Stuffed Pattypan Squash on Couscous

As any gardener knows - if you blink, your squash will get HUGE.  My sunburst (aka pattypan) squash got to be quite ginormous.  So, of course - I immediately decided to stuff them! 

After reading through some recipes, I decided - you can pretty much stuff the squash with whatever you want as long as it won't be overcooked (or undercooked) by the time the squash itself is cooked to your liking.

4 Overgrown Pattypan Squash:  

• use a melon baller to scoop out the seeds and pithy part, leaving about 3/4" thick squash all the way around.  
• steam the squash (not necessary to steam caps), til they were just tender then removed them to a baking sheet.

Here's what I stuffed into the squash:

• sauteed garlic (3-4 cloves)
• chopped sweet onions & sweet red peppers - about 1.5 cups
• very small cut up cauliflower florets - about 2-3 cups
• squash - about 1.5 cups cocozelle cut into 1/4" bits
• "Savvy Stir-Ins" Shitake Mushroom & Herb seitan bits - about 1/2 package
• 4 cups vegetable stock, use as needed
• vegan worcestershire sauce, 2-3 Tb
• olive oil as needed
• fresh or dried herbs - I used fresh rosemary & sage

1. I first softened up the garlic, onions & peppers, then added the cauliflower & squash -  til they started to sweat a bit, then mixed in the Savvy Stir-ins (make sure you bust them up really well).  
2. Deglaze with veggie stock, turn down the heat and simmer.
3. Add stock til the savvy stir-ins are soft and the veggies are where you want them - and you should get a nice rich dark sauce.  You can always thicken it up with some instant gravy, arrowroot, flour or other starch.
4. Fill the squash and roast for 15-20 minutes til bubbly and squash very soft.
5. Serve squash on bed of couscous - prepared to your liking.  I cooked my couscous with my homemade veggie stock, next time I might mix in some Ras al Hanout or some Bharat into the couscous for a little excitement.  Yum!

Crunchy-Crispy Kale & Fennel Salad

It's a fact that kale is one of the most nutritious foods you can eat - it provides both a high level of nutrition AND a high level of satiation/satisfaction for very few calories. Raw kale provides a powerhouse punch of Vitamin A and Vitamin C, as well as carotenoids and chlorophylls.  Want to make your body happy? Make this delicious salad - you can make up a big batch of it and it will keep in the refrigerator for several days!

Ingredients:

• 1 large bunch lacinato or dino kale (remove stem & chiffonade to 1/8", give a few coarse cross-chops)
• 1/2 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced & cut into 1" pieces
• 1/2 large red onion, finely sliced and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 large fennel bulb (or 1 small - to your taste!), thinly sliced & coarsely chopped
• 1/4-1/2 c Meyer lemon juice
• fresh rosemary & oregano to taste, finely minced
• 2-5 cloves garlic, pressed or very finely minced
• 1/4 c capers, rinsed & coarsely chopped
• 1/4 c pitted kalamata or nicoise olives, coarsely chopped (optional)
• extra virgin olive oil to taste
• fresh ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:
Really, all the work here is in chopping up the vegetables.  Once you have the vegetables in the bowl, add a small handful of coarsely chopped capers (rinsed!) and olives.  Drizzle with the lemon and olive oil, toss to coat, add chopped herbs and pepper to taste.  If you are storing it in the fridge, remember to toss it every so often to move veggies down to the small puddle of dressing in the bottom of the bowl.  This salad keeps very well for several days and is very satisfying!

A quick visit to a nutritional calculator provided a rough estimate that this entire salad is about 600 calories - less if you use less than 4 Tb olive oil!

This post is currently featured guest post on Dog Island Farm!

Vegan Camping Guest Posting on Dog Island Farm

Today, one of my blog entries on vegan backcountry cooking/camping was featured on the Dog Island Farm blog.  I'm going to make up a few more entries to post to their site (and mine) so stay tuned and check out their really cool blog!