STUFFED ACORN SQUASH - VEGETARIAN AND VEGAN OPTIONS

I have tried many different squash recipes, but this has to be one of my favorites. My girlfriend Lili made it for me the other day when I went to her house for dinner and it was not only healthy, but really tasty so of course I had to share the recipe with you guys. You can add any veggies that you like and can even switch up the pesto for tomato sauce if you want. Be creative but most of all have fun!

INGREDIENTS:

1 - 2 Acorn Squash
3/4 Cup of Uncooked Quinoa
1-2 TBSP of Olive Oil
1/2 Medium Spanish Onion (chopped)
2 Celery Stock (chopped)
2 Clove of Garlic (minced)
1/2 Cup of Carrots (chopped)
1/2 Cup of Black Beans (drained and rinsed)
Pesto Sauce
2-3 TBSP of Goat Cheese, Feta Cheese, Halloumi (whichever you prefer/optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While oven is warming up go ahead and cut a small portion of the top and bottom of your acorn squash off to help it sit up straight. Next cut the squash in half, width-wise, and remove the seeds from the inside.

Place the squash on a baking tray that is lined with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.

In the meantime make your quinoa.

While you are waiting for your quinoa to cook you can add the olive oil to a pan and throw in your chopped onions, celery, carrots, garlic and black beans. Sauté until the onions become translucent. I also like to salt and pepper my veggies as they are cooking

Once the quinoa is ready transfer to a bowl, add in your pesto and sauteed vegetables. Mix together. At this point you can add in your cheese if you want. Save a little for garnish!!

Once the squash has been in the oven for 30 minutes remove and stuff with the quinoa mixture. Garnish with cheese and pop back in the oven for an additional 30 minutes.

Once ready remove from oven and serve warm. Enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I do. If you have any comments please leave them below and I'll be happy to answer them as soon as I can!  Bon Appetite!!!

BUTTERNUT SQUASH RAVIOLI FROM SCRATCH!

I love ravioli! Actually I love anything that involves a filling wrapped in dough (ie perogies, dumplings, empendadas, calzone springrolls, etc). I recently made ravioli from scratch on valentines day weekend and it was such a fun experience. It is a bit lengthy so make sure you can devote a good 4 hours to it and make the filling the night before. I lucky snapchatted the whole experience so I was able to grab those videos and make a little film for you down below so dont forget to check that out!!! Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS
Filling - **Make the butternut squash filling the night before so that you can let it chill overnight.
1-2 Lbs Butternut Squash or 2 Packs of Pre-Peeled and Cut Butternut Squash
2 TBS of Olive Oil
Salt an Pepper (as desired)
1/8 Tsp of Ground Nutmeg
1/2 a Cup Parmesan or Ricotta Cheese or both! (1/2Cup of Ricotta, 1/4 Cup of Parmesan)

Dough-
3.5 Cups of All Purpose Flour
4 Eggs (3 For the dough 1 for the ravioli wash)
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 TSP of Salt
1/2 Cup of Water

Sauce -
8 Tbsp of Salted Butter
2 Tbsp of Shallots (minced)
1 Tbsp of Fresh Sage (Chopped)

OTHER MATERIALS

Pasta maker - I have a Lagostina Pasta Maker with Ravioli Attachment that works really well which I bought for around $67 CAD @ Canadian Tire! I didn't use the Ravioli attachment but you can if you like.

It essentially looks like this:

DIRECTIONS:

First we are going to make the filling. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.

In a bowl combine your chopped and peeled butternut squash, olive oil, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Toss so that it is evenly covered before placing it on a baking tray covered in aluminum foil and popping it into the oven for 30 minute (or until tender).

Once the squash is tender remove it from the oven, transfer to a bowl and mash it with a potato masher. Once nicely mashed stir in your cheese and mix until it is fully incorporated. When ready cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight.

Next we are going to make the dough using the 'well method'. Place your flour on the counter and create a well or hole on the inside of the mound. Add your eggs, salt and oil to the inside of the hole and slowly start to stir the contents inside the hole with a fork. Slowly using the fork start to incorporate the flour wall lining the whole. DO THIS SLOWLY! Once the dough starts to form and thicken you can ditch the fork and use your hands to knead the dough. If you feel like the dough is dry keep kneading and add water for assistance.

When you are finished and have one big dough ball place in a large bowl, add a little olive oil to prevent the dough from drying out and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside for 30 minutes or so.

Prep your pasta maker! You are going to want to start on the widest (#1) setting and work your way to the thinnest (#9)

Break the dough into three parts and start to feed it through the pasta maker moving the knob each time from widest to thinnest setting. Make sure to help your dough through so it doesn't get caught or jammed.

Place all strips of previously rolled out pasta on the counter which has been already lightly covered in flour.

Use the sheets with the larger width as the ravioli tops and the ones with the smaller widths as your ravioli bottoms.

Start placing your butternut squash fillings 1 inch apart along the smaller width pasta. Use the egg wash to create a grid seal around each dab of filling. Place the wider pasta strip (top) on top.

Press the top down the center and each row so that it stretches out nicely over the filling mounds. Cut the dough in equal sections trying to create a 1/2 inch perimeter around the mounts.

Using a fork press on the outer corners to help the egg wash inside create a seal between top and bottom pasta layers and fully seal in the butternut squash filling inside.

Once sealed fully, place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Once you are finished making ravioli place the baking sheet covered in plastic wrap in the fridge to store until you are about 20-30 min from your meal time.

When you are ready boil a pot of water. Once the water is boiling add a tsp of salt and place the amount of ravioli you want to cook in the boiling water.  You can store the remaining amount by rolling it in wax paper and placing it in a ziplock bag and freezing it.

Next start to prep your sauce. In a sauce pan on medium heat add in your butter followed by your minced shallots. Once the shallots start to become clear add in your sage. Allow the sage to release its flavor into the butter. Stir so that it doesn't burn. Add some salt

After about 6-7 minutes the ravioli should be ready and float to the top. Test to see if the pasta layers are fully cooked. When it is cooked drain and add to your sauce pan with butter and sage. Allow the ravioli to become fully dressed by the sauce before plating.

Add Parmesan cheese on top and garnish before serving. ENJOY!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I do. If you have any comments please leave them below and I'll be happy to answer them as soon as I can! There is also a video down below if you need more guidance while cooking!!!  Bon Appetite!!!

STUFFED & FRIED ZUCCHINI FLOWERS (SQUASH BLOSSOMS)

Okay so these fried zucchini flowers are actually amazing!!! I learned about them on my recent trip down to Todos Santos, Mexico and they are now one of my favorite new things. Think fried artichokes but stuffed with whatever your palate desires. You dont need to dip them in anything because they are delicious and flavorful all by themselves. You just need to try them! TRUST ME!

INGREDIENTS:

Stuffing - You can honestly do whatever you want here. I did the following:

1-2 Cups of Chorizo (taken out of its casing and pre-cooked)
1 Cup of Quinoa (pre cooked and cooled)
1/2 Cup of Cubed Cheese (I used a soft white cheese)

Olive Oil
12-20 Zucchini Flowers (washed)
2 Eggs (whisked)
1-2 Cups of All Purpose Flour
Salt (as desired)

DIRECTIONS

Cook your quinoa and let it cool.

Take your Chorizo out of the casing and fry it up. Once finished set aside to cool.

Once cooled mix your Chorizo, quinoa and cheese together. This will be your stuffing. Open the center of the flower and add in your stuffing (1-2 TSP) and set aside till all flowers are stuffed.

Once you are ready to fry up the flowers add oil to a pan and let it heat up on medium heat.

Roll your stuffed flowers into your flour followed by your egg wash and again in your flour before plopping it in the oil. Once four or five of them are in your pan make sure you rotate them so they dont burn and allow those to cook until they are golden. (If you notice that they are cooking to quickly and getting burnt turn the heat to low)

Once ready remove the flowers from the the pan and set aside on a plate covered in paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Continue battering and cooking the rest of your flowers until you are done. Lightly salt the plate full of flowers before serving!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I do. If you have any comments please leave them below and I'll be happy to answer them as soon as I can! Happy cooking!!!

FOOTBALL PEPPERONI PIZZA PIES

Now that's a real pizza pie. Note that I only did this with pie crust because that's what I had in the fridge. They tasted great but personally as a pizza connoisseur I would have preferred to use pizza dough! I just like that texture better but that's just me. They still taste great it just depends on what you like. You do you! Anyways for Superbowl 50 I would totally add these to my menu. They are easy and filling and dont take to much time or effort to make. Your guest will definitely enjoy these little pizza pies and how they look like little footballs!!!

Yields: 3 Pie's

INGREDIENTS:

200 Grams of Pillsbury Pie Crust (you can also use pizza dough)
Tomato Sauce
Pepperoni Slices
Mozzarella Cheese
Garlic Powder *forgot to add this to ingredients photo

Ingredients for Egg Wash (Optional)
1 Egg (beaten)
1 TBSP of Milk
1 TSP of Salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat over to 375 degrees.

Roll out your pie crust and using a bowl imprint your football shape or use it as a guide. Cut out your football shapes - you can get about 6 of them out of 200 grams of dough. (If you need to roll up the dough in a ball and roll it out again to get another piece, do so.

Next add your toppings starting with tomato sauce. I did pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. I also sprinkled the pizza with garlic powder at the end for extra flavor. Using a clean brush use the egg wash along the edge of the football. Place another layer of dough on top and with a fork press down the sides to seal the football.

Egg wash the top of the football before cutting your football laces into the top of the football.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes before removing and allowing to cool slightly.

Serve with a side of tomato sauce for dipping.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I do. If you have any comments please leave them below and I'll be happy to answer them as soon as I can! Happy cooking!!!

CHORIZO AND POTATO TACOS

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My sister was the first person to introduce me to chorizo and potato tacos. She made them for a big family gathering and they were an instant hit. Every time I have made these since there hasn't been a single spec of left overs. They are so yummy they are the epitome of "I bet you can't just have one." and will have you saying, "Are you going to finish that? cause I will!" I also find tacos are great for entertaining large groups of people because they have this make you own/style it to your liking that gets other people involved in the meal process. Plus they're super easy to make! BONUS! ...but your guest don't need to know that ;)

Makes 12-14 Tacos

INGREDIENTS:

4-5 Yukon Potato (cubed)
1 TBSP of Lemon Juice
1 TBSP of Olive Oil
1 Sweet or Yellow Onion (chopped)
1-2 LBS of Uncooked Chorizo Sausage (remove chorizo from casing by cutting open the casing)
1-2 Jalapeno Chile (remove seed and chop finely)
Salt and Pepper (as desired)
Tortillas
Suggested Taco Fixings - Salsa, Guacamole, Hot Sauce (I love Valentina's), Bean paste. There is also sour cream, cheese and lettuce but these are not typical Mexican toppings.

*Place your cubed potatoes in a large bowl and cover in water. Add in your lemon juice - this will stop your potatoes from browning while you are prepping everything else.

DIRECTIONS:

Okay so the first thing we are going to do is boil the potatoes (first we boil them then we fry them). So when you're ready get a pot, drain the potatoes existing water and fill it with fresh water. Place the pot on the stove and bring it to a boil on high heat.

Once boiling lower heat and let it continue to cook for 4-6 minutes, drain and set aside.

While the potatoes are cooking, in a large skillet add in the olive oil over medium. Once the oil is warm throw in your onions and lower heat to medium and let your onions start to sweat and release their juices.

When the onions start to soften and become clear throw in your chorizo stirring well to help break up the meat. Cook the chorizo on medium to high for 6-8 minutes.

Next add in the cooked potatoes and jalapenos. You will notice that the potatoes will start to absorb the flavors and oils of the chorizo and turn orange - this is good!!! Continue to cook for about 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally to avoid burning, but it is also great to let the meat and potatoes to get crisp too! You can add salt and pepper to your liking.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I do. If you have any comments please leave them below and I'll be happy to answer them as soon as I can! Happy cooking!!!