Butternut-Sage Beer Bread with Parmesan

One of the staples of the poor teacher's diet is bread.  But not any bread. Small servings need to be filling and satisfying, so you don't get fat again.

Beer bread is one of my go-tos.  It lets you cut things like eggs and oils and keep calories a bit lower than some of its cousins.

This savory loaf is great with stew, chili, or just slathered in butter. The squash is another bit from my Bloodnick's Farm gift, but also one came in my CSA this week.  The sage is from my mother's yard. For some reason it grows like weeds back there.

I recommend letting this cool completely, and saving it for a day before digging in.

1/2 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 Tbsp. baking powder (yes, Tablespoon)
12 oz. pumpkin ale (I used Shipyard's Pumpkinhead)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 Tbsp. fresh sage, chopped fine
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 cup mashed butternut squash (or acorn, or pumpkin-any winter squash will do)
1 Tbsp. garlic
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup quick oats
1 Tbsp. butter

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Use butter to thoroughly grease your bread loaf pan.
3. Combined everything else, except the flour and oats. Stir until completely mixed in.
4. Add flour and oat and cut in a bit.  Don't overdo it.  It should still mostly be dry.
5. Add 1 bottle (12 oz.) of beer.  It should froth up.
6. Stir just until you see no more dry.
7. Scoop into pan and spread out.
8. Bake 45-60 min, until top golden and passes toothpick test deeply. or internal temp is 210F.

12 slices is 145 calories a slice.

Butternut Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

The Bloodnicks are amazing people, and on a week when I was feeling my pennies pinch, they gave me a butternut squash literally the size of my head. I roasted it, and mashed it, and filled 2 large yogurt containers with it. I've eaten a lot mashed, but not my farm share has given me another, and some acorn squashes, so I need to finish this one up.

Enter the cookies.  This is another variation on the pumpkin oatmeal cookies. These fluffy, soft, lightly sweet and nutty cookies are delish.

1.5 oz. pecans, crushed
1/2 heaping cup butternut squash, mashed
6 Tbsp. salted butter, soft
1 cup quick oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. molasses
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Beat together egg, sugar, squash, and butter in a medium bowl.  It might look a bit curdled and that's fine.
3. Add in pecans, oats, molasses, and cinnamon and beat until combined.
4. Add in flour and beat until combined.
5. Scoop out in rounded globs onto parchment covered cookie sheets.
6. Bake 15-20 min. until browned on edges and no longer shiny.

Makes 14 cookies at 140 calories each.

4 Bean and Bacon Chili

I've got some tomatoes about to go off, and too many peppers and onions, so I decided it was chilli time.  The weather has been perfect for it, and I wanted something on the spicy side.

That being said, I'd like to take a moment to remind you that I love ghost pepper wings.  So, I recommend starting with half of all the hot stuff. Also, I really prefer dry beans, but if you used canned, remove all salt from the recipe and add to taste.

12 oz. tomatoes, diced
4 oz. red pepper, diced
2 oz. onion, diced
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1/4 cup dry navy beans
1/4 cup dry kidney beans
1/4 cup dry chickpeas
1/2 cup dry lentils
3 bay leaves
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. hot sauce
1 Tbsp. sriracha
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1/2 tsp. salt
4 sliced of thick cut, smoked bacon
1 tsp baking soda

1. In your pot, combine the beans, and just enough water to submerge about a 1/2 inch. I use my large saute pan.
2. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer.  Cook until beans start to get tender.
3. While your beans cook, fry up 4 pieces of bacon until almost crispy.
4. Drain and cool bacon.
5. Cut bacon into small pieces and set aside.
6. Add in tomato, pepper, onion, minced garlic, bay leaves, paprika, black pepper, half the salt, half the sugar, and cayenne.
7. Cook until reduced almost all of the way to chili texture.
8. Add hot sauce, sriracha, half the sugar, and the bacon.
9. Once the right consistency, taste test.  If it is bitter, add the baking soda 1/4 tsp. at a time, stirring in and tasting between until it's cut back.  Bitterness depends on tomatoes and peppers so it will vary.
10. If wanted, stir in remainder of sugar and salt. 

Makes 6 bowls at 150 calories a bowl

Onion Rosemary Flatbread

I needed a simple bread item for a thrown together party, and decided to just toss together some of the things I had in the house that I thought might taste good with vegetarian chilli.

I almost didn't want to take it.  I liked it that much.

1 cup plain, nonfat Greek yogurt
1 cup self-rising flour
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 oz. onion, sliced thin
Fresh rosemary
Salt
Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Combine flour and yogurt.  Flour a surface and knead until the texture of pizza dough.
3. Roll out. It doesn't have to be pretty.  Rough edges look cool. About 8x8 inch.
4. Drizzle with olive oil and rub around to coat like a pizza.
5. Layer onions.
6. Sprinkle with fresh rosemary, a bit of salt, and black pepper to taste.
7. Bake 10-15 minutes, until edges golden.

"Chicken" Soup with Arugula and Chickpeas

*cough*
*cough**cough**cough*
*cough**cough*
*cough*

Sorry about that.  It's cold season and I seem to have caught the plague from the student who refused to leave the classroom last week.  At least, he's the one I'm blaming.

I've got a freezer full of frozen stock/broth for just this reason.

Now, this soup is a vegetarian version, but I've included the subs.

4 cups vegetable broth OR chicken broth
11 oz. chickpeas, pre-cooked
1.5 oz. arugula, chopped up thin
2 quorn cutlets, diced OR 1 chicken breast, pre-cooked, diced
Salt to taste

1. First, it's important you know that that is 11 oz. after cooking dried beans. I recommend a heaping 1/2 cup of dry beans to cook.  You don't have to get perfect, just close.
2. In your medium soup pot, combine chickpeas, broth, and diced quorn.  Bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add in chopped arugula and wilt, about 1 minute.
4. Add salt to taste.

Makes 6 servings at 100 calories a serving.