Early Winter Recipes

With the cold weather arriving, I’ve been thinking about food. I love warm, nourishing, soothing foods, and these are some of my favorites. It’s a great time of year to enjoy hot food and good company!

Stuffed Butternut Squash

Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash, halved and seeds scooped out

½ cup whole milk cottage cheese*

¼ to ½ cup walnuts or toasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds, coarsely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

½ cup shredded cheese (I use half cheddar, half mozzarella)

Directions:

Place the two halves of the squash skin side up in a large baking dish. Add about ½ inch of water to the dish, cover and bake at 400F for an hour.

When the squash is cooked, scoop out about half of the cooked flesh from each half, and put them in a large mixing bowl

Leave the oven on, you’ll need it in a bit

Add the cottage cheese, nuts, and salt&pepper to the bowl, mix well*

Pour off the water from the baking dish, and put the squash halves back in, skin side down

Scoop the squash & cottage cheese mixture into the open squashes, sprinkle with cheese

Put back in the oven, uncovered, for about 15 minutes, or until everything is hot and the cheese is melted

*If you don’t eat dairy, crumbled silken tofu works really well as a replacement for the cottage cheese

*This recipe has a lot of room for creativity! To make the stuffing more exciting, you can saute any number of delicious things and add them to the cottage cheese mixture. I like to add apples, bell peppers, jalapenos, green beans, cauliflower, or mushrooms.

Colcannon

My variation on a traditional Irish recipe

Ingredients:

4 medium yellow or white potatoes

1 large sweet potato

1 bunch green kale, ribs removed and coarsely chopped

1 small sweet onion

1-2 cloves of garlic (or more to taste)

1 stick of butter (or 2-4 TBS olive oil)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Scrub potatoes and sweet potatoes and cut into large cubes (you don’t need to peel them unless you really want to!)

Boil for 25 minutes or until soft, drain

While the potatoes are cooking, chop and saute the onions, garlic, and kale in a little bit of the butter, cook until soft, then set aside

Add the drained potatoes and sweet potato to a large mixing bowl

Add the rest of the stick of butter, cut into chunks

Mash roughly. The idea isn’t to make smooth mashed potatoes, but more of a chunky mix

Add kale mixture, and a little salt and pepper, mix well

Curried Chicken and Lentil Stew

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 cup dry green lentils

2 TBS curry powder

1 large onion

a little fresh ginger root

½ a green chile

Directions:

Chop onion, ginger root, and chile, saute in a little oil or ghee until onions are soft

Add 4 cups water and bring to a boil

Add chicken, lentils, and curry pwd, stir well

Simmer on low heat for an hour*

Serve with a dollup of unsweetened yoghurt and a sprinkle of chopped cilantro or parsley

*this also does very well in a crock pot

I hope you’ve found some inspiration for warm winter cooking. I know I’m hungry!