I saw this recipe on page 124 of the October 2011 issue of Country Living magazine and have had it sitting on my kitchen counter ever since.  One of my favorite things to do every fall is try new pumpkin recipes (as well as make old favorites) so this was a great opportunity.  I also love finding ways to use pumpkin in savory ways as well as sweet.

And so, last week I served this pasta to my family for dinner.  Honestly, I wasn’t sure what they would think, especially my husband, but they all raved about it and were relieved I had made two pans full.  I guess that means it’s a keeper!

So here is the recipe, in case you don’t have the magazine.  My family recommends that you try it!

Pumpkin-Ricotta Stuffed Shells

Ingredients:

24 jumbo pasta shells
1 Tb. olive oil
22 ounces fat-free ricotta cheese (2 1/2 cups)
1  (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree  *make sure you don’t get pumpkin flavored for pumpkin pie!
3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces) grated Romano cheese
1 large egg white (I just used a whole egg)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup fresh basil, chopped  (you can certainly cut back on this if you don’t love basil)
1 Tb. fresh sage, finely chopped (I used dried)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground pepper
1 (26 ounce) jar store-bought tomato sauce (I used spaghetti sauce)

Preparation:

Cook pasta shells according to package directions.  Drain and transfer to a baking sheet (or piece of aluminum foil) and drizzle with oil.  Let cool.

In a medium bowl, stir together ricotta, pumpkin, 3/4 cup Romano, egg, garlic, basil, sage, salt and pepper.  Mix well.

Spread spaghetti sauce in bottom of a 9×13 inch baking pan.  Fill each pasta shell with about three tablespoons pumpkin-ricotta mixture.  Arrange shells in pan.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Remove foil, sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake 15 minutes more.  Serve and enjoy!

Note:  I prepared this dish the day before, stuffed the shells and stored them between layers of plastic in an airtight container overnight.  On the day I served them, my only prep was to pour the spaghetti sauce in the pan, arrange the pasta and bake!  They tasted delicious, and the few we had left were delicious the next day as well.

This was a delicious recipe.  It’s meatless and relatively low in fat, considering that it’s mostly “cheesy”.  According to the nutrition information provided by Country Living, one serving contains 321 calories, 22 grams protein, only 9 grams fat, 39 grams carbohydrates, 6 grams fiber, 977 milligrams sodium and 19 milligrams cholesterol.

I hope you’ll try it!

Hopeful Homemaker

Simple and healthy yet delicious, this dish always receives rave reviews.  I must also credit this recipe with making huge spaghetti squash fans of my children.  I love looking outside at our spaghetti squash in the garden, knowing how many times I can make this in coming months.

The dish consists of a creamy tomato sauce with chicken in it, served over spaghetti squash.  Delicious.

Ingedients:

1 spaghetti squash
2 Tb. olive oil, divided
1/2 to 1 lb. chicken
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15 oz) can petite diced tomatoes {diced stewed tomatoes work also}
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp. marjoram
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
4 Tb. heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Preparation:

To cook the spaghetti squash, you have two options.  First, you can poke a few holes in it and bake it, whole, in the oven (350 degrees).  This is a great way to cook it but you must start early; depending on the size of your squash it will take over an hour to become tender and sometimes much longer than that.  The second option is to halve the squash lengthwise.  Remove seeds.  Place cut side down on a microwave safe place.  Again, depending on the size of your squash you may need to cook each half separately.  Cook on high power for 5 minutes, check for tenderness.  Cook for another 3-5 minutes.  (Mine usually take 10 minutes for each half.)  The squash is done when the meat scrapes out easily in long spaghetti-like strings.  Scrape squash into serving dish, add 1 Tb. butter (if desired) and salt and pepper to taste.  Toss and cover to keep warm.

If you are baking the squash you must start it well before the rest of the dish; if using the microwave you can cook the squash while you cook the sauce.

In a skillet, heat 1 Tb. oil.  Add chicken and one clove minced garlic.  Cook until chicken is done but do not dry out!  Remove chicken from pan and set aside.  Add the second tablespoon of oil to the skillet.  Add onion and second clove of garlic.  Cook until onion is softened.  While onion is cooking, cut chicken into small pieces  (I usually cut it in 1/2 inch cubes.)   When onion is tender, add tomatoes, tomato sauce, sugar, oregano, basil, marjoram, salt and pepper.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  Add diced chicken.  Stir in heavy whipping cream and heat through, about 2 minutes.  Reserve 2 Tb. chopped parsley and add the rest to the tomato sauce.

To serve, place spaghetti squash on plate, top with tomato sauce.  Garnish with parsley.  Enjoy!

Hopeful Homemaker

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes.  It is so inexpensive, so healthy, but so tasty that I can’t get enough of it.   In fact, I love it so much that I always save myself a bowl of the filling to eat while the enchiladas cook in the oven.  It’s fabulous, I tell you.

Here goes…

Zesty Vegetable Enchiladas

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups dry lentils
4 cups water
1 Tb. vegetable oil
2 cups thinly sliced carrots
2 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
4 cups quartered, thinly sliced zucchini
2 cups chopped fresh tomato
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese  (I like to use a blend)
14-16 corn tortillas
1  can green enchilada sauce or try my homemade green enchilada sauce recipe

In a small saucepan, add water to lentils.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 20-25 minutes or until tender.  Drain, rinse in cold water.

Heat vegetable oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add carrots, chili powder and cumin.  Cook, stirring constantly, for 3-5 minutes.  Add zucchini and continue to cook and stir until veggies are crisp-tender.  Remove from heat.  Stir in lentils, tomato, and 1 cup cheese.   Add salt and pepper to taste.

Heat corn tortillas.  Spoon veggie mixture down center of each tortilla, roll up and place in 9×13 inch pan.  Pour enchilada sauce over enchiladas and cover with aluminum foil.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, remove foil and sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Bake another 10-15 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.  Serve with sour cream and salsa, if desired.  And, like I said, it’s amazing in a bowl all by itself!

Hopeful Homemaker

This dish isn’t sweet, but it certainly spotlights pumpkin!

My Mom made this dinner for us when I was growing up, and I make it every fall for my own family.  Traditionally, we eat it around Halloween, but it’s a lot of fun to make it during November as well.

Dinner in a Pumpkin

1 small to medium pumpkin
1 onion, chopped
1 Tb. oil
1 1/2 to 2 pounds ground beef
4 Tb. soy sauce
4 Tb. brown sugar
1 (4 oz) can sliced mushrooms, drained
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 ( 8 oz) can sliced water chestnuts, drained.

Cut off top of pumpkin and thoroughly clean out seeds and pulp.  Preheat oven to 350.

Note:  The recipe says that the pumpkin cooks in about an hour, but my experience has been that it always takes about twice as long as that for the pumpkin meat to be tender.  Therefore, when I clean out my pumpkin I lightly salt the inside, replace the lid, place the pumpkin on a baking sheet and bake it by itself while I prepare the meal.  This gives the squash a head start on cooking.

In a large skillet, saute onions in oil until tender.  Add meat and brown.  Drain drippings.  Add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms and soup.  Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add cooked rice and water chestnuts.

Remove pumpkin from oven.  Spoon mixture into pumpkin and replace pumpkin top. Bake 1 hour or until inside meat of the pumpkin is tender.  Remove from oven and serve.  For a vegetable, scoop out pumpkin flesh and serve with salt and pepper.

I always enjoy seeing my children taste the pumpkin meat.  Several of them are usually wary of it, but I scoop them all a small spoonful of it, and almost invariably they request more.  It’s a fun way to help them try new things.

Enjoy!  And thanks, Mom, for making this all those years ago, and for passing it on.
Jennifer

This is a great dish to prepare early in the day, then refrigerate and put in the oven later.

Chicken & Zucchini Stuffed Shells

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked cubed chicken (I like to chop it into really small pieces)
1 medium zucchini, finely chopped (1/4 inch pieces)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. parsley
1 cup ricotta cheese
1-2 cups cottage cheese (depending on how creamy you like the filling)
1 egg
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1 cup chopped fresh spinach (0ptional)
1 can or jar spaghetti sauce of your choice
1 box jumbo shell pasta, or manicotti pasta

Cook pasta according to directions on pasta.  Drain and rinse in cold water.  Set aside.

In a microwaveable dish, combine chopped zucchini, 1 Tb. water and 1/2 tsp. salt.  Cover and cook on high for about 2 minutes, or just until zucchini is becoming tender.

Put cubed cooked chicken in a large bowl.  Add softened zucchini to the bowl and mix to combine.

Add spices, ricotta cheese, cottage cheese and egg.  Mix well.

Add mozzarella cheese.

Add spinach if you choose.  I like to use fresh spinach instead of frozen spinach.  Stir to combine.  Spoon mixture into shells and place in 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

Pour spaghetti sauce over stuffed pasta.  Cover and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until bubbly.  Garnish with parmesan cheese if desired.  Serve and enjoy.

My husband likes this dish so much he claims he could eat it for a month and not tire of it. (I know him better, though.  Too much repetition ruins things for him.  Remind me to tell you sometime about how much he hates having a song stuck in his head!)

Anyway, back to the dish at hand. At our house it’s a winner.  Everyone likes it.  It’s also simple and easy to make.

Fresh Mex Casserole

Ingredients:
2 cups crushed tortilla chips
1 pound lean ground beef
2 cups salsa, your choice
1 can chili beans
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup chopped green onions
3/4 cup chopped tomato
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Spray bottom of 9×13 inch pan lightly with cooking spray.  Spread crushed tortilla chips over bottom of pan.

In a large skillet, brown the ground beef.  Add salsa and reduce heat to simmer until the liquid is almost absorbed.  Add chili beans and heat through.  Spoon meat mixture over crushed tortilla chips.

Carefully spread 1 1/2 cups sour cream over the meat.  Sprinkle onions, tomatoes, cilantro and cheese over the sour cream.

Look how delicious it looks!

Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 20-30 minutes or until bubbly.  Share with your family.  I hope you love it!

This dish is one of my favorite ways to make use of late summer’s abundant tomato harvest.  It’s also a tasty meatless dish with a lot of flavor.  We especially like the cornmeal crust which adds a nice texture to the quiche.

Tomato Quiche

Crust:
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/3 cup shortening
6 Tb. cold water

Filling:
2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1 cup evaporated milk
2 Tb. flour
2 eggs

To make the crust:
In a bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, salt and pepper.   Cut in shortening until crumbly.  Add water one tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork until the dough forms a ball.  Refrigerate 30 minutes.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to fit a 9 inch pie plate.  Transfer dough to pie dish, trim and flute edges.  Bake at 375 for 10 minutes, then cool completely.

Note:  If you’re like me, and you’re committed to this recipe and suddenly your baby starts screaming, you can do what I did, and just press the crust into the pan without rolling it out.   It’s not as pretty, but it works.

Once the crust is cool, fill with tomatoes.  Sprinkle tomatoes with salt, pepper and basil.  Add the onions and finally the cheeses.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, eggs and evaporated milk until smooth.  Pour over the filling.

Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!

I made this for the first time at the beginning of the summer, and it was a hit.  A few minor adjustments and it’s now a family favorite.  My six year old even requested it for her birthday dinner.

Basil Shrimp Pasta

Ingredients:

1 pound peeled, deveined, cooked shrimp.  (I use the 71-90 count.  They’re smaller, which is great for my younger children and also allows more shrimp per bite without spending a fortune.)
1 medium zucchini, sliced and quartered
1 cup Kraft Sun Dried Tomato Salad Dressing
2 cups water
2 tsp. chicken bullion
8 oz. Neufchatel cheese
fresh basil (about 6-8 leaves)
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
3 cups uncooked farfalle (bow-tie pasta)

If you purchased frozen shrimp, thaw it.

Cook pasta according to directions on package.

Pour 3 Tb. Sun Dried Tomato dressing into a large skillet.  Add chopped zucchini and stir.  Cook over medium heat until zucchini is tender.

Add water, bullion and remaining salad dressing to skillet.  Cook for about 2 minutes, to heat through.  Add Neufchatel cheese and shrimp.  Cook and stir 2-3 minutes to heat shrimp and melt cheese.

Drain pasta and add to skillet.  Stir to coat pasta.  Slice basil leaves into thin strips.  Add basil and parmesan cheese to pasta, stir lightly.  Serve and enjoy!

This is one of those simple, inexpensive recipes that you can put together in just a few minutes, especially if I’m using leftover rice.  It’s also one of my food storage recipes.  It’s certainly nothing fancy, but my children will eat it.  I simplified it recently, and am happy with the results.

Ingredients:

1 can refried beans
1 tsp. cumin
1 can enchilada sauce (I used green)
1 cup cooked rice
1 1/2 cups cheese
3 flour tortillas

In a small bowl, mix together refried beans, cumin and cooked rice.

Spread 1-2 tablespoons of enchilada sauce on the bottom of a pie pan.  Lay 1 flour tortilla on top of the enchilada sauce.  Spread 1/3 of the bean mixture over the tortilla, 1/3 of the remaining enchilada sauce over the bean mixture, and 1/2 cup shredded cheese over the sauce.  Cover cheese with another tortilla, and continue to layer in the same order.  Repeat layers one last time, finishing with the last 1/2 cup of cheese.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until bubbly.

Serve with sour cream, salsa and chips.

Note:  if you’re in a hurry and don’t have cooked rice, you can skip it and it will still taste great.  I make two of these for my family, and one batch of my green enchilada sauce is sufficient for both.  In fact, I usually have enough sauce left to add a 4th tortilla on top.  I then pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the tortilla and sprinkle with cheese.

Enjoy!

A can of store-bought enchilada sauce is convenient, but in my opinion it can be a little pricey unless it’s on a good sale.  This recipe is inexpensive, fast and simple, and makes more than 2 cups.  The only ingredient you need to remember is a can of diced green chiles; everything else is a basic item that should be in most kitchens.  I store green chiles in my food storage (purchased in bulk on sale), so this is a recipe I can make any time.  It makes more than a standard can of enchilada sauce and costs me less than a dollar.

Simple Green Enchilada Sauce

In a medium saucepan, melt 1/4 cup butter.
Stir in 1/4 cup flour and mix until bubbly.

Slowly add 2 cups water and 2 tsp. chicken bullion.
Stir in 1 small can diced green chiles.

Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  When sauce begins to thicken, remove from heat.  Use with any recipe that calls for green enchilada sauce.

Hopeful Homemaker