Stuffed Sweet Dumpling Squash

What you will need:

1 large sweet dumpling squash (acorn squash is ok too)

1 large heirloom tomato

1 bundle of any variety of chard

1/2 onion

1 garlic

1/2 cup hummus

crushed pepper

olive oil

sea salt

balsamic vinegar

agave nectar or honey

garlic powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut squash in half and remove all seeds.

Coat the inside of squash halves with olive oil and agave. Place each half face down on greased cookie sheet and bake for 30-50 minutes (or at least until squash softens on the inside). Also bake the garlic in a wrapped piece of foil for later.

2. Dice heirloom tomato and onion. Chop Chard into shredded pieces.

3. In a wok or frying pan heat up about 3 tbsp of olive oil on high heat. Sauté onion until slightly caramelized. Add in chard, tomatoes and squeeze cooked garlic in. Sprinkle in a generous portion of crushed pepper, sea salt, garlic powder, and add a little bit of balsamic vinegar to add moister when stir fry becomes too dry. If you notice any sticking, add olive oil a tsp at a time (eye ball it). Keep it cooking on medium heat for about 5-10 minutes or at least until chard is fully cooked and everything seems to be steaming nicely.

4. When squash is fully cooked, spread your favorite hummus evenly on the inside of each half. (I used home-made curry hummus but that is for another blog). Stuff the each half with the cooked chard mixture.

5. Enjoy hot or refrigerate for yummy summer salad meal!

The Fall Favorite Pumpkin Couscous

I love colors in my food. In fact,the more colors the better. There is a time and place when a simple palette is necessary, whether that be a quick piece of toast with a slab of peanut butter as you run out to start your day, or a uncomplicated apple to soothe your tortured hunger during a lecture...there are times when one's life is so complicated that the food must only act as a forerunner to help one get through the various events we must combat each day.

BUT NOT TODAY. Today, we shall feast on an ambitious array of ingredients that beautifully harmonize one another in one plate, 'The Fall Favorite Pumpkin Couscous.' Interesting name for a dish? Well, not really. I entered a food competition last fall with best friend Liv, and the secret ingredient was a pumpkin. We had to do something out of the ordinary, and make it vegan for extra points, so we decided to just play around with a bunch of ingredients that would shock the masses, yet hit that soft spot and force them to realize, "Its so wrong...yet so incredibly right!" Liv put two and two together and came up with the name.

Well, this dish kind of speaks for itself, so I will not narrate the day any further or you will be reading this food blog all day. Here ya go!

Ingredients:

-2 small pumpkins

-1.5 Cups Dried Mango

-1 box of whole wheat couscous

-1 onion

-Cinnamon

-Ginger

-Salt

-Basil

-3 Cups Raw Spinach

-3 Large Carrots

-Olive Oil

-Agave

-Soy Sauce

-Peanut Butter

The Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

2. Cut the pumpkins in half, and remove the seeds and save them in a bowl.

3. Place the pumpkin halves face down in a pan filled with 1 inch of water. Let the pumpkin cook in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until all the way cooked. (It only took my pumpkins a little less than 20 minutes to be very cooked, but I have a ve

ry old oven that likes to get hotter than it really says.)

4. Boil 2 cups of water in a small pot with the dried mango. Once at a boil, turn down the heat to low, sprinkle ginger in top, turn heat

off and let sit.

5. Cook the couscous either in a rice cooker or over the stove. Before cooking it, sprinkle a lot of ginger, salt, pepper, andbasil to flavor the bland taste.

6. Once the pumpkin is cooled, cut the skin off. The pumpkin will most likely remove from the skin very easily. Chop the cooled pumpkin in

to 1 inch by 1 inch cubes.

7. Wash the saved pumpkin seeds, and remove all pulp. Let them sit in water for at least an hour. Place the seeds on a baking sheet and coat them with olive oil. Sprinkle garlic salt, brown sugar, and cinnamon on them. Let them bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until all the way cooked.

8. Chop up your onions and slice your carrots. Heat a pan on high with olive oil and caramelize and cook the carrots together. Sprinkle somegarlic powder and basil over them. Once cooked, add about two tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of agave, and 1 tablespoon of peanut butter. Stir in the raw spinach, it will cook down. Turn the heat on low.

9. Remove Mango from heat and chop into smaller chunks. Add to the stir-fry mixture.

10. Season the pumpkin with salt, pepper, cinnamon, and a little bit of brown sugar. Do this my sprinkling everything over the chopped pieces and make sure to rub all of the flavor in.

11. Add the pumpkin to the stir-fry mixture and combine everything over low heat.

12. In a large serving pan, stir together the stir-fry, couscous, and cooked pumpkin seeds.

This makes a great side-dish or perhaps main course. Though we did not win the over-all competition, in our hearts, Liv and I knew that we had created an extremely sustainable and vegan dish, using only ingredients I already had in my pantry and refrigerator. There were not any leftovers, so I guess the audience felt the same way as us! Enjoy this whimsical and healthy dish!

Green and Orange

My favorite colors are green and orange. In terms of food, personal encounters, and mere aesthetic pleasure, it is so obvious as to why these color rein supreme to the rest of them. I am not saying that all other colors are not great...oh no, I mean that would completely eliminate so many varieties of heirloom tomatoes. But seriously, all of my absolute favorite foods are either green or orange. Mangos, pumpkin, spinach, acorn squash, butternut squash, oranges, cucumbers, zucchini, cabbage, asparagus, sprouts, avocados, carrots....the list goes on! There are so many dynamic possibilities centered around these two colors, and yet one can always rely on these two colors for the simplest of snacks. Believe me, when times get hard, I have no time, and I simply lack the energy to exert any creativity on a wok, nothing hits the spot like a beautifully unevenly shaped carrot paired with some sugar snap peas.

But today, I am taking it further than food. Now just to warn you, I may be approaching some greatly loaded symbolic territory, or I may just narrate to you all of the encounters that have navigated my inclinations towards these colors...either way I am going to talk to you about these colors.

First of all, both of these colors are not of the prime variety. Each derive from yellow, and get their individual character from another prime, green being blue, orange being red. This opens up the door to my liking of all of these colors as well. Coming directly from the three prime colors, green and orange are pure, beautiful, natural...just how most of us like a whole mess of things.

Green and I have a long and lasting relationship. Like any child in her prime youth, I spent a lot of time in trees and on grass. There was an inevitable liking I had towards the color and I did not ignore it. For me, green symbolized freedom, fun, purity, and love. During this time, the trees never stopped growing, the forest always extended deeper, and the grass would always turn back green again. Now having experienced some let downs and realized some harsh truths, I am very well aware that trees die, men cut down forests, and sometimes buildings are built over the grass. With that said, I am also aware that dead trees are part of an undeniable cycle and new ones grow in its place, men also protest other men cutting down forests, and somehow humans always make their way back to walking barefoot on raw grass. Nothing can replace the feeling of wet cold grass being squished beneath your raw bare feet in the shade on a warm summer day. Green is optimistic...seeing things for how they really are, and then realizing that the way things really are, are not all that terrible. In fact, I would say that one has to realize how bad things can become until a bright side can even exist. This doesn't mean go out and look for a dead forest. No, no. If your forest is still going on forever and you want to explore, keep exploring. But...if for some reason, things don't go exactly the way you thought, it is ok. There is something greater to be learned from all of this, in fact, for some reason, you weren't supposed to explore the rest of that forest until you realized that there were other ones, that it may not exist, and that not all people think the same way as you.

Orange and I have had a different experience. Orange food...eh it was ok back in the day. As a child I never had an incredibly desire to consume pumpkins as I do today. I actually was turned onto orange first by my freshman dorm roommate, Yishain Yao. The day we moved into our little dorm room, I really wanted to see what his girl was all about. I decided to ask her the classic question, that of course we all outwardly think is nonjudgemental and neutral but really find a lot of meaning and truth behind...ok maybe that is just me, "What is your favorite color?" She responded with no hesitation, "Orange." I chuckled in my mind. Orange...what a lame color. "Hmm....interesting choice. Would you mind me asking why?" She responded, "I know its not what you hear from everyone. Orange...kind of ok, I mean its bright and undoubtedly pretty, but no one ever really chooses it as one's favorite color. And it is for that reason that it is mine. Why should I deny the greatness of orange just because it isn't as pretty as pink, passionate as red, or cool as blue?" Automatically my opinion shifted and decided that this Yishian knew what was up. It wasn't at this moment that I decided that orange was just as good as green. Oh no...it had to grow on me. Once I gave orange a chance, I realized how incredibly awesome this color was. Seeing orange everywhere...the sunset, my favorite foods, fall leaves, a vast amount of commercial fonts, and an accent to many other colors, I started seeing other biases of mine drift away. Once I found out that my good friend Meredith's favorite color was orange as well, I decided that I was friends with the right kind of people...non-biased, tasteful and courageous. That was it...I couldn't deny this love for orange any longer.

Well I guess I had to relate that to something a little deeper. Green and orange. Simple pair, inevitably extraordinary. Whether it is a carrot and it's stem, and sour gummy worm, or pumpkin pesto...I love the both of them!

Meredith's Granola

Nothing can beat that wholesome taste of good old homemade granola. I have been lucky enough to get to snack on this hearty delicacy since I was little. My dad has been making his own granola ever since his college days....usually to prepare for vigorous days on the ski slopes during the winter. This favorite snack of his has of course made its way to my routine as well. Once I got to college, I wanted to experiment with some new flavors and ingredients. 

Though a lot of granola can start you off with a lot of energy, a lot of store bought granola is very misleading and contains an immense amount of sugar and unwanted fats. One of the main ingredients that has made its way to the popular version of granola is none other than butter! This is totally fine, just know that if you are opting for a healthy start, carefully read the ingredients on your granola package before you assume that you have made a wiser decision than fruit loops. I am not saying that you should completely eliminate these other tasty versions of this oat-filled snack. Just be aware of what you are actually putting into your body. 

Recently, I have noticed more and more people around me reporting to have celiac disease, meaning their bodies are unable to process gluten. These poor, poor souls! But not to worry, there are plenty of delicious gluten-free options available today, including granola! One of these unfortunate souls is my good friend Meredith. She is living proof that living with celiac can be just as satisfying as someone who can digest gluten successfully.  When she mentioned that she has been eating granola everyday for breakfast, I quickly decided that I needed to create the ultimate gluten-free yogurt topper for my good friend.

The basis of granola is oats. Naturally, oats are in fact gluten-free! Unfortunately it is during the processing of oats that they can be contaminated with gluten. If you are opting for the gluten-free diet, always check the ingredients and warning signs for gluten! Unfortunately, the popular Quaker Oats brand is usually contaminated with gluten. Granola can be a very individually unique snack, as you have the choice of ingredients during the mixing process. This recipe can serve as a basis for you to work off of, or enjoy it in its entirety. Drop the blueberries, replace them with dried cranberries, or get rid of the coconut and add chocolate chips. This is your snack....personalize! Being big fans of coconut and berries, Meredith and I both approve of this variation of healthy granola.

Ingredients:

-3 cups Oats

-1 cup Bran

-1/2 cup Shredded Coconut

-1/2 cup olive oil (can use sunflour oil)

-1/2 cup agave (can use honey)

-2 tbsp Cinnamon

-1 tsp Cloves

-1/3 cup Sucanat (can use sugar or brown sugar)

-1/2 cup Dried Blueberries

-1/2 cup Flax Seeds

1. Preheat the oven 300 degrees F.

2. Mix all dry ingredients, except sucanat, in large bowl and set aside.

3. In a saucepan, dissolve water, agave, olive oil, and sucanat over medium heat.

4. Pour liquid mixture over dry mixture and stir.

5. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring mixture every 10 minutes.

6. Let cool. Time to eat up! or save in a closed/sealed container.

 

Extraordinary Spaghetti and Meatballs

Spaghetti and meatballs…one of the most ordinary and comforting dinners in the nuclear American household. Being quite the fan of this universal dinner during my childhood as well, I decided I wanted to take a new approach at this meal in an extraordinary

 way.  How did I do it? Well like usual, I used local organic vegetables and exciting additions and replacements with ingredients I had just laying around in my kitchen. This required me to enter territory I had never explored.

Last weekend at my local farmer’s market at the Calle Real Marketplace in Goleta, I came across something I had never seen before. I have heard of this remarkable organic creation, but never had I tried, cooked with, or seen one! It was the highly praised spaghetti squash! There it was, among so many other squash assortments, a

t a supposed peak season, large and healthy, and only 99 cents a pound. I felt that my pantry was in great need of this new squash variety. Without any idea of what I wanted to do with it, I bought it and decided would decide what to do with it eventually.

That day came sooner than expected, as I looked up how to cook spaghetti squash that same evening. Thus my quest on creating an extraordinary plate of spaghetti and meatballs began.

Ingredients:

1 Spaghetti Squash

Favorite tomato sauce

1 Onion

A few large carrots

Ground salmon meat (or salmon burgers/patties)

Fresh Spinach

1 Whole garlic

Your choice of other varieties of zucchini/squash to gril

l

Parmesan Cheese

So how do I cook this giant squash?

Well that is precisely what I wondered when I first

 saw the thing. My curiosity couldn’t wait, which is probably why I cooked it so soon. It is a little bit of a process, but you will not be disappointed with the rich taste and exciting texture of the spaghetti squash!

For Squash:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Poke a few holes in the spaghetti squash and but in a large cake pan  with about 1/2in of water at bottom. Let the Spagh

etti squash bake for 45 minutes to an hour. If squash is soft, it is ready! While the squash is cooking, cut the garlic half, pour a little olive oil within the half mark, wrap in foil, and let it sit in the hot oven with squash for about 30-40 minutes.

Once out of the oven you may want to let it cool for a few minutes or else you will be dealing with one hot squash. Cut the squash in half at the equator. Y

ou probably will only need to use half of the squash tonight, but it is good to take the inside ‘meat’ out and store in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Now is the fun part. After removing the pulp and seeds, you will see a striated texture within the squash. Take a fork and start scooping out and you will find that a spaghetti-like substance starts coming out! Go ahead and taste for yourself, it is pretty much identical the pasta we eat on Italian night! After removing all of the substance, let it sit and start the sauté process with the remaining ingredients.

For the sauce/everything else:

Chop your onion into rings, or dice, which ever you prefer eating or cooking with. Keep in mind that we are caramelizing these onions, so it is easier to keep them in a somewhat circle shape. I like to cut the circles in half. Heat a pan on high, drizzle some olive oil to coat the pan with a thin layer and lay the onions on. Sprinkle salt, pepper, or your favorite vegetable seasoning. After a few minutes reduce heat a little. Try not to

 flip the onions around too much so that they can caramelize. Move the onions to one half of the pan and place the salmon patties on other half. Squeeze the cooked garlic over the onions. You don’t have to use the whole garlic. To store the rest, just wrap the foil around it and store in refrigerator. Let these slow cook and flip when sides turn brown. Keep an eye on those onions, don’t let them burn or over-cook.

            While onions and salmon cook, chop your carrots into thin slices and cook with a little water in microwave or steamer until soft. Also, start slicing y

our extra zucchini. Once the salmon patties are almost cooked, remove them and throw on the carrots and let them brown. Also place the zucchini on the pan wherever you have room. Sprinkle seasoning on them as well. You make have to add more olive oil at this point to keep the moister going.  Cut the salmon patties into small pieces. Once everything has slightly browned, throw the salmon on with the fresh spinach. Pour about half of a cup of tomato sauce in the mixture as well. Remember we are working on medium heat now. Let everything simmer together and the spinach absorb the liquid.

            Arrange a generous portion of the spaghetti squash onto plates. (About the amount you would serve yourself if it were real spaghetti.) You may add more sauce to your plate depending on you desire. I added a little extra. Now, place the sauté mixture on top of the spaghetti squash. I added a few fresh tomato slices and sprinkled Parmesan cheese.

            You now have quite an extraordinary plate of spaghetti and meatballs. Funny thing is there is no actual spaghetti or red meat in this dish, but I gotta say I found this more satisfying and extremely flavorful.  I actually didn’t realize how funny this dish was until my good friend Meredith pointed it out to me. “You know that is the rarest plate of spaghetti I have ever heard of Yvette.”

Enjoy!

Piling the Seasons on One Grill

Have you ever dared to challenge how much you can pile up on the grill? Well, I have dealt with that question more than one time and it is time that I share my secrets. Last night my friends and I had the ultimate bbq feast, piling up so much organic goodness that we had to move some veggies inside! 

Grilling veggies is not very tricky, it is just all about the timing. You must know how long your meat ta

kes to cook if you are going to tackle your whole meal on the grill at once. 

I have the privilege of having 4 farmers markets around 

me every week. It is t

he end of summer squash season but peak for heirloom tomatoes! I brought together the best of both seasons during my last shopping day which paved the way for this wholesome bbq feast at my good friend Saeed and Yi

sh's place.

Last nights feast consisted of:

3 varieties of local summer squash

1 small eggplant

2 (1 small and 1 large) heirloom tomatoes 

3 cobs of corn

1 white onion

1.5 packets of chicken tenderloins (from the large costco pa

ck) 

For the Chicken:

Marinate the chicken a few hours before grillin' time in a large pan (I used 9"x5") to let the juices work their way in. Pour about 1/3 cup of olive oil and 3/4 cups of balsamic vinegar and work around the tenders.) Season with salt and pepper (enough to your liking), garlic, basil, and 

whatever other herbs you have laying

 around. Be creative!

For the veggies:

Slice all of the squash into thin pieces, about 1/4" thick

. Circular shapes work well for the grill. Coat them in a s

mall amount of olive oil and sprinkle with your favorite vegetable seasoning. I used costco vegetable seasoning (hmmm I wonder where I do my groceries?)

Tomatoes:

Now tomatoes cook pretty quickly on the grill and they tend to stick. Know that going into grilling tomatoes, you are bound to lose one or more slices. It is ok....it has happened to me numerous times. Knowing this, definitely slice your to

matoes a little thicker than the veggies.

Grillin' Time!

Usually you are going to want to throw the corn on t

he grill first because they take the longest. If we were grilling full chicken breasts we could let the two grill simultaneously on medium heat, but today we are working with tenderloins so they cook through very quickly. Go right ahead and place the corn on the grill....husk and all! (Believe me it is best this way!) Once these have served about 15 minutes on the grill go ahead and start piling on the rest of our little food crew. The squash and chicken will probably take about the same time to cook so lay those on first. Since we are cooking small pieces of chicken be strategic about where you place your chicken so they don't escape through the grill into the fire. Tomatoes go on last. After about 10-15 minutes on medium to high heat it is time to flip everything. In the meantime, you can be caramelizin

g the chopped onion inside (unless you still have enough room on your grill to lay them on) by heating up a pan with a little olive oil and tossing them around for the last half of grilling. 

The corn should probably come out before everything else since it has been there so long. Once you see some kernels starting to brown...that corn

 is ready! You can eat it plain or season it with butter and garlic. My friend Yishian usually takes up this chore. 

Another tip for dealing with these veggies: once you flip the chicken and squash the first time, you can lay the grilled tomatoes right on top of them. This will infuse their rich and sweet juices as they continue grilling. This will keep the tomatoes from burning and you get some extra flavors.

What I love about grilling is that there is only a little bit

 of prep work involved. Once you actually begin grilling you have the chance to catch up with everyone and just have a great time. I hope you enjoy this fun, easy, healthy, and wholesome meal combining the best of 2 seasons!

Dream Salmon!

Sweet but still savory, sizzling but still refreshing, delicious but still healthy! A meal full of so many brilliant paradoxes such as these seem only possible in a dream....but dream no more, I have created this salmon dish in reality! Best of all, there really isn't any prep work and can be made in a matter of 20 minutes! The use of fresh local produce is always an option but definitely not necessary. It is amazing to think that such a mouth-watering asian dish can be full of such a vast amount of essential vitamins and omegas!  

Well I know that your taste buds are curious, so lets get to business. Ingredients can definitely fluctuate due to season or taste preference, but I can guarantee satisfaction by sticking with the original choices.  For a simple meal for two here is what you need:

-2 medium steaks of salmon

-a handful of mushrooms

-3 summer squashes 

-1 red bell pepper

-1 full mango

-chopped tomatoes 

-oinions

-soy sauce

-peanut butter

-olive oil

-balsamic vinegar 

-veggie seasoning (standard, mine was from costco)

-basic salmon seasoning: salt, pepper, garlic, basil

-organic mixed greens, raw spinach 

Lets get started!

First create the marinade/ sauce for the salmon.  In a small bowl, combine even amounts of soy sauce, vinegar, a little brown sugar, agave (or honey), basil, garlic, and peanut butter. Now I know I am not giving you measurements. This is for a reason.  I want you to play around with the amount of each ingredients you use and have it adhere to your taste but likings. Add the mango, chopped into small cubes. Now chop the salmon into thin slices, season them with salt, pepper, basil, and powdered garlic.  Let them soak in the bowl of sauce.  As the salmon sits, time to chop the veggies! Chop them to your liking, whether you like thin slices, cubes of them, whatever you want!  You should chop the mushroom first and add them to the salmon/sauce mixture.  Slowly start adding all of the veggies to the saucy bowl of goodness! Place the salad greens and chopped tomatoes in a nice large plate.

Time to sauté! Heat a large pan over high heat and once its a little bit of olive oil is sizzling you may add some rings of onions.  Sprinkle some veggie seasoning on the onions and let time caramelize them.  Once they have been caramelized, push them to the edges to the pan and carefully place the salmon in the middle.  Now add the rest of the veggies to surround the salmon on the pan.  You may sprinkle some veggie seasoning on these puppies as well. Turn up the heat if you want to let the edges of the salmon caramelize, but be careful not to blacken the salmon too much.  Once you flip the salmon (after 6-8 minutes) pour the remainder of the sauce onto the pan.  It will sizzle, don't be alarmed...its good! The sauce should begin to caramelize as well around the salmon and the veggies.  The veggies should be flipped before the salmon, just keep checking with them.  Toss the veggies around so that they don't burn.  

Once the salmon is fully cooked, you may slide the pan of wondrous food onto the fresh salad mix.  Pour yourself a yummy sweet drink or water (if your staying real healthy here), take your multi's and enjoy!