Matching Macaroni

Haley, Haley, Haley!

I feel as if it's been so long since we've talked. With you back at work and me shuttling between every high school in town, our communication has fallen to a bare minimum. (Note to readers: while we Reems girls are billed as 'hard workers' we find day jobs exhausting. By the end of the work week, no, make that mid work-week, we are reduced to lifeless, cranky slobs by the early evening hours. We CANNOT delay bedtime past ten o'clock. Really, we prefer nine, but our spouses protest. Plus, there's something shameful about tucking in at nine each night.) Yesterday I had the day off. Lovely. I rose at seven, as per usual, and awaited the ringing of the phone, and the mechanical voice of the dispatcher to send me out into the world of unknown schools, classrooms, and children--who look at me with such open distrust, 'who are you and what have you done with our teacher?'

The phone never rang. I made white-chocolate brownies. Balance was restored. I'm not going to give you the recipe. I'm saving it for a Christmas post.

Last week you made macaroni with winter squash, which was weird. Not the macaroni, that, I'm sure, was wonderful. But the fact that you made macaroni with winter squash and I had made the same thing the night before. Creepy. As strange as you and I arriving at events in matching outfits, planning cooking classes, and eating too many blondies, all simultaneously, without prior discussion. Clearly we are shorn from the same cloth.

Mine's from Martha.

3 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash

1 cup stock (I used water)

1 1/2 cups milk

pinch of nutmeg (I omitted)

A few splashes of hot sauce (my addition)

2 tsp grainy mustard (my addition)

pinch of cayenne pepper

3/4 tsp coarse salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 pound macaroni noodles

1 cup grated cheddar

4 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese (I omitted)

4 Tbsp fine bread crumbs

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 cup ricotta (I substituted yogurt)

Preheat oven to 350. Combine the liquids and squash in a pot, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer until the squash is tender. This will take about 20 min. Remove the pot from the heat and blend the squash into the liquid using an immersion blender. Add the seasonings of your choice (cayenne, mustard, etc).

Meanwhile, cook the noodles. Add the noodles to the squash mixture.

Add the cheeses and yogurt to the pot. Mix well. Pour the mixture into a casserole dish that has been lightly oiled.

Mix the oil with the breadcrumbs and spread evenly over the macaroni.

Bake, covered, at 350, for 20 min. Uncover and bake 30 to 40 min more until browned and crisp on top.

Eggplant Parmesan

Rach-

Your nephew had his first dentist appointment today. I had an attack of the giggles, the likes that haven' t hit since high-school. Finn was the model patient: he beamed a big grin at the appropriate times during the up and down chair demonstration; he opened his mouth wide, not even waiting to be asked (evidently over-coached by mommy and the Bernstein Bears); he made fishy lips around Mr. Vacuum during the cleaning. His only difficulty- and the reason for my giggle attack- tongue placement. That little tongue had a life of its own. However, since Finn won't be dating until he's 22, his tongue control will have some time to develop.

Oh yes, this is a food blog. Well, teeth do play an important roll in masticating one's food. Tonight's meal, Eggplant Parmesan was delicious, though the chewing was minimal, as it was a melt-in-my-mouth kind of meal. I had purchased a bag of eggplants at Costco with the plan of making one of my favourites - moussaka; however, making moussaka in one go has just felt to daunting the past few weeks.

Now, if you're looking at this recipe thinking that it looks way too fiddly, you're right, it is a bit fiddly, but it really didn't take too long to make, and the results were delicious. I mostly followed this recipe, but also crossed it with a few other recipes. I sliced the eggplant a bit thicker, I'd say 1.5 cm thick if you're looking for a number, and baked the dredged slices for 15 min per side instead of 5.

Oh, and yes, I am that mother that takes photos of everything. But this is definitely going in the baby book-
OK, I hope you find an internet connection soon. I'm needing some new recipe ideas.

Squash and Mac Attack

Sach-

Watching my kiddies frantically tearing at still-warm smoked salmon, fresh from our neighbour's smoker, was a tender moment for a food-loving mama. Maybe not as significant as a first step, or the first day of kindergarten might be, but still, a moment.

I stepped into the fray (selfishly) to save some for later; I was rewarded by smoked salmon gussying up a boring mac and cheese meal. I correct myself, a macaroni, squash and cheese meal. I have once again resorted to sneaky tactics. The addition of pureed squash was undetectable to the most discerning, Kraft-dinner tarnished, palate. The verdict from my noodle loving clan: wonderful.

(I don't need to tell you whose macaroni was not graced by smoked salmon).

I was deliberating whether or not to give you a recipe. Once again, I'll give you a method that you can play with.

Make a white sauce. Add a good shake of garlic powder (optional), grated cheese and a cup to two cups pureed squash. Toss with cooked noodles and top with more cheese. Bake for 20 minutes (optional). This is a quick and easy meal that can be made earlier in the day and baked before eating.

I usually make mac and cheese to appease the masses at my house; however despite the creamy texture, butter and cheesy-ness, I find it bland. The garlic powder has always helped somewhat, but the addition of smoked salmon was culinary genius; it put this meal into the gastronomic archives (as moderated by my taste buds).

Serve with a salad and you're done. Oh, and your children will love you; particularly your 16-year-old Korean daughter.

Rice-stuffed Acorn Squash

Rach-

Well, we made it though back-to-work week. There were some low points: mostly involving stumbling out of bed and WAKING BABIES at 7am (sleeping babies were not made to be woken), but there were some high points: mostly involving adult conversation and a lunch hour ALONE. Meals at our house this week were also surprisingly well-organized. Planning has never been a strength of mine, so here's hoping that I can continue to keep on top of things. I know from experience, that it's when I have no plan that we start eating omelets and grilled cheese for dinner.

I have to 'fess up - acorn stuffed squash was not a work-day meal. While not difficult, the roasting does take a bit of time. The beauty of this dish is that the squash was so tender that I could spoon large chunks from my 'squash bowl' directly into Coby's greedy little paws.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Slice 2 squash lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and place flesh-side down on an oiled cookie sheet. Roast for 45 min to an hour (until soft).

Prepare the filling: You can be creative here.

I sauteed:

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1 finely chopped onion

• 1 cup finely chopped mushrooms

To this I added:

• 1 cup cooked rice, (cooked in chicken broth - I just put in a T of Epicure chicken broth, it has no msg or sodium, veggie broth would be a good vegetarian option)

• 1/3 cup dried cranberries

• 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds (chopped pecans would be a good alternative)

• 1/4 cup water (or more if the mixture looks dry)

Season the filling:

• salt and pepper (My chicken stock is sodium-free so I have to use an extra bit of salt, be careful if yours isn't)

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder (I know, I already added garlic cloves, Joan has passed on to me this irrational love of garlic powder)

• 1/3 tsp sage (or poultry seasoning)

I removed the filling from the heat and added some crumbled goat cheese.

I then filled the squash halves and baked the lot for about 20 min, again at 350.

And if you have a picky eater you could just fill his with rice and goats cheese. So boring, but who can understand the ways of the picky? Not I, I just enable.

This is linked to: Vegetarian Fridays

Rach-

Just wanted to pass on a great memoir with some hilarious food-related content: Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen. She lists the top 5 Shame-Based Foods for Mennonite Youth Lunches, this took me back to my jealousy over my friend's Mr. Noodles, oreo cookies, and juice box lunches (the water fountain was the Reems' school beverage). While not Mennonite, but with not so distant Dutch immigrant roots, I now fondly appreciate the homemade goodies, and cheese and mustard sandwiches of my youth.

My favourite food moment in the book was her mother chugging the leftover 'tuna juice' from the can!

Monkey Cake for Monkey Baby

Hey Rach -

Well, the pictures don't need a lot of explanation- here is confirmation that Coby has inherited the Reems sweet-tooth.

The princess is one. My how a year has flown by. It doesn't get any better than a big slobbery-monkey kiss from that little girl.

To make your own monkey cake go here (thanks for the idea Carolyn!).

Apples, Walnuts, Currants: Bread

Hi Smoochy,

(If you are not familiar with Haley's various nicknames, they include the likes of Mooch, Moocho Babe, Achoomy Baab, Smoochy, Haley Bailey, and, not to be forgotten, Baby Baluga.)

Here I am, substituting in a computers class, trying to fill the hours until three o'clock. Basically I circulate through the room and ask the kids (teenagers) how their projects are progressing, they grunt, I lean in, look at their screens and murmur words of encouragement and approval, really having little to no idea what the numbers and lines indicate. Excel: one of the reasons I never took computer class.

It's warm. The computers are buzzing. One boy continues to giggle in a hicuppy sort of way.

So I thought I'd send you a little happiness in the form of an apple-walnut bread recipe.

This recipe is based on the one I made at your house exactly one-year ago, when I was similarly sporadically employed. (As a substitute teacher I find myself with a lot of spare time in September. In October the permanent staff start dropping like flies and I invariably get some work and some colds. Handling sick people's pens and pencils is a quick way to a chest infection).

The impetus for this recipe came from one of Beth Henspberger's books; I switched up the ingredients and the technique. Mine is quite a different beast, but a delicious beast.

Apple Walnut Bread

1 Tbsp yeast

2 Tbsp oil

1/4 cup milk (110 degrees - warm)

3/4 cups water (110 degrees)

1 cup oats
1 and 1/4 cups bran
1 Tbsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp all spice

3 cups peeled, coarsely chopped apple

1/2 cup currants

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

3 plus 1/4 cups flour

Combine the oil, milk, water, yeast, and one cup all-purpose flour in a bowl. Mix well and then let it stand for one hour. It will be very bubbly and active after an hours rest.

Add all the remaining ingredients except for the flour. Mix. Add the flour 1/2 a cup at a time, stirring after each addition. Give the dough a good final stir. It should be sticky but it should come together in a big wet ball. Like this:

Now, cover it with a tea towel and let it rise until about double, one hour to one and a half hours.

After the dough has risen prepare your counter by either coating it with oil or flour. The dough will not stick to either surface. Use a spatula to pour the dough onto the counter. Prepare two round casserole dishes or pots, or two loaf pans by coating the vessels in oil.

Use a knife or bench scraper to divide the dough in two. Wet your hands (which prevents the dough from sticking to you) and shape the dough into two rounds or into two loafs. Put the dough into your pans of choice and let it rise for another hour.

Before the dough has finished rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the loaves for about 45minutes, or until nicely browned and hollow sounding when tapped.