Spaghetti Squash Zucchini Casserole

Sometimes, people think that because I am a vegetarian that I am sacrificing taste. Let me assure you that could be no further from the truth. I use tons of spices. I put them in everything. Herbs and Spices are a cook's best friends. Recipes can sometimes be like guides and most of the time, unless I'm baking, I don't follow a recipe. Add spices and herbs to your taste. Preheat oven to 350 Cut 1 spaghetti squash in half and scoop the seeds out careful not to cut into flesh of squash. Set seeds aside so you can roast them with some salt. 1 spaghetti squash baked at 350 for about 15 minutes. While baking, grate 1 whole zucchini and set aside. The spaghetti squash should be only about half way done when you take it out of the oven. With a fork, begin to scrape out the flesh of the squash and it will be stringy like spaghetti and a thin, hard skin will be left. Discard shells (or you can bake this in the squash shells for a nice presentation) and place the spaghetti like strands in a large bowl. Gently, mix 1 whole zucchini grated and a can of diced tomatoes (I use fire roasted with garlic and basil, but use whatever you like) in with the spaghetti squash, seasoning as desired. I use "Tastefully Simple" garlic garlic, seasoning salt and onion onion. I add garlic, thyme, rosemary, oregano, marjoram, crushed red pepper, salt, white and black pepper. Add seasonings a couple of dashes at a time. Once mixed, add a couple of Tbsp of nutritional yeast (I get mine in the bulk aisle at my grocer's). If you prefer to make this vegan, stop here! If not add a little grated Parmesan cheese. Once mixed, spray nonstick spray into casserole dish. Add the mixture into the casserole dish. The size of the casserole dish will depend on how large of a spaghetti squash you've chosen. You can sprinkle with Parmesan or more nutritional yeast before putting casserole dish in the oven on 350 for about 20 minutes. If you set your seeds aside, dry them off with a towel and toss with salt (any other seasonings that you like) and a tiny amount of oil. Put in small baking dish in one layer and put in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes. Careful, they can burn easily. The recipe is about 75 calories per 1 cup serving. Enjoy!

Recently, I had a request for a delicious pumpkin chai muffin that I made...Here it is Pumpkin, Walnut, White/ Dark Chocolate, Masala Chai muffin 3 1/3 c. flour 2 tsp. baking soda 3 c. sugar 1 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. nutmeg 1/4 tsp. ground ginger (or you can use a pumpkin pie spice instead of the separate spices)

Mix dry ingredients and add: 1 c. oil 4 eggs 2/3 c. water 2 c. pumpkin At the end, add a handful of walnuts, chopped and lightly dusted with flour (so they don't sink to the bottom), 1/8 cup each of white/ dark chocolate morsels/ chips and a heaping Tbs of masala chai spice (this can be found at your local Indian grocer's) Preheat oven to 350. You can use muffin cups, but don't have to. Either way, use nonstick spray. Bake for about 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Experiment by using gluten free and you can also make this vegan by substituting egg replacements like flax.

At the beginning of the year, I refused to make a New Year's Resolution. I find them a waste of time and I usually fail. If something drastic hasn't changed in a person's life, it's unlikely that they'll be able to make drastic changes in behavior. I decided to make little changes. I ended up getting a new "fancy" touch screen phone. I didn't even have texting before! On this phone, I installed an "app" for weight and exercise tracking. I am a Yoga teacher and also ride horses, so I wanted to be able to keep track of everything all in one place. I extremely appreciate the organization that my new phone provides me. Extremely. I decided this year's theme (theme instead of resolution) is "New Year, New Solution, Steady Evolution" (arr). Instead of setting myself up for failure, I set myself up for success. I made small changes and they turned into (EVOLVED) big, drastic changes. Little victories make up huge successes. Of course, it's all relative. I decided to greatly reduce and eliminate some processed foods altogether from my diet. I was already vegetarian, so that part was easy. But, I hadn't been experimenting with cooking and recipes as much. Cooking brings me so much joy. So, I needed to find a way to work it in to my schedule. Time management is all about priority for me. I prioritize the most important things in my life. Everything else, well- it's just everything else! I started getting myself into more of a routine. Becoming more organized has decluttered my brain. And, so has eating healthier. Eating processed foods can cause many problems: obesity, fatigue, chronic pain problems, inflammation, digestive issues- the list goes on and on. It's really surprising that some ingredients are even allowed in "food?" and I use that term very loosely. Some of the "food?" on supermarket shelves today hardly resembles food. Check out the ingredients on the food you buy next time. If you cannot pronounce it, you probably won't want to put it in your body! My daily Yoga practice has also evolved this year. And with it, has my early morning jump start green smoothie concoction which I make after practice! I have been using Amazing Grass Amazing Meal (I use the chai and the pomegranate mango flavors). I soak raw almonds overnight in water. In the morning, the almond peels slide right off. Use all fresh, organic food whenever possible. In the blender: 1 scoop of Amazing Meal- you will need to refrigerate it after opening since it's raw and alive. 1/8 cup of raw, sprouted, peeled almonds, 2 leaves of kale (destemmed), 1/2 cup- 1 cup raw spinach, 1/4 cup blackberries, 1/4 cup blueberries, 1/8 avocado, 1/4 cup pineapple, 1/4 pear, 1/4 apple and 1 Tbsp raw ground flax seed or oil. I use Naked Juice brand juices and put about 1/2 cup and add a little water. I also like Bolthouse Farms- whatever is on sale. Blend with ice for at least 3-5 minutes for optimum enzymatic release. Of course, this recipe is just a guide, so experiment with flavor. Happy Smoothieing! Steady Evolutioning! Peace

Dinner with Jeffrey 2

Pasta. Get the freak outta here! This pasta is da bomb! We like spicy and on a chilly, rainy winter's night, we like comfort. Last week, Jeffrey and I made pasta for our Sunday soiree. Use an entire box of rigatoni for this recipe. Make it in your grandmother's cast iron skillet or other favorite skillet that is oven friendly at 400 degrees. Boil your pasta water and begin preparing according to package directions al dente. Drain and set aside. In the skillet: Sautee 1/2 red onion and 1/2 yellow onion finely chopped with 3 cloves of finely minced garlic in 1 Tbsp. olive oil until translucent. Add 1 container of sliced mushrooms and saute on medium heat until tender. Deglaze your pan with 1/4- 1/3 cup red or white wine. Add 1/4 cup of muffaletta mix. (It's delicious and has olives in it). Sautee/ reduce for 5 minutes until half liquid remains. Add 1 tsp of butter. Add 1/8 cup sun dried tomatoes finely chopped. Add 1 can roasted tomatoes. Mix with pasta and cheese. Mix in 1/2 cup good parmesan, asiago, pecorino romano or other hard salty cheese. Use a few Tbsp of cheese for sprinkling on top. Place skillet in oven (preheated to 350) on 350 for 15 minutes. Crank up the heat to broil the top at 400 for 5-7 minutes or until top is brown. Enjoy! Serve with a green salad.

Dinner with Jeffrey #1

I have an awesome, amazing friend named Jeffrey. We have been friends for years and we enjoy cooking together. Jeffrey won my heart over with the best carrot cake I HAVE EVA TASTED! (in my best Southern drawl). Jeffrey and I made up some green gumbo which we determined was "quite possibly the best soup ever made". Make a Roux: 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/3 cup flour. Brown and stir frequently/ constantly. After about 20 minutes, the roux will turn a deep reddish brown. Be careful! It burns easily. While making the roux, have 4 cups of water boiling and salted. Add a bunch (prewashed, de-stemmed and roughly chopped) kale or other greens. We also used a bunch of watercress. Boil for about 10 minutes. Drain over a colander and save 2 cups of the juice for the gumbo. In a saucepan, over medium heat- 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 chopped onion, 3 cloves garlic, 1 whole chopped up peppers (green, red, yellow, orange in any combination), 3 stalks celery chopped. Let this mixture get translucent. Add 1 cup broccoli, 3 carrots, a couple of new potatoes and a bunch of parsley finely chopped. (Remember that a recipe is a guide, so add other vegetables as you like). Add salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, rosemary, oregano, thyme, marjoram, 2 bay leaves, red (cayenne) and white pepper. If you have fresh herbs available, use them. If not, dried herbs work just fine. Check the refrigerated section of your grocery store for fresh herbs if you prefer. Let this cook over medium heat, stirring often so veggies soften for about 10 minutes. Add the roux when it's done. I made them both at the same time. Prechop and sit your veggies aside before you begin, so you can just drop them in. Remember- Don't burn the roux! Add the kale/ greens mixture, 1 carton of vegetarian stock and a can of fire roasted tomatoes. I use Pacific foods vegetarian no chicken stock . Add the reserved liquid (from the kale/ greens) and stir. Add water as needed to thin. Bring to a boil, turn heat down and simmer stirring frequently for about an hour. Serve over rice of any color, quinoa, spaghetti squash or orzo. Top with file powder if you want or other cajun seasoning. Crusty bread goes great with this gumbo stew. Happy Eating!

Tostaguac

I happen to think my husband and I make the best guacamole, hands down! 1 ripe avocado 1 Tbsp lemon juice 1/2- 1 tsp cumin handful of fresh cilantro finely chopped 1/2-1 tsp coriander dash salt/ pepper dash seasoning salt sprinkle of fresh minced garlic combine and mash all ingredients. This recipe is vegan. For a creamier consistency, add a tsp of sour cream- this will make the recipe vegetarian. I really enjoy Food Life sprouted corn tortillas. They are wheat, yeast and gluten free vegan tortillas. They're only 60 calories per tortilla. To make them crispy without added fat, preheat oven to 425. Place tortilla directly onto baking rack. Turn oven off and leave tortilla in while you make the guacamole. After about 7 minutes, take the crispy tortilla out of the oven, top it with guacamole and veggies. I topped mine with a handful of broccoli slaw, spinach and a little capriole goat cheese. I am going to roast some tomatoes next time. Happy Eating!

Vegetarian Baklava

I am a vegetarian and I love to cook. I think of recipes as culinary guidelines. Sometimes, you need to go on a gastronomical adventure! I was needing something comforting on this cold, winter night. This is the Yin, darker and more introverted time of year. I went to the market yesterday and found some delicious, nutritious kale and an acorn squash. I considered stuffing it with kale and white beans, which is pretty good. However, I had some phyllo dough leftover in the freezer from the baklava I made for the holidays. I settled on making a vegetable baklava. Thaw phyllo dough and keep wrapped in refrigerator until ready to use. 1 bunch kale 1/2 bunch carrots (about 5) 1/2 bunch celery (about 5) 6 small- medium new potatoes 1 white or yellow onion quartered 1/2 red onion 2 green onions (white + tops) 2 clove garlic (fresh is best) 4 cremini mushrooms about 1/4 stick of butter 2 Tbsp panko, Italian or regular breadcrumbs 1 1/2 cup 2 % milk 1/3 cup sour cream 1/2 cup sherry 1 Tbsp flour olive oil (for greasing the baking dish) and a drizzle for sauteing and roasting salt pepper dill (fresh or dried) seasoning salt (your favorite brand) thyme garlic salt 1 bunch of kale, blanched and shocked in cold water. Set aside. 1/2 bunch of celery and 1/2 bunch of celery (washed and dried) cut into 2 inch long strips. New potatoes cut into inch cubes Toss the celery, carrots and potatoes with a 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil, layer them on a baking sheet and roast turning often at 375 Peel and cube and acorn squash; Roast it in a separate glass baking dish until soft and slightly caramelized (about 25 minutes) When the carrots, celery and potatoes have been roasting about 10 minutes, add a quartered onion and toss. After the onion has begun to soften (about 5 minutes) add 1 Tbsp. of dill, seasoning salt, pepper, thyme, garlic salt, and any other complimentary seasonings that you have on hand. When the vegetables are roasted- you'll know because they will be browned and caramelized (about 25 minutes), toss them together with breadcrumbs and a teaspoon of softened butter and set aside. While the vegetables are roasting, saute (over medium heat) 2 green onions- chopped, 1/2 a red onion- diced, and 2 cloves of garlic for 5 minutes in a drizzle of olive oil. Add 4 sliced cremini mushrooms. Add seasonings after 5 minutes: seasoning salt, pepper, dill, thyme, paprika- I use about 1/4 tsp. of salt and 1/2-1 tsp of everything else. After the mushrooms are soft and shrink a little, turn down heat a smidge and add 1 tsp. of butter and sprinkle about 1 Tbsp. of flour. Let the flour brown, and stir often. Whisk in 1/2 cup of sherry, 1 1/2 cups of 2% milk and 1/ cup sour cream. Add the kale (that has already been blanched and shocked) back into the sour cream sauce. Let cool. Grease a deep baking dish. Have a Tbsp of butter melted in a small bowl and a brush handy. Begin to layer the phyllo dough in the bottom of the baking dish, butter lightly each layer, until you have 3 layers. Put about 1/4 of the squash/ potato/ celery/ carrot mix after every 3rd layer as well as the kale/ sherry/ sour cream sauce. Continue to layer phyllo dough, lightly brushing each layer with butter, and after every 3 layers put some of the vegetable mix until you end up with phyllo dough brushed with butter. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes. The top layer will be golden brown.