone, 8 if not. I add vanilla to whipped cream, but not sugar. Do what moves you. To make the topping truly decadent, use 4 oz. whipping cream, once it is whipped add in 4 oz. marscpone and whip again to combine. Spread on the top of the pie. Decorate with a few extra strawberries if you wish.

That's so easy. And tasty, as you will note by the lack of pictures.

Recipe: Palee-ish Corn Muffins

As I mentioned in my Dinner Swap post, the family I swap with eats a mostly paleo diet, which I love because it makes me cook different things and approach standby recipes from an experimental perspective. Gluten really doesn't work for the Mama in the family, so regualr bread products are out. But I love to bake, and last night the menu called for cornbread. But cornbread without some wheat flour?

I did a Google search and came up with lots of recipes, bless the internet! I adapted what I found to what I wanted and what I had. I came up with these delightful muffins. I call them "Palee-ish" because the cornmeal isn't strictly part of a paleo diet. Adapt for yourself as you see fit.

Palee-ish Corn Muffins with Bacon & Applesauce
Preheat oven to 350.

1/2 cup (one stick) softened butter (if you don't use butter mix coconut oil, olive oil, and/or bacon grease)
6 eggs
2/3 cup applesauce (no sugar added)
1/2 cup bacon bits - I chopped up leftover bacon ends. So good.
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

In a stand mixer, or with a strong arm, whip the butter, eggs, and applesauce. Add the bacon bits and combine. Mix in the flours and baking powder until well blended. Scoop into muffin tins and bake for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

We served this with salmon and collards and more applesauce. It was a very satisfying meal.

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A quick word on bacon ends: These are the bits that are taken off of the more uniformly shaped bacons strips. They are odd shapped and inconsistent - though just as tasty as their asthetic counterparts. Usually they are priced cheaper than bacon strips. The bacon I used was from Deck Family Farm, of course, from the pig I purchased last fall. Bacon ends are perfect for any time or place you need chopped bacon. If you are trying to eat local, organic, pastured meat they can help strech that budget a little bit.