Roasted Baby Pumpkins stuffed with Maple Roasted Apple, Carrot and Beet Quinoa with Fried Sage Leaves

Just a few examples of things you can use to stuff your pumpkin.

Lil tip: Smaller pie pumpkins are sweeter than the larger ones and one is plenty for two people.

Cut your pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds. Put them cut side down in a glass dish filled with a little canola oil.

Roast at 350 for about 40 mins, until soft but not squishy.

Pull the seeds away from the pulp and place in a colander. Spray with warm water to rinse off the remainder of the pulp.

Spread them out on a cookie sheet, spray with olive oil and S&P. Sometimes I mix it up with garlic salt, paprika, cumin...whatever. I love em n put em on everything.

Lil tip:

I put my olive oil in a little dollar store squirt bottle that way I can control how much I'm using.

Roast at 350 for about 10 mins.

 Put few tablespoons of butter into a glass dish and melt in the oven.

 Dice up your apples, carrots and beets. (In this case I had some leftover roasted beets, so I just see those and threw them in at the end)

 Toss them with the melted butter. Then add some maple syrup, nutmeg, cardamom and a little sea salt.

Roast at 350 for 20-30 mins.

Next, make the quinoa. I start by dry roasting 1 cup of quinoa in a DRY pan while constantly stirring until you get a nice nutty aroma, about 2 minutes. Then add 2 cups of water, stir and bring to a boil. Then turn the heat down, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. When it's done, fluff with fork.

Melt some real butter and add your sage leaves to the pan. Let em fry til crispy then dry on a paper towel.

Add some cannelini beans to the quinoa.

When your apples, etc are done, toss them in with the quinoa.

Sprinkle some S&P onto your pumpkin halves and then fill with the Quinoa mixture.

Top with pumpkin seeds and sage leaves and serve.

I also cooked up some chicken apple sausage with cumin seeds and put it on top. You could add anything, really.

Crab Cheese Wontons!!!

CRAB CHEESE WONTONS!!!!

OMG, these are so frickin good, you'll lose your whole mind! I first made these several years ago and get requests for them all the time. I don't make them very often since they're not exactly up there on the nutrition charts but hey, you only live once, and it's OK to get dirty every know n then.

I like to make the filling in the morning or even the night before to get the flavors all intermingled and that way it's a nice solid clump in the center of your wrapper making it less likely to seep out when you fry em.

Start off with a big bowl filled with your softened cream cheese. I get the whipped kind so it's that much easier to work with and let it sit out at room temp til it gets nice n soft.







Now, I'd like to say that I always use fresh lump crab meat but it's not always in the cards, so although I'm not exactly confident in the contents of imitation crab, you'll never notice.









Next, for my secret ingredient.... Lemon Zest!!!
Makes all the difference in the world, and I use a lot of it!
I love getting a little lemony zing when the yummy dipping sauce meets the crispy wonton in my mouth...mm mmm!

Next, add a the juice from that whole lemon, some soy sauce and your spices. Stir that all up real good, your gonna need a sturdy spoon or even a large serving fork to get everything all mashed together and the crab shredded. It's pretty stiff even though you softened the cheese.

This recipe is very loose as far as the amount off each spice added, simply because...I never measure anything. I go purely by taste for most things, so just tweak it til you like it! I like mine to have a little kick but feel free to experiment and see what you like. Once it's all mixed up, cover and refrigerate until it's time to make the wontons.

 If you set yourself up a little work space, this is going to go much smoother. Make room for your bowl, a little mat or cutting board, a little bowl of water (for moistening the edges of your wonton skins), and a plate for the finished product. Start adding a little dollop of filling to the center of each skin, I used round ones this time, but have had great success experimenting with the small and large squares as well. Don't add too much or it'll just squish out the sides when you pinch it together. Once you do a few of em, you'll figure it out.

Dip your finger in the water and swipe it around the edge of one side

Fold each skin in half and pinch around the edges. After you have a good seam, hold them upright and kind of pat them down on the mat so that they stand up on their own, seam facing up. You can just leave them on their side too, I just like the way they look when you stand em up.

And here you have a whole heap of goodness all ready to go! If you're not going to cook them right away, put em in the fridge so they don't become loose.

This recipe makes around 3 dozen wontons, but sometimes I double it up and freeze some for later.

Now heat up your oil, about 1/4 cup should do.  I use canola oil for things like this since it has a higher smoking temp, you're a lot less likely to burn them that way. 

It's hot enough when a little splash of water dances on top of the oil. Gently place your wontons in the pan one by one, being careful not to overcrowd. Flip them once they start to turn a nice golden brown, then place on a paper towel to drain.

Yum!! Crispy goodness! A little dark this time, but delicious, none the less.

CRAB CHEESE WONTONS!!

8 oz Whipped Plain Cream Cheese
8 oz Imitation Crab Meat (I think "legs" shred the best)
Zest of 1 Lemon or more
Juice of said lemon
1 Green Onion, chopped
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Fresh Ginger, minced
Cayenne Pepper
Chinese 5 Spice
1 TB or so Soy Sauce
Toasted sesame Seeds
S&P

Sesame Soy and Wasabi Cream Sauces

As far as the sauces go, I'm a dipper. I like variety and these 2 sauces go awesome together. Again, no measurements here, just toss it all together and season to taste.

Sesame Soy Dipping Sauce

2 parts Soy Sauce
1 part Sesame Oil
A little Balsamic if you have it
Some honey to thicken and sweeten
Sesame Seeds (I grind mine in a nifty lil grinder that I'll show u later)
Red Chili Flakes
Chinese 5 Spice Seasoning
Fresh Ginger
S&P

Wasabi Cream Sauce

A.K.A. the best thing in the world

2 parts Sour Cream or Nonfat Plain Greek Yogurt

1 part Mayo

Wasabi Paste or Powder

Lemon Juice

Splash of Soy Sauce

S&P

If using Wasabi Powder, mix a tiny bit in warm water and add slowly until it's the temperature that you (and anyone else eating) can handle. It will intensify if you refrigerate it but you can always dull it down if you make it too hot with a little more Sour Cream.
If using paste, just add it straight, bit by bit to cream mixture.

I dare you not to devour these, they kick ass!

Sticky Hoisin Chicken Thighs

Sticky Hoisin Chicken with Raw Zucchini Ginger Salad and Brown Rice

This is so quick and easy to prepare, the chicken is super yummy and sticky and your guests will love it!

This dish is a family favorite around my house! The sticky thighs and gooey rice are a party on your plate!

I always use chicken thighs for this recipe, they're quick to grill, cook evenly and the dark meat really marries happily with the sticky hoisin sauce!

INGREDIENTS:

8-10 Boneless Chicken Thighs (about 3 pounds)

2-3 Green Onions

1 Cup Fresh Cilantro 

For the Marinade:

1 Cup Hoisin Sauce

1 Cup BBQ Sauce

1/2 Teriyaki Sauce 

1/8 Cup Fish Sauce (optional)

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1 tsp Fresh Grated Ginger

2 TB Sesame Seeds

1/4 tsp Crushed Red Pepper

S&P

No need to spend big bucks on the sauces for the marinade. I always stock up on store brand or generic sauces to use as a filler, you get the bulk of the flavor from the hoisin!

Whisk the sauces and brown sugar together in a medium sized bowl, then stir in the ginger, sesame seeds, red pepper and S&P. Pour the majority of the marinade over the chicken thighs in a large shallow dish, stirring them to be sure all of the meat is covered. Reserve the rest of the marinade for basting the thighs while grilling. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes while you prepare the zuc salad. 

The chicken thighs, when marinated, will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.

		This fresh and light zucchini salad is a hit on it's own and a great way to sneak in some raw veggies into your loved one's diet, they won't even notice ;)
	Here's a lil tip: Ginger is actually really easy to peel. Just use a knife or even the edge of a spoon and scrape back the skin from the "meat". It's better than cutting it off and wasting precious ginger.	This stuff rules! You can get it at Whole Foods, Sprouts and specialty shops. I use it on everything and it's a great substitution for fresh ginger or if you'd just like a different texture.

Zuc Salad:

2 Zucchini or Yellow Squash (cubed)

1 TB Fresh Grated Ginger

1 1/2 tsp Whole Cumin Seed

1/2 tsp Caraway Seed

1/2 tsp Curry Powder

1 TB Olive Oil

S&P

Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl and place in the fridge while you cook the chicken and rice, this will give the flavors a chance to mingle and the result will be a bright, zesty, flavor packed dish!

 For the Rice:

1 Cup Brown Basmati Rice

1/2 Cup Teriyaki Sauce

S&P

Cook rice as directed then stir in Teriyaki sauce and S&P to taste.

Toss lightly with zuc salad just before serving.

Grilling is by far, the best way to cook up these thighs! It leaves them tender and juicy with crunchy, slightly charred bits around the edges...my favorite part!!

FIRE UP THE GRILL!

Grill your thighs for 5 mins or so on each side, basting towards the end to get a nice caramelized crunch!

Plate it up!!

Place crispy chicken thighs on a bed of rice and zucs, garnish with sliced green onions, sesame seeds and cilantro!

OK....now I'm hungry!!

Here's a simpler version just served with corn and grilled asparagus, it's super easy!

Thanks for checkin out my chicken!! 

Westword Dish 2013

We dined under the dancin dudes!

So, for no real reason, I've been entering a lot of contests lately. Clicking on those things that say "enter to win" or filling out a survey or whatever, just to see what happens. And it actually worked! Pretty quickly too. I entered a contest on the Cafe Society blog on Westword.com to win tickets to this year's Westword Dish, they asked "What do you think has been the best development in Denver's dining scene in the last 20 years?", and they liked my answer. I said

"Wow, 20 years, that's hard. There have been so many exciting developments in the food world from food trucks to craft beer to social media, just in the past decade alone. But I think the best thing would have to be the overall community spirit that I never remember seeing before, maybe because we never had the means until now. People as a whole seem really involved in where their food comes from and sharing great finds with the masses. The food network is every expanding and folks LOVE to talk about it, myself included. I'm super excited to see where we'll be in 20 more years!"

And they liked it! I've been wanting to go to Dish for the past few years but just haven't made it. It's a gathering of all of Westword's favorite restaurants in one place, the winner's of Best of Denver 2013. With good beer, wine and cocktails flowin, over 40 restaurants and food trucks handing out samples of their delights...what's not to like?

This year they held it outside in the sculpture park at DCPA. A fine spot for a gathering. As we arrived (starving, mind you), we could smell the enticing aromas wafting in our direction from dozens of sources. Where to start? Beer sounds good. We made our way over to one of the many Oskar Blues Brewery tents and got ourselves a cold one then meandered around the grassy field.

I guess it's best to just start out at one end and make your way around. I recommend bringing a tote for all of the free swag you accumulate, bring a koozie too and a blanket wouldn't hurt either. In fact, I think next year I'll bring along a picnic blanket and set us up a little home base to return to so we have a spot to chill and let it all settle a bit before goin back for more. It's definitely a food fest, free-for-all and manners go right out the window after the first few stops, just chow down while waiting in line for your next fix and make room for more.

Meatloaf and mashed potato sliders from Stoney's

Each vendor has samples from their regular menu, anywhere from bite-size nuggets to full on sandwiches (thanks Trillium!) who served up an awesome chicken salad on a small hoagie roll. Delicious! But probably not the best way to start since we chowed that down then had 39 more samples to go, c'est la vie!

The cutest lil Pink Tank girl servin up some killer waffles!

We tried everything from an amazing waffle from Pink Tank (Best Food Truck 2013) with bacon on top, drizzled with caramel and hot sauce, which was just awesome, to an incredible cuban sandwich from Fooducopia's Corner Store, which was my first time hearing of them, but I will now make my way to see them in Wash Park because it was sooo good! Probably my favorite thing of the day.
 

The Hornet's Bread Pudding was pretty stellar

as well as a perfectly cooked Green Chili Slider from the Slider Shack 303. It was awesome and I can't wait to try more of their menu.

Slider Shack 303

I was excited to try Tin Star Smokehouse which recently opened in Golden, because ever since our trip to Louis Mueller's BBQ near Austin, we've been chasin that tender-meated dragon all over the country and I heard that Tin Star may be just the ticket. We had a small sampling of their brisket on a bun and I have to say, their sauce was pretty awesome and their pickles perfect, definitely worth the trip to go see what the rest of their menu is about and if their brisket's the ticket!

Stacy D. serving up some good ole BBQ!!

Central Bistro served up some homemade sausage

The line was so long for Nile Ethiopian that we never did get to try it, but it looked amazing!!

Mmmm...just look at all that Ethiopian goodness!

 There were a few beverage pairings as well, although by the time we got to that side, we were pretty stuffed, we did try some iced coffee though and it was awesome.

Food Truck lineup

Chuburger from Oskar Blues in Longmont had some tummy burgers and fries to go with their brews

If you see this in your rear-view mirror, pull over!

The nice girls at Patxi's Pizza even handed out free tees to go with their yummy deep-dish pesto pie!

We heard everything from Britney to Justin...not nearly as diverse as his shoulder pads

 Over all, it was a pretty great event. Think I'll go again next year now that I know how to arm myself for a perfect day, blanket, backpack for swag, koozie...check!

We run into my old friend, Andrew Novick at least once a week, like he said, "Where there's food, you'll find me!"

This is what full looks like

 Until next time, fellow foodies! .......... :)