Chipotle Roasted Squash Seeds

Last week, I posted about a random squash I picked up for $2.00 at the Farmers Market.  I ended up roasting the seeds and cubing most of the flesh and roasting it with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper.  It became my lunch today with some garlic scape pesto and chicken sausage.  It was not a totally positive experience!  I think I will stick with my favorites, like butternut and acorn squash and skip the random odd squash that catches my eye at the market!  The consistency was somewhere in between butternut and spaghetti squash.  It remained cubed, but almost separated like spaghetti squash when I bit into it.  I wouldn’t buy it again.

The seeds on the other hand were delicious!  Unfortunately, the entire squash only had about half a cup of seeds.  I rinsed them well and let them dry out slightly on a paper towel for a bit.  They were then tossed with 2 t of olive oil, several grinds of sea salt and 1/4 t ground chipotle powder.  I roasted them at 400 F for 10-15 minutes.  They were immediately popping in the oven, but this subsided after a few minutes.  The result was one half cup of very flavorful squash seeds that were gone in about 5 minutes flat!  Now if I could just find the time to roast the 8-10 pie pumpkins I have waiting for me, I will have roasted squash seeds for a little longer!

Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips and Candied Ginger

I have had some bananas that were past their prime staring at me from the kitchen counter this weekend.  When I got up this morning I knew that I needed to either throw them in the freezer for another project or whip something up.  Considering the recipe I chose only called for two medium bananas, I did both!  I have three bananas for another day and a delicious loaf of Banana Bread to share with my coworkers tomorrow. 

I went to my favorite recipe locator, also known as the search feature in google reader and came across this recipe.  It was originally posted on Orangette over 5 years ago.  I guess I am a little late to this party!  All I have to say is better late than never as this is a fabulous recipe.  Once I got started, I realized that I was nearly out of all purpose flour.  I ended up using half white and half whole wheat pastry flour and it worked well.  Next time I make this, I will try to not slice the loaf until it is completely cooled, although I can make no promises.  The warm chocolate and ginger make this a messy task, but the payoff is you get to eat a warm slice fresh from the oven.  You will have to decide which is right for you!

Here are a few pictures from my baking project:

I guess I should have creamed the sugar and butter first, but this worked out just fine. 

Mashed banana with milk.

Creamed butter, sugar and egg.

This is my fancy sifting method.  I have a real sifter somewhere…I just prefer this as my mesh strainer is always hanging on the pot rack and more convenient.

Folding Banana Mixture with Creamed mixture and dry ingredients.

Mmmmmm…Chocolate.  I used semi-sweet chips, as that is what I had on hand. Next time I will use bitter sweet.

Adding in the candied ginger.  I used the Australia Crystallized Ginger from Penzeys Spices.

Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips and Candied Ginger

1 c sugar
1 large egg
½ c unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 ripe medium-size bananas
3 T milk
2 c flour (or 1 cup all purpose and 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour)
1 t baking powder
½ t baking soda
1 c chocolate chips
1/3 c candied ginger

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan with butter or cooking spray and set aside.

Cream butter, sugar and egg together in one bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mash bananas and stir in milk. In a third bowl, sift together flour(s), baking powder and baking soda. Add half of flour mixture to butter mixture and stir well, alternate with half of banana mixture, then rest of flour mixture and end with banana mixture. Stir by hand with wooden spoon or rubber spatula just until combined. Add chocolate chips and candied ginger and stir to combine.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and smooth top. Bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for several minutes in the pan, then remove bread and cool on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

Ready to go into the oven.

Hot from the oven.  This smelled incredible.

It should have been left in the oven for 5 minutes longer.  As it cooled the middle started sinking.

I should have let it cool a bit longer before slicing it.  As you can see, the chocolate was still soft and it made a mess.  I think the taste of warm bread was worth the mess though!

Butternut Squash with Sausage and Pesto

This is not a recipe as much as it is a story of “what I threw together the other night.”  Still having a bounty of winter squash and pumpkins to use up, I am starting to look outside the box for recipes.  I picked up several small butternut squash during the last few weeks of my CSA share.  They seemed to be perfect for 1 or 2 people.  I peeled one, seeded it and cut it in cubes.  This was tossed with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted in a 400 F oven for 20 – 30 minutes, until soft.

I love the Chicken Sausages from Trader Joe’s and keep them in my freezer.  A package of 4 runs around $4 and I freeze them in ziploc freezer bags in pairs or individually.  They are convenient to keep around to throw on a pizza or in soup.  While the butternut squash was roasting, I thawed one Chicken Italian Sausage out and sliced it up.  It was thrown into a pan with a little olive oil, garlic and onion.  The sausages are fully cooked, so I just heated it through.    When the squash came out of the oven, I tossed some with the sausage mixture and added half of one of the frozen basil pesto cubes from my freezer.  This was served with a sprinkling of parmesan shreds and toasted pine nuts and made a delicious dinner.  I still have one of the small butternut and two small acorn squash left.  I am not sure what to make next.