Butternut Squash and Turkey Casserole

Okay, so this turned out pretty good.

Ingredients:
1 large butternut squash 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp dried rosemary 1/2 tsp black bepper 1/4 tsp salt (for squash) 1 large shallot 1 lb ground turkey 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper	1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp cumin 12 oz whole wheat penne pasta 3/4 cup shredded provolone (3 oz) 1/3 cup parmesan cheese (1.5 oz) 1/2 tsp salt (for cheese sauce) 2 cups milk 1/4 cup flour

First thing's first, my methods do not necessarily follow the healthy tips recommended by Cooking Light. I am of the mind that I would rather use oil than cooking spray because cooking spray is weird and chemical, bla, bla, bla. I care more about reading the ingredients in what I purchase than the nutrition facts. I don't like my food to be overly processed or full of weird chemicals. I want to eat food, not lab experiments. My recipe most assuredly has more calories than theirs. If you'd like to try theirs, buy the cookbook--it's a great cookbook.

So here's what I did.

Prepared Butternut Squash:
Heated the oven to 425 and began cubing my butternut squash. When the squash was all in 1-inch cubes, I tossed it in a bowl of with the olive oil, 1/4 tsp salt, the black pepper, and rosemary. Then I dumped it on a cookie sheet and threw it in the oven. It needs about 30-40 minutes. When it's done, increase the oven temp to 450.

Cooked the Pasta:
I started the boiling some water for my pasta, and then I did some of the prep work below for the turkey and shallots. Then I threw in the pasta to cook it, and continued with the turkey mix. When the pasta was soft, I drained out the water, rinsed it with some cold water, and left it waiting in the sink while I finished up the turkey and began the cheese sauce.

Prepared Turkey and Shallot
Diced up the shallot and tossed it in the bowl I had previously used to toss the squash (less dishes). Set out a large skillet and began heating it on medium. Then I threw cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and cumin into my bowl with the shallot. After that I dumped in the ground turkey and mixed it all up with my hands. I completed this process by browning the whole mix in my skillet.

Prepared the Cheese Sauce:
Last but not least, I set aside my shredded provolone and parmesan so they would be ready. Then I put a large sauce pan (actually my pressure cooker) on the stove on medium heat. I put the flour and 1/2 tsp salt in. Then I began pouring the milk in about a 1/2 cup at a time, whisking constantly. I let it come to a boil and cooked it until it thickened just a bit (about a minute). At that point, I removed it from the heat and dumped in the provolone cheese, stirring it until the cheese melted.

Put It All Together:
Then in went the pasta and the turkey with the cheese sauce, and I mixed it all up. This all was dumbed and spread out in my 9 x 13 inch glassware pan. I spread out the now ready butternut squash over the top of it. Last, but not least, I sprinkled the parmesan over the top and popped that sucker into the oven for 10 minutes, just to melt the cheese.

Overall, it tastes pretty good, but I think I will add some crushed tomato to the turkey mix next time. It's not vegetabley enough for me. I might also make some extra provolone cheese sauce to drizzle over the top before baking. I added pasta and more meat to this recipe already, so if I add tomatoes too, I'm gonna need more gooey cheese.

Comfort Food Adventure

I need to post more about cooking adventures. I also need to have more cooking adeventures.

Just a recommendation if you like spicy tomatoey things: Dak Bokkeum with Spinach (Korean Stewed Chicken with Spinach). Made this with a friend a couple weeks ago. It was amazing. I think the fire did some serious damage to the lining of my stomach, but it was well worth it.

New exciting goal for cooking adventures will be brought to you by Cooking Light Comfort Food: Home-Cooked Delicious Classics Made Light. I was pretty happy just perusing it, and what's nice is a lot of these things are pretty affordable to make. I've decided that I want to work my way through the casseroles first because casseroles usually freeze well and make handy leftovers for lunches.

This week I will be trying the "Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta," except I have absolutely no intention of really following the directions at all. I like bacon, but I wasn't too keen on this mix, so I decided this butternut squash and pasta casserole concept should be melded with one of my favorite middle eastern inspired dishes, which mixes butternut squash with ground lamb. Yum!

What will the end product look like?

Well, they didn't have any ground lamb at the grocery store. Genius that I am, I forgot that St. Patrick's Day meant a ton of people making shepherd's pie, so my casserole will use ground turkey, which I will season with cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper, as inspired by the Epicurious dish. I also went for a whole wheat penne as used by the Epicurious dish.

From Cooking Light, I will be using the casserole concept, the butternut squash prep, the cheese choices of parmesan and provolone instead of kasseri, and there will be shallots.

I will probably add more details of what I did and how this turns out when I actually make the dish. Tomorrow, I think. Same post, not a new one. I'm a cheater like that.

(I lied. Detailed instructions are povided in the next post.)

Under Construction

The stripes weren't doing it for me, and the previous viney stuff wasn't doing it for me either. The current stuff is okay, if not coordinated super well. It will have to do for now because it is bed time.

At some point, when I feel like it, I will return to blogging, and I will do up some graphics for a blog overhaul. I'm thinking something super nerdy and whimsical. You will just have to wait and see.

Also, Warehouse 13 consumes my life. I don't imagine blogging will return until I have completed my Warehouse 13 watching adventure, which I wish would go on forever. Alas, I only have 8 more episodes. Tis tragic.

New Life Goal - Master Upholstery

I really, really want to become an accomplished upholsterer. This isn't just a crackpot dream of mine.

I would like to be able to recover the chair in my living room with fabric I actually like instead of using an orange sheet stuck all over the bottom with dangerous pins.

I would like to be able to respond to the cat-astrophe that willl someday be my couch because Tonks really isn't half as fond of her scratching posts as she is the corners of the couch.

I would like to just do this as a hobby. I'm sitting in front of a pretty, shapely table at the moment, but it has some discoloration on the surface, and all I can think is "I could fix that."

Yep. I need to find a class on upholstering. Then I need to wait until my lease runs out, move into an affordable little house that is not downtown but that has a garage, and set up a little hobby shop for refinishing and reupholstering furniture.

Is it odd that I think that would be fun? I think I miss doing things with my hands. All I ever use is my mind, and it's getting a bit tired.

Sometimes I even imagine that I quit my job, open a bakery coffee shop that specializes in savory scones, and sell refurbished furniture from a side room. Of course, one has to have money for such dreams. And, let's be real, if I was running a bakery coffee shop, when would I ever have time to refinish and reupholster furniture?

Also, these are all things I enjoy that I think I might not enjoy so much if they became work. They are best as hobbies/pieces of a daydream.

Drop the I-Word

Amazing friends on facebook were sharing this, and I had to continue that sharing.

This video and the message being spread is an important human rights issue. One largely ignored in this country. The war on immigration is a war on humanity because it seeks to deny individuals a right to work and live based on their country of origin, which is ridiculus.

So many in this country want to see others off of wellfare, working for their incomes--bla, bla bla. Yet we have a double standard when people want to come here to work to support their families. Ironic when we consider how much financial aid we send to other countries without expecting a thing in return.

Why exactly do we prejudice some groups for the difficulties in their lives an not others? No answer? I didn't think so. It's called descrimination. It's based on arbitrary differences. And if you think the birthplace of an individual means they do not have certain rights, you're descriminating.

...I guess I better stop making fun of Lindsey for being a Southernor. ;)

See more on dropping the i-word.

Wardrobe Reassessment

I have a lot of clothes I don't wear. I like these clothes I don't wear, but I don't feel myself in them, so they need to go because they rarely come out of the closet. I'm cleaning my closet out, mostly of recently purchased sweater dresses, and they are all going to beautiful people who will love them.

I will stick to blue jeans, sneakers, cardigans, and t-shirts, preferably in stripes. I'd like more cardigans, so I've been looking at shopruche.com (thanks to Brig), but I really shouldn't spend money, so I will probably refrain. I can live with what I have.

I might, however, have to buy some jeans. I broke the zipper on my favorite dark wash jeans today. I'm not sure how it happened, but suddenly I realized, "my pants are not zipped!" Then I realized I could not fix that problem. It's a good thing I wear long shirts. :)

Wardrobe purchases from here on out have to fit the clothing persona I have recently discovered that makes me feel uber confident. Here's a sketch of the me I believe I have established and that I love. I really do have an outfit like this, and it's perfect.

It has been far too long since my last paint graphic. I should make them more often.

So there you have it--sneakers, cardigans, blue jeans, headbands, curly hair, and patterned shirts. I lurv it.

Retraction of My Rant

Thanks to NPR, I am now neutral on the insurance contraception thing. My rant was misinformed. Of course, I think that's how things often end up heated battles--misinformation. Since the difference is simply charging a copay or not, I don't know that this legislation significantly changes anything at all. It's null and void.

If you want to understand my change of heart, I recommend reading this: Rules Requiring Contraceptive Have Been in Place for Years.

They say it much better than I could.