Chipotle Chicken Stuffed Acorn Squash

     Thank you Shauna Sedler for sharing this recipe with me! Thank you, thank you, and thank you again because it was absolutely delicious.
       It's fall comfort food at it's finest, with sweet brown sugary squash goodness and tender chipotle chicken with protein packed quinoa and sharp cheddar cheeeeese! My god it was so good. I can't think of a better meal for this weather. Even the colors are totally Fall.

 
      It's the type of recipe you find and end up making it over and over again, and soon it becomes a staple meal in your seasonal recipe repertuar. (At least that's my plan because I sure do hope to eat this again)
      We've already gotten another squash to try it again, or maybe something new!

      I love dishes like this, where the entire meal is all together. Each bite is packed with so many different flavors and the presentation is great. Plus there is cheese and breadcrumbs on the top, so you really cannot go wrong...

     Now the ingredient list may seem pretty long, but it's a pretty simple recipe, made even easier if you make the quinoa ahead of time (which can be substituted for couscous), and even the chipotle sauce ahead of time.

But trust me, it's totally worth the preparation. The final product is amaaazing.

Chipotle Chicken Stuffed Acorn Squash

For 2

Ingredients:

1 acorn squash, halved and seeded

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp brown sugar

salt and pepper

1-1 1/2 chicken breasts (not lbs, actual breasts)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp lime juice

1 tsp minced garlic

2 chiles in adobo, minced (a tsp of adobo sauce from jar)

1 tbsp cilantro

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

dash cinnamon

dash cayenne pepper

salt and pepper

1/3 cup cooked quinoa

1/2 cup fresh spinach, wilted

1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs

1 tbsp butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

Brush the insides of the squash with butter, top with brown sugar and salt and pepper. Bake 40-45 minutes or until squash is tender. (Liquid will form in little pool at bottom of squash so brush it around)

While squash is cooking, also cook the chicken - brush it with olive oil and salt and pepper and bake until chicken is no longer pink, about 15-20 minutes.

Shred the chicken with two forks

Mix together olive oil, lime juice, garlic, chipotle peppers, cilantro, oregano, chili powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper, and set aside.

Mix spinach, quinoa, chicken and the chipotle mixture together.

Stuff the mixture into the squash, top with cheese and breadcrumbs mixed with butter.

Bake for 10 minutes.

PS- I had leftovers of the chicken stuffing mixture, so I made a quesadilla with it and cheddar cheese, served with pineapple salsa and sour cream. It was toooo dieeee for. A perfect idea for the leftovers, so keep that in mind!

Original recipe from Half Baked Harvest

Broccoli Casserole - Comfort Food at it's Finest

     If you want a kid to eat their broccoli, this must be the way to do it. It has to be. Someone would have to be out of their mind to not like this casserole. The broccoli is so tender and cheesy, and with the cream of mushroom soup it all basically melts in your mouth, and then there's the crunch of the cracker crumbs....

    It's a recipe from my grammy, and I will never pass on a serving. Or a second....or a third....

     I think the picture says it all. (Which doesn't happen often on my blog considering I'm using my old iphone with very minimal editing) In my opinion, it ties with homemade mac and cheese. Actually just writing that sentence confirmed my decision to make this exact recipe but toss in some macaroni noodles and call it dinner.

Yes, I will do that next week.

     We served this casserole with a baked ham my mom made, mashed sweet potatoes and corn. The vote was unanimous....it was delicious. The dish above is a doubled, almost tripled version of the recipe so if you follow the one below it won't be as big!

I don't know a much better way to eat your broccoli!

Broccoli Casserole

Ingredients:
3-4 heads of broccoli, chopped

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 egg

1 cup cheddar cheese
2 tbsp minced onion
salt and pepper to taste
About 12 ritz crackers, crushed
2 tbsp butter

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
Steam broccoli in microwave or over stove.
In large bowl mix broccoli with mushroom soup, egg, cheese, onion and salt and pepper.
Pour into casserole dish.
Top with crushed crackers and butter.
Bake for about 40 minutes, or until top is browned and it's bubbling

The Sedler Version of a Hot Toddy

       On Sunday we had a little family gathering for dinner, decorating cookies and watching the Patriots game, which by the way had an epic ending! My sister and her boyfriend Matt came over and had the great idea of making some hot cider with cinnamon sticks...

And we spiked it, of course...

     They got the Kraken rum out of curiosity, because lets be honest, the label and the bottle itself look pretty badass. I mean it says "bizarre and fierce sea creatures as seen through the eyes of the imagination" and I'm 90% sure that little quote is was hooked them. Good thing though, because it tasted pretty darn good with the cider. 

      Sipping on one of these delicious drinks and watching football at home on Sunday with my family is a great way to spend the day. Not to mention the cookie decorating was pretty entertaining...

    That's my cute little mom making icing and my brother showing off his masterpiece. I'm assuming it's supposed to be a pumpkin but you really can never be 100% sure. His focus lies more in eating than in decorating, and its difficult to see what it is when it's half gone.....

     We iced cookies in the shapes of leaves, suns and pumpkins in a whole array of fall colors. We learned in that process that if you don't have a brown food coloring for icing (which I'm not sure if that even exists, so you probably don't) then just use cocoa powder, or in our case which we didn't have that either, Ovaltine. Seems kinda funny, but it worked great!

    The cider recipe is extremely simple and a great drink for the fall season. Sweet and spicy and delicious!

    You can use any kind of spiced rum, but I really liked the Kraken. It has a nice vanilla-y aroma and the spice goes great with the cider. I personally am not a fan at all of Captain Morgan's so that would definitely not be my first choice!

    We were calling them Hot Toddies all night, until we pointed out that that's not really what a hot toddy actually is - it's hot water with lemon, honey, whiskey and a cinnamon stick... Close enough. So this is the Sedler version of a hot toddy. I guess I'll have to try the real one sometime and post that recipe, so I'll call this drink by what it is. Spiced Rum Cinnamon Cider :) Yumm!

Hot Spiced Rum Cinnamon Cider

Ingredients:

1 cup cider per drink

1 shot Kraken rum per drink

2 cinnamon sticks per five cups cider (plus more if you want to stick one in each individual drink)

Directions:

In saucepan over stove, heat cider with cinnamon sticks and pour in rum 

(do not boil or simmer) 

Keep hot to serve

Snowy Night Soup in Fall

     I came home from school for fall break today! How I missed my refrigerator at home, filled with a seemingly endless supply of ingredients (especially in comparison to my kitchen at school), my mom's leftovers and a fresh jug of chocolate milk..... not to mention the banana bread wrapped up on the counter.

     And to top off the welcome home my stomach received, I also got the warmest welcome from the sweetest dog in the world, so I had to take her to our favorite walking place, asap.

Vaughn Woods on a beautiful October day, it's pretty perfect if you ask me....(ps - the picture doesn't do the foliage justice)

And Lola had fun to say the least.... She was hard to keep up with!

     As Lola basically laid dead on the floor, my mom and I spent the rest of the day cooking......That recipe is the main purpose of this post, but you know how easy it is to get carried away with puppy love :P
      It's a soup recipe my mom's friend shared with her, and she's been making it ever since. It is so delicious and warm and comforting, and a perfect fall meal (even though its called "snowy night soup"). The red wine and beef broth give it a deep and hearty flavor, and it's loaded with veggies, so it aint half bad for you either! Plus it's wonderfully colorful, which is a characteristic I always love in a soup.

Serve it with a crispy, warm baquette on a beautiful fall day with this backyard view and you might as well just die and go to heaven......but bring the soup with you!

(And I whole-heartedly admit to being obsessed with fall foliage, but I'm a New Englander, that's why we live here, right?)

      So anyways, of all the recipes I post, I highly recommend trying this one. It's simple, super delicious and a great go-to recipe for the fall and winter seasons. I know I plan on making it again!

 

Snowy Night Soup

Ingredients:

2 tbsp oil

3 small onions

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb lean ground beef

1 24oz can italian style diced tomatoes

2-3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

1 cup (or more) chopped carrots

1 cup green beans

1 cup celery

1/2 tsp thyme

1 tsp basil

3 cups beef broth

1 cup dry red wine

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat oil in large pot over stove, and saute onions and garlic until onions are translucent. 

Add ground beef and cook mostly, as it will cook completely while simmering.

Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for about 45 minutes or until veggies are tender. (Bigger carrot pieces may need to be added before other veggies as they will take longer)

Nothing's Betta than Bruschetta

     In the midst of busy weeks of exams, stressful school work and my new job, it's almost necessary to treat yourself with some yummy food, and what better than bruschetta.

     I'm in love with it. If you've had it before you understand the delicious bite of juicy tomatoes, sweet balsamic and crunchy baquette, along with the parmesan and garlicky aroma.

The best part is sopping up the remaining balsamic and tomato juices with the baquette while the little crostinis are baking away in the oven.....MmmmMmm

      They're a delicious appetizer or snack, or in the case of a busy college kid such as myself, dinner on a weeknight before an exam. Not exactly what I recommend for a healthy, well balanced dinner but hey, I was desperate! And I don't regret a single tasty bite :)

Actually just thinking about them makes me wish I had a plate full in front of me again.....

Oh my god, they're too yummy. Like the type of appetizers at catered events that are so good you embarrass yourself hunting down the girl with the tray basically attacking her for more...




Wait......does that not happen to you?

    Maybe with these it would :)


        I prefer to use cherry tomatoes, but roma tomatoes work great as well. I also prefer to eat them in a little bit more glamorous setting, but sitting on my couch surrounded by textbooks, checkbooks and macbooks will have to suffice.....

Welcome to college!

Cherry Tomato Bruschetta

Ingredients:

Baquette cut into 20-25 pieces

1 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp basil

salt and pepper

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

Quarter cherry tomatoes and put in bowl. 

Mix in vinegar, oil, garlic, basil, salt and pepper and cheese with tomatoes. Let sit for about 10 minutes.

Spread baquette slices on cookie sheet and bake in oven for about 4 minutes or until just golden. 

Remove from oven and top with cherry mixture, and bake for about 3 minutes more. 

A Fall Treat: Apple Pie

     So along with my seasonal obsession with pumpkin, I also have been craving apples this fall, which is odd because I don't even really like apples....

But with that said, it's nearly impossible to 'not like' a cinnamon-sugary-gooey-crispy-tender pie, hot out of the oven (with ice cream of course)


Like really, how could you say no to this?

 
    It seemed appropriate to make it on the first of October, and to enjoy it with friends and of course a few drinks to celebrate the completion of some exams earlier in the day.

We're college kids.....indulging is one of our finest skills!

        Later on (most likely today) I plan on mixing the last little piece of the pie with some ice cream for one tasty milkshake.....I don't know what's much better than that!


       P.S. - Don't blame me for not posting too much recently! I'm a busy girl back to school, I recently got a new job, and I feel like my time is super limited with everything I'm trying to balance! But, I promise to try my best to upload more yummy recipes for you all to try (meaning my mother)....

Apple Pie

Ingredients:

Two 9 inch pie crust doughs (homemade or storebought)

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 tbsp flour

3 tbsp water

1 tbsp vanilla

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 - 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

8 Granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Wisk in flour and then stir in the water, vanilla, sugars, cinnamon and nutmeg. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer for a few minutes. 

Meanwhile, line a 9" pie pan with one pastry dough.

In a large bowl, mix together apples and sugar mixture to coat, then immediately place inside the pie dish. Cover w/ remaining crust dough in lattice fashion or regular with slits in the top. 

Bake in preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or until apples are soft 

(brush the top with a little milk and some cinnamon sugar ten minutes before done - optional) 

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com