Fantastic Fall Recipes
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This week, we hyped some of Fall’s finest vegetables and, while they all sounded great, you’re not exactly sure what to do with them.
Read on to discover some of delicious Primal Autumn recipes…
Fall Vegetable Medley
With so many great Fall vegetables, sometimes it’s hard to pick a favorite to have with your meal, but with this recipe you don’t have to play favorites – and you’ll find this dish so hearty, you can even serve it as your main dish!
1 small cabbage, cut into 6 wedges
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp onion or garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
4 medium carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 celery stalks, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 small onion, cut into wedges
1/2 pound whole fresh mushrooms
1 small green pepper, cut into strips
4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
Lay out 6 large squares of heavy duty foil. On top of each square, position the cabbage wedges, spread oil on cut sides, sprinkle with onion/garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. Arrange remaining vegetables and bacon around the cabbage. Seal the foil tightly and grill, covered, over medium heat
for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender, turning occasionally.
Ratatouille
Great Disney movie, great Fall dinner entrée!
1 small eggplant
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper taste
4 tomatoes, chopped
2 small zucchini
1 medium onion, sliced
1/4 cup parsley, chopped fine.
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper, sliced
Peel eggplant and slice lengthwise into 1/4″ thick slices. Cover with water and let stand for 30 minutes (if you like, you could take this time to prepare the other vegetables). Drain the eggplant, pat dry with a clean towel, and then cut slices into quarters. In a pan over medium heat, heat half of the oil, fry the eggplant, remove eggplant and set aside. In same pan, add remaining oil and fry garlic, onions and peppers until softened. Place tomatoes on top of mixture, cover pan and cook. After five minutes, remove lid, raise heat to medium-high and cook five minutes uncovered. Add in minced parsley.
In a large casserole dish, arrange a layer of tomato mixture. Cover with a layer of sliced zucchini and half of the eggplant. Repeat. Finish with a layer of tomatoes and bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Spaghetti Squash & Meat Sauce
(pictured sans meat sauce)
If you thought following a Primal diet meant you had to give up good ol’ pasta and meat sauce, think again, because this recipe is good enough to fool even the kids!
For the “spaghetti”:
1 spaghetti squash
pinch of salt
For the sauce:
1 lb of ground beef
1 large can of tomato paste
2 cans of water
1 cup fresh mushrooms
1 clove of minced fresh garlic
1-2 tbsp fresh oregano
1-2 tbsp fresh basil
In a large pan, heat oil and add onions, garlic and beef. Cook until beef turns brown. Add remaining ingredients, bring to a simmer and cook for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally.
While the sauce is simmering, cut the spaghetti squash in half. Place cut side up, covered with plastic wrap in a microwave safe dish for 10 minutes. Remove from microwave, and let sit, covered, for at least 5 minutes. To create the “spaghetti,” rake a fork over the spaghetti squash until you have essentially emptied the shell.
Heap spaghetti into a bowl (the noodles are typically a bit more watery than traditional noodles and can get a bit sloppy on a plate!), and top with marinara sauce the way you would with the good ol’ fashioned Italian dish!
littlepomegranate, Ben Millet, peskymac Flickr Photos (CC)
Further Reading:
The Whole Series of Eat This Today, Feel Better Tomorrow: 1, 2, 3, Intermittent Fasting, Special Occasions and Dessert Editions
Choose Your Own Stir Fry Adventure
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Posted By: Worker Bee
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i am definitely going to try the Speggetti Squash and meatballs.
The spaghetti squash was my #1 meal this summer. Even my boyfriend ate it, and loved it and he’s 100% non-primal. About the watery-ness, what I would do is after I scraped the squash out of the shell I would add some salt and let it sit in a colander to let the excess water drain. You could probably spread it out on a towel, too. It can get super watery, I learned very quickly when my sauce turned to soup! If you take the time to let it drain it’ll be awesome! Also – I usually baked mine, cut in half, face down, fairly hot and for a long time. I rubbed the insides with olive oil and pepper (save the salt for drawing the moisture out). That makes it nice and roasted and just so good!
We’ve done the spaghetti squash thing twice. The first time we microwaved it as instructed on the sticker on the squash. It turned out to be like mushy angel hair pasta and I had a few very chewy bites, it wasn’t that good, and I ended up with VERY unhappy bowels. A couple days ago we baked it in a pan with a half inch or so of water for 30 minutes cut side up and 15 minutes cut side down (I think, I’m not the cook in teh family) and when we raked it we had much more spaghetti like noodles. It tasted much better, had far better consistency (was a little crunchy but I didn’t mind), and no bowel issues. Can’t say for sure if the bowel issues were due to that or something else, but the taste and consistency were far better when it was baked for 45+ minutes at 375 compared to microwaved.
About the spaghetti squash: bake it in the oven with the open end _down_ so that it drains Put a roasting pan on the grill below it to catch the drippings. I still start it off in the microwave to speed up the process.
I love winter squashes, but they are rather time consuming to prepare and clean up. I’m a lazy Grok who likes to take shortcuts. After being inspired by the weekly posts, I made this yesterday using a 12-oz box of frozen, mashed butternut squash:
1/2 box frozen butternut squash, thawed
1 egg
1 T. half-and-half
Mix the above with a fork and then add:
1 apple cut into chunks
2 T raisins
Microwave 5 minutes, eat while warm. Add honey if desired. If you’re anti-microwave, bake in the oven.
I mix this into my eating bowl, so there are no extra dishes to wash.
I am confused about the whole mushroom thing. I see it widely used here but I hear Doug Kaufman say don’t eat them. Why are things that actually ARE fungus eaten with such joy here? I know you can’t read my expressions here so let me just say I’m truly bewildered about the whole mushroom thing and not being a negative ninny. There have been numerous studies praising mushrooms and Doug is the only voice that says no.
Star: I’ve never heard of Doug Kaufman. What exactly does he say is the problem with mushrooms?
Personally, I’ve never heard of anyone having a negative reaction to them…except for the poisonous kind, of course.
If his position is merely that fungi are not good for you, I would counter that there’s a big difference between eating a mushroom and having a fungal infection. From a homeopathic viewpoint, wouldn’t eating them actually help protect you from disease caused by them? (I don’t know much about homeopathy, so I’m not sure if that’s a valid statement.)
I made spaghetti squash with meat sauce for the first time last night. It was delicious! After halving the squash, I rubbed the cut edge with olive oil and left the seeds and stringy bits inside untouched. I baked the squash at 375 face-down on the wire rack in the oven for a little over an hour, then turned off the oven and let them sit in there for another 20 minutes while I prepared the sauce. The results were not watery in the least and the texture was perfectly al dente.
I just poke a few wholes and throw the entire thing in the oven for an hour or so. Great with tomato sauce, red bell peppers and grated romano cheese.
Spaghetti has become a weekly staple of mine. Got a lot better when I didn’t cut the squash length wise. Easier to fork out. I just nuke it for like 10 minutes open side up and it turns out great.