Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Squash Rings with Cranberry Rice

I love summer and summer squash, but there's nothing quite like the colors and tastes of all the beautiful winter squashes. I had never made rings with acorn squash before. I think the halves plate just as pretty. But when I found a beautiful organic acorn squash over the weekend, I decided to bake rings. The squash is easy to cut. The skin is thin, and wherever it wasn't too tough, I ate it. I glazed the rings with a mixture of Bragg's, agave nectar, rice wine vinegar, and crushed garlic. I don't like sweet veggies (like the mashed sweet potatoes with brown sugar and marshmallows - ick!). For me, the squash is sweet enough on its own.



I added onions, mushrooms, toasted almonds, dried cranberries, and leftover glaze to the brown rice. It was completely delicious, the perfect marriage of sweet and savory.

I also made something just for me - gluten free banana muffins with chocolate chips and toasted almonds. Mmmmm - breakfast!




I was asked to post my recipe for Oatmeal Whole Wheat Pizza Crust, so here it is:

2/3 cup warm water
one package quick rise yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 cup oats (quick or old fashioned)
1-1/3 cup flour

In a small bowl, combine water, yeast, oil, and sugar. Let stand 10 minutes or until foamy. In a mixer combine flour and oats. Add in the yeast mixture and blend on low speed until moistened. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead one minute. Shape it into a ball. Place in a greased bowl, then turn it over (so both sides are greased) and cover. Let rise in a warm oven for 20 minutes or until doubled in size.

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Punch down the dough. Remove from bowl and shape into four 6-inch crusts or one 12-inch crust. Partially bake for 10 minutes before adding toppings.

One of my friends and I watched Top Chef last season and it was pretty entertaining. Season 2 started last week. I missed that show, so I promised to watch last week's episode and this week's episode tonight. Anybody else watching?

6 comments:

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

the squash ring is pretty -- what a clever idea! :o)

Candi said...

Your acorn squash photo makes me happy. Lol! I love the colors and also the idea of using cranberries in the "stuffing" part. So beautiful! I usually eat is halved, like you said. Your ring though is too pretty and I will have to try this!

MMM! your breakfast muffins look great!

I used to watch the iron chef! (I don't usually watch much anymore though.) I loved that show! I cannot handle the meat though if it's the main ingredient! I was SO sad to see live sea urchin one time, and all the chefs ran to grab their urchins. I wanted to free them all. Lol! Other than those parts of the show, I do love seeing what they will come up with!!

bazu said...

Your squash ring is beautiful. I could just imagine eating that for a really satisfying dinner.

I have such an angst-filled love/hate/codependent relationship with the Food Network, I can't even beging to go into it here!

Ben Kaelan said...

Wow! You're doing some amazing stuff lately! Thanks for that pizza crust recipe... I may just attempt a Pagano friendly pizza soon!

Those muffins look incredible! Where can I find this recipe? REally... there are bite marks appearing on my computer screens :)

PS: I made a correction to my last post about the "ginger soy dressing". I have to learn to properly scan for mistakes before I post... I'm just so post-happy!

- Ben

Anonymous said...

Oh this is such a wonderful and beautiful plate !
I bought an acorn squash for the first time this week and didn't know what to do with it.
I love that idea so much I'm going to try making it :) Thank you !

All I need is cranberries...

Emmy said...

Your Aloo Panak above looks yummy! Oh those squash rings with cranberry rice sounds so good!!! It looks beautiful too. The muffins look terrific too. Wish I had one to go with the soy cappuccino I'm drinking right now.