Pink Saturday

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month! Please be sure to have your annual mammogram!

I am linking this to Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound.

Pasta With Ham and Peas

Do you cook with ham? I hardly ever do! I will cook a whole ham, heat up a thick slice for breakfast or make ham and beans from the leftovers from the whole ham. When I received this recipe on the Martha Stewart Everyday Food app on my IPhone, I saved it. There's another place I save my recipes and that’s not the only IPhone food app I have. It’s endless, I’ll never find all my recipes, let alone make them all. It’s different than any other pasta recipe I’ve ever tried but I liked it. I love the flavor the peas give the dish. It's a simple, yet delicious dish!


Pasta With Ham and Peas
1 pound bow-tie pasta (farfalle) (I used penne)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
3 tablespoons butter
1 onion, diced
10 ounces (2 cups) frozen peas
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 pound cooked ham
Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Directions
1.Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, according to package instructions. Drain pasta; return to pot.
2.Meanwhile, heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; cook, stirring, until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add peas and half-and-half; season with salt and pepper. Simmer until thickened, 3 to 4 minutes.
3.Cut ham into strips. Add to sauce; cook until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Toss sauce with pasta. Serve with grated Parmesan.

I am linking this to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.

From The Good Life

I've lived in the midwest all of my life. I can't remember a fall as beautiful as this one. We've had sunny, temperate weekends. I just want to savor every moment of the amazing weather!! Knowing this past weekend could be one of our last really nice weekends, we tried to be outside as much as possible. Saturday we visited Lauritzen Gardens, Omaha's botanical garden.

Many of the flowers were past their prime but the roses were still beautiful.

"The Garden in the Glen", an area featuring shade plants.

What was your favorite outing this fall?

Butternut Squash and Sausage Bake

Winter squash is so versatile. A couple of weeks ago while camping, we roasted acorn squash in the campfire. So easy, I sliced it in half, added a pat of butter, salt, pepper and a big drizzle of honey to the middle. I wrapped them in three layers of foil and roasted them in the campfire for about an hour. They were so delicious. No pictures, we were eating by the light of a camping lantern.

I've never made a casserole with squash but when I saw this recipe on Serious Eats, I thought it sounded interesting. It takes a while to prepare but is so worth it.

Since it's just the two of us, I decided to make a half recipe. As with many recipes, this one didn't come out quite right cut in half. I made some adjustments along the way. I used 1 large onion. When I make it again, I will use two. I used more Italian Sausage than the recipe called for, about 3/4 pound. My butternut squash wasn't huge, so I ended up using all of it.

The recipe called for a step I've never seen before, simmering the broth with the pulp and seeds from the squash. Interesting? I am sure it's to infuse the flavor of the squash into the broth. Make sure to give this recipe the full baking time. I pulled it out a little early and a few pieces of squash weren't quite done.

One word for this recipe, FANTASTIC!! This would also make a great stuffing.

Butternut Squash and Sausage Casserole
Recipe Courtesy of Serious Eats
1/4 pound Italian sausage
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
3 onions, quartered and sliced
5 thyme sprigs
2 teaspoons dried sage
salt and pepper
1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 1/2 cubes, (about 6 cups) seeds and scrapings reserved
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup shredded smoked mozzarella
3/4 cup chicken stock
3 slices white sandwich bread, cut into cubes
2 tablespoons melted butter, optional, plus a little extra to prepare baking dish
Procedures
1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a 9-by-12 inch baking dish.
2
Remove sausage from its casing and cook in a large skillet over medium heat until just browning, breaking up sausage with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Remove cooked sausage and refrigerate until ready to use.
3
Add enough olive oil to the rendered fat in the skillet to equal two tablespoons, and then add the onions, thyme and sage. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, scraping the bottom of the skillet to loosen brown bits. When onions are thoroughly soft, remove and set aside.
4
While the onions cook, simmer the squash seeds and scrapings in the chicken stock for 10 minutes, strain and keep the stock warm over low heat.
5
Add the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet. Toss the squash with the flour and arrange in a single layer in the skillet. (If the skillet isn't big enough, you'll need to do this in two batches.) Let the squash brown, undisturbed, for 4 minutes then stir the squash as it cooks for the next 4 minutes. Season liberally with salt and pepper and set aside.
6
To assemble the casserole, layer the onions in the buttered baking dish. Dot the onions with the sausage bits evenly, and then top with the squash. Sprinkle the smoked mozzarella over the top, and the pour the stock into the baking dish. Press the top of the casserole with a spatula to evenly distribute the liquid. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
7
While the casserole bakes, pulse the bread crumbs with the melted butter (if using) in a food processor until you have coarse bread crumbs.
8
After 30 minutes, pull the baking dish out of the oven, remove the foil, top casserole evenly with breadcrumbs and bake uncovered an additional 20 to 30 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed and the top is nicely browned.

I am linking this to Tuesday's at the Table, Tasty Tuesday's and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

Pink Saturday!

October 16th and I still have roses blooming in my garden

Happy Pink Saturday!

I am linking this to Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound!

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes with Honey Cinnamon Icing - MSC

Do you like snickerdoodles? Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies. I was so excited when I saw the September recipe for MSC was Snickerdoodle Cupcakes. YUM!!!!!

I've been baking with the MSC cupcake group for about a year. Many of the cupcakes have been too dry for my tastes. I think at first I was leaving them in the oven too long. Even after I corrected that, I still felt like they were too dry. Sue Woodhouse of Cupcakes Actually was on Living Today on Martha radio a couple of weeks ago. She addressed the subject of cupcakes being too dry. She suggests adding canola oil and buttermilk. I must admit, I adapted this recipe to include those two ingredients. I still think I left them in the oven too long, when will I learn? They're not as dry but still not as moist as I would like.

The Martha recipe calls for the cupcakes to be frosted with Seven Minute Frosting. I wanted to continue with the cinnamon theme. I made Martha's Honey Cinnamon Frosting. It was the perfect compliment to the cinnamon flavor of these cupcakes.



This month's recipe was chosen by the talented Katie of Katiecakes. You can find links to the other MSC bakers here.

I am linking this to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.

From The Good Life

Last weekend, we were blessed with the most amazing weather. It was sunny and in the 80's, unbelievable considering it is mid October. We wanted to soak up every minute of it because just around the corner is winter.

Tim and I packed the Escape and headed to Lake of the Three Fires, just north of Bedford, Iowa. Lake of the Three Fires is a beautiful lake with two nice campgrounds. We're tenters, yes I know hard to believe I sleep in a tent! We found a nice flat spot just up from the shore of the lake. The campground was almost empty, only one other campsite was occupied. Friday night as Tim was photographing the sunset, I spotted three deer just about 50 yards away. We saw them again a couple of times over the weekend. We had a wonderful relaxing weekend and will be looking forward to weekends at Lake of the Three Fires in the Spring!