Sweet Potatoes with Bacon

Sometimes you need something fancy.  Risotto.  Yes, sometimes I need risotto.

Or bows on your clothes.  Or sexy shoes.  Maybe a night out on the town.

But sometimes you just need something cozy... jeans, warm socks, a comfy blanket.  Or sweet potatoes with bacon.  This is a cozy dish.  Like chicken noodle soup or mashed potatoes.  Cozy and easy.  Two adjectives that are perfect for these days that are getting shorter and energy levels that fall away as the sun goes down...

Pair it with chicken, eggs, or anything really.  It's one of those side dishes that might as well be the main dish. And honestly now, can you ever go wrong with bacon?  That's what I thought.

**Speaking of bacon, use any kind of bacon you want in this dish.  We are a turkey and beef bacon kind of family most of the time.  When using a lower-fat bacon, though, you will need to add some olive oil to the mix as there won't be as much fat to cook the potatoes.  Trader Joe's, as always, has a great selection of bacon.

SWEET POTATOES WITH BACON

Recipe adapted from Everyday Food, October 2011

SERVES 4 •  PREP TIME: 15 MINUTES  •  TOTAL TIME: 45 MINUTES

ingredients

• 2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
• 4 sliced bacon (see note above) + olive oil, if using non-pork bacon
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped sage
• sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  On a rimmed baking sheet, combine sweet potatoes, bacon, and sage; season with salt and pepper. Roast until sweet potatoes are browned in spots and tender when pierced with a knife and bacon is crisp, about 30 minutes, stirring halfway through.

                                                                                                         

COST: $4.99        COST PER SERVING (4): $2.25

Unprocessed    //    Gluten Free    //   Dairy Free

Butternut Squash Risotto

I had a moment with my food the other day.  You know the kind, right?  When you are like, This is what it is all about!  Yeah, that was me just a day or two back...

It all started with a drive through the Californian Central Valley.  Now, since I know you all are not Californians yourself, this might mean nothing to you.  So let me throw down some fun facts about California and our great valley in the middle:

• We have four main regions in California: the beach (to the West), mountains (to the East and some other places), dessert (in the southeast part of the state) and the Central Valley, right down the middle. (Can you tell I am a teacher of California history yet?  Ha!)
• The Central Valley produces half of the fruit and nuts consumed by Americans and one fourth of the vegetables.
• All of this food is grown on 1% of the farmland in America, showing how incredibly fertile the soil is.
• Chances are if you grab any of these, they came from California: tomatoes, almonds, grapes, apricots, or asparagus.
• Actually, 70% of the entire world's almond supply comes from right here.

// source //

So, as I was saying, it all started with a drive through the Central Valley.  Driving on down the back roads en route to our destination we passed fruit stand after fruit stand.  I wanted to stop so badly, yet I didn't have any cash on me so I figured I would just have to pass this moment by.  Until we drove past a large barn-like store.  Figuring they would accept a card, we flipped-a-U and headed on over. 

Strawberries, red cherries, yellow cherries, blueberries, apples, peaches, plums... so much to choose from!  But then in the corner I spotted some butternut squash, at 68 cents a pound.  

I love butternut squash.  Love.

I know it's a winter veggie (well, technically fruit, but ya know what I mean...) and I am not sure how it wound up on that shelf in 80 degree weather, at the end of May.  But it was there, the price was more-that-right, and I scooped it up, know exactly what I wanted to make with it: risotto.

Back on Valentine's Day this year I tried a butternut squash risotto recipe.  And it was... OK.  That's it.  Well, maybe OK-to-good, but it left a lot to desire.  This time I had the challenge to find the recipe.  The one that would be worthy of my out-of-season find.

Thank you to Lindsay at Love and Olive Oil for creating the perfect recipe.  Standing there in my kitchen, surrounded by freshly toasted pine nuts, a balsamic glaze I made, fried sage leaves, and a roasted butternut squash ready to be pureed and turn into risotto, I realized that this was one of the most gourmet meals I had ever made -- if not the most gourmet.  

And I loved it.  

What a moment, from the finding perfect produce at a hidden barn, to cooking up a dish worthy of a restaurant menu.  

Fresh, local ingredients.  Great food.  Grown by neighbors, put together by me, enjoyed by my husband and I.  THIS is what I was hoping to be able to do some day, back when I started this blog.  And here I am, doing it.  

Yes, this is what it is all about.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH RISOTTO

by Lindsay Landis at Love and Olive Oil 

SERVES 4  •  PREP TIME: 30 MINUTES  •  TOTAL TIME: 1 HOUR 30 MINUTES

ingredients

·        For Risotto:
1 small butternut squash
4 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1 cup arborio rice
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt and black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese, divided

·        For Garnishes:
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
8-10 fresh sage leaves
Balsamic Glaze

directions

      Recipe for butternut squash risotto by Love and Olive Oil

COST: $10.20     COST PER SERVING (4): $2.55

Tortellini with Butternut Squash, Sage, and Mushrooms

I am a lover of Summer.  Truly, I think I would be happy if I had Summer all year long...

Oh, wait.  I did that.  Living on the equator for a year (Palau and Ebeye) will give you that...

Ok, let me say that again.  I think I would be totally happy having Summer nine months a year.  That would leave one for Spring (and everything would be green), one for Winter (meaning I could get my hot chocolate fix for the year), and one for Fall (allowing us to have butternut squash and other lovely Fall veggies).  However, if I were the one in charge of such things (and all of life on planet Earth did not depend on the changing of seasons) I would spread them out so there would be three months of Summer between each one.

Perfect.

Butternut squash... oh man.  I didn't even know this stuff existed until last year.  Yes, you heard me correctly.  There were/are plenty of things I never really knew of.  Chalk it up to living off of boxed food and TV dinners 90% of my younger years.  My family single-handedly kept Kraft Foods afloat.

Thank goodness for Brazil, a masters class, and Jamie Oliver!  I kid you not, that guy and his Food Revolution timed themselves perfectly with my newlywed-trying-feed-her-Brazilian-husband-who-has-never-had-box-food-in-his-life phase as well as me being enrolled in 'Advanced Health Education'.  Good things come in threes, I have been told...

So now I know (and love) butternut squash.  And sage.  Have you ever smelled that before?!  Wowsers.  It's pretty amazing.  Mushrooms, those I did know, no worries ;)

October Unprocessed is this month, and for the second year I am participating.  I learned so much last year, and am hoping to do so again.  The truth is, though, that it is not that hard this time.  Why?  Because I am pretty much stuck to this diet throughout the last year.  But there is always room to grow...

Which lead me to reading every single ingredient on the pasta in Trader Joe's.  I know, I know.  There is no artificial anything in TJ's food.  But I was looking for what I consider "the next level".  What kind of flour did they make it with?  Any added sugars?  If so, what kind?  And lo and behold, I found out something wonderful.  The pastas are made with unbleached flour (unprocessed!) and raw cane sugar (unprocessed!), not to mention the salt is sea salt (unprocessed!).  Thank you, Trader Joe's!

Not only can I enjoy my favorite Fall veggie, but I can have it with tortellini.  My favorite!  I guess I can enjoy the season of Autumn now.  If only it was followed by Summer...

PS - If you have been following me, you have seen this recipe before.  TWICE.  I did it last year for October Unprocessed, repeated it again in January (with 'better' pictures), and am sharing it today because, well, the pictures are WAY better :)  If you are new to my blog, you are in for a treat!

Recipe from Real Simple, October 2011

Ingredients

• 1 small butternut squash (2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/2 pound button or cremini mushrooms, stems trimmed and halved if large
• 1/4 cup fresh sage leaves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• sea salt
• 1 pound fresh, UNPROCESSED tortellini
• 2 ounces fontina or Gruyère, grated (1/2 cup), plus more for serving (Or Parmesan.  They're all good!)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 450° F. On 2 rimmed baking sheets, toss the squash and mushrooms with the sage, oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Roast, tossing once and rotating pans halfway through, until the vegetables are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook the tortellini according to the package directions. Reserve ½ cup of the cooking water; drain the tortellini and return to the pot. Add the vegetables, fontina, ¼ cup of the cooking water, and ½ teaspoon salt and toss gently to coat (add more cooking water if the pasta seems dry). Sprinkle with additional cheese

COST: $8.26    COST PER SERVING (3): $2.75

Tortellini with Butternut Squash, Sage, & Mushrooms

There are some meals that are good enough to make once but not good enough to incorporate into your regular options.  Then there are some that are all around great that you can't get enough.  This is one of those meals. 

First of all, look at these ingredients!  (And notice my shameless plug for KitchenAid.  I love me some KitchenAid.)  Sage... oh sage.  The smell alone is enough to make you want to add this fuzzy little leaf to your food.  Mushrooms are one of natures healthiest foods, at least according to all those lists floating around the health magazines and websites.  And Butternut Squash, well, YUM.

The first time I made this meal I nearly chopped my thumb off.  Or maybe my hand.  But I have since learned the proper technique on how to chop up this bad boy and enjoy its flavor and nutrients in my life.  High in fiber, low in fat, full of nutrients that help keep strong bones and reduce the risk of serious illnesses... how can you go wrong with that? 

(You can read all about the health benefits of this amazing vitamin-packer HERE.)

Other than amazing ingredients, it is simple:  Cut, toss, cook, and mix.  The end.  And that simplicity comes out tasting, well, amazing.  Which would be why this has become one of my go-to meals.

Company for dinner?  Here we go.
Want something vegetarian?  And again, here we go.
Running low on time?  Here we...  well, you get the point.

(I know, I know, SO MANY pictures of it.  But look at those colors and tell me you would have resisted the urge to capture its beauty.  Uh-huh.  That's what I thought.)

Recipe from Real Simple, October 2011

Ingredients

• 1 small butternut squash (2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/2 pound button or cremini mushrooms, stems trimmed and halved if large
• 1/4 cup fresh sage leaves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 pound fresh or frozen cheese tortellini
• 2 ounces fontina or Gruyère, grated (1/2 cup), plus more for serving

Directions

1. Heat oven to 450° F. On 2 rimmed baking sheets, toss the squash and mushrooms with the sage, oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Roast, tossing once and rotating pans halfway through, until the vegetables are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook the tortellini according to the package directions. Reserve ½ cup of the cooking water; drain the tortellini and return to the pot. Add the vegetables, fontina, ¼ cup of the cooking water, and ½ teaspoon salt and toss gently to coat (add more cooking water if the pasta seems dry). Sprinkle with additional fontina.

COST: $16.00                 COST PER SERVING (4): $4.00