WIAW #48: Patatas Bravas

Happy Halloween everyone! If you had to endure Sandy I hope everyone did okay during the storm.  Aaron and I were relatively unscathed but had NO INTERNET! So this post is coming so much later than I would have like to have had it.

I guess these eats would have to be “during the storm” but since we only had a slight flicker of the lights, we were able to eat quite well. Plus, we were shut inside due to the scary winds and crazy storms so I got bored and cooked.

What did you eat during the storm, eh?

 

On Monday night we struggled to have Spanish tapas again on Aaron’s request.

I didn’t get great photos of everything else but I perfected my Patatas Bravas recipe along with very traditional Chickpea and spinach bake and Spanish style turkey sausage in a spicy tomato sauce. I felt very authentic if I do say myself.

On Tuesday we were at home with no internet and it still wasn’t a great idea to leave due to all of the closed roads with debris from the night before.

 

I started with some homemade cinnamon French toast with light brown sugar and a jonagold apple

Lunch was mostly leftovers (not to mention the leftover baked apple stuffed with walnuts and craisins I had for a snack, yum yum)

For dinner I made pretty much what I could find in the refrigerator and it turned out really good:

 

Sautéed Sweet Potatoes, kale and turkey sausage over quinoa. Really delicious and Aaron shoved it down his face.

For dessert:

 

Chocolate chip cookies I made out of boredom (with icecream of course)
What if the power went out?

 Oh and today's meal: my favorite chicken cutlet sandwich from Civera's in Drexel Hill split with Aaron


Since today is Halloween despite this hurricane aftermath I thought I would post something in honor of Dias de los muertos (Mexican I know) I thought Spanish would be festive since it is also All Saints Day there. 

For the patatas bravas, it seems silly to post the recipe as they are so simple but I couldn’t believe how good they turned out and I needed to share them. This is a super traditional Spanish tapas found all over Spain in probably every tapas bar there is and it couldn’t be easier. You will love how the crispy potatoes with garlic aioli and spicy tomato sauce mix together. Patatas Bravas literally means “angry potatoes” but you will be too happy eating them to notice the ironic name. I promise.

 It might take you awhile to get the sauces down to your preference but it’s worth it.  If you have a blender or food processor I recommend giving the “bravas” sauce a whirl to make it nice and smooth. (if so you can use real tomatoes instead of paste.) If not, don’t worry, it will still taste great.

This is great if for a homemade tapas party like we did Friday for a friend and again for ourselves! It is also good if you just want a treat. My version is baked potatoes, but traditional the potatoes are fried in a pot of oil. This is definitely not an everyday dish since the aioli is basically mayonnaise and your are eating potatoes with olive oil. But hey, we can only live once so vive la patatas bravas!

Patatas Bravas
Makes 1 large platter (4 or some servings)

Ingredients:

For the potatoes:
Six Russet potatoes or other variety, peeled and chopped to half-dollar sized cubes
Olive oil
½ tsp. Paprika
1 tsp. Garlic salt

For the Bravas sauce:
3 tbsp. tomato paste
5 tbsp. olive oil or enough until smooth
1-2 tbsp. hot sauce or sriracha depending on desired hotness
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. garlic powder
Black pepper to taste

For the Aioli sauce:
5 tbsp. light mayonnaise
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2-3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 tsp. garlic powder
A dash of cumin (if you have it)
Black pepper


Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

In a large baking dish, coat a little olive oil on the bottom of the pan.
In a large bowl coat cut potatoes in 3 tbsp. olive oil, ½ tsp. paprika, and 1 tsp. garlic salt until evenly coated.

Spread potatoes in the prepared baking dish and bake for at least 1 hour. Half way through baking turn up heat to 425 degrees for remainder of time or until potatoes are soft inside and golden and crispy on the outside. Take potatoes out half way and mix around, scraping off bottom of the pan.

You may need to bake for additional 20-30 minutes depending on the type of potato, but watch closely so the potatoes do not burn.

While potatoes are cooking mix ingredients for the bravas sauce in a sauce bowl until smooth. (Add additional olive oil if necessary until a smooth sauce forms.)  Spoon the sauce into a small plastic ziplock bag and refrigerate until potatoes are done.

Repeat directions for ingredients of the aioli sauce (without additional olive oil) and refrigerate. (When potatoes are done, squeeze sauces a little to mix inside bag)

Once potatoes are finished arrange on a large plate. Take each bag of sauce and cut a small tip from the bottom of the plastic bag using it to pipe sauce on to the potatoes in a zig zag. Start with the aioli and repeat with the bravas sauce making a crisscross pattern.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

As storms go this one wasn’t as bad as it could have been for us, but unfortunately many others were not as lucky. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who did not do well over the weekend.

Love,

The College Cuisiner

Big Bad Sandy and Her Team of Inconveniences

Here on the East Coast, everyone is gearing up for the big bad Sandy hurricane.

I must say the rest of my weekend was much better with homemade Spanish Tapas on Friday with Aaron and my firend Tommy G (Thought Foot) and Saturday night hanging with our friend Rachel and her lovely family.

Check out their mixology skills: Key Lime Pie Martini which meant business.

Not to mention the amazing food and hospitality including my favorite, sweet potato coffee cupcakes from Brown Betty.

My new best friend and their dog Tug after we left.

It should be interesting now our University cancelled classes Monday and Tuesday.

After leaving work today at 2pm Aaron and I did some prep. We did our laundry, cooked some food, bought the last set of D batteries in Philadelphia after looking four separate places and bought a few candles. Luckily on Friday I bought a few gallons of water just to have. Good thing too since the grocery store was OUT.

So after a little prep and filling up the bath tub we are in business for whatever may happen. (Knock on wood/ touch wood for my Commonwealth readers.)

While thinking about the hurricane I thought I would compile a list of some hurricane related things so really this is my anti-favorite things list:

Broke Foodie talks about her own hurricane preparation

How the National Hurricane Center names these lovely creatures

What some people want to rename this angry girl, Sandy

How I spent last Halloween in the freak snow storm

Last time parts of Philadelphia flooded in late August 2011due to Miss Irene

Where I wish Aaron and I were right now

What I wish I was making/eating

Good luck to everyone if you are in Sandy’s range. Make sure you keep batteries, flash light, water and food handy. See you on the other side!

Love,
The College Cuisiner

WIAW #47: Italian Ground Turkey Stuffed Acorn Squash

 

This first rule of blogging is not to mention/apologize for long absences from posting because it will only draw attention to it where your readers probably hadn’t noticed anyhow. Well, too bad.

It has been officially two weeks today since I posted which is very odd for me one, to take this long off (record is a week) and to miss a WIAW (maybe have missed three since starting. ) Well, after a too-long stint of just feeling crappy for the last week and a half, getting another part-time job, and having lots of work to accomplish as mid-terms came and slapped me across the face—so, blogging fell by the way side.

This is what I was eating for that whole time. But hey there are worst things to make/eat than homemade chicken soup when you are sick. Am I right?

I need to get my act together but I just feel like I’m in a blogging-rut lately. Maybe it’s just me and I’m just losing my touch if I ever had it in the first place.

So let’s get back to business shall we?



WIAW the reunion tour. Acorn Squash isn't spook but it is definitely Fall-themed.,,

Breakfast on the go

Banana

Later Breakfast at Work an Hour Later

 

 

Coffee and a Special K chocolatey peanut butter granola bar

Side Note: I won a couple boxes of these granola bars over the summer from a blog giveaway. After trying the chocolately flavor I wasn’t impressed (so Aaron ate them) I finally gave the unopened box of pb flavor a try frankly due to a lack of nothing else. I was actually surprised how much better it was. The peanut butter variety isn’t nearly as sweet as the chocolate flavor and still has 4 grams of both fiber and protein for just 110 calories. These worked in a bind and I was actually surprised how much I liked them.

Lunch

 

 

Leftover Italian stuffed acorn squash with ground turkey, yum!
Water water

Snack

Jonagold Apples slices and mug of tea

Dinner

 

 

 

Homemade curry red lentil mash, Indian chicken and mushroom sauté

(so good there was none left!)

arugula side salad with roasted squash seeds and cut Jonagold apple
Water

Dessert While Watching the Debate at our Friend’s House

 

Leftover raspberry chocolate ganache cake (ate half, two sweet so I washed it down with some of her Whole Foods Salted Caramel gelato—so missed treated)
Glass of Gnarly Head Old Vine Zin, because the presidential debates are no fun without it.

On to today’s featured recipe:

After going home last weekend for a very short Fall break I brought back more food than anything else. Peck of Jonagold Apples, three acorn squash, a spaghetti squash, two gallons of fresh apple cider, local tomatoes: a.k.a. loot. Along with a whole chicken, carcass bones for the soup, and other goodies from Momma’s pantry, we made a significant dent in our shopping for the next couple weeks on the cheap.

I was so excited to get acorn squash again after enjoying it roasted with homemade pesto drizzle and the roasted seeds for crunch on salads and soup. This time I was making Italian stuffed acorn squash. I love stuffed peppers my mom makes and after seeing just a photo of a fellow WIAWer I know don’t remember  who tried it out I knew I had to make my own. Unfortunately she (sorry don’t remember who) didn’t have recipe up so I had to improvised based on stuffed pepper experience.

Rice, ground turkey, stewed tomatoes, some herbs and seasoning, and some delicious local acorn squash later we had dinner with a side salad topped with craisins and the roasted seeds from the squash.

This squash is incredibly photogenic don't you agree?

I was surprised how good this actually was and very filling (you only need one squash half.) The squash is a little on the sweet side naturally so don’t be afraid to season (not necessarily salt) up your meat mixture. As Aaron says this was a great cold night meal, even if it wasn’t that cold…

Italian Stuffed Acorn Squash with Ground Turkey:
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
2 medium-large acorn squash, cut in half evenly and seeded
½ lb. ground turkey (I use 93% fat)
½ cup uncooked long grain rice
1 can of Italian chopped stewed tomatoes
1 small egg
½ onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
¼ cup Italian bread crumbs
1-2 tbsp. tomato paste, depending on preference (can also used reduced liquid
1 tbsp. Olive oil
1 tbsp. of worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. Red pepper flakes
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
or 2 tsp. Italian herb mix if you have it
Black Pepper and Salt to preference
Optional: Garlic infused Olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and cook rice on stove top according to packaging.
Work in batches if necessary, place acorn squash halves cut side down in a small baking dish with an inch of water. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 10 minutes or until tender when pierced with a fork.

Meanwhile in large bowl mix ground turkey, the cooked rice, and all other ingredients (except garlic olive oil) together well. If the mixture is too soupy add more bread crumbs until mixture sticks together well.

In a large baking dish set cooked squash with cut side up forming a bowl. Spoon even amounts of the meat mixture into the four squash halves both into the hollow center and on top forming an “ice cream cone” of meat. Top each meat ball with a few pieces of the remaining stewed tomatoes to cover the top (6 or so pieces of tomato.)

Bake squash in the oven for 60 minutes or until meat is crispy on the outside and cooked thoroughly in the middle. (turkey meat must be cooked through!!) Drizzle with a little garlic olive oil and more black pepper.

Carefully serve the stuffed squash with a side salad and enjoy!

Love,

The College Cuisiner

Have you tried acorn or another type of winter squash in a unique way? What did you think?

p.s....

 Happy Food Day! Yay! Eat healthy people!!

WIAW #46: Fall Frolicking and Sneaking in the Veggies

I know I probably say this every week but I am busy. And oh am I sick of it! So much school work you’d think after all their years of teaching these professors would figure out we all take multiple classes at a time. No I don’t want to take my Elections midterm exam on Thursday. I want to stay home, drink a nice glass of wine and watch a movie with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.  Ahhh…a girl can dream.

This weekend is our Fall break though I will most likely be working to get all of my various things done instead of enjoying it. But who knows…maybe I’ll do both. Multi-tasking folks.

So because of that midterm and all for the studying I have to do this will be a quick WIAW. And hey! Today is my blog’s 46^th WIAW birthday. She’s middle-aged now but always the young blog to me. Maybe I’ll treat her to a redesign soon (more likely a Christmas gift ask instead.)

On Saturday I spent the day with my childhood bff, Nicole. She dragged me to the beautiful Wissahickon Park’s Forbidden Drive on a quest to fine beech nuts that would apparently be all over the trails ready for us to collect and put into muffins and various goodies.

But guess what? None were to be found.

 

So instead we enjoyed the beautiful Fall weather with a walk. Afterwards we went back to my apartment (Aaron was gone) and I proceeded to sweep my entire studio-apartment with a dust pan (we need a broom) and then mop it. What did Nicole do you ask? Well, she sat on the bed and read my wedding magazines. So helpful.

 

After the intense cleaning I made us dinner and this leads me into my food this week:

Saturday Night

 

Sweet Potato Alfredo with peas and chicken over whole wheat pasta.

Note: You couldn’t even tell the sweet potatoes were hiding in the sauce. Great way to sneak in an extra helping of veggies, add a baked sweet potato directly to the sauce and mix in with some milk and cheese!

Sunday Night

Leftovers Mexican casserole: leftover Spanish rice, ground turkey, bunch of carrots, little spinach, stewed tomatoes, onion, taco seasoning, and cheese on top. Easy peesy with veggie thrown in.

Monday Night

 

 

 Roasted Carrot and Quinoa Salad with red onions, dried cranberries, toasted walnuts and a dijon dressing over arugula (From Mackenzie and Jon’s garden) Surprisingly filling.

Delicious! This is from the October 2012 edition of Food and Wine magazine. Coming soon! Too good not to share.

Now for the eats of the day:

Breakfast

Strawberry Chobani yogurt with ginger granola and dried cranberries

Cup-o-coffee

Water

 

Lunch

Leftover Roasted Carrot and Quinoa salad with sliced baked chicken in the library between classes

Water

 

 

Snack

Banana

Dinner

Chicken, mushroom, and broccoli white Pita Pizzas

Coming very very soon:

• Review of Enjoy Life Plentils lentil chips

• The Roasted Carrot and Quinoa Salad

• Do you want the sweet potato alfredo recipe? Tell me now!

See you soon!

Love,

The College Cuisiner

P.s. Congratulations to Renee who won the Designs by Francine chocolate contest with her Chocolate de Mint idea available now! Thanks to all those who entered! The entries were so creative!

October Friday Favorite Things

We’ve had a pretty good week as Aaron got the career field he wanted in the Air Force so that means after the wedding we will be living in Texas for 7-9 months of Training. I’m very proud of him! I  will have to gear up on Texas ideas soon...

On another note: It’s been quite a while since I’ve shared a Friday Favorites with you (May I believe to be exact.) As I had a little down time for the first time in a long time and Aaron is at the gym I have a little time to share with you some of my favorite things right now.

Here it goes! Happy Fall everyone! 

Roasted Acorn Seeds- I toasted a batch of these up when I made acorn squash last week and loved them! They are so crunchy and perfect on soups, in salads, on green beans, or just as a snack. I will definitely be making these again!

Soup- It’s Fall! So that means I get to make and eat as much soup as I want! Right?
On Sunday I made Crockpot Carrot Soup which I was so impressed with. I had a lot of large carrots to use so I used roughly 15 of them and it tasted just like Butternut Squash Soup! Yes!

p.s. Another favorite thing-my crockpot. I love this thing and have been using it ever since I got it for my birthday. Thanks Nicole!

Philadelphia Lobster and Fish- Tucked into a corner shop right across the street from the Wynnefield Whole Foods Market  is a small fish market that is probably Philadelphia’s best kept secret. I did a google search yesterday for places to get sushi supplies so I could make a special congratulations meal for Aaron sometime soon. (Stay tuned for that!) I had remember seeing this market and after some rave online reviews decided to check it out. I wanted to grab Aaron something for lunch so I got a packet of sushi for him. WOWOWOW! I was so surprised how good it was! The fish was fresh and almost buttery sweet I couldn’t believe how much I liked it. For me take-away sushi is usually a miss. But this place was only $6 for an 8 piece Tropicana roll: tuna, salmon, avocado, tempura crunch. So Amazing. We might just have to come here instead of going out for sushi, ever. Again. I mean it. I can’t wait to go back as well to try their fish market which is just as highly recommended. Score!

 

Rook No. 17: New Favorite Blogger- I found Jenn’s blog “Rook No. 17” by accident when looking at another blog and a foodie pen pal post from July that I had sent. Jenn had commented how she hoped she got me for a foodie pen pal and I thought “awwww.” So I went to her blog. She turned out to be super legit!  She has lots of great recipes and craft ideas including an easy Halloween decoration I might have to try and a book giveaway running right now!  Check it out!

 

 

Plentils- Lentil Chips
I love almost anything crunchy. Haven’t you noticed how many apples I eat? Unfortunately with so many unhealthy options out there, that can definitely get a girl in trouble with fattening foods. A couple weeks ago Enjoy Life foods sent me a box of their new Plentil Chips. I had a mini crisis last week when all my pictures were deleted but I made it work. You’ll get a full review of these bad boys next week.

Some of the ways I’ve been enjoying them in the meantime:

• Straight out of the bag

• Crunchy topping on parmesan chicken (kind of defeats the absence of allergens concept, I realize this. But it was toooo good!)

Old photos-The only good thing about losing all of my information off my phone last week was I get to look at some of Aaron’s old pictures that replaced them. (yes, read here.)

Learning to Like: “The ACV cocktail”-What is that exactly?

So, the amazing Jenn at Peas and Crayons has been sucking down these babies for awhile so for the first time today I thought I’d give it a try. For more information on the thinking around this daily practice, check out Jenn’s post.

This is a mix of Kombucha, a fermented tea beverage with a shot of Apple Cider vinegar, and iced water. I was killing time between classes today so I decided to browse Whole Foods (which I do to torture myself with the lack of money I do not have.) I saw a bottle of kombucha (best place to find it) and decided to give it a try. I had a couple sips at school but I wanted to try the complete recipe.

Let’s just say it is an acquired taste. Jenn drinks it every day and says her skin has never been clearer! That’s definitely one reason to give it a try. But for most people this will taste sour and you won’t be able to get it down.  I’m willing to try almost any food item once and I think I’m done. I did feel full after this so I wonder if that is a benefit.

If you’d like to give it a try there are plenty of people who swear by this bandwagon.
It’s very simple:

½ Kombucha Trinity Drink + ½ glass Spring Water + 1 shot or less (1 ½ tbsp.) of Apple Cider Vinegar

Serve over ice and drink on an empty stomach. Every Day for clear skin. Let me know what you think. 
Have a good weekend! Talk to you soon!

Love,

The College Cuisiner

WIAW # 45: Crockpot Carrot Soup

It's officially Fall!!! I saw a giant pile of leaves in front of our University President's office and thought really hard about jumping in it. But alas, I was in a dress with no tights. Yes, that's probably the only reason I didn't go through with it! (It was taller than it looks.)

Happy WIAW everyone! I'm afraid my eats are a little boring this week (Sorry Jenn, promise I'm not comparing!)  Monday was super busy for me ironically as it is usually my least stressful day. With midterms right around the corner (yikes!) I've been a little busy. But really, when am I not busy? This month's theme for What I Ate Wednesday is Spooky Snacks and Healthy Halloween Treats. I haven't made that yet but I've definitely been keeping up with the healthy snacking primarily with Honeycrisp apples and a tbsp. of Almond butter or a banana, or a chobani, etc.

WIAW is also Pink for Breat Cancer Awareness. My grandmother passed away after her remission from Breast Cancer ended and the cells traveled causing other types. So for me  awareness is a good thing even if it is just taking care of your own body and being aware of the signs. If you have any questions, I recommend reading more from National Cancer Institute.

But on another note I do have a very fall themed recipe for you today that you have to try to believe how good it is...but that's the last thing included so scroll down!


   

Breakfast:

 

Cup of regular coffee

1 banana, sliced

 

Lunch:

 

Colby-Jack Grilled Cheese on my fav Martin's 100% Whole Wheat Potato Bread.
Love this stuff, reminds me of home.
Water

 

Low Key Dinner:

 

Big bowl of my freshly made (Sunday) Carrot Soup topped with toasted acorn squash seeds, dash of cream, two pieces of Salio bread, small glass of cabernet

Lunch Remix Next Day:
 

 

 

Carrot Soup, two pieces of bread, and

leftover Haricot Verts with Apples and Roasted Squash seeds= yum

 
More on that delicious looking carrot soup....

To say the least I had a lot of carrots to use. Two weeks ago "cooking carrots" were buy-one-get-one-free. Well, I needed carrots anyways so why not get 30 large carrots for a $1.50, eh?

I thought carrot soup, and no less in my crockpot would be a perfect use of these bad boys. I didn't realize until after trying the finished soup that I had actually had a very similar version in England as it is a popular type of soup. Perfect!
 

 

Since it's Fall (kind of) I've been dying for some fall recipes. What's better than a warm soup "Fall" soup?

 
When looking for some inspiration I found some other carrot soup recipes but for some reason most of these recipes had a very little percentage of actual carrots in them. From one, there was only six carrots to six potatoes. I had a lot of carrots to use so instead I added 15 carrots to two potatoes. Unlike expectations, this soup still blends perfectly and has a striking resemblance to the much more expensive and posh butternut squash soup.

 I added just a little cream cheese and cream to make the flavors blend better without too much extra calories, fat, or salt. At first I was going to call this "Curry Carrot Soup" since there is curry in it but as it is not the most profound flavor, I think it is fair just to call in "Carrot Soup" because it is delicious. I hope you'll agree with my new favorite Fall recipe.

Crockpot Carrot Soup

makes roughly 2 -3 quarts of soup

{Inspired by ATX Gluten-Free}

Ingredients:

15 large cooking carrots, peeled and sliced into thin medallions
2 medium russet potatoes, cut into small chunks, skin on
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
4 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
2 tbsp. Apple cider (or white wine) vinegar
1 small tart apple, finely chopped (I used honeycrisp)
4. oz cream cheese
1/4 cup (2 oz.) half-n-half or light cream
1 tbsp. fresh or dried rosemary
2 tbsp. yellow curry
1 tbsp. onion powder
1 tsp. cumin
Dash of chili powder
2 tsp. Sriracha
2 tsp. black pepper
garlic salt to taste

Directions:

Add all ingredients except half-n-half and cream cheese into the crockpot and mix together well. Cook for 4 hours on HIGH. Carrots and potatoes should be tender when finished.

Working in batches transfer soup into a blender. Add cream and cream cheese proportionally in batches and blend until smooth. (If using an immersion blender you can carefully work right in the pot.) Add additional seasoning if needed.

Serve warm with a swirl of cream and toasted squash seeds or sauteed mushrooms for texture on top and warm bread and a side salad.

Enjoy!

P.s. Great  recipe for parties or Thanksgiving! Just bring the crockpot with you!

Love,

The College Cuisiner

L'Autumn Haricot Verts with Apples and Roasted Squash Seeds

If you hadn’t already seen, I had quite a difficult event occur last week. After the debacle of losing 1500 photos including that of all my upcoming recipes and restaurant reviews I had to mope for a day or two.

But as with most things in life you have to get up and keep cooking. That’s a thing right?

Well determined to do just that I made a couple of worthwhile things this Sunday making two recipes I’ve been waiting for. First was Crockpot Curry Carrot Soup which wasn’t done in time for dinner last night. At 9pm when I finally finished it I put away the freshly made soup for tonight’s dinner and I’m excited because it is awesome. I hope you’ll agree on Wednesday when I post it!

But the dinner that ended up taking the cake was much different. I had a reserve of acorn squash seeds left from my roasted acorn squash last week and I was excited to use them. Along with a honey crisp apple and some white wine I thought these ingredients would be killer with an Autumn themed sautéed green beans recipe. And I was right.

Aaron usually doesn’t like green beans but after the lovely Lisa graciously took me grocery shopping for us I picked up a pack that was really cheap ($2.45) and got cooking!

Ever since my poached salmon recipe with sautéed apples I love apples done in white wine. I thought pairing green beans, apples, and squash seeds would marry the best of Fall while dressing up what the French call, Haricot Verts (Green Beans.) After seeing a picture on Smitten Kitchen I had to try it for myself.

I hope you will too as this is nowhere near your standard green bean recipe for boring beans. Instead you get sweet and savory with a little crunch from the acorn seeds. So next time you make squash, save the seeds and make these beans!

L'Autumn Haricot Verts with Apples and Roasted Squash Seeds3-4 servings

Ingredients:

1 pound of fresh green beans, ends cut
1 small tart apple, thinly sliced with skin left ON
1 clove garlic, minced
4 oz. dry white wine
1 tbsp. butter (or olive oil for a vegan alternative)
Black pepper
garlic salt

Roasted Squash Seeds: (enough for beans and extra)
(Adapted from AllRecipes)

1 cup of winter squash seeds, cleaned and separated (I used Acorn squash but spaghetti squash or other type works just as well)
1 tbsp. olive oil
Garlic salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Make sure seeds are clean, washed and dried and all squash strings are removed. Toss seeds with olive oil and a little garlic salt until evenly coated. Lay seeds on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil spreading out so seeds lie flat.

Once oven is heated bake seeds for 10-15 minutes until golden brown and seeds slightly pop. (Will be more toasted on the bottom) Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Meanwhile lightly heat butter and garlic in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add green beans and apples to the pan lightly browning. Add some pepper and garlic salt and mix.

Once lightly browned add wine and reduce heat slightly. Let apples absorb the wine and the beans to get coated, stirring frequently as not to burn. For half the time cover the beans and apples with lid to allow them to steam. Add garlic salt to taste and take off heat once wine is absorb, apples, are tender, and beans are cooked through. (Some beans will still be bright green while others will be lighter. That’s okay!)

Serve immediately while hot, topping beans and apples with the toasted seeds and a little black pepper.

Enjoy!

Love,

The College Cuisiner