Gemelli with Glazed Delicata Squash and Hazelnuts

gemelli with glazed delicata squash and hazelnuts
gemelli with glazed delicata squash and hazelnuts
Super easy!

We were excited to see a Delicata squash as one of the items in our most recent CSA share pickup. For those who haven’t had one, these are a full-flavored winter squash, but the skin is very delicate and edible, making it an easy squash to prepare. Last time we had a Delicata  squash, we roasted it with spices and sesame seeds. You can read about that recipe in the Squash Half-Moons with Butter, Sesame, and Salt post. This time we needed to bulk up the amount of food as this would be our main course for dinner, so we put together a little dish that included pasta.

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Minestrone Soup

minestrone soup
minestrone soup
Part of a tasty lunch!

If we had to guess, we’d say there are probably a million versions of minestrone soup. We figure that every family in Italy has several versions, because it’s a soup that changes with the seasons and with the vegetables that are available. But, the basic idea is pretty much the same: make a very hearty tomato-based vegetable soup with a few beans and a handful of pasta. If you follow that, and put in vegetables that you like, we don’t think you can go wrong.

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Nectarine Chutney

nectarine chutney
nectarine chutney
A great use for substandard nectarines.

We almost never buy nectarines or peaches at the store, no matter how cheap. Regardless of the price, they aren’t worth it. They’re generally crunchy, or mealy, or bruised, and never, ever good. So, we just say no, and move on to something that’ll taste good. This week, though, we came up with the idea of making Nectarine Chutney; something like that, with all the extra spices and flavors, and the long, slow cooking, should be okay using store-bought nectarines. At least, it won’t be too bad.

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Yellow Curry Powder

yellow curry powder
yellow curry powder
Freshly made curry powder!

A couple of weeks ago, when we were making Coconut Curry Simmer Sauce, we used up the last of our curry powder. We put it on our grocery list, even though we mentioned that curry powder is simply a mix of spices, and, that in India, nearly every family has its own version. We, even though we’re dedicated Scratchers, somehow missed the idea that we could make our own curry powder. How did that happen?

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Cheddar and Onion Mini Muffins

cheese and onion mini-muffins
cheese and onion mini-muffins
Cheesy, and there’s nothing wrong with cheesy.

We really like putting together mini-muffins when we need to make snacks for the church’s social hour. They’re fast to put together, fast to bake, and easy to eat. What more could you want in a snack? Well, for us, we want variety, too. No one wants the same favor muffin each time; they want to try something new, and so do we. Fortunately, muffins fit the bill for that, too, because it’s easy to change the ingredients that add the flavor, and have an entirely different muffin.

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Coconut Curry Simmer Sauce

coconut curry simmer sauce
coconut curry simmer sauce
Our simmer sauce and a few veggies make a quick meal.

Just the other day we were in the store looking for coconut. We use a fair amount, mainly in our Best-ever Scratched Granola, which we make roughly every two weeks. As you’d suspect, that coconut is the sweetened flaked variety. But, on this shopping trip, we saw some Bob’s Red Mill unsweetened coconut that was being discontinued, with a sale price to match. We figured that it wouldn’t hurt our Best-ever Scratched Granola to have something more natural, plus unsweetened coconut might get us to make something savory.

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Fresh Corn Polenta

fresh corn polenta
fresh corn polenta
Sweet, summery, fresh corn polenta.

On Sundays, we like to have rather more special dinners than those we eat on other days. Perhaps something like risotto or homemade pizza, two of our favorite dishes. The dinners don’t have to be fancy, just something that we think is nice. This past Sunday, as we were thinking about what to have for dinner, and what we have in the house, we wondered, can you make polenta from fresh corn?

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