Yankee-Belle Cafe

Heat oven to 375° F.

Place shallots (quartered) and butternut squash on baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 T olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake for 45 minutes.

You can see that I went ahead and roasted the other half of the butternut to use later. But I tell you what, cubing a butternut is HARD WORK! When I started, I got one knife stuck in the silly thing. Had to try to dig it out with another. So I'd suggest roasting it cut in half or quarters. Then slice off the peel and cube it.


While vegetables are roasting, cook quinoa according to package directions. I used two packets of the roasted garlic flavor white quinoa.

Crumble the cheese into the kale and then add the roasted veggies. The hot-from-the-oven veggies will melt the cheese.

Toss cooked quinoa with roasted vegetables, goat cheese and kale mix.


I forgot to take any more photos because I was busy tasting and serving! :)

The recipe called for an additional dressing. I tasted a bite with dressing and didn't like it as well, so I served it on the side...

Whisk together 3 T olive oil, cumin, balsamic vinegar and salt. Dress quinoa salad lightly with dressing--or serve on the side as I did.

Hope you like it! The whole family loved it (well, except for my son who picked all orange and green out of his). :)

Missy, here. And last week, I promised Kav a vegetarian dish. :)

First, let me say this is a modified recipe from Sandra LeeSmith. She posted her Eggplant Casserole  for Speedbo last year. I LOVED that recipe! I've made it at least twice.


But for Thanksgiving, my sister was coming. And she's a vegetarian. So I decided to come up with a veggie version.

Here's Sandra's list of ingredients, updated for my purposes:

1 cup brown rice (3 cups cooked)

1 large eggplant pealed and cubed

1 onion chopped

1 package veggie or soy crumbles

½ cup dry sherry or dry wine

1 ¾ cup canned tomatoes, drained (14 oz can)

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I also used shredded Italian cheese on top)

1 ½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

First the prep:
Cook the rice. Yes, I use Boil-in-bag! :)




Put cubed eggplant in boiling salted water and boil for five minutes.




Brown onion in a little oil and add in the veggie crumbles. I really like the Morning Star Farms Grillers Recipe Crumbles. I just used them frozen.



Add tomatoes and sherry: bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.



Add drained eggplant, cooked rice and all remaining ingredients.

Transfer to a 3 quart buttered casserole dish.
NOTE from Missy: I always put in 2 dishes and freeze the smaller one so I can have it later for lunches.




Though it has cheese in it, I always sprinkle some (A LOT!) on top. Isn't everything better with cheese???

Sorry I didn't rotate the photo! Ran out of time.

I actually put it in the oven while it was still pretty hot from cooking on the stove. I just baked about 30 minutes, long enough for the cheese to melt and the casserole to bubble.

Enjoy!

Missy, here. I feel like a casualty of Thanksgiving. First off, the scales tell me so. Yep, gained a pound.

But also, my carelessness led to two burns that almost match! One on each hand. Now, how much talent does it take to do that, I ask you?




After Thanksgiving, I'm sick of heavy food. Early this week, I decided I needed to lighten up. And when I went to make my regular diet iced tea, I also decided it was time to take a break from artificial sweetener and drink water.

First, I got my favorite pitcher and filled it with filtered water. (We have a Pur filter on our faucet.)



Next, I washed and sliced an orange. I squeezed the juice from a couple of the slices into the pitcher. Then I put all the slices in the pitcher. It looks so pretty!




Next, I pulled out the ginger and broke off a little piece, about an inch long. A little goes a long way!




Use a sharp knife and peel the small piece.


Then grate it right into the pitcher using a small grater.




Voila, you have fresh-tasting water that even I can drink! :) I cover with plastic wrap and keep it in the refrigerator. When the water is gone, I add more, making a second pitcher using the same orange slices and whatever is left of the ginger in the bottom of the pitcher.

It's not as brown and crispy as beef, but it looked pretty good with the spices in there.



While the pork cooked, I baked the crunchy shells in the oven. And heated the soft ones in the microwave.


Then I pulled out all the extras: Lettuce, cheese, sour cream and salsa.

I usually use grated cheddar, but I was out. So I used the sliced cheddar and stuck a strip in each taco. :)
Then we doctored them with the salsa, etc.



Then I snapped a shot of mine (with the salsa and lettuce buried inside). It looks like all meat!



Then I halted my son's eating so you could get a closeup shot that'll make your mouth water. :)


The pork turned out really good. It was our version of carnitas! I think I liked them even better than I do when using ground beef. For our vegetarians, just use some soy crumbles! They turn out yummy, too.

The Belle, here. Well, I had promised a pumpkin recipe but never got to make it. So, in celebration of all things pumpkin, I want to start with something yummy I tried this week...


A Pumpkin Pie Moolatte from Dairy Queen!


It even had nutmeg grated on top!

Now for my "recipe" for today. ;)

My favorite biscuits. Are you ready for this? Here are the ingredients:

1 Bag of frozen Mary B's Biscuits! :)


Yep. That's it. I promise you these are about the best biscuits ever. They make several styles of biscuits, but my favorite is the Tea Biscuits. They're just a couple of bites each and have the best texture. A little crispy on the outside, soft on the inside.

YUM! And easy peasy--perfect for someone like me whose homemade biscuits always turn out like hockey pucks.

Preheat the oven to about 400. You can just put the biscuits on a cookie sheet frozen.


Bake 15-20 minutes.




Here are our favorite Georgia-style toppings...


Muscadine jelly! (This jelly is actually made with muscadine wine as well as grape juice.) Muscadines are a type grape that are grown around here. In fact, the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension website says that in 2006, Georgia was the largest producer of muscadine grapes with 1400 acres of them. The grapes are high in resveratrol, the compound found in red wine that's supposed to lower cholesterol and the risk of heart disease. So we'll pretend eating the jelly is healthy, too! :)

I have to tell you a funny story. When I first moved here and started working, I went on break with my coworkers, and one of them asked me if I'd like a scuppernong. She held out a baggie of huge grape looking things. I looked at her like she was crazy, I'm sure, and asked what she'd just said! LOL Such a strange word. I just now did a bit of research and found it's a variety of the muscadine. However, some sites calls the red grapes muscadines and the white ones scuppernongs. Either way, they make fantastic jelly!

Another local jelly we love is mayhaw jelly. I had to do a little checking to find out what in the world a a mayhaw is (I'm originally from Kentucky so had never heard of them either). They're tart red berries (aren't technically a berry but are in the haw or apple family) that grow in the swamps and bogs of southwest Georgia.

So, you've had your tasty lesson for the day! Hope you enjoyed a visit to the south. :)

Missy
www.missytippens.com