Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Blue Cheese Yogurt Dip
January 5, 2013
Once you fall in love with Brussels sprouts, it is impossible to get enough. We eat them like candy at our house, or most of us do. One child has chosen to shun these green meatballs for now- more for us! While we enjoy them shaved in salads and sauteed with garlic, the best preparation in my opinion is to simply toss them in oil, season them with salt and pepper and roast in the oven.
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Blue Cheese Dip can be served as either an unexpected appetizer or a gratifying side dish. The Brussels sprouts caramelize a bit in the oven and match beautifully with the blue cheese and yogurt dip. The dish hits all the notes of a warm, savory, dippable treat, but without the guilt of fat and carbohydrates that so many appetizers carry.
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Thanksgiving Menu Guide
November 15, 2012
With Halloween behind us, we are officially hurtling towards the Thanksgiving. For me that means it is time to get serious about meal planning. While Thanksgiving is a time to enjoy time-honored dishes, each year I like to try something new as well. Here a a collection of special occasion-worthy recipes from My Pantry Shelf that my family loves. What is your favorite dish to make for Thanksgiving? Tell us in the comments below. Feel free to add a link to your recipes.
appetizers
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Blue Cheese Yogurt Dip
sides and salads
Acorn Squash Rings with Apple Glaze
Brussels Sprouts with Garlicky Bread Crumbs
Chipotle Black Bean and Butternut Squash Salad
Forbidden Rice and Green Onion Hearth Bread
Orange Quinoa with Almonds, Olives, and Feta
Roasted Beet and Hazelnut Salad with Feta
Stuffed Winter Squash with Rice and Sausage
dessert
drinks
brunch
Stuffed Winter Squash with Rice and Sausage
November 11, 2012
Thanksgiving is never at our home. Each year we alternate between my and my husband’s parents’ homes. This holiday is decidedly my favorite. I love the cool weather, the rustling of leaves, the family crammed into the kitchen to gossip, stir, and sip. And of course the food. Each of the homes we visit have special dishes that we love, but since each year we miss one of the homes, I like to make our favorites ahead of time so we do not miss out.
Stuffed Winter Squash with Rice and Sausage recipe is a take on my family’s traditional Thanksgiving stuffing. My parents have hosted Thanksgiving every year for my entire life (and longer). Each year they put on an impressive spread with many mouth-watering dishes, but my favorite is by far the rice stuffing. Inspired by their once neighbors and long-time friends, my parents early on shunned the bread stuffings they were raised on and adopted a rice version of the dish. Wild rice baked along with flavorful Italian sausage, fresh vegetables and herbs to make a tasty, toothsome (not to mention gluten-free) side dish. This stuffing is delicious baked in the bird or baked in a greased casserole dish, but love the look and taste of baking it in delicata squash halves. It also makes for very tidy serving. The stuffing can be made ahead a day or two and kept covered in the refrigerator or a couple of weeks ahead and kept in the freezer. Wait to stuff the squash halves until the day of baking. One of the squash boats is a generous serving, perfect if it is your main side dish. If you are serving it with many side dishes, such as on Thanksgiving, they neatly cut in half.
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Roasted Tomato Sauce with Fennel
October 20, 2012
It is clean up time in the garden. The last of the tomatoes and peppers are ripening on the vine. We have cleared almost all of our summer crops in favor of space for fall garlic and broccoli and kale. We left the tomato and pepper plants in hopes that a few more fruits would ripen during this week’s heat wave.
We have been on a serious salsa bender this summer, chopping most of the best tomatoes into a simple lime-laced habañero-powered accompaniment to everything from grilled fish to scrambled eggs. Our smallest tomatoes are now chilling in the freezer having been transformed into Savory Oven Dried Tomatoes . Today though, emboldened by a bulb of fennel gleaned from a surprise source, I squirreled away enough tomatoes to make this delicious basic tomato sauce.
Basic is perhaps not the right word to describe Roasted Tomato Sauce with Fennel, because it suggests that the results may be a bit boring. Quite to the contrary, this sauce absolutely sings of late summer with intense flavors of tomato and a slight sweetness lent by the roasted fennel. I make as much of this sauce as I can, multiplying as necessary, and then freeze it in 2 cup portions that are ready to serve with the mood strikes. Besides the intense and pure fall flavor, I also love this recipe because it calls to cook the sauce in the oven which frees up my time (and stove top) to take on other tasks such as making fig jam, cheering for the Giants, and supervising my children’s creation of a zillion maple leaf imprints. Read the rest of this entry »
Smokin’ Hot (or not) Pepper Pasta
October 8, 2012
Our garden grew wild this year. Between the overload of responsibilities and excursions that spring demanded, not to mention an uncooperative back, it is actually surprising we even found time to thrust some plants in the ground. But somehow, despite our lackluster efforts, the garden is producing heartily. The other afternoon on a saunter through our beds I was shocked to find piles of peppers. We planted a variety of sweet and hot that we found at our favorite plant sale. Each plant boasts a different flavor, color and shape. The other night their abundance begged to be honored with a starring role in this dish. Read the rest of this entry »
My Pantry Shelf 