Sauteed Roasted Butternut Squash with Chickpeas and Spinach

Good morning my friends! How has everyone been? I’m doing great on my end. Work is very busy (YAY!) and if I’m not at work, I’m at Krav. It has been over a month I started going to a Krav Maga studio and you can’t believe how much I’ve improved. My teacher is VERY proud of me and I’m proud of myself, I never thought I could coordinate myself enough to hit, kick, knee, elbow, etc. Let’s just say it is a GREAT way to release built up tension. ;)

My main goal while practicing Krav is protein, protein, protein and less sugar. This method is what keeps me stable and full of energy. In the end I’m actually craving less sugar because of the additional protein. Plus I've always been a carb lover and with extra protein, I’m a happy girl!

In this dish today I wanted to have a side dish with some leftover vegetable pizza. I had roasted butternut squash and huge tub of spinach. Something about cooking it on the stove top in garlic would make a good side dish, but it needed one more thing.. Chickpeas! It needed that extra protein. This dish was wonderful, hearty and very tasty. The roasted squash is a must because it has been caramelized in the oven and adds a whole other layer of flavor to this dish. This dish reminds me of the Fall. Enjoy!



Sauteed Roasted Butternut Squash with Chickpeas and Spinach 
Serves 2

Ingredients
3/4 cup of roasted butternut squash, diced
1 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup baby spinach
2-3 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper
Heat up a skillet on medium-high. Add your olive oil a few minutes later and add the butternut squash to heat up. Next add in the chickpeas. Add a little salt and pepper. Once the squash and chickpeas start to get color and have warmed through, add in the garlic. Cook for a few seconds and add in half of the spinach. Mix till it starts to wilt. Then add the rest of the spinach, season with salt and pepper and cook until just slightly wilted. Shut the heat off and remain mixing till everything is incorporated and the spinach has been married to the other ingredients.






This dish goes well with grilled chicken or even at your Thanksgiving dinner.

If anything your vegetarian/vegan friends will love you if you make this dish. ;)

Love,
Fallon

Turkey Taco Chili

October 1st. Can you believe it? I can! I'm so excited that this year is almost over with. You don't know how hard I prayed for the time to go quickly. I know it kind of sucks and you get older and such.. but I just want my boyfriend to come home from Iraq and to be with him. After that the time can slow down. Don't you love how I try to control time? LOL. If anyone is from Las Vegas you would definitely recognize the cooler weather we are experiencing. It is great. Work is picking up and people are starting to buy the winter clothes. Makes me excited. I actually enjoy working the holiday season because it so busy and work goes by quickly!

I decided today is the day I'd post my moms recipe for Turkey Taco Chili. There may be similar recipes floating around but my mom has had this written down for years! I don't know her source but whoever came up with it, wow is it good! We tweaked it slightly, but no matter what it always turns out really good. You can easily use ground beef or just keep it vegetarian style. I'm antsy and want to make a veggie chili. I've seen some with a pumpkin pureed or squash mixed in the bunch, which sounds really hearty and warming to the soul!

This recipe makes a whole lot of chili which can be easily stored in the freezer for nights you don't feel like cooking! The recipe calls for a packet of powdered ranch dressing mix but we usually just leave it out. I don't really see what the difference is with it or not, just more sodium if anything. I usually will add a touch more cumin to the chili and chili powder as well. Chili gotta have a little kick with it you know!! The recipe is simple, not much instruction. If you know how to cook you should be able to figure out what needs to be done and when! Like I said this is how my mom made it for years using this recipe. I hope you enjoy!

Nice warm pot of chili ready to be devoured!
 

Turkey Taco Chili (Mom's recipe)  
Brown and Cook Together
1 lb ground turkey ( she used extra lean)
1 medium sized sweet onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves  

Add While Cooking Above
1 1/2 cups chopped celery  

Stir After You Add Each Ingredient
1 15oz can tomato sauce
1 4oz can diced green chilies
1 15oz can stewed tomatoes
1 pkg taco seasoning (she used reduced sodium by McCormick)
1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing (optional)
2 tsp cumin
2 16oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
2 16oz can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 16oz bag of frozen white corn (used organic yellow corn because I picked the wrong kind up)
1/2 cup of water (you can use chicken or vegetable broth for more flavor. She tends add more water during the cooking process because it evaporates very quickly)

I like to eat my chili many ways. It always good to have corn chips to dip in, top with cheese, sour cream and avocado! Usually the first night it is made I'll have it that way. I like making my OWN corn tortilla chips. So easy.

Baked Corn Tortilla Chips By Fallon
Plain corn tortillas, cut into strips, triangles or leave whole
Cooking spray (Olive oil in a Misto)
Sea salt and other seasonings of choice

Preheat your toaster oven to 400 degrees. Spray cooking spray on small corn tortillas and sprinkle with sea salt. While they cook just flip them around till both sides crisp up. Takes a good 12-15 minutes to get the perfect crisp and no burn. Once out of the oven I let them cool off, so they will harden and break easily. If you do it too soon they will be flimsy. I topped my chili with plain Greek yogurt, sliced avocado, and green onion.


Another way I like to eat my chili is with spaghetti squash! It's the fall season and squash is everywhere. If you've never tried a spaghetti squash before you need to buy one as soon as possible! It the best side dish to have for the winter. With my squash I split it in half. The shell is a little tough so please be careful and not slice any fingers off. I've had some brutal cuts with squash before, so a good knife is very key! I always recommend a strong man to do the squash splitting ;) Once it is split, clean out the seeds from the middle. Place them on a baking sheet that will be heading into a preheated oven of 400 degrees. Place the squash hole side down on the baking sheet and place into the oven. The squash takes about 45 minutes to bake, but start to check on it at around 30 minutes. You know it will be done when a fork goes through it easily, especially through the skin. When the squash has cooled off completely, take a fork and scrap out the squash.

Comes out looking like spaghetti!
 

Chili is on the bottom, topped with squash and green onion! 
 

I was missing my corn tortilla so I toasted up 
pumpernickel bread with a smear of Boursin herbed cheese.

The chili was made on Sunday, today is Thursday and we have none left!! We are a family of 3 so you can tell we all really enjoyed it. My dad has requested my mom to make it with ground beef, so I recommended to her that Wholefoods has some great ground beef to use. You can't go wrong with any substitutions with the chili. It is fabulous all the way. It's 3pm but I'm going to go ahead and make dinner a bit early tonight so it is ready for later. Heading over to my best friends house to see her and the baby! He is getting so big and is almost at 6 weeks already.

Tomorrow is Friday, YAY!!
 Fallon

Roasted Acorn Squash

Hello Mr. Lil Acorn Squash!
 

Hello Hello! How is everyone? I must say I'm excited that Wednesday was the first full day of Fall and the Las Vegas weather has been very nice! 90's all week and a few days of 80's. It is much nicer then 100+ degree weather that's for sure! It definitely has been motivating me to sleep in now that the mornings are cooler (okay 7:30 is sleeping in for me!), but I'm more motivated now to wake up and work out outside! It is so refreshing and the time goes quicker when you're having fun working out outside. Plus being outside is a different feeling then inside a sweaty gym. You must try it!

Dinner last night was delicious. I'm hooked on the almond breaded chicken I made last week. I believe this is my 4th time making it last night. I told you it was delicious! I'm running low on my cranberry apple butter that I top it with, so hopefully Trader Joe's will get it in soon!! I need to stock up. Now that Fall is here all the wonderful squashes are out in the grocery stores. They are rather small now, but in a few weeks their size will be much larger! I picked up several squashes the other day. To start the season I baked up acorn squash last night to go with my chicken and another favorite of mine, tomato cucumber salad.  

Acorn Squash, my way! By Fallon
Ingredients
Acorn squash (DUH!)
Butter
Cinnamon
Agave syrup (or any sugar of your choice, just none of that "fake" stuff please!)

This was an amber agave, giving it more 
of a molasses taste to the squash.
 

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Foil and lightly spray a baking sheet with olive oil so the squash won't stick when cooking. The squash are a bit hard to cut so make sure to use a strong knife and have a towel on hand to hold the squash down. Be careful not to cut off a finger!! If you have a strong man in the household, I'd recommend you have him cut the squash, unless you're stubborn ;).

Cut the squash horizontal, meaning from stem to tip, and not through the middle. Once you halve the squash clean out the seeds with a spoon. Next put a small dollop of butter in each squash. Sprinkle with cinnamon and drizzle with agave syrup. Squash is ready to go in the oven. Let it cook for a good 30 minutes before checking up on it. Even if it looks a bit "brown" on the top, make sure it is fully cooked by checking with a fork. If it is a bit hard to pull out, still needs more time to cook. Allow 5-10 more minutes and afterward take the squash out of the oven and cover with foil for a few more minutes to help soften. Then it is time to enjoy!

Ready for the oven.
 

Close up of the agave. I must admit the agave that leaked on the foil, after 
I took them out of the oven, it harden up like burnt sugar
and was hard like a sugar candy. It was good :)
  Yum yum almond breaded chicken. The perfect start to a Fall meal!
  My favorite go to tomato cucumber salad! Always a winner.
 

Have you ever had spaghetti squash? Acorn squash is similar by stringy texture, but it tends to be made with brown sugar and butter, while spaghetti squash is used for savory dishes like with butter, garlic and white wine. Also it used has a pasta alternative and you can top it with red sauce, another one of my favorites for the fall! I do have a question though. Is squash considered a fruit since it contains seeds inside? I should probably google this but I love reading my comments!

My dinner was delicious, I still love the almond chicken and haven't tired of it yet! My mom and I talked about making chili next week. She has an awesome recipe for Turkey Chili. My mouth waters as I type this out 9:00am this morning. LOL. My plans for this week? Well I have a can of pumpkin in my pantry. Which I feel the need to use. I want to make some more energy bars by using the pumpkin in them. I've been enjoying my primal energy bars from last week, but now it time to adapt my own version. I also have a graduation dinner tonight and a wedding tomorrow night. I'm glad my weekend won't be busy so I can relax!!

It is Thursday, tomorrow is Friday. Can't get any better then that!!

Always,
Fallon