#supperforone

[ablogbylen]

Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

Newest recipe is up on SupperForOne.com. :) This by far is my favorite recipe to date on Supper For One.  After a day in Orange County, my friend Daniel and I stopped at Whole Foods. I don't know if you have a Whole Foods in your area, but it's like food Disneyland to us. It's definitely the happiest foodie place on earth.  My only wish is that I lived closer to one (the closest one is 45 minutes away). Coming into the Fall season, Whole Foods reminded us that it was Squash season with so many different types of squash on display. This is an easy, flexible recipe. Squash isn't a dominant flavor so you have more room to add to it what you enjoy. Remember that cooking should be fun and you shouldn't be afraid to step out of your comfort. Experiment and have fun! Ingredients: 1 Medium Spaghetti Squash 2/3 Pound Ground Beef 1/3 Pound Ground Chorizo or Italian Sausage 2 Cups of Chopped Mushrooms 1 Bottle of Marinara Sauce 1/2 Diced Onion 1 Clove of Garlic 1 Chopped Red Pepper 1 Chopped Green Pepper Salt & Pepper Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (4 to 8 oz) Olive Oil Directions 1. Cut your squash in half lengthwise. Remove all the seeds. 2. Lightly brush some olive oil and season with salt and pepper. 3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and roast for 30-45 minutes (depending on your oven). 4. In a large saucepan, combine the ground beef and ground chorizo sausage and brown. 5. Add in onions, garlic, peppers and mushrooms. 6. Add in the bottle of your favorite marinara sauce. Feel free to season your sauce to taste. We went ahead and added in some Italian seasoning, basil and red pepper flakes. 7. When done, take off heat and put off to the side. 8. Take your Spaghetti Squash out of the oven and let it cool for about 5 to 10 minutes until it is cool enough to handle. 9. Take a fork and scrape your cooked squash to create the spaghetti noodle effect. 10. Top each half of the spaghetti squash with your finished sauce. 11. Top with Mozzarella cheese and put back in the oven for about 5 minutes to melt. 12. Serve with your favorite crusty bread and enjoy!

[whatgirlseat]

What I did here, was buy an avocado, a bag of spinach, some pine nuts and some ready-made crispy bacon. I wish I hadn't bought the ready-made crispy bacon. In fact, it can sod off. It tastes like feet. 

What I did, was wilt the spinach in a wee bit of olive oil, with some freshly grated nutmeg, ground black pepper and some amazing Fleur de Sel that my friend Micky brings back from France for me every time she goes. I'm sure they sell it here, but it tastes better that way. Then I chopped an avocado, put it with the spinach, toasted some pine nuts, then sprinkled over some of my delicious spiced seeds (pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds fried in a pan for 5 mins until popping with a tiny bit of olive oil and a tonne of cayenne and paprika). I should have stopped there, and not crumbled the foot bacon on top, but I didn't, because I was greedy. 

I still ate it all, because I am greedy, and other than the bacon it was bloody lovely. 

[whatgirlseat]

At the weekend, I think I can pretty much get away with eating whatever I want, because I normally only have two meals - a late breakfast, and a late lunch/early supper. Sometimes though, on a Sunday night in front of the telly, after an afternoon of  boozing, I need a little something but have no brain to cook anything,

Last Sunday I  had such a terrible hangover that I stood and stared at the shelves in Tesco for about 10 minutes, marvelling that one little packet of Supernoodles (which I really, really wanted but haven't allowed myself since uni) have about 500 calories, and then being very strong and opting for the soup and a packet of honey-roasted ham instead of bread. Weird, yes. Carb-free, also yes. I didn't dip my ham in the soup. Too far.

[whatgirlseat]

What happened here, was that I got a terrible cold, and needed all the vegetables in the world in order to cure myself, so went to Aryubi Express and bought all the good stuff - 2 fennel, 1 sweet red pepper, 1 aubergine, 1 head of broccoli, a knob of ginger, 1 bunch of coriander, a lemon and some Greek yoghurt. There's nothing more annoying than ill people who sit around going wah-wah-wah and not trying to actually do something about it. Do a steaming with some olbas oil. Drink hot lemon and honey. Eat a bag of clementines. Eat nothing but vegetables until it's gone. Put chilli flakes on everything to clear your bunged-up nose. 

So. I whacked the oven up to 220C and in it I put aubergine sliced into 1cm rounds which I had brushed with olive oil with a pastry brush and seasoned, straight on the grill pan. In a baking tray, I put the sweet red pepper (the long thin ones) in whole, and each fennel chopped up into about 8 chunks and put olive oil on and seasoned. 

While that was being blasted in the oven (I like things a bit burnt on the edges, or actually sometimes just fully carbon), I fried up some chilli flakes and the ginger chopped up very, very small. To that I added the broccoli which I had blanched, and fried it up. 

I made a yoghurty sauce by zesting the lemon into it, with a clove of garlic crushed in my amazing garlic crusher http://www.amazon.co.uk/GARLIC-Garlic-Twist/dp/B000173JMS , squeezing just a teensy bit of lemon on it. 

Then I piled it all up into the ridiculous big bowl-plate and drizzled the yoghurty sauce over it. It turned out that the sweet red pepper was in fact an incredibly hot Turkish chilli and I blew my head off, which was rather enjoyable actually. 

[whatgirlseat]

Last night we three went to The Times charity doodle auction to watch doodles by  Paul McCartney, George Osborne, Mo Farah, Grayson Perry et al be auctioned off, and the proceeds go to charity. If you look very carefully, and know who we are, you'll see us in the photo gallery here: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/visualarts/article3679328.ece  . If you look VERY carefully, you will see John Freida with his utterly fantastic hair, and Simon Cowell's brother. 

Got back home at about 9, to an empty fridge, and while in that situation normally I'd have a bottle of wine for supper, I was trying to be good and not drink. So I raided the freezer, and inadvertently pulled a bloody blinder. 

Boiled up some frozen broccoli and cauliflower (which I have a vague recollection of using on my horribly swollen ankle after a roller disco incident, so they may have been frozen and refrozen several times. Is that ok? I seem fine). On top, is Huevos Rancheros mixture which I had cleverly put in the freezer for times like this. Huevos Rancheros are another story, but it's basically  a spicy tomato/red pepper/chilli mix. On top of that is a poached egg, which I did my clever way (put the egg still in its shell in the boiling pan of water, count to a quick 20, then take it out, turn the water down to a simmer, and crack in - it'll just retain the perfect shape), and then lots of shavings of parmesan, and some cayenne pepper sprinkled on top.

Et voila! No-carb, veggie-heavy, and super delicious. And I was full. And managed to stay off the wine.