Caprese Empanadas

Empanadas have got to be one of the greatest foods on the planet.  I mean really- what's better than a no-fork-required doughy treat with a surprise filling? I rest my case.

I expected this to be one of the recipes I had to sell to the Kef crowd--but I was surprised by how quick and easy this recipe turned out to be. I made the sad mistake of burning mine, so be careful in the final baking stage not to overcook. The dough is paleo-approved (the cheesy filling decidedly not so), and the great news is you can fill these guys with just about anything you like for a great result.

Have a great weekend!

Caprese Empanadas
Ingredients

For the Dough

• 1.5 c unsweetened shredded coconut flakes
• 1 c almond meal
• 1/2 c arrowroot powder (I know...I know. I didn't have it in my kitchen, either)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 TBS apple cider vinegar (lemon juice would be a good sub here)
• 1 TBS watered
• oil of your choice for brushing empanadas

--
For the Filling

• 10 cherry tomatoes
• 5 oz mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup basil
• tomato sauce for dipping (optional)

Assembly
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grind the almond meal and coconut into a fine powder using a food processor.  Scrape the bottom and sides of processor bowl and grind again for about 2 more minutes.

2. Add arrowroot and salt to processor and mix again until combined. Add eggs and vinegar and mix in processor again until a cohesive dough forms--mine actually formed itself into a lovely dough ball. If necessary, add water 1 TBS at a time (I needed 1 TBS to get all the dough together). 

3. Gather the dough into a firm ball. Generously dust a sheet of wax paper with arrowroot powder and roll the ball in it to dust all sides. Place another sheet of wax paper on top and roll out to 1/8-inch thick (I was at BFKef's and used a wine bottle...make do with whatcha got). Use anything hard, round, and about 6 inches in diameter (I used a small Tupperware) to cut out 5-6 empanadas. You will probably have to cut a few, reform the ball and roll out two or three times in total to use all the dough.  Place your circles on an ungreased baking sheet.

4. To make the filling, finely dice and mix the basil, cheese, and tomatoes. Place on each circle 1-1.5 TBS  of filling --RESIST THE URGE TO OVERFILL. Fold in half and "crimp" the ends together to seal the empanada. Crimping an empanada requires about the same skill level as crimping your hair -- just get to scrunching. Once sealed, brush generously with oil.

5. Bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of your empanadas. To brown them, turn the oven to "broil" for the last two minutes--BUT BE SURE TO WATCH LIKE A HAWK. I left mine for about 30 seconds too long and nearly ruined the whole shebang. Let cool and enjoy! If you'd like, use a tomato sauce for dipping.

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Eggplant Rolldakia

There is nothing in this world as relaxing to me as an afternoon in the kitchen. Luckily, I found some time during this crazy week to throw open the windows, enjoy the 55 degree weather, blast the Erykah Badu Pandora station (if you don't know, now you know), and tinker about with some potential additions to the Greek Easter line up.

I loved making these eggplant rolldakia (alternate Kef name "Egg(plant) Rolls," but the Greek won out over the pun this time). The inspiration came from this vegan version, but I had to cheese mine way up.

Eggplant Rolldakia

Ingredients

• 1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce (my money is on smoky marinara)
• 3 medium-large eggplant (length more important than girth in this case)
• salt to sprinkle
• olive oil
• 30 oz ricotta cheese
• 8-12 oz feta, depending on how feta-y you like your filling to taste
• 1/2 c grated romano (or parmesan if you are working with a nurse's budget, like me)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 c minced basil
• 4-5 cloves minced garlic

Assembly

1. Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease rimmed 2-3 baking pans and let them heat up in the oven as it preheats. Put ricotta cheese in a strainer to get rid of excess liquid. Wash eggplant, chop off the stems. Slice eggplants vertically into thin strips, aiming for slices that are 1/2 inch thick or less. I found that I did a crappy job on the first one but had the skill honed by the third eggplant--so learning curve ain't a steep one. Lay slices on clean dish towels or paper towels, sprinkle fairly generously with salt and let sit for 15 minutes or so--you will see the excess water come to top of each slice.

2. As the eggplant slices sit in salt, stir in a bowl until combined the ricotta, feta, romano, egg, and basil. 

3. Wipe off the moisture from the top of the slices. Arrange slices in a single layer on the hot pans--they will probably not all fit in one round. Cook in oven until slightly browned on bottom, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook another 4-5 minutes more so other side browns as well. Once both sides are slightly browned, take off pan and let cool. Repeat until you've gone through all the slices.

4. As you work through browning all the slices, start filling the cooled eggplant with cheese. Put 1-1.5 TBS of filling at one end of a slice and roll tightly, finishing with the seam down. Repeat until either filling or slices run out (I had some extra filling left over).

5. Arrange on a rimmed baking sheet (no need to regrease). Don't let them touch, but the rolls can be very close together. Mine fit on one large pan. Distribute tomato sauce among rolls, spreading it between and over them.

6. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Rolldakia are done when the eggplant look more brown than white--sorry that is the best way I can describe it. If you take them out and they are not easily sliced with a knife, they are not done.

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Sweet 'n' Salty Almond Butter Cups

In the words of my dear friend GingerKef, "Wowowowowowowowowowow!" 

I've been eyeing all the iterations of homemade Reese's cups out there on the interwebs, but none have been exactly sugar-free--the recipes I've seen have called for some kind sugar for either the nut butter or the chocolate shell. That ends now.

I played around with these puppies last night, and was amazed to find how easy they really are.  BF Kef was HUGE fan and promptly enjoyed two of these fancy little treats. They're a little sweet, a little salty, and a delicious replacement for any Reese's lover.

You'll have lots of almond butter left over--keep it in a container at room temp and enjoy it on apples, bananas, toast, and everything else on which almond butter is awesome.


Ingredients

• 2 c slivered almonds
• 2 c unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4-1/2 tsp salt
• 10oz bag of unsweetened carob chip (or dark chocolate over 50% if you prefer)

Assembly
1. Preheat oven to 350. Put an ungreased cupcake tin in the freezer.
2. Spread almonds out on a rimmed baking pan. Roast in oven for 10 minutes, until lightly browned.
3. While almonds roast, put coconut and in a food processor. Blend until buttery, which will take about 10 minutes. About half way through, add the vanilla extract to keep the mixer moving.
4. Once roasted, let almonds cool for 2-3 minutes, then add the nuts, 1/4 c of the carob chips and salt to the coconut/vanilla mix in food processor. Blend until the mixture resembles a loose nut butter. Check for taste, and add another 1/4 c of carob chips if you feel so inclined. Set aside.
5. Heat a deep pot of water to a low boil. Remove cupcake tin from freeze. Place remaining carob chips in a handheld pot small enough to hold over the boiling water.  Stirring very frequently, place the small pot over the hot water (but try to keep bottom from touching water) and allow carob to melt. This will take 3-5 minutes. 
6. Using a spatula, divide the carob between each cupcake hole--each one should get enough to cover the bottom completely. Move quickly so the carob does not re-harden (if it starts to get firm again, put back over the boiling water for a few seconds and stir). It will not be pretty. Then, use the back of a metal spoon to smooth out the melted carob and push some up the sides of the tin. Again--it will not be pretty, just do what you can.
7. Add about 1 TBS of almond butter to each cupcake holder and smooth. We liked these without a top layer of carob--but if you have any left over, go ahead and pour it over the almond butter to make a final layer of "chocolate." Put cupcake tin back in freezer for 15-30 minutes. Once frozen, remove from cupcake forms and let come to room temperature before enjoying.

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Paulatimi's Fabulous Fudge

My mother has been known to bake dozens of Christmas cookies each year.  No--not a few dozen chocolate chip cookies... dozens of KINDS of cookies. Monster cookies, peanut butter surprise cookies, oatmeal raisin, white-chocolate cranberry, Linzer, sugar, gingerbread... the list goes on.

Paula's famous party platter--no one goes home with one!
Fudge is those tan squares with red/green M&Ms.

But none are as good as her famous no-bake M&M fudge. This is definitively NOT sugar free-- in fact, it falls into the same sickly sweet category as my other favorite seasonal treats (candy corn and Peeps--don't judge me), but I fall for it everytime. My advice? Cut small and make sure you have reinforcements to help you eat!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups of sugar
• 3/4 cup butter 2/3 cup (5 1/3 oz) evaporated milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 1 jar (7oz) marshallow fluff
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups m&m's plain (use colors for an easy themed dessert--MamaKef uses red and green at Christmas, I use team colors for the Super Bowl, etc)

Assembly

1. Combine sugar, butter, milk, and salt in heavy 3 qt sausepan; bring to full rolling boil over high heat, STIRRING CONSTANTLY with a wooden spoon.  Continue boiling over med heat 5 min stirring constantly. 2. Remove from heat; stir in peanut butter until melted.
3. Add marshmallow fluff; mix until blended. Fold in M&Ms; immediately spread into greased 13 x9 inch baking pan.
4. Cool at room temperature; cut into squares.
Makes one 13x9 inch pan of fudge (about 3 lbs).

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Pan Dulce

 I love making bread.  This is a new recipe to the Kef repertoire--a Mexican treat just sweet enough to be considered a sweet bread, which makes it a great addition to any brunch.  I used this recipe for inspiration and added some orange for flavor. Enjoy!

Ingredients
-- 1/4 c warm water
-- 2 1/2 tsp instant yeast (1 Fleishmann's pack)
-- 2/3 c warm whole milk
-- 4 large eggs
-- 2 tsp Grand Marnier (or vanilla extract)
-- zest of one orange
-- 2 tsp cinnamon
-- 3/4 teaspoon salt
-- 2/3 cup sugar
-- 4 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
-- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into small pieces
-----
-- 3/4 c unbleached all-purpose flour
-- 3/4 c confectioners sugar
-- 4 TBS unsalted butter, room temperature and separated into TBS
-- 1 large egg
-- 2 TBS whole milk
-- 1 TBS pure vanilla extract
-- 1 TBS ground cinnamon


Assembly:
1. Combine the warm water, yeast, milk, eggs, Grand Marnier, zest, cinnamon, salt and sugar in a standing mixer with paddle attachment. Throw in 1 cup of flour, beat until combined and smooth. Mix in another cup of flour and then the butter, mix until incorporated. Half a cup at a time, add an additional two cups of flour (so you have now used 4 cups total--the dough will be very sticky). Leave the dough to rest for 5 minutes.
2. Cover your hands and work surface in flour (I just use a big cutting board). Knead the dough for five minutes, adding 1 TBS of flour at a time as it gets sticky--basically, you are pushing/pulling the dough like a Brooklyn pizza maker and adding 1 TBS of flour at a time to prevent stickiness. The flour is JUST to prevent sticking, so don't give in to the temptation to throw tons more flour in there. You're done when the dough is soft and only a little sticky.   
3. Make the dough into a ball and put it in a large bowl (lightly greased with oil, butter, or Pam) and turn it over once to very lightly coat with grease. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place for one hour so the dough can rise.
4. Put the dough back on your floured surface (save your plastic wrap--you can reuse it). Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into quarters. Then make four more pieces out of each quarter--so you now have 16 pieces. Roll each of these into a smooth ball. Put each ball on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, a few inches apart. 
5. With the same sharp knife, cut three slits into the top of each ball--I tried varying depths and they all worked out fine--I liked the look of the deep (but not all the way through) cut best. 
6. Cover each tray with lightly-greased plastic wrap (grease side-down, natch). Let the dough rise for another hour.
7. Make your topping-- combine the flour, confectioners sugar, butter, egg, milk, vanilla and cinnamon in a mixing bowl until smooth. Put one TBS of mix on each bun--it will not look pretty but that is a-okay. The heat of baking smooths it out. Allow the buns to rise for ANOTHER 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 375 when you have ten minutes to go.
8. Bake at 375or 18-24 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool before serving.

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Occupy the Grocery Store: Slow Cooker Mustard Brussels Sprouts

Last week I did something crazy--I met up with some friends the night before I had to work and stayed out until 10:30 PM, which is WAY past bedtime. The resulting "Nurses Gone Wild" video should be released in time for Christmas delivery.

But seriously--it was getting late and I had nothing to eat for lunch during the 12.5 hour shift the next day. Not wanting to brave the hospital cafeteria, I peered into my refrigerator and came up with... a bag of brussels sprouts.

Without time to DO anything with said brussels sprouts (btw: did everyone else know that it's brusselS sprouts, not bussel sprouts?)--a quick google search popped up with a very short slow-cooker recipe for mustard sprouts.  If ever a recipe towed the line between absolutely delightful and dreadfully terrible, this was it  Three minutes, six ingredients, and a few too-short hours of sleep later, I woke up to the most delicious smell in my kitchen and a yummy lunch that earned the envy of most of the break room.

Don't like the lighting? You wake up at 515 am and see
how much natural light your kitchen gets. 

Slow Cooker Mustard Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients

• 1 lb brussel sprouts (1 16oz bag), washed
• 3 TBS oil
• 1 TBS dijon mustard (some mustards have sugar in them--check ingredients if you care)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 washed sweet potato, skin still on (optional--I just need more to eat!)

Assembly
1. Wash the sprouts. Chop off the small stem at the bottom, and then halve them.
2. Throw everything in the slow cooker.
3. Heat on low overnight. The ones that are right against the walls will get a little crispy, and that is great.
4. If you used a sweet potato, it will be so soft you can just mash it up and use as a base for the dish.

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Chocolate Chestnut Pie

Chestnuts and figgy pudding are two of a kind. Everyone sings about them, but no one actually eats them. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.

Luckily for chestnuts, Thanksgiving at the Kef Household lets them shine once a year--MamaKef has always loved adding chestnuts to her stuffing (though I'm sad to report I have yet to see her roast them over an open fire).  This year, we also threw some chestnuts over our roasted sweet potatoes to a spectacular result.  And this got the Kefwheels turning...

What else can we do with these creamy, delicious treats?

What we have today is a subtle, rich pie that ups the ante and will ensure that chestnuts get more respect than just a passing Carol reference.  A more sophisticated version of a diner chocolate mousse pie, it's sure to please anyone who makes it to your holiday buffet.  It is most definitely not a traditional pie--but I'll bet it comes back year after year, anyway.

Sorry, figgy pudding-- maybe someone will actually eat you next year.

I adapted this recipe, whose pictures are nicer.

Ingredients

     --1 can (15 oz) chestnut puree

     --1 bag (9 oz) unsweetened carob chips (if you want to use chocolate, use dark)

     --1 and 3/4 sticks of butter (room temperature), cut into small pieces 

     -- 2 TBS whiskey, cognac, or dark rum
-------------
 --1 c almond meal
--1/2 c coconut flour
--1/2 c carob powder (or cocoa powder)
-- 1 tsp baking soda
-- 2 eggs, beaten
-- 1/8 c honey or maple syrup (more or less, to taste?
-- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-- 3 TBS butter, cu into small pieces and softened to room temp 
--OR baked pie crust of choice (Try this pistachio crust)

Assembly
1. For the crust: if you're using your own crust, assemble and bake as directed. Otherwise, preheat oven to 325.  For the sugar-free, gluten-free cookie crust, combine both flours, carob/cocoa powder, and baking soda. Mix well. Add the wet ingredients except the butter and mix until combined. Then add the butter in small pieces, kneading with your fingers until you have a cohesive dough.

2. Press the dough into a buttered pie pan to form the crust. If you don't need all of the dough, use the extra to make cookies- you can use that for a topping. Use a fork to poke holes all over the crust and bake for 9-10 minutes, or until middle is set. Do not overcook- the dough is very dark so it will be hard to tell that it's burnt! Remove from oven and let cool completely.

3. To make the filling, fill a large sauce pan 2/3 full with water and heat over med-high.  Put the carob chips in a small metal bowl or smaller pot and hold over the heated water (but don't let bottom touch water or chips will burn).  Stir constantly to spread heat evenly.  

4. Once melted,  remove from heat and mix in butter, a piece or two at a time, so that it melts into the mixture.

5. Add chestnut puree and mix until combined.  Add vanilla and liquor. Taste mixture and if desired, add more vanilla to sweeten.

6. Pour mixture into pre-made crust and cool in fridge for at least 4 hours (overnight if you have the time).  Use a spatula to even out the top (which I clearly did not do in the above picture).

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Sweet Potato Ricotta Gnocchi with Pumpkin Cream Sauce

Queijo Kef and I will always have Fall.  The birthdays, the pumpkin, the scarves... it's enough to make two working women spend all day emailing each other delicious-looking pumpkin-themed treats. Oh wait...

A few weeks ago, these sweet potato and ricotta gnocchi were the object of our 9-to-5 distraction.  I have always wanted to toss my hat into the ring of gnocchi-building and, cheered by Queijo Kef's enthusiasm, these seemed like the place to start. 

I followed this recipe for the gnocchi themselves, and then doctored up the sauce to include (what else?) PUMPKIN!

And finally--one of the most valuable culinary lessons was bestowed on to me many moons ago when I was just Kefaki, and I shall now bestow it unto you.  The "gn" makes a sound very similar to the "ny" in Kenya-- so this word is pronouned "nyoki." No hard "g." Pass it on.

Sweet Potato Ricotta Gnocchi with Pumpkin Cream Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 lbs sweet potatoes
• 1 egg yolk
• 2/3 cup whole milk ricotta, drained
• 1-1 ½ cups flour (I used all-purpose GF. You do you.), separated into 1/2 c and two 1/4 c portions
• 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

----

• 1/2 c coconut milk
• 1 c heavy cream
• 1/2 c pureed pumpkin (Libby's is the best, but use whatcha got)
• 2 TBS butter
• 3 TBS flour (I again, I used GF)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp cumin
• pepper to taste
• 3/4-1 c gruyere cheese, shredded

---

• kale, washed and shredded. 

Assembly

1. For the gnocchi: Preheat the oven to 425. Bake the sweet potatoes until tender all the way through when poked with a fork, which will take 30-45 minutes depending on the size of the potato. Once done, rip open the skins and dump the hot flesh into a large mixing bowl (this is beginning to sound like an episode of Dexter...). Using a fork, mash the potatoes and move them around so a thin layer forms around the bowl--basically, you just want to avoid having a heap o' potato that will trap the heat and get mushy. Let cool to room temp.

2. Drizzle the yolk, shred the ricotta, and sprinkle 1/2 c flour over the potatoes. Cut them into the potatoes using a spatula.  When combined, add an additional 1/4 c flour and combine (you will probably need to use your hands at this point).  Form the dough into a ball. If dough is not firm (cookie dough consistency), add another 1/4 c flour.

3. From the ball, shape the dough into a compact rectangle and let rest for 5 minutes.

4. Cut log into 8 individual segments. Roll one segment out at a time into 1” thick logs--resist the temptation to do this between your hands and use a cutting board for even rolling. Cut logs into individual pieces, about 1”. It will begin to look like this:

5. Cut your logs into individual gnocchi pieces and place them on a baking sheet. Refrigerate if you're not going to make sauce and cook gnocchi right away. You will have about 60 pieces--whatever is left you can freeze (first on a baking sheet to avoid sticking together, then in a freezer bag)  and cook later easily!

For the sauce:
1. Combine coconut milk, cream, and pumpkin. Heat over medium heat until warm--be careful not to let it scald or boil. Set aside.
2. Melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and salt, whisk together. It will get clumpy.
3. Add the heated pumpkin mixture. Whisk constantly until sauce thickens, 3-4 minutes.
4. Remove from heat. Add spices and cheese. Whisk to combine.  Set aside, stirring occasionally to avoid the formation of sauce skin (if you've ever seen it... you know what I mean).

To combine:
1. Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Add gnocchi.  Allow to cook 2-3 minutes. They are done when they float to the top (it is awesome!).
2. While gnocchi cook, place shredded kale on plate. 
3. When gnocchi are finished, pull them out of the boiling water with a slotted spoon to strain. Place directly on kale. Add desired amount of sauce. Serve immediately.

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Love is, Actually, All Around

The First Family remains a shining example of what happens when enduring love, fiery passion, and true partnership rule the roost

... and more importantly:

Wisconsin elects the nation's first openly-gay Senator

Hawaii sends the first Japanese-American woman to the Senate, and she will join a Congress with a record number of women members


AND FINALLY....

Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, and Washington become the four newest states to recognize justice, equity under the law, and a more inclusive understanding of love!

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Same Love

I just love this sweet little video sent around by the good people at Upworthiest (actually--I don't know if they're good people, I just know that they put together one helluva great library of progressive videos with which I fill my rainy days off!)-- it speaks for itself, so I won't bother trying to add. Get out the tissues and remember that today is the LAST DAY to register to vote in many states!

 

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Pumpkin Bread Two Ways

MamaKef makes just about the most delicious pumpkin bread on earth (and it's my Aunt Carole's recipe, so we're really talking about a family affair here). Strangely, I have no picture of it, despite knowing that I have photographed it at every Thanksgiving and Christmas since 1999.

What I do have a picture of, however, is the imitation version I made for my first shift EVER as an RN (yowza!).  You already KNOW this gluten-free sugar-free pumpkin bar is delicious, because no sane person would ever bring a sub-par treat into the nurse's station of a very busy unit without being 100% positive that it would be gobbled up and that she would have 15 new friends and colleagues who want to make her transition to nursing easier... right?

Right. So, please enjoy both the gf/sf version AND the full o' flour version--they're both delicious and easy-peasey recipes that are proven crowd pleasers (just ask Nurse Ratchet!).

 Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Yumcito Pumpkin Bars
Ingredients
--3/4 c pumpkin puree
--3/4 c almond butter (you could prob use any nut butter--just make sure it does not have sugar in it if what you want is a sugar free dessert!)
--1/2 c honey 
--3 eggs
--2 tsp cinnamon
--1 tsp ground ginger
--1/2 tsp nutmeg
--1/2 tsp ground cloves
--2 tsp vanilla extract
--1 tsp baking soda
--1/2 tsp salt 

Assembly 
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease your pan--I used a 9-inch shallow disposable tin for easy transport--but a cake round, cupcake tin, or casserole dish would work, too, as long as you keep them thin. I would say NOT to use a loaf pan because I do not think the baking soda will do enough to make the batter rise.
2. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
3. Pour into pan. Bake for about 22 minutes, or until edges are brown and center is set. (In my little oven the edges looked burnt before the center set, but those turned out to be the best pieces!)

---
KefFamily's Favorite Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Ta Da!

Ingredients

• 1 cup salad oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 16-oz can Libby's pumpkin
• 2 eggs
  --
• 3 cups sugar
  
• 3 1/2 cups flour
•  1 1/2 tsp  cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 12 oz bag choc chips

Assembly 
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease two loaf pans well (these can also be made as muffins if that suits your fancy).

2. Mix the wet ingredients together.

3. Add in the dry ingredients - except the choc chips.

4. After everything is well blended, stir in the chocolate chips.

5. Pour into 2 well greased loaf pans and bake for approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes (I always start checking at about 45 minutes but it really does take this long).

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Butternut Squash "Spaghetti"

I thought about not blogging today.  It seems strange to spend time thinking and writing about the banalities of butternut squash on a day with such looming significance.  

I didn't know anyone who was in the either of the Towers that day, nor did I know anyone in lower Manhattan.  Back then, the only people in my sleepy suburb who worked in the city were fire fighters and police officers, and so for our town the horror of the day grew more personal as time went by-- no one I knew had a parent who worked in the World Trade Center, but we all knew parents who went down to Ground Zero for weeks at a time, often unable to communicate with their families during those long shifts of sifting through the remains of what we knew.  Our attempts at efficacy reflected our bizarre new reality: the blood drive organized by the senior class was cancelled when it became clear that there would be few survivors; instead we donated bagged lunches to the first responders and clean-up crews, who would be in harm's way indefinitely.

When I left New York to attend college in DC, I would spend four September 11ths feeling a strange guilt for not being in New York, not living out the grief I felt with the people closest to the loss.  Perhaps most difficult for me was the strange brand of grief I watched take shape in the rest of the country, outside New York, where it was some twisted trend to "out-9/11" the person next to you in order to validate your grief.  Five years after the attacks, there were still no words to name adequately the mourning we felt for the loss of our old world order, which left many who did not have the name of a lost loved one to mourn grasping for something that would make our sadness comprehensible.  It wasn't enough just to have watched the crumbling of some 3,000 lives: soon, everyone had a story of someone they knew who had run out of Lower Manhattan, been in the Pentagon, or would have been on one of those flights, if not for some divine intervention.  I never felt able to say to anyone but my roommate, who was also from a small suburb of the city, that I felt incredibly empty, that I still couldn't watch footage from the day without weeping, or that it was difficult to make it through this day every year.  Not because any one thing had changed in my life, but because everything was, in some way, completely different.

And so today I write about butternut squash spaghetti.  There is no link between this dish and this day, nor do I have a clever transition from the above emotions to the below recipe.  It seems that this is what we do--note the date, feel the sadness, move on to the next topic. 
--- 
Butternut Squash "Spaghetti"

Ingredients 
-- 1 butternut squash (a medium will serve 2), peeled
-- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
-- 1.5 TBS butter (olive oil would prob work also)
-- Fresh basil, to taste (optional)
-- Whatever tomato sauce you like (I love this smokey marinara)

Assembly
1. Using a julienne peeler (which are widely available for about $5 at most grocery stores--they look like a regular "Y" peeler with teeth), shred the skinned butternut until the seeds in the bulb are exposed. Do not make this difficult: hold the butternut vertically and move the julienne peeler down it.  This will make "noodles." Collect them in a bowl.
2. Heat the butter until it is melted over medium heat in a saucepan big enough for your "pasta." Add the minced garlic and let that sizzle for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the squash.  Using tongs if you've got 'em and a spatula if you don't, move around the pasta so spread out the butter and garlic.  Then, let it sit over medium-high heat for 10-13 minutes, turning occasionally so all the "noodles" get cooked.  You'll know it's done when it has the consistency you like your pasta to be.  Throw the basil in and let it wilt.
4. Top with your favorite tomato sauce and enjoy.

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Homemade Fruit Roll Ups So Simple a 5-Year Old Can Do It

Hi, I'm Chef Kef and I'm berry-aholic. 

The whole world seems to conspire against my work to contain my berry habit--global climate change has created a nearly 6-month berry "season," that beautiful wall of red, blue, and black is ALWAYS the first display in a grocery store, and pints of those cancer-fighting rock stars seem to be on "buy-one-get-one-free" sales just about every other week.  So I buy one (and get one) and try my damnest to eat them before they turn into a refrigerator science project.  As it turns out, strawberry curry does NOT make for a delicious dinner and I can't eat berry-topped yogurt with every meal, and so they get a little mushy and moldy before I can finish them all.  Then it's time to grocery shop for the next week and guess what? It's deja vu all over again.


Lucky for me, the tender angels I babysit all happen to be adventurous eaters who also like a project or two.  So last week one of the KiddyKefs and I took on the task of homemade fruit roll ups to get rid of my extra strawberries before they went bad.  What resulted were good enough that KiddyKef 1 and 2 ate nearly the whole batch (which is admittedly not that big--but the point remains), and as KiddyKef 2 astutely realized-- "Everything in these is healthy!" 

 Ingredients
--half a pound of strawberries*, stemmed and chopped, don't worry about uniformity
--one green apple*, peeled, cored, and chopped
--juice of one lemon
--1/4c water
-- 1 TBS agave

** you can use any fruit in any amount you'd like- you really can't mess this up (but more fruit means add a bit more water). The margin for error is in the sweetening--remember that sweetness and flavor will increase after they get dried out, so I wouldn't add much more than another TBS of sweetener unless you are using WAY more fruit than shown above, especially if you're using naturally-sweeter fruits.


 Assembly
1. Throw chopped fruit, lemon juice, and water in a sauce pan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil, cover and let simmer for about 7 minutes. Stir occasionally. They will get stewy. At about the 5 minute mark, add the agave and stir around.
2. Remove from heat. Let fruit cool off. Preheat your oven to "Low" or 180F.
3. Puree your fruit--food processor is best, but since they're all stewy, you can mash the big pieces by hand if you want.
4. Spread the puree thinly and evenly on a lined baking sheet. I used a silicon mat, but I am told that the temp is so low that microwave-safe plastic wrap works as well- do you.
5. Cook in the oven until you get the texture you like--we cooked them at 190 for 5 hours and our batch came out closer to fruit leather than rollup-- so I think 180 for 5.5-6 hours would do the trick.

6. Cut with a pizza roller and enjoy.

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