Pasta with Butternut Squash & Italian Spices

The winter time is the hardest time for me to find fun local organic things to cook - mostly because there's not that much produce available! Winter squash and potatoes store pretty well though, and our neighbor state to the North (Washington) grows tons of each. I made this for dinner the other night and it was easy and fantastic!

Serves 4
$12

Ingredients

12 oz fresh pasta
2 slices pancetta - cut into small pieces
1 onion - diced
1 lb butternut squash - cut into 1 inch cubes
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatos
1/2 a handful of chopped Italian spices (I used rosemary, thyme and sage from my backyard)

Directions

1. Put the water for the pasta on to boil
   
2. Throw the pancetta in a large pan over medium-high heat to render the fat (turn the solid fat to liquid fat). This should take about 5 minutes
   
3. Toss in the diced onion and saute about 10 minutes
4. Put the squash in and toss it around to get it nice and coated with the oil
5. Cook the squash for about 10 minutes until it starts to get soft and darkens around the edges. We want it to start to get nice and sweet
6. Pour the tomatoes in and stir it up well. Throw in the spices and stir it up again.
7. Put your pasta in the boiling water according to the directions
   
8. Cook for another 10 minutes until the tomato sauce in the pan has picked up a lot of the sugar and tastes delicious
9. Enjoy!
   

Pasta with Fresh Thyme, Garlic & Goat Cheese

Garlic? Check! Thyme? Amazing! Goat Cheese? Irresistable! Put it all together and you've got a whole lot of Awesome!!! This recipe is so simple and so tasty, you may never make spaghetti and marinara again:) Serve this with some greens and crusty bread and you'll be a happy camper.

Serves 2

$9

Ingredients

• 1 package fresh pasta (fettucini or linguini)
• 6 cloves of garlic
  
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme - leaves picked
  
• A good handful of goat cheese
• 2 Tbls olive oil

Directions

1. Cook the garlic cloves unpealed in a good sized skillet, turning every so often, for 15 minutes (this is making roasted garlic without turning the oven on!)
2. Put some salted water on to boil while you cook the garlic
3. When the garlic's done, peel it
4. Put the pasta in and cook al dente
5. Drain the pasta and toss it in the skillet with the garlic, thyme, goat cheese and olive oil. Mix it up good, bashing up the soft garlic a bit and getting it all mixed together
6. Enjoy!
   

Easy Goulash (Think Fancy Beef-a-Roni)

I made this last night and it was super easy and super tasty! It may be a little salty (how I like it:), but you can ditch the salt included in the recipe and it should still come out great!

Serves 6
$14

Ingredients

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1/2 lb ground turkey
• 1 large onion - chopped
• 1.5 cups water
• 1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 (15 oz) can diced tomato
• 2 cloves garlic - minced
• 1 Tbls Italian Seasoning
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 teaspoons soy sauce
• Pinch of Salt & Pepper
• 1.5 teaspoons seasoning salt
• 1 cup dried macaroni (I like whole wheat)

Directions

1. Brown the beef and turkey over medium high heat in a Dutch Oven or heavy saucepan. Break it up into crumbles while it cooks
   

2. Throw in the onions and saute until about 5 minutes
   

3. Add 3 cups water, along with the tomato sauce, tomatoes, garlic, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, soy sauce, salt & pepper, and seasoned salt. Stir well
   

4. Place a lid on the pot and allow this to cook for 20 to 25 minutes

5. Add the elbow macaroni and stir it up, put the lid back on and simmer for about 20 minutes
   

6. Turn off the heat, pull out the bay leaves and allow it to sit about 30 minutes

Roasted Beet & Goat Cheese Pizza

This recipe is best (and less messy!) with Golden beets, but it will work with the red ones too. It's so simple and so delicious!!!

Serves 4 - $13

Ingredients

• 4 oz olive oil (2 oz for the beets and 2 oz for the pizza)
  
• 1 lb golden beets
• 4 oz goat cheese crumbles
  
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 pizza dough (fresh or premade)
• Salt & Pepper for seasoning
  

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375
2. Scrub the beets and slice them into 1/2 in disks (I usually go a little thinner, because I like them really crispy. If you do this though, you have to pay close attention to make sure you don't burn them up!)
3. Throw the beets on a foiled baking sheet or baking pan and drizzle 2 Tablespoons of the olive oil on top. Season with salt & pepper and toss it in the oven for 20 minutes, flipping them once during the cook-time
4. As the beets are cooking, get your pizza dough or shell ready. Spread the olive oil and goat cheese, and chopped garlic on the pizza. When the beets are done, pull them out and turn the oven up to 450
5. Toss the beets on the pizza and put it in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the cheese is all melted and a little bubbly
6. Enjoy!
   

Lentil Soup with Lemon, Pancetta & Mint

This is a Nigel Slater recipe I found on the Guardian website. It's such a mash-up of flavors, but it really works! We had this for dinner with some nice crusty bread. The whole thing was ready in 45 minutes from first onion slice to first spoonful in my tummy!

Ingredients
1 large onion
olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
3 slices Pancetta
a small bunch of flat-leafed parsley
½ lb French Green Lentils
32 ounces of stock
3 big handfuls of spinach
1 lemon
a small bunch of mint

Directions

Peel and finely chop the onions and garlic. Toss some olive oil in a medium sized pot and throw them in over medium heat. Dice up the bacon and throw it in when the veggies have softened a little. Cook until the veggies and bacon have all browned nicely.

Chop up the parsley and throw it in the pot. Wash the lentils and stir them in too. Pour the stock in and bring the whole shabang to a boil. Turn the heat down so it's at a nice simmer and partially cover with a lid. Cook for about 30 minutes until the lentils are tender (but not too tender)!

Rinse and quickly steam the spinach in a separate shallow pan with a lid. Squeeze it dry and divide it evenly between the soup bowls - you'll pour the soup right on top.

Season the soup with salt, pepper, lemon juice and the torn mint leaves. Taste as you go and call it good when it's good! Serve over the spinach and enjoy.

Peas with Fettuccine, Basil & Sunflower Seeds

This recipe comes from Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food and is ready start to finish in less than 30 minutes. An amazing dish for how simple it is to prepare! I served this with grilled patty pan squash fresh from Brooke's Dad's Garden (thanks Mark!) and some fresh bread.

Serves 2
$8

Ingredients

• Fresh fettuccine for 2
• 4 TBLS Olive Oil
  
• 1 & 1/2 cups frozen peas
• 1/3 cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds
• 10 fresh basil leaves - torn into small pieces
  
• 1 clove garlic - minced
• Fresh black pepper to taste
  

Directions

1. Toast the seeds on a baking sheet in a hot oven or under the broiler until their brown and fragrant. Set aside to cool a bit.
   
2. Boil plenty of water for the fettuccine. When it's ready toss the noodles in with a little salt. Drain.
3. While the water's boiling/noodles are cooking, heat up the olive oil in a skillet.
4. Toss in the peas, minced garlic and basil and cook stirring frequently for about 7 minutes.
5. Combine all of the cooked ingredients in a big bowl and toss, adding black pepper if you'd like.
6. Enjoy!
   

Poor Man's Pork Picadillo

This recipe's great and simple! You can make sandwiches out of the filling if you'd like, but I serve it up with boxed Spanish rice and black beans. It's great for leftovers too!

Ingredients

Serves 4
$16

• 1 medium organic onion - diced
• 2 cloves organic garlic - minced
• 1 lb natural ground pork
• 1/2 cup organic raisins
• 1 - 28 oz can organic diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup organic green olives from the deli section - chopped
  
• From the cupboard - 1 Tbls chili powder, 2 Tbls red wine vinegar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp salt
• 1 can organic black beans
• 1 box organic Mexican rice
  

Directions

1. Put the rice on to cook according to the directions (or cook from scratch if you've got the time...I recommend Rick Bayless Red Rice Recipe if you're cooking from scratch).
2. Throw the onion, pork and garlic in the pan and cook for about 5 minutes until the pork begins to brown. Don't worry about adding any oil, the oil from the pork will be great to cook the veggies in. Stir the pork around and crumble it up really good!
   
3. Add the raisins, spices and vinegar to the pan and stir it all together.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated from the pan, leaving a nice spicy coating of goodness on the meat.
6. Drain the Black Beans and add them to the red rice for the last 5 minutes of cooking.
7. Add the green olives and stir
8. Enjoy!