Category Archives: All blog posts

Maple-Roasted Butternut Squash

Continuing with our series of Healthy-and-Delicious Thanksgiving sides, here’s a terrific addition from Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa fame. This recipe should serve 8-12, but with so many dishes on the table at the holidays you may be able to stretch it even further.

Butternut squash’s flavor profile is a bit chameleon-like. It can be sweetened up practically to dessert level if cooked with fruit, or it can be made more savory by adding other accompaniments like onions and herbs. In this rendition, roasted garlic, sage and pancetta give it a salty kick. The garlic cloves are left in their skins and can be squeezed out like soft butter onto slices of French bread (especially if you’re serving this sometime other than Thanksgiving).

 

Maple-Roasted Butternut Squash

adapted from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics

 

serves 8-12

 

Ingredients:

2 large butternut squash, peeled and seeded, cut into 3/4 to 1-inch cubes (This can be done a day in advance.)

2 heads garlic, separated into cloves but not peeled

4 tablespoons olive oil

5 tablespoons pure maple sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

4 ounces thinly sliced pancetta, chopped

32 whole fresh sage leaves

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Place the squash and garlic in a large bowl. Toss with the olive oil, maple sugar, salt, and pepper. Spread out evenly on two large rimmed baking sheets. Place in oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, until the squash begins to brown, turning once during baking.

3. Sprinkle the pancetta and sage leaves evenly over the butternut squash in both pans and return to the oven. Bake for another 20-30 minutes, until the squash and garlic are tender and caramelized. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if desired.

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The Halloween Fairy

Halloween has come and gone with miniature trick or treaters racing from door to door gathering loot. You loaded up the last few children in an effort to get-the-candy-out-of-the-house only to watch your OWN children return with their pumpkins overflowing. What’s a healthy woman to do?

Last year I learned of a fabulous plan. If you have young children, invite the Halloween Fairy to pay a visit! A few days after Halloween when the high has worn off a bit, the kids can choose a reasonable number of pieces of their favorite candy to keep. The rest goes back into the pumpkin and is placed by the back door or on the hearth or wherever you think the Fairy can most easily find it. She pays a visit during the night (when all fairies are out doing their work I suppose) and replaces that bucket of candy with a small toy!

As for the fairy, I hear this is what she does with all that candy she collects…she packs it up and donates it to Operation Gratitude, an organization that ships care packages overseas to our troops. Everybody wins.

In Cincinnati, one dropoff location is the St. Columban Church Parish office – boxes will be there until November 6th. To find other locations, visit www.operationgratitude.com.

 

 

 

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Walnut and Bacon Studded Green Beans

I thought it might be fun to use this month’s recipe posts to suggest some healthy Thanksgiving side dishes. Many of you will be invited to big events with family or friends in a few weeks and asked to bring a dish to share. Almost always, the famous “Green Bean Casserole” will make an appearance -in fact, for lots of people, it’s the very definition of Thanksgiving! The casserole is traditionally made with canned green beans swimming in cream of mushroom soup, and topped with French’s Fried Onions.

My philosophy around holiday eating is generally this: eat the foods that make the holiday special for you and skip the others. If you dream all year of green bean casserole, then by all means have it. But if you are looking for a lighter and fresher alternative for your Thanksgiving table, I offer you this.

Still flavorful and dressed up for the holidays, this green bean dish is enhanced with chopped walnuts and turkey bacon as well as some slivered red pepper. It feels special and indulgent but it’s lighter than the old standby.

Note: You can certainly steam the beans rather than boiling and blanching if you’d prefer.

Be sure to let me know what you think if this makes its way to your Thanksgiving table!

 

Walnut Studded Green Beans

 

Serves: 6 (easily doubled or tripled if needed)

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup large walnut pieces

1 1/2 pound green beans, trimmed and halved

3 cloves garlic, minced

salt

pepper

2 teaspoons olive oil

5 slices turkey bacon, cooked crisp and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 thinly sliced red pepper

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spread walnuts on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly toasted.

2. While nuts are toasting, bring 6 cups of water and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to a boil. Add beans and boil for 3-4 minutes, or until beans are tender crisp.

3. While beans are cooking, prepare an ice bath by filling a medium bowl with ice water.

4. Drain beans quickly and place in prepared ice bath. Drain and pat dry with paper towels.

5. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add bacon, red pepper, green beans, and walnuts. Cook stirring for 2-3 minutes, or until beans are heated through and red pepper is slightly wilted.

6. Remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste.

 

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