Penne With Roasted Butternut Squash and Sage and Pancetta

I get so many healthy and yummy recipes from Kristen at Green Style Mom. I hope some of you have taken time to visit her site. It is a great blog.

Penne With Roasted Butternut Squash with Pancetta and Sage

This recipe is from Martha Stewart. You can either click the link above or here is the recipe.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 1 medium (about 2 1/4 pounds) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 3 cups) - I used one butternut squash and one misc. squash - I don't know what it was but it tasted good.
  
• 1/4 cup olive oil - I used 2 slices of bacon instead of pancetta since it is cheaper and I sauted the bacon first and then all of the other vegetables in the left over bacon grease. Olive oil probably would have been healthier.
  
• Coarse salt
• 3/4 pound penne pasta
• 3 ounces pancetta, sliced 1/4 inch thick and finely chopped
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced crosswise - I did not use
  
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 10 fresh sage leaves, coarsely chopped or torn
• 1/2 cup finely grated pecorino Romano cheese, plus more for serving - I used Parmesan cheese instead.
  
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• I also added 1 chopped tomato, 1 red pepper and spinach.
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place butternut squash on a rimmed baking sheet and toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil; season with salt. Transfer to oven and roast until squash is browned and tender, about 15 minutes.I actually did this a few days ahead of time and put it in the fridge and then put it in the pan with everything else to heat it up and it worked just fine.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Generously salt water and return to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente, according to package directions. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid. Set pasta and reserved cooking liquid aside.
3. Meanwhile, heat remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add pancetta and cook until just crisp, 4 to 5 minutes. Add shallots, crushed red pepper, and sage. Cook until shallots are soft, 4 to 5 minutes. Add penne and squash and toss gently, adding reserved pasta cooking liquid as necessary to moisten.
4. Add cheese and black pepper and cook, tossing gently, until pasta and squash are heated through. Serve immediately with more grated cheese, if desired.

This recipe was very good and easy to make and with all of the vegetables healthy for you to.

Vegan Pumpkin Bread

Here is a easy vegan pumpkin bread recipe. The bread comes out so moist and you will not believe how healthy it is.

1/4 margarine (I normally use less than this).
1 cup of brown sugar (or white sugar plus 1 TBS molasses
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups of pureed pumpkin or 1 can
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice, ground cloves and nutmeg
2 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
2 tsp of baking soda

Mix all of the ingredients together, pour into a greased pan and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350. Enjoy!!

Lemonicious Zucchini Cupcakes

I got this receipe from Kristen at Green Style Mommy. The kids have no idea they are eating vegetables, they just know that the "cupcakes" are super easy. Click here to view the receipe and Green Style Mommy's blog.

Lemonicious Zucchini Cupcakes

Sourdough Wheat Bread

I have been having so much fun making bread lately. I have so much in my freezer and I have no idea when I will get around to eating it! Maybe I need to host a giveaway were the winner will receive a loaf of bread!! (Sorry the pictures are so small - I had trouble uploading them.)



Ok here is the recipe. In order to make a sourdough bread you first have to create a starter. There are recipes all over the Internet but here is what I need. About 11 days before I made my first loaf I started the starter. First take about 1 cup of flour (I used whole wheat) and 3/4 cup of water. Make sure the water is bottled or does not have chorline in it - this will mess everything up. Mix the two items together in a non-metallic bowl, cover the bowl (I used a plate) and let it sit on the counter. The next day add more flour and water. It does not need to be another cup just a few huge spoonfuls. (You can look online to get a more exact recipe but this is what I did). After about a week it is time to cook.

Here is a picture of the starter.

I found this recipe here, Jan's Dough. She has a starter recipe if you want more direction than I gave above. Yeast Mix I have found that what kind of yeast you use is one of the most important ingredients. I use to buy the cheapest stuff (yellow package) but a few weeks ago at the store the more expensive yeast was on sale and I bought that instead. It more expensive yeast was awesome. I have made four huge loaves out of one package . It is the Red Star, Quick Rise Yeast in the silver package. Okay - back to the recipe. First - get the yeast going, mix 1/2 cup of warm (not hot) water, 1 TBS of sugar and 1 package of yeast. Mix so the yeast dissolves and let sit. If the yeast does not start rising and activating within 5 minutes, start over. While the yeast is activating, add 1 egg, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 1/2 tsp of salt (I have forgotten this and it is not too big of a deal), 1 cups of flour and start the mixer. Then add the yeast, 1 to 1.5 cups of the sourdough starter and 1 cup of water. At this point I really don't follow the recipe - I keep adding flour until it is the correct consistently. Doughy but not sticky. I also let the kitchen aid to the kneading.

After the dough is ready to go put it in a greased bowl and let it rise. Place the bowl in a warm place and cover with a towel. Let it rise until it doubles in size (about 2 hours) and then punch the bread down, knead for a couple of minutes and let is rise again for another 2 hours. Then punch the bread down again and knead for a couple of minutes. Shape the bread into the size you want and let the bread rise on a cooking sheet or a loaf pan for another 1 to 2 hours.

Here is a picture of the bread after it has risen.

Mikayla's job is to punch the bread down and she loves it.

Baking the bread - pre-heat the over to 350, once the oven is fully heated cook the bread for about 30 minutes, let cool and enjoy. Any questions - please see email me or see Jan's Dough website.