Squash and other random vegetables in an Italian-style dish

These recipes are taken from skinnytaste.com:

Marina

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed (I typically add more garlic than recipes call for because garlic is so great. I used 3 big cloves). 
• 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 small bay leaf  (I used a large bay leaf)
• 1 tsp oregano
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil (The store didn't have fresh basil...so I used that basil paste stuff and put in about 1 tbsp)
• salt and fresh pepper to taste

Directions:

In a medium pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and saute until golden, being careful not to burn. 

Add crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, oregano, and bay leaf. Stir and reduce heat to low. Cover and let simmer about 15 - 20 minutes. If you can, cover and simmer for hours. Italians simmer their marina over night. Not recommended unless you've done it before (my brother tried it once and our apartment smelled like burnt marina for a week). Apparently the whole "cover" part is very important, or the stuff burns. Remove from heat and add fresh basil.

Spaghetti Squash Primavera

This recipe is technically for only 2, and I more or less doubled everything. It's hard to say exactly what I did because I didn't measure them per se.

Ingredients: 

• 1 small spaghetti squash (I used 2 spaghetti squashes)
• 1 tsp olive oil (I used a good 2 tbsp, or just enough to saute the veggies)
• 1 tbsp minced shallots (I used 1 medium-sized shallot)
• 1 clove garlic, crushed (Again, I put in 2 or 3 cloves)
• 1/4 cup red onion, diced (I used about half of a medium-sized red onion)
• 1/4 cup celery, diced (I don't like celery, so I didn't put this in, yuck)
• 1/4 cup carrots, diced (I chopped up enough carrots to equal the amount of red onion. I eyeballed it)
• 1 cup broccoli florets (The broccoli I thought I had was bad, so I used cauliflower instead. I used a good half of a whole thing of cauliflower, or about twice the amount of red onion)
• 1/2 cup diced zucchini (I used half of a very large zucchini, or a bit less than the amount of cauliflower)
• 2 cups homemade marinara sauce (Use the whole thing from the above recipe. It comes to about right)
• 1/2 tbsp grated Pecorino Romano (optional) (Not optional in my opinion. I probably added 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the stuff)
• 3 oz fresh mozzarella (optional) (Also not optional. I added about 10 oz or so)

Directions:


Preheat oven to 400ºF. Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds and membrane. Season lightly with salt and black pepper; bake about 1 hour, or longer if needed on a baking sheet, cut side down. 
If you prefer the microwave, stab the squash with a knife all around and place on a microwave safe dish. Microwave 7-9 minutes or the skin gives when cut with a knife.

Once cooked, use a fork to scrape the strands out into a bowl. 


In a medium saute pan heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the shallots, garlic, red onion, celery and carrots and cook 5 minutes, stirring. Add the broccoli and zucchini and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the marinara sauce, increase heat to medium and simmer until the vegetables are tender crisp, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add 2 cups of the spaghetti squash, Pecorino Romano and stir, adjust the salt and pepper to taste and cook 1 minute. 

Divide the vegetables in two small casserole dishes, or you can use the shells of the spaghetti squash to make boats, then place under the broiler or in a hot oven until the cheese melts.

Chris' Epic Salad (well, it's not his, but he will claim it)

Salad Dressing:
half red onion (I used a fairly large one)
1.5-2 cup sugar (I went with closer to 1.5 cups because I don't like things super sweet)
4 tsp dry/powder mustard (you can use regular mustard, but it turns the dressing into a gross color instead of the nice pink)
1 tsp salt
1 cup red wine vinegar
2 cups canola oil

Blend everything up in a blender. This makes quite a bit (like 2 mason jars), so you might want to actually half this unless you're making this for a huge group and you want left-overs.

For the salad:
I still need to figure out the names of the leafy greens I put in. I would say to go to the organic section of the produce area and look for kale, red leaves, purple leaves, there's this one that is huge bright green, etc. I find something that looks interesting and go for it. Throw it in.
red cabbage
cauliflower
add whatever veggies you think might be good. It's all about adding more colors. I meant to throw in carrots (grated) but forgot.

Chop things up so they are pretty thin/small, especially the cabbage. You want your fork to have a mix of veggies and not just one giant bitter leaf on it.

Mexican Sweet Potato Skins

Mexican Sweet Potato Skins 

I modified this recipe from Pinch of Yum. Here are the modifications I made....

1. I used only 1-1.5 chipotle peppers. I mixed these with the sweet potato and used an immersion blender to puree the peppers with the sweet potatoes. I only used half of this and kept half out.

2.  I didn't use sour cream or cream cheese. Instead, I used shredded cheese.