Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Sweet Potatoes

This is a great combination of sweet (the potatoes) and savory (the robust brussel sprouts). We make this as a side dish or toss it with whole wheat spiral pasta noodles. Mmm mmm delicious! Think you don't like brussel sprouts? Give this a try - you'll be surprised!

Quartered Brussel sprouts - peel off outer leaves first (they fall off easily)
Sweet Potatoes - peeled and cut into small bitesize pieces
Olive oil
Salt, pepper (we like to use a Tuscan Salt blend that has salt, red pepper flakes, lemon peel, and rosemary)

That's it! Combine the above, put in a 13x9 baking dish and bake for ~30 minutes at 350. Stir occassionally to make sure the mixture doesn't get stuck to the bottom. The vegetables are done when the sprouts are slighly browned and the potatos are soft.

What is in Season in the Fall?

Apples
Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts (Check out these bad-mamas!)
Cauliflour
Collards
Grapes
Kale
Pears
Persimmons
Pumpkins
Winter Squash
Yams

Anyone know anything about kale or persimmons?

Chickpea-and-Corn Patties

In an earlier recipe of the Autumn medley my mom had asked if it was a main dish or a side. It is a side. In fact we made that side with this recipe for Chickpea and Corn Patties and I liked the mix. We got this from cookinglight.com too.. We actually cut corn off the ears like it says but I'm sure you could get away with canned or frozen corn just fine. We put some tabasco on ours as well. Here are ours on a new tray we bought at the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival on Sunday.


Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 3 ears)
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 (19-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons cornmeal, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
Cooking spray

Preparation
Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add corn, onion, and thyme; sauté 2 minutes. Place onion mixture, chickpeas, breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons cornmeal, salt, and red pepper in a food processor. Pulse 2 times or until combined and chunky. Divide chickpea mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty; dredge patties in 1 tablespoon cornmeal. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add patties; cook 5 minutes. Carefully turn patties over; cook 5 minutes or until golden.

Yield
4 servings

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 253(19% from fat); FAT 5.4g (sat 0.7g,mono 2.4g,poly 1.6g); PROTEIN 10.3g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 54mg; SODIUM 488mg; FIBER 5.9g; IRON 3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 44.1g

Autumn Vegetable Medley with Rosemary and Nutmeg

Here is the recipe that insipired the food blog. I didn't have any parsnips so I left them out. We got a fennel bulb at our local Farmer's Market. Very easy and soo delicious!

1 (9-ounce) fennel bulb with stalks
2 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash
1 1/2 cups (1-inch-thick) slices parsnip
1 1/2 cups (1-inch-thick) slices carrot1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Dash freshly grated nutmeg
Cooking spray
1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 425°.

Trim tough outer leaves from fennel. Cut fennel bulb in half lengthwise; discard core. Cut each half into three wedges. Combine fennel, squash, and next 7 ingredients (through nutmeg) in a large shallow roasting pan coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 425° for 35 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle vegetable mixture with cheese, if desired. Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 3/4 cup vegetable mixture)

CALORIES 106 (22% from fat); FAT 2.6g (sat 0.4g,mono 1.8g,poly 0.2g); PROTEIN 2g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 78mg; SODIUM 237mg; FIBER 4.2g; IRON 1.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 20.9g Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2007

You can print out a recipe card from:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1662871

Sauce-less Grilled Pizza

We had grilled pizzas last night and lately Julie has realized she likes Pizza that has no red sauce. We came up with this one on the grill which was very good. (Doesn't have to be on a grill but we learned this from Amy and Greg and love it). The key concept here is that garlic olive oil is sub'd for red pizza sauce.

1 Ball of Pizza Dough (We like the white dough at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's)
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1 Garlic Clove
Mozzarella Cheese or 4 Cheese Blend
Chopped Fresh basil
Dried Oregano
Flour (to deal with the dough)
Toppings of you liking.

1.) Warm up the grill - Medium to low heat

2.) 1 Dough ball makes about two thin crust large pizzas. Our rule of thumb is 1 ball per 2 people. Me and Julie break it in half and make two pies - each choosing our own toppings.

3.) Pour the olive oil into a small cup and crush the Garlic clove into the oil Stir the garlic into the oil.

3) After Grill is heated place the two pie crusts on the Grill with nothing on them. Put them directly on the grate for about 2 minutes on each side. After flipping the dough once, brush the garlic olive oil onto the crust while it is still on the grill (this begins to cook the garlic just a bit).

4.) Remove the pizza crusts from the grill - bring them in - re-brush with a bit more garlic oil if they have dried up. Top with Cheese, Basil, Oregano and any other toppings you choose.

5.) Put the pizzas back on the grill for 8-10 minutes. Watch them and reduce the heat if the crust begins to burn.

6.) I also like to cut avocado slices and top with avocado after removing them from grill. It makes them taste really clean.

RAQUEL'S CHICKEN TINGA A LA MEXICANA

Familia,

I inherited this recipe from my sister Jessica and added/changed some ingredients.

"BUEN PROVECHO"

Tinga A La Mexicana

Ingredientes:

6 Half Boneless Chicken Breasts (Or 3 chicken whole breasts)
1 large onion
4 large fresh tomatoes diced
2 cans diced tomatoes (12 to 14 ounces each)
1 can Rotelle Tomatoes
2 pickled chipotle peppers
1 to 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

A dash of ANY other spices you like that are NOT too overwhelming such as oregano, cummin, rosemary....nothing that strong. I use different ones each time, from the spice rack.
Boil chicken breasts in medium pan for about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove chicken breasts from liquid and let cool. Save chicken broth.

Cut up onion and dice tomatoes into small pieces. in large pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil to medium heat, add onions and sutee until transparent, adding more oil if needed. Add fresh tomatoes ,can tomatoes and rotelle tomatoes, cover and simmer in low heat.

Shred Chicken breasts, stir into tomato/onion mixture, add chipotle peppers whole, season to taste, cover and simmer for 30 to 35 minutes. Add some of the chicken broth as needed. (I like my Tinga a bit drier, not too "soupy", but it's a matter of taste). Stir occassionally and use the spoon to break up the chipotle peppers.

Serve as a main dish, or over rice, or over tostadas that have been spread with refried beans, or use as filling for Burritos, or in a plain tortilla, or anything else you'd like.

!BUEN PROVECHO!

MoonRaka

Deb's Pumpkin Roll

O.K. Joey I can do this! Of course mine won't have the description of yours but will taste equally as good, and is fitting for the season! ENJOY!

By hand mix:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup of pumpkin
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup flour

Grease cookie sheet. Place wax paper(or parchment) on the cookie sheet and then grease the wax paper as well. Pour the batter on top and sprinkle with chopped nuts.(The Morales like slivered almonds) Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Take dish towel (not terry cloth. More like a cheese cloth.) and sprinkle with sugar. Flip cake onto towel. Peel off paper. Roll up and let cool.

In the meantime mix:
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
8 oz. cream cheese (works better at room temp.)
1 cup powdered sugar

After the cake has cooled unroll and frost it, and roll back up. (I like to put it in the fridge to let it set a while) I've heard it can be frozen but haven't tried it myself.

Now that everyone has the recipe what am I going to bake for you? :(

Joey's Guacamole

What's more fitting for the premier DailyAvocado recipe than Guacamole? I'm happy with my recipe. There is one key choice you will need to make:

Can you take the heat?:
Sometimes it is great to spice it up so it can hold its own as the lone ranger salsa in front a bowl of chips. On the other hand Los Morales tend to make a bunch of salsas at once which span a large range of heat. In this case guac is a great refresher from the spicy alternatives. Decide what you are preparing for. Consider whether or not there are spice-wimps who will be eating.

Ingredients:
3 Avocados
1/2 Medium red onion - diced
1 Handfull of fresh cilantro (not dried coriander - and this is key) - chopped
Fresh lime juice to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
1-2 Roma tomatos (cut out the gelatenous blob and dice the tomato wall into small squares).
1 Medium clove of garlic - minced or pressed.

If you can stand the heat:
1 Small Habanero - diced
1 Jalapeno - diced
(These peppers heat different places of your mouth for different lengths of time. Together they carry the spice smoothly as you masticate and ingest your dip and chip).

Directions:
1.) Dice the tomatos, hot peppers and onion.
2.) Chop the cilantro.
3.) Peel the avocados and put them in a mixing bowl with the chopped ingredients and a pressed garlic clove. Mash and stir this with a fork occasionally adding dashes of salt and pepper. Squeeze in limes until you feel you have the correct salt/lime combo. these are the two flavors that typically tune the guac to the correct taste.

Selection of Ingredients:

Avocados: Hoss avocados are very good and easy to find.

Hard or Soft? You can press your thumb and make a dent but it only makes a dent. It doesn't alter the shape of the entire avocado.

Peel: I'm particular about thickness of avocado peel. If too thick it can create a gap between the peel and flesh. The avocado flesh in this gap can turn brown and mushy and eventually starts to taste like bacon. On the other hand I don't like it when the peel is too mushy and becomes part of the avocado itself. These are very difficult to manipulate with a knife. The skin should be between the two extremes. The skin should dent along with the avocado leaving no air pocket between the flesh and peel - but you should definitely be able to feel that the peel is an independent piece of the fruit.

Limes:
Key Limes are superior if you can find them. They are more juicy and have a more Mexican flavor. This also applies for lime use in Mexican Beer.