Rainbow Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

21 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Salads

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Are these beets not gorgeous? Grab some colorful ones from your farmers market!

Ninja Move: Did you know that you can sauté beet greens? Reminiscent of chard and completely edible… you can use the whole veggie!

(Serves 4-5)
1 head of red or butter lettuce
2 large beets, boiled, diced and cooled (I used 1 yellow, 1 red for variety)
½ cup goat cheese, in chunks
3T thinly sliced red onion
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Fresh cracked pepper

Don’t know how to prep fresh beets? Chop off the ends, roughly dice, and boil for about 30 minutes (until tender when pierced with a fork). Drain, dry with a paper towel, and dice into cubes.

Persimmons Pomegranates & Pears – Oh My!

20 Tuesday Nov 2012

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I’ve been having lots of fun with Fall salads. Mainly, feeding my obsession with persimmons! They are great sliced up with breakfast and in salads. They also provide great nutritional value including anti-oxidants, vitamins (A, B and Cs), and manganese.

(Serves 4-5)

3-4c arugula
2 persimmons, peeled and diced
½ c pomegranate seeds
1 pear, diced
2 handfuls walnuts or pecans
3T red onion, thinly sliced
Sherry vinegar
Olive oil

Pumpkin Parmesan Sage Pasta Casserole

16 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by in Main Dishes, Uncategorized

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Here’s the perfect casserole to sustain you over the days leading up to Thanksgiving. This recipe was inspired by a Martha Stewart post for a pasta and squash bake. While I’m still inspired by Martha, I’m wondering who on earth gave the original recipe 4.5 stars with such little flavor added! Test kitchen? I guess that’s where I come in… I pulled some ninja moves to soup it up: spices, butter, sage, and of course- copious amounts of garlic. I promise to uphold quality control and not post flavorless dishes! You’ll like this one…

PS. This dish is actually better reheated the next day, as flavors really marinate together.
Ninja Move: It freezes really well! We’ll be having it again on Thanksgiving Eve.

Ingredients
(Serves 5-6)

2T olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1lb mushrooms, sliced
1/2lb leftover chicken, sliced (no exact amount necessary!)
4 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt, pepper, sage, oregano, basil, white pepper
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 1/2 cups dry pasta (I used green whole wheat shells)
Butter or olive oil spray for the pan
1 cup grated parmesan cheese (reserving 4T to sprinkle on top)

2T browned butter
10 sage leaves, crisped in butter

Bring a large pot of water to boil for your pasta.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Heat olive oil in a large sauce pan on medium high heat.
Add diced onion. Sauté 3 minutes.
Add sliced mushrooms and sauté until almost done (about 7 more minutes).
Add chicken, garlic and generous seasonings.
Stir pumpkin and parmesan cheese, reserving about 4T to sprinkle on top.
Grease large Pyrex (I used a 9×13), fill with mixture, and sprinkle with remaining cheese!
Place in the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes, until crispy and slightly browned on top.
In a small saucepan, brown your butter and sage leaves.
When your casserole is ready, remove from oven and pour browned butter and sage over the top.

Let cool for 15 minutes.

Serve and Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Organization Tips

16 Friday Nov 2012

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You might be fearing the few days ahead filled with peeling potatoes, dicing apples, searching for the perfect cookie cutters for maple leaf shaped ginger cookies (for the over achievers out there), and contemplating turkey recipes- but fear not! My goal this year is to plan ahead so I can ENJOY the process! Here are some game plan tips I’ve been working on to set you up to be sipping Baileys and Cocoa on Gobble’s Eve- instead of fretting.

1) Establish a Menu and Delegate

Upon divvying up the Turkey Day potluck list, I reluctantly but brilliantly agreed to relinquish duty for some dishes. No Monica, not every plate will fulfill your blog worthy picture perfect criteria. Some things can be left in the capable hands of others!

2) Start Cooking and Freezing for “Gobble’s Eves” now!

While Turkey Day is the main event of the week, you don’t want to be worrying about what’s for dinner on Tuesday and Wednesday nights when you are thigh high in trimmings, a turkey brining tub, and getting home late from work…
Make a pot of soup or casserole that you can partition and freeze to make the 2-3 nights before easy as “defrost”… like this awesome Pumpkin Sage Parmesean Casserole Recipe 

3) Select Recipes, Write Out, and Execute Shopping Lists

Do ALL of your grocery shopping this weekend. People get really crazed and even mean in the stores the few days before big holidays. Avoid this negative energy whirlwind and just be ahead of the game.

4) Establish a GAME PLAN

Write out a list of action items spread over the 3-4 preceding days to make it all realistically manageable.

Things You Can Do Well in Advance
Pick out what you’re going to wear!
Create a master crafted centerpiece
Move chairs and fully set the table
Select and set out serving platters and serving utensils
Make name tags or wine charms

Things That Freeze Well
Cranberry Sauce
Pies
Cookies

Ninja Move #17: You can leave peeled and diced potatoes in the fridge over night, just cover in water.

Best of Luck and Happy Gobbles!

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