Sloppy Sketti Squash Pasta

We have certainly moved along to autumn weather here in the DC metro area. Actually, it feels like we've skipped over autumn and gotten right down to winter! It's been unseasonably chilly the past few days and I am not ready for this weather, especially after such a lovely summer. One thing that has helped cheer me up and keep me warm has been a having the opportunity to cook at home and make some good ol' fashioned chilly weather comfort food!



We all know the classic autumn fresh fruits & veggies, right? Pumpkin, apples, pecans, brussel sprouts, and my favorite - a variety of squashes. One of my new favorite squashes to experiment with is the spaghetti squash, or as we call it in our house: sketti squash. It's fun to use the stringy innards as a substitute for a carb and dress them up just like you would a pasta. Douse them in pesto or marinara, even an Asian-inspired peanut sauce or curry. For this recipe, I took the experimentation to a whole new level and created what turned out to be something like a sloppy Joe mix! And it was SO good!



I started out with a vegetarian 'chorizo' style sausage I picked up with no idea what I was going to do with it. I cut off the casing, minced it up with my hands, and threw it in the pan with some oil... with still no idea what else to do! I looked around in the fridge and saw: leftover plain sketti squash, olive tapenade, and pre-made pesto. (We'll ignore the other stuff I saw: almond milk, raspberries, my boyfriend's RedBull... don't think those would've gone too well with vegetarian chorizo! ;-) The idea for this recipe immediately came to me and I just went with it! And boy, am I glad I did!



True, this dish was made to be vegetarian, but you could totally make it meat-eater-friendly as well. Simply use regular chorizo sausage instead of the vegetarian kind. Also, you can skip the goat cheese at the end if you want to make this a vegan recipe. You know how I like to give you options and this meal is versatile but still tasty any way you make it! And the leftovers would be great for a true sloppy Joe sami!



OK, let's get sloppy!



Sloppy Spaghetti Squash Pasta
Servings: 2
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes



Ingredients:
2 teaspoons grapeseed oil or extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1/2 vegetarian chorizo sausage link
1 teaspoon fresh sage, minced
1 cup spaghetti squash strands (recipe for preparing the squash here)
1/3 pound brown rice pasta, I used penne
2 tablespoons olive tapenade
2 teaspoons pesto
1/8 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper (FCBP)
Pinch pink Himalayan sea salt
Sprinkle goat cheese crumbles


Start by placing a medium sized pot filled 3/4 with water on the stove over high heat. Bring the water to a boil and add the brown rice pasta. Add a pinch of salt and allow the pasta to cook according to package instructions, usually about ten minutes.


Next, place a large pan on the stove over medium heat. Add the grapeseed oil and allow it to heat up for about a minute.


Then add the chorizo sausage. To get the crumbled effect, slice the casing down the center with a sharp knife, then pull the sausage oil with your hand and crumble it into the pan.


Stir the sausage around with the oil. Then add the spaghetti squash strands.

Stir to combine the sausage with the squash.

Next, add the minced sage leaves and stir once more.

Allow the sausage and squash to cook over medium low heat for about ten minutes, while the pasta finishes cooking.

Once the pasta has finished cooking, remove it from the heat and strain it in the sink using a colander.

Place the pasta back in the pot you cooked it in and add the pesto and olive tapenade. Stir to thoroughly coat the pasta in the sauces.

Turn the heat off on the chorizo/squash mixture and remove the pan from the burner.

Use a large spoon to scoop the pasta onto your serving plate. Top the pasta with the chorizo/squash mixture and sprinkle the top with a spoonful of goat cheese crumbles, if you like.

Serve alongside a nice pumpkin spice beer and enjoy!

Salute!

P.S. It's best if you mix it all together! Yum!

Veggie Oven Steamer

Happy first post of October everyone! It's officially fall and that means no more pool, fewer outdoor activities, shorter days... I know, depressing.  But all of that means more time to spend in the kitchen!

After our summer vacation I was determined to settle into fall and get back to being a little more on the healthy side, instead of flitting around from fast food joint to fast food joint (my ass saw a lot of Chipotle and Elevation Burger this summer!) and stuffing my face with refined sugar on vacation. This involves hitting up the grocery store on the regular basis, cooking at home, and consuming foods that have actual color to them rather than anti-color foods with lots of browns and whites.

Well, I spoke too soon. There is at least one white colored food that is allowed: cauliflower! Cauliflower is super healthy and it's one of my go-to easy to cook veggies I make on a regular basis. I I love how it tastes, raw or cooked, and heck - even my dog likes it, so I make sure to steam up some extra for her! Another go-to veggie you'll usually find in my fridge is broccoli. I'm always looking for different, new ways to cook my go-to favorites, so I was super excited when this idea for a veggie steamer came to me.

I had some capers and broth left from another dinner I made recently, so I decided to experiment and see if I could get those flavors to infuse in the steam and into the veggies. Whenever I think about infusing flavors, I think of garlic, so naturally I had to throw some of that in there. I wanted a little bit of a richness to the dish, so I added a little butter. Well, vegan butter for moi. And a little spice of course, so I went the crushed red pepper route.

An y'all. It was so good! I was so happy about how well this dish turned out because now I have an easy, quick, flavorful, and tasty side dish handy in my back pocket whenever I need something extra to go along with an entree. And bonus: my boyfriend gave it his seal of approval. He's basically a meat-and-cheese-etarian, so you know it's good if he likes it!

OK, let's get steamin'!


Oven Veggie Steamer
Servings: 1
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: ten minutes

Ingredients
1/4 cup chicken or veggie broth
1 teaspoon butter (I used Smart Balance vegan/non-soy)
2 cloves garlic, rough chopped
1 tablespoon capers
1 teaspoon caper juice
1 handful broccoli florets
1 handful cauliflower florets
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper (FCBP)
Pinch pink Himalayan sea salt

Start by pre-heating your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cover a pie pan or baking dish in loosely with aluminum foil. Push the foil down so the center is on the bottom of the pan and the sides are up a little, kind of like a bowl.

Pour the broth into the center of the foil. Add the butter, garlic, capers, and caper juice.

Add the broccoli and cauliflower.

Sprinkle the crushed red pepper flakes, FCBP, and salt over the broccoli and cauliflower.

Now, wrap up the aluminum foil. Start by bringing the two long sides together in the center, fold, and then fold several more times until the foil is tight. Then just roll up the ends. You don't want there to be any holes on the bottom where the liquid could escape.

Now take a fork and poke some holes in the top of the aluminum foil - no more than five small ones. This is to let some of the steam escape.

Now place the whole thing - including the pie pan/baking dish - in the oven.

Cook for ten minutes.

Remove from the oven after ten minutes.

Gently open the aluminum foil, being careful not to burn yourself!

Scoop the broccoli and cauliflower from the liquid and place on your serving plate.

Enjoy! Salute!