Sesame-Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

I have loved spaghetti squash since I was very little. I love it prepared all different ways. However, I think that Sesame-Stuffed Spaghetti Squash {page 345} is my new favorite way to serve it.

The "spaghetti" is mixed with lightly stir-fried vegetables and a delicious sesame tahini sauce, then piled back into the shell and baked until toasty all the way through. Then the halves are topped with more tahini sauce and black sesame seeds.

I am not the biggest fan of tahini, but I figured I would like just about anything if it involved spaghetti squash, and I was right! This was delicious, really flavorful and down-right good. The Ninjahusband and I both loved it, and ate all of it in no time flat.

This brings me to my only gripe with this recipe: it definitely does NOT serve 4, especially as a main dish. I'm not a big eater, but the Ninjahusband is, and it barely fed both of us. In fact, we were still hungry afterward.

So, make it, but make some other side dishes to go with it.

-- Your Friendly Neighborhood Batgirl

Lemony Rice-Stuffed Grape Leaves

Along with the spreads I greeted my guests with upon their arrival, Lemony Rice-Stuffed Grape Leaves (page 28) made an appearance. We again have something similar in Romania – which is probably why we like Mediterranean foods: we've got our own versions of the stuff. Only they're called sarmale and are made with cabbage leaves. Still, same idea: the filling involves rice and the wrapping is some manner of sweet or sour leaf. Some people prefer their sarmale sour; some sweet. Grape leaves are usually sour; and if there's lemon involved, like here, the tartness factor is amplified.

My guests were delighted by these aromatic, lemony little packets. My dad, though, told me he prefers sweet sarmale; still, he liked them all right despite not being much into anything sour, unlike myself and one of the other guests – we're sour-holics. Well, I'd say pleasantly tart rather than sour, as dolmas should be. Simple and elegant, these make a fine appetizer, side-dish, or buffet-feature. (Use basmati rice; the filling's simple so you want all that aroma.)

And, though wrapping the filling into grape leaves is somewhat time-consuming, it's entirely worth it for the “I've done that too and it wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be!” feeling you get afterward. I'm only a few months into cooking, and this book has been affording me a lot of exciting firsts with, so far, no blunders to speak of. Wait, it gets more exciting presently, I'm all about jumping in headfirst.

- - Ulpia, [grape] leaf roller - -

Peanut Butter and Banana-Stuffed French Toast

Sunday mornings are not my favorite, but with a nomilicious breakfast like Peanut Butter and Banana-Stuffed French Toast {page 520}, this morning wasn't half bad!

The filling was a creamy sweet montage of banana, peanut butter, and maple. The batter coated the bread perfectly, and cooked up on the griddle to a crisp golden brown. Each bite was a little crunch, followed by the smoothness of the bread and the sweet decadence of the filling. Served with sliced fresh bananas and pure maple syrup on top, this french toast was a force to be reckoned with.

Four thumbs {from the Ninjahusband and I} and several fingers {from the Supertoddler} way, way up. I will be repeating this on a regular basis, I'm sure.

-- Your Friendly Neighborhood Batgirl

Three Sisters Stuffed Squash

I've always been attracted to the festive elegance of stuffed stuff. Especially if that stuffed stuff was some manner of squash. So I decided today was the day I stuffed some stuff myself. It wasn't hard to pick out the Three Sisters Stuffed Squash (page 346) – corn's involvement was practically calling my name. (The three sisters in question are squash, corn, and beans, the main food supply of the Iroquois.)

My only modifications were using white onion instead of yellow and red kidney beans instead of pinto; my squash of choice was acorn, but, as it's small, there would've been enough filling left over for another little acorn. I just enjoyed it while waiting for the rest to bake.

Ample salt is what teases out all the wonderful flavor, bringing out the sweetness of the corn and allowing it to mingle wonderfully with the light bite of the chile and the steady comfort of the beans. And baking it makes it that much better.

Verdict? The stuff inside is great, baked squash is always great, and the whole thing together makes for some superb stuffed stuff! A flavorful autumnal dish that would be perfect for company during the harvest time festivities.

- - Ulpia, lover of stuff - -

Great Stuffed Pumpkin

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Well...the great stuffed pumpkin, at least. After the Supertoddler forced me to cart home 2 small pie pumpkins last week, on account of them being "oh cute", making Great Stuffed Pumpkin {page 342} was a natural choice.

The recipe took a lot of time, but was not time consuming. I try to cook my "main meal" every day for lunch, so I started at 9am and put the brown rice on to cook. After that was finished, I made the pilaf, stuffed the pumpkins, popped them in the oven, and then waited the torturous hour-and-a-half until they were finished.



Beautiful, fragrant, and delicious, this recipe is something you could make for company with minimal effort but a big "wow!" factor. The Supertoddler was so excited about the pumpkins that he could barely leave them alone while I photographed them. When it was finally time to eat, he dug right in and gave them a resounding mouth-full-of-pumpkin approval.



Overall, this is one of my favorite things I've made from the book thus far. I will definitely make it again before the season is up, probably for company. Yum!

-- Your Friendly Neighborhood Batgirl