Butternut Squash Soup/ Roasted Butternut Squash

1 butternut squash (tan skin, pear shaped squash)
3 TBS Olive Oil
1 TBS Coarse Sea Salt
2 tsp Coarse Black Pepper
3-4 Cloves of Garlic
1-2 inches of fresh ginger (optional)
1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)
1 box or 3 cups of Chicken or Vegetable Stock

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel the entire squash. Cut in half and remove the seeds and pulp with a spoon.
Dice into 1 inch cubes. Place the cubes on a large baking sheet with sides or a roasting pan.
Cut Garlic into rough chunks and mix in with cubed squash. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast for 40-45 minutes.

When the squash is fork tender, remove from the oven and place in a sauce pan/soup pot on the stove. Add 1-2 cups of chicken stock and grated fresh ginger. Blend with an immersion hand blender in the pot or blend the mixture in a blender or food processor. Blend until pureed.
Add salt and pepper to taste if needed. Blend in the rest of stock until the soup is the desired consistency. To make the soup creamier, mix in 1/2 cup of heavy cream and blend again.

Serve with toasted pine nuts or walnuts. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Fries

These are so yummy and nutritious!

3-5 sweet potatoes (make sure they're orange sweet potatoes or yams are good too!)
2TBS Olive Oil
2 cloves garlic
Salt & Pepper

Peel the sweet potatoes. Slice into julienne strips~like the size of french fries.
Place the potato spears in a sheet pan or roasting pan with the olive oil, garlic, salt, and peper. Mix with your hand.
Roast fro 25-3o minutes on high at 350 degrees.

You can play around with the seasoning if you'd like~curry, cinnamon, fresh herbs, etc...

Enjoy!

Apple Streusel Pie (Gluten Free Crust)

This recipe is from my sister-in-law, Karina. It is so yummy and the oat flour gives it a really nutty taste that compliments the apples and cinnamon perfectly.

This makes 2 pies.

Crust:
2 cups oat flour (if you are a true celiac you can use gluten-free oat flour but regular oat flour will work too)
3/4 cup shortening (or butter)
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
6-8 TBS ice water

Mix the flour, shortening, salt, and sugar together with a fork until it forms crumbles the size of peas. Then slowly mix in the ice water tablespoon by tablespoon until a dough starts to form. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap in celophane, and refridgerate fro 1-2 hours.
Roll out the cold dough into two bottom crusts. Some may have to add a little flour or water depending on how your dough is rolling out. Dough can be tricky...but just play with it a little to get it rolled out nicely.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Apple filling:
12-15 small apples or 8-10 regular size apples~peeled, cored, and sliced
3TBS cinnamon
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1tbs freshly grated ginger
1- 1/2 cups sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
1/4 oat flour
1 tsp salt

Coat the apples in the sugar, flour, and spice mixture. Pour the apple mixture into the botton pie shells.

Streusel Topping:
1 stick of butter
2 cups oat flour
1 cup sugar
1TBS cinnamon

Mix all the above ingredients together with a fork. Add a little more or less of the flour or sugar as needed to make a crumble mixture.
Pour the crumble mixture on top of the apples and spread around evenly.

Bake for about 1 hour at 350 degrees or until the streusel topping is golden brown.

Serve with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Enjoy!

Kale Slaw

This is another recipe from Alli. The homemade dressing is the yummiest part. You'll never know you're eating Kale!

Salad:
2 medium bunches of Kale, cut into thin strips
1/3lb carrot, grated (5-6 carrots)
1 cup red cabbage, shredded

Dressing:
2/3 cup cashews
1 clove garlic
1-2 TBS fresh ginger root, minced
1 can green chiles, 4oz (not Jalepenos, from the mexican food isle)
1 1/2 -2 TBS Tamari (wheat-free or soy sauce or Braggs)
3/4 cup Vegannaise (or mayonnaise)

Directions:
Use the grater attachment on the food processor to shred the carrots and cabbage. Add the the sliced up kale in a large bowl. (You can also do this with a box grater)

Add all of the ingredients for the dressing into the food processor and blend into a dressing. Add more tamari or a little water if the dressing is too thick.

Toss the salad with the dressing.

If you aren't going to eat all of the salad right away keep the dressing in a separate container.

Enjoy!

Waffle-Pancake Mix (gluten-free)

This recipe is from my friend, Alli. She's a gluten-free diva! Thanks Alli, I love these pancakes!

1 cup oats (gluten-free)
1/4 cup millet or cornmeal
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1/4 cup raw cashews
1-2 TBS apple juice or apple sauce or 1 date
2 TBS cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4-2 cups water

Blend all of the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor or vita mix. Add the 2 cups of water slowly. The consistency will seem runny at first. Use less water for a little bit thicker pancakes or waffles.

Poor onto hot griddle or waffle iron. For pancakes cook until the top side bubble, then flip. For waffles, cook until the batter steams.

Enjoy!

Elk Meatballs

Since my dad shot an Elk this year, I have been trying to cook with it more and more. These meatballs turned out delicious. Even if you are afraid of the "gamey" taste...you'll like these!

1 lb Elk or Venison Hamburger
1 lb Beef Hamburger
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup bread crumbs (I make my own with gluten-free bread by blending up slices of bread in the food processor, but the ones from the box work great too!)
5 cloves of grated or crushed garlic
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
salt & pepper to taste

In a large mixing bowl, mix both types of hamburger with 3 whole eggs, 1 cup of bread crumbs, grated garlic, chopped basil, salt, and pepper. I just "dig in" with my hands and work it all together until it is well mixed.

Heat about 1/4 cup of oil in a large skillet.

Roll the mixture into balls. (About the size of a golf ball)

Sautee the meatballs on med-high heat in the skillet until they are cooked through, 8-10 minutes.

Drain the oil from the meatballs by placing them on paper towels.

These are great as a main course or over pasta with a fresh tomato sauce.

Tomato Sauce

If you still have tomatoes left in the garden...here's a good way to use them up.

I use about 2-3 large collanders full of tomatoes. (I'm guessing this is about 10 lbs or you can use 6-7 large cans of stewed tomatoes)

Wash the tomatoes and blend them in the food processor into a puree.

In a LARGE stock pot heat 1/2 olive oil on medium heat.

Add 6-7 cloves of crushed garlic.

Brown the garlic in the olive oil until a light golden color.

Add 1 TBS of red pepper flakes.

Add all of the pureed tomatoes to the pot and bring to a boil.

Continue to simmer for 3-5 hours. (It's a long time but your house will smell wonderful!)

Stir occasionally.

Towards the end add 1/2 cup of fresh basil and salt and pepper to taste.

You can serve this over hot pasta or use it as the base to a meat sauce.

I freeze the extras in yogurt containers or gallon bags.

Buon Appetito!!!