Squash & Black Bean Wraps with Chile-Lime Sauce

Fall means apples (which are the BEST), but fall also means squash, which is pretty good too. Especially because squash are flavorful and good sources of vitamins and minerals (especially vitamins A & C, potassium, and manganese). So I took inspiration from this recipe and made it my own, roasting chunks of butternut squash with cumin and olive oil, then tossing them in a zesty chili-lime sauce with black beans, and wrapping it all up for an easy, delicious and nutritious meal.

Ingredients

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1" cubes (~2 lbs)

1 1/2 cups black beans, cooked (1 14 oz can, drained & rinsed)

1 Tbsp olive oil

1-2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 recipe chili-lime sauce (see below)

6 large whole wheat tortillas

fresh cilantro or arugula, for garnish

Chile-Lime Sauce:

1/3 cup lime juice

1 small serrano chile, seeded and finely diced

2 Tbsp fresh cilantro

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp ground chipotle pepper

pinch salt

1/4 cup low fat plain greek yogurt

Directions:

1. Spread squash on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with cumin and salt, then toss to coat.

2. Roast squash in a 400 degree F oven until tender and slightly browned (35-40 min), flipping pieces about halfway through.

3. Meanwhile, combine ingredients for chili-lime sauce, except for yogurt, in a blender. Puree, then heat in a small saucepan just until boiling. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Once cool, stir chili-lime mixture into yogurt.

4. Combine squash in a bowl with black beans. Drizzle chili-lime sauce over all, and toss to coat. Scoop mixture into tortillas, then top with cilantro or arugula.

Serves 6

Note: these wraps can be enjoyed warm or cold! I made up the mixture, then stored it in an airtight container in the fridge, and have been scooping out some to make up a fresh wrap each day for my lunch.

Apple & Goat Cheese Mini Calzones with Cider Mustard

This past Saturday I woke up to a chilly breeze coming through my bedroom window. The farmer's market was brimming with acorn squash, pumpkins, and apples. I don't care that it's early September, I have declared the arrival of fall (my favorite season). So of course I made a trek to the apple orchard. In spite of a rough season, with a spring freeze and brutal drought, I was still able to come home with 4 brimming pecks of fresh apples and a gallon of cider. I wait the entire year for this time to come around again; I love most fruits, but nothing compares to apple season. I could probably go all Bubba Blue with apples, listing off the many apple concoctions I've made (or my mom made while I was growing up) and love...and no doubt you'll see some of my favorites in the coming weeks. 

For now, we'll start with something a little different - a savory apple dish. After all, why should we limit the delicious apple to only sweet dishes? The combination of the sweet-tart apple with mildly tangy goat cheese and a judicious sprinkling of herbs in a hearty whole wheat crust is perfect, and when you dip it into a little cider mustard, it's the way that fall should be. The mini calzones come together really quickly, so your gratification need not be delayed (to be particularly efficient, you can slice the onions with a mandoline - I did - and prepare the other ingredients while the onions cook). If you choose to make the homemade mustard, I would recommend doing that a couple of days in advance, since fresh mustard is really potent. You can also cheat and mix brown sugar and cider into quality store-bought Dijon mustard if you don't have the patience. Another bonus is that the calzones freeze well, so you can pop them out of the freezer and enjoy a little apple-y deliciousness long after apple season is over.

Apple & Goat Cheese Mini Calzones

recipe adapted from Sprouted Kitchen

1 recipe whole wheat pizza dough (pick your favorite)

1/2 Tbsp butter

1 medium sweet onion, thinly sliced

1 large crisp apple

6 oz chevre goat cheese

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese 

2 tsp dried thyme (or 2 Tbsp fresh)

1 tsp dried rosemary (or 1 tsp fresh)

olive oil and sea salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

2. If making your own dough, make it first and allow to rise.

3. While dough rises, combine butter and onion in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onions have "carmelized" (are mostly browned). This will take 15-20 min.

4. Peel and dice apple. Combine goat cheese, Parmesan cheese, thyme, and rosemary in a bowl.

5. Roll dough out into a rectangle, and cut into 12 3x3" squares.

6. Top squares successively with onion slices, apple, and a dollop of cheese mixture.

7. Fold top over filling mixture, and tuck in edges to seal. Brush tops with olive oil and a light sprinkling of sea salt.

8. Place calzones on a pizza stone or baking sheet generously sprinkled with cornmeal. Bake at 500 degrees F until tops are golden and crispy. Cool for a few minutes before serving (or, cool completely and store in airtight bags in the freezer for up to 3 months). Dip in cider mustard or your preferred dipping sauce.
Serves 3-4 as a main dish, or 6 as an appetizer

Cider Mustard

recipe adapted from The Homemade Pantry

1/2 cup mustard seeds, mixture of yellow and brown

1/3 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup fresh apple cider

3 Tbsp dark brown sugar

1 tsp salt, heaping

Directions:

1. Place mustard seeds in a glass pint jar or medium mixing bowl, and add enough water to cover seeds by 3 inches. Allow to soak at room temperature for ~12 h or overnight.

2. Drain excess water from seeds. Add to a blender with the remaining ingredients, and blend until smooth.

3. Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving, or store in a non-reactive container in the fridge for 2 months (will probably last longer than that, use your judgement). Mustard will be quite spicy to begin with, but will mellow within a few days.
Makes ~1 1/2 cups mustard

Slow Cooker Market Vegetarian Chili

OK, so it's early September, it's 80 degrees out, and probably the last thing on your mind is curling up with a hot bowl of chili. However, both cross-country (important to me) and American football (important to other people) started their seasons this past weekend, so I take that as justification for thinking about autumn. What's more, there's all sorts of delicious produce in season right now (tomatoes and peppers galore) that's just asking to be mixed up into a delicious chili. I took a mixture of heirloom and juicy red tomatoes, a rainbow of peppers (bell peppers, poblanos, and hot peppers), fresh corn, and a hearty mixture of beans for a filling, flavorful, and delicious vegan chili. The best part is that once you've peeled and chopped your veggies, you can throw everything in the slow cooker and forget about it until you're ready to devour.

I don't have a cornbread recipe to go with this post, but chili and cornbread are two things that should definitely go together, so I highly recommend whipping up your favorite version of cornbread (I really like this cornmeal, by the way, which is GMO-free, economically priced, and locally produced in Indiana - and you can get it naturally blue!).

Also, if you want to take advantage of the abundance of produce in your garden or local farmer's market but can't bring yourself to eat a bowl of chili in the late summer heat, this chili freezes well in airtight containers, so it'll be waiting for you on that first nippy day in late fall.

Ingredients

1 cup dry black beans (or 14 oz can)

1 cup dry pinto beans (or 14 oz can)

1 cup dry great northern beans (or 14 oz can)

3-4 lbs tomatoes, peeled, seeded & chopped (I used the tomatoes shown & supplemented with a 28 oz can of organic diced tomatoes)

2 green/purple bell peppers, diced

4 poblano peppers, diced

2 small jalepeno peppers, diced (or more if you like your chili hot!)

3-4 ears of corn (~2 cups kernels)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp ground cumin

1/2-1 tsp dried chipotle pepper

salt, to taste

Directions

1. If using dry beans: rinse beans, then mix together, cover with water, and allow to soak in a 6 quart slow cooker at room temperature overnight (no heat!). First thing in the morning, turn on the slow cooker to high, and allow beans to cook for ~1 hour. Pour off water before adding other ingredients.

2. If using canned beans, add them now. Stir in chopped tomatoes, peppers, corn, and garlic. Add in a little tomato sauce if there doesn't seem to be enough liquid (I added ~1/2 cup). Cook chili on high (~3 hours) or low (~6 hours), or until beans are tender.

3. At end of cooking, add in cumin and chipotle pepper, and salt, if using (since I used canned tomatoes and like to keep the sodium low, I didn't add any additional salt). Allow to cook on low for another 10-20 min, and adjust seasonings to taste.