Roasted Acorn Squash!

When there is a crispness in the air and I need to pull out my jacket and boots, it's time to roast some squash! ...What? No? It's not a weird statement, okay? It's a choice. Anyway! Roasted acorn squash is delicious, plain and simple. Maple, cayenne, sage, and rosemary bring everything together in delicious harmony.

Shout "Recipe please" if you're hungry!

Pickled Red Onion.

This is the perfect acidic topping for your favorite tacos. You know your favorite tacos, right? The recipe that I just posted!

Wishful thinking, or confidence? You decide!

Pickled Red Onion

You will need:

1 1/2 cups thinly sliced red onion

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4 cup water

4 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon kosher salt

Combine the vinegar, lime juice, water, honey and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.

Turn off the heat and let come to room temperature.

Pour this over the onion and let sit in the fridge for at least 5 hours before using.

Top these delicious chicken tacos with queso fresco or your preferred salty white cheese,

pickled red onion, the pumpkin arbol salsa (recipe to follow).

These individual recipes would taste great on any other taco filling you like as well, be it carne asada, roasted pork, or add a flavorful boost to vegetarian options.

Share them! There's no way you can eat them all.

I know what you're thinking...

"is that a challenge?"

Pumpkin Arbol Salsa

This recipe is courtesy of Calexico restaurant and Hungry Nation (I believe...)

Calexico's Pumpkin Arbol Salsa Recipe

I used fresh jalapenos in my version, which is why it's a vibrant green color. Use what you can!

Stuffed Artichokes.

Most people I've encountered through life, about 80%, see cooking as a chore to be disregarded for the easy task of take-out cuisine. On days like today I wonder to myself what they do on special occasions where food is (noticeably, or not) the epicenter of the day. Do they have it catered by a favorite place? Order pizza? Or simply go out? Whatever it is that works best for them is nice, but in my family we cook all day for nothing more than the enjoyment of spending

time together in the kitchen, and watching as we all remember why it is we love our family food.

My older sister turned 25 today (Happy Birthday! Again.) and wanted my pop-pop's(grandfather's) chicken soup, and stuffed artichokes.

This recipe I made with inspiration from when my family and I had the most wonderful stuffed artichokes at a tiny restaurant called Piccolo's (Ha...) Salty, tangy, savory, and lovely in everyway- I hope you make these for someone you love too.

You will need:

6 Artichokes

2 Lemons

2 cups White wine

1 1/2 cups Bread-crumbs

1 1/2 cups Grated Parmesan cheese

6 Minced cloves of garlic

1 Bunch minced Parsley

1/2 cup Toasted pine nuts

6 (relatively thin) Pieces of cooked pancetta(omit if vegetarian)

1 4-ounce package of goat cheese

1/2 tsp. Crushed red pepper

1 Large bowl of water

Olive oil

3 tbs Butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

To start: Cut 1 of the lemons in half and squeeze the juice into the bowl of water, adding the lemon halves. Set aside.

Trim off the top and stem of the artichoke and cut the tops of the individual leaves to remove the prickly bit atop. Take a melon baller and scoop out the choke of the artichoke, or the tiny hairs that are directly in the middle of the vegetable. (You will remove inner leaves during this process and some purple thin leaves just before you get to the choke itself, but that's normal.) Rinse out the trimmed artichokes and place into the bowl of lemon water.

In a separate bowl, combine the bread crumbs, parmesan, garlic, parsley, toasted pine nuts, cooked pancetta, crumbled goat cheese, and red pepper flakes. Because of the parmesan and pancetta, you will probably not need to add salt to this, but you can adjust to your taste.

Drizzle in olive oil until this creates a paste that holds together well but is not overly mushy.

In a large pot with a lid, add the 2 cups of white wine and then the trimmed artichokes cut side up. Add enough of the lemon water they were sitting in to reach about 3/4 of the way up the artichokes. Salt the artichokes and bring to a boil with the lid on.

Cook these for about 30 minutes in a boil with the lid.

Remove them from the pot and stuff the inner part as well as the outer leaves with the reserved stuffing. Place them back into their cooking liquid to finish them off for about another 20 minutes with the lid on yet again.

When they're tender, turn off your stove and remove them to a broiler-safe baking dish. DO NOT DISCARD THE COOKING LIQUID. Sprinkle them with a small amount of parmesan cheese and place under the broiler to get crispy and just browned.

While they're browning, turn your attention to the cooking liquid which should be reduced drastically and extraordinarily tasty. Bring this to a simmer over medium heat and whisk in 3 tbs butter to finish the sauce.

Serve the artichokes hot with plenty of their sauce spooned over.

I hope you love these as much as my family does- and please share them with people who mean the most.

Happy Birthday sis! I love you!

Ratatat.

Ratatat. Ratatouille !

This was a dish that I made for my very first catering job, so I had to place my ever so guarded trust in Julia Child once more.

Ratatouille. A vegetable dish consisting of peppers, eggplant, zucchini, onions and tomatoes in an aromatic sauce that fills your house with smells of absolute love.

I sautéed each veggie in their own pad of butter, seasoning carefully with salt and pepper as I went along. I removed each vegetable before the next was added, repeating the steps.

Finally you get to the onions and peppers, when suddenly your house is smelling slightly like a smoking, sizzling fajita. Add the sliced tomatoes, and you're transported to another place, sofrito, delicious tantalizing aromas tickled my nose.

Assembling the dish was the artistic bit, layering upon layering of flavors and colors.

I wound up with fresh, colorful, firm but tender slices of vegetables that "met for a brief communal simmer" to lend each other a hand.

Here it is:

One word comes to mind:

Yum.

Side dish #2.

Okay, I love carrots. I love them raw, sautéed, roasted, broiled, stewed...you get it.

However, my favorite way to eat and cook them is when they're glazed.

Glazed carrots play on the natural sugar in the vegetable, creating a thick sauce with stock and herbs that delectably coat the carrot until they become irresistible.

I use chicken stock and tarragon with a pinch of sugar to make this recipe.

A pinch of red pepper flake gives it a surprising kick of spice.

Glazed Carrots

You will need:

1 bunch of carrots, sliced on a bias (assorted such as the kind I got from the farmers market, or not)

1/2 cup chicken stock

2 tbs butter

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp dried tarragon

Kosher salt and pepper

Place the carrots, chicken stock, butter, red pepper and sugar in a saute pan with a lid. Bring to a simmer with the lid on and let cook for about 5 minutes.

Take the lid off and let the liquid reduce to a syrup, still cooking the carrots, about 10 more minutes. When the carrots are still crisp and the glaze is coating each carrot, toss in the tarragon, salt and pepper.

Serve with fresh parsley and watch as everyone around you changes their favorite vegetable to carrots.

They'll thank you!

Farmers Market Side Dish 1.

U-Choy!

To be honest, I had no clue what this was. It looked like a flowering weed that someone had just picked on the side of the road, but a beautiful weed none the less.

It is a member of the Bok Choy family, and resembles Broccoli Rabe in texture and taste, but much more mild.

If I may put in a little self input- the stems are very tough and stringy, I would just remove them the next time I venture into this ingredient.

Now that I've warned you, you can experiment on your own! Maybe they would benefit from a long cooking time? We'll see!

I did this in a somewhat spanish style, with a small sofrito added in.

Sofrito is a browned mixture of aromatic vegetables and spices that adds a ton of flavor, very characteristic of latin and spanish cooking.

Sautéed U-Choy

You will need:

2 tbs oil

1 tomato, seeded, juiced, and diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, minced

1 teaspoon oregano (dried, fresh is very strong)

1 bunch U-Choy

1/2 cup good olive oil

A good amount of kosher salt and fresh pepper

Combine the tomato, bell pepper, onion, garlic and oregano and 2 tbs oil in a saute pan. Cook this for a while, about 20 minutes over low heat until the vegetables start to brown.

Add in the U-choy, 1/2 cup oil, salt and pepper. Raise the heat to medium and cook until vibrant green and tender, which takes a short amount of time, about 6 minutes total.

If you want you can take all the stems off, but experiment in your own way.

Enjoy!