Author: HungryDad

Meals for the Week June 30-July 6

  1. Zucchini gratin
  2. Something along the lines of Buffalo Chicken Tacos, adding pinto beans and grated zucchini
  3. Spinach and red onion frittata with salad
  4. Stir-fried Chicken and Broccoli, with brown rice
  5. Veggie Chicken Pitas on homemade pitas
  6. Mango Chili Chicken I was going to make this, but had already used up the peppers, so we made this Curried Chicken with Mango Salad instead, which was fast and yummy!

Burger with Feta-Yogurt Sauce and Mint

We’ve started a pot herb garden with mint, basil and cilantro. So far, the mint has been going gangbusters, so there’s an abundance of fresh mint for recipes. Googling around for a good way to use mint in a main dish led me to this recipe from the Miami Herold. It was a nice change from standard burger, but very easy to make. We made some bread to serve it on and served with sweet potato fries.

Burger with Feta-Yogurt Sauce and MintBurger with Yogurt-Feta Sauce and Mint

Adapted from Linda Bladholm’s A Fork on the Road (reprinted here)

  • 1.5 lbs ground beef
  •  8 slices good bread
  • 1/2 c plain Greek yogurt
  • 4 oz crumbled feta
  • 1 Tomato sliced
  • Fresh mint leaves

Form beef into patties, season with salt and pepper if desired. Cook on bbq grill.

While burgers are cooking, mix yogurt and feta. Toast or grill the bread.

Assemble burger with a dollop of sauce, slice of tomato and fresh mint leaves.

Butternut squash breakfast muffins

We had some diced butternut squash left over from the yummy butternut squash, sage and Parmesan pasties, so I found a recipe for muffins–make the kids eat the veggies for breakfast!

Butternut squash breakfast muffins

Adapted from Simple Daily Recipes

Dry ingredients

  • 1 c whole wheat flour
  • 1 c old fashion oats
  • 1/2 c brown sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/8 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 c dried cranberries, rehydrated in warm water
  • 1/4 c raisins, rehydrated in warm water

Wet ingredients

  • 1 1/4 c diced raw butternut squash (or roasted if you have that)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 c vegetable oil
  • 1/4 c fruit juice or water

While assembling the other ingredients cook the squash in a frying pan over medium heat. Stir it from time to time, but no need to pay much attention to it. It takes 15-20 min to cook, probably about as long as it takes to get the rest of the stuff below assembled.

Preheat the oven to 350, grease muffin tins.

Place the cranberries and raisins in a microwave safe bowl and cover with warm water.  Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute.  This is a speedy way to rehydrate the dried fruit. Drain off the water from the dried fruit.  The rehydrated fruit won’t burn when it’s exposed at the top of the baked item.

Combine the dry ingredients and the rehydrated fruit in a large bowl, mix well. Add the wet ingredients, adding the squash last, once it’s nice and soft. Stir everything together and spoon into the greased muffin tins.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

 

Butternut squash, sage and Parmesan pasties

These yummy pasties were fairly easy to make. I made the chopped the squash and made the dough in the morning and left it in the fridge until about 30 minutes before we were ready to make the pasties. Throwing them together in the evening didn’t take very long and then you have 40 minutes to do other stuff before dinner.

Butternut squash, sage and Parmesan pasties

Adapted from TheKitchenButternut squash, sage and Parmesan pasties

Dough

  • 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 6-8 Tbs ice water (I add a bit of lemon juice)

Filling

  • 8 oz butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 cm cubes
  • 1 medium red onion, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tsb dried (or  1 Tbs fresh finely chopped)
  • 1 Tbs finely chopped parsley
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • egg for egg wash

To make dough

Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or your hands. Start with about 5 Tbs of water and then add 1 Tbs at a time until all the flour comes together to form a nice ball. Refrigerate 30 min or longer (if you wait more than a couple of hours, let the dough warm up a bit so it can be rolled out.

To cook

Preheat oven to 375.

In a large bowl combine the filling ingredients. Divide dough into 4 pieces and roll out into circles. Spoon the mixture over half of the dough circles and fold over, crimping the edges shut. Transfer to backing sheet. Cut steam vents in the pasties, paint tops with beaten egg. Bake for 40 minutes at 375.