Chicken Night!

On November 1st, my tiny mini was having calendar time at preschool.  Her teacher asked the class, "It's November, does anyone know what holiday is in November?"  To which my tiny mini shouted, "Chicken Night!"

Or Turkey Day.  Close enough.

In the past, I have made a complete Thanksgiving dinner following the Pioneer Woman's recipes.  Her turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing recipes are to.die.for.  Seriously, if I were dying and could request you to make me one last meal, that would be it.  Of course, if you didn't have an entire day to cook that one last meal for me, I would settle for Cheez-Its, twizzlers, and a McDonald's Diet Coke.

This year my mom invited the McGhee family over for Thanksgiving.  And, while I would love to share all of her recipes with you, I can't.  Because my mom is one of those cooks that doesn't follow recipes, rather she just adds a little of "this" and a little of "that" along with a few sticks of butter and it tastes amazing.  

So the only Thanksgiving recipe I have to share with you today is a vegetable dish I have been making for years at Thanksgiving.  I only make this dish once a year, because it's one of those dishes that is really dessert disguised as a vegetable.  

Now, I saw that the week before Thanksgiving there was a "best-squash-ever" recipe floating around on pinterest.  Well, this is what I have to say about that.  I am over pinterest's "best _____ ever" recipes.  I have now tried at least 10 of them and have sadly discovered that they are all average, at best.  So, don't trust what you see on pinterest.  But, you can trust Heids McGhee.  If you're looking for a side dish that resembles a vegetable, but tastes like a dessert, here you go....

Squash casserole (I apologize to the source of this recipe. I have this saved on my computer from 7 years ago and can't track down where I got the recipe....I publicly admit that this deliciousness is not my own work).

• 1 butternut squash
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup butter, melted         

Topping

• 1/2 (16 ounce) package vanilla wafers, crushed
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup brown sugar

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

2.  Put butternut squash in the microwave and cook on high, until soft, 2 to 3 minutes. Cut in half, scoop out seeds and cube. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add squash and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and mash.

3.  In a 9x13 inch casserole dish combine 3 cups mashed butternut squash, white sugar, milk, vanilla extract, salt, flour, eggs and 1/4 cup melted margarine.

4.  Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until set.

5.  In a medium bowl combine crushed vanilla wafers, 1/2 cup melted margarine and brown sugar. Crumble over top of cooked casserole and return to oven to brown.

I feel at this point, there are a few things I need to address.  #1.  Yes, that is processed Nilla Wafers.  #2.  Yes, that is a heck of a lot of butter.  #3.  Yes, that is a heck of a lot of sugar.

In my defense, I warned you...this is more dessert than veggie.  And guess what?  Eating veggies that taste like dessert make people happy.  And isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about?  Isn't that how those suffering pilgrims were hoping we would celebrate their pilgrimage?

Here's your squash, softened and ready to be cut into cubes.  

 Boil the squash until tender.

Mix your ingredients.

Scrape out the squash....

....and mash.

Add your other ingredients to the squash.

Pour into a dish and bake.  

While squash is baking, run around like a chicken with your head cut off getting minis showered and into their coordinating outfits.  Mop the bathroom floor, since the middle mini forgot to close the curtain while showering.  Change tiny mini's outfit after she wipes pink toothpaste all over it.  Then, realize boy minis need to be changed too, in order to keep them all coordinating.  Question Mr. McGhee's time management skills (really?  an hour to pack some beer in the cooler?)  Pause to watch Macy's Day parade.  

At this point, your squash should be firm and done baking.  Prepare your topping and add to the squash.  Return to the oven for a few minutes.  I did all of this, I promise.  Somehow I managed to forget to take pictures of the finished squash.  I also have zero pictures of my minis from Thanksgiving day, which is actually a good thing because if I did, then you would realize I was lying about the coordinating outfits.  

Happy eating!

Walmart Apples

I did a little experiment the other day.  I stopped by this little farmers stand where I have been getting my produce lately to buy some apples.  I was ecstatic to see that they had honey crisp apples, which are our favorites.  Our farmers stand just so happens to be located in the Walmart parking lot.  And it dawned on me that Walmart sells apples too.  So, I ran inside Walmart to purchase a honey crisp apple.  And, I am sad to say, I did not have any people of Walmart moments on that trip, unlike the last time I was at Walmart and the check out girl showed me her hysterectomy scar.

I took the apples home and compared the two.  I was pretty shocked at what I saw.

(organic on the left, Walmart on the right)

(Organic on top, Walmart on the bottom).

My first thought when I compared these two is "what the heck is Sam Walton putting on his apples?"  Now, we all know that apples are on the top of the dirty dozen list because they contain the highest level of pesticides found in produce.  And guess what?  The apples are then dipped in wax to preserve their freshness...essentially, sealing in all those pesticides.  

Buy organic apples.  

Now this would be the perfect time to share my favorite apple recipe with you.  If I had a favorite apple recipe.  We eat ours straight up, so I don't have an apple recipe to share!

I'll make it up to you and share a recipe that contains my mini's two favorite foods, asparagus and bacon.  

Bacon Wrapped Carmalized Sesame Asparagus

• 1 bunch of asparagus, about 20-25 spears, stems removed
• 4 slices thick-cut bacon
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
• 1/2 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a wire rack on top. Spray the rack with nonstick spray. 

2.  In a small bowl, whisk together oils, brown sugar and garlic. Set aside.

3.  Bunch together 5-6 asparagus spears and tightly wrap a piece of bacon around the bundle. 

4.  Place on the wire rack seam-side down and repeat. Using a pastry brush, a spoon or even your hands (I did this…), brush the spears thoroughly with the oil/sugar mixture. Give each bundle a hefty sprinkle of sesame seeds. Roast for 35-40 minutes, or until bacon is crispy. Serve warm.

(I also read an adaptation on Pinterest that you can marinate the spears in italian dressing, wrap in bacon, and then bake).

Wrapped up and ready to bake.

 Finished baking and ready to be enjoyed.

These were delish.  We all loved them.  One of us preferred the bacon over the asparagus spears.  I won't name names, but it's the mini McGhee that wears pigtails and all things sparkly.

Autumn Meal

This weekend was gorgeous.  In fact, this was such a perfect weekend that autumn may be replacing summer as my favorite season.  Here's a few snapshots to show you why.....

Picture overload.  I know, sorry!  But, when your 9 year old mini tells you many times throughout the day that this is "the best day of my life", you want to document that day properly.  And I'm a blogger, so this is how I document things.  And I also encourage everyone to set aside a day and spend it outdoors  with your family.  The exercise (6 miles!), the fresh air, the unplugged-ness, the adventure....it's incredible!

And of course, you will be HUNGRY afterwards!  And naturally, the only meal suitable for the McGhees was a bowl of warm chili.  We had our chili with grilled cheese (colby-jack on Great Harvest honey wheat bread) and served with a side of sweet potatoes.

• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• Salt and Pepper to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees and position oven rack to middle position. Line the bottom of a large baking sheet with aluminum foil.

2.  In a medium sized bowl, place the prepared, cubed sweet potatoes, garlic, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, dried thyme. Distribute the ingredients evenly to cover the sweet potatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the sweet potato mixture to the prepared baking sheet and spread out the potatoes so that they are in a single layer.

3.  Roast in oven for about 40 minutes -OR- until the sweet potatoes can be easily pierced with a sharp knife. Set the oven to broil and broil until the tops of the sweet potatoes start to brown, about 8-10 minutes (keep an eye on the potatoes when broiling, as your time may differ and you want to take care not to burn them).

Cut up your potatoes.

Season your potatoes.

Arrange on a baking sheet in a single layer.

Bake until soft and then broil until browned.

These were delish.  Seriously, seriously tasty.  Everyone in my family loved them.  Everyone except for my middle mini, who hates sweet potatoes.  However, he did mange to eat his portion of sweet potatoes by pretending his was spiderman and using his web-powers to shoot the potatoes directly into his stomach.  And I kind of believe that he could be spiderman....

.....and in case you were wondering, he landed on his feet......