Butternut Squash casserole

Butternut Squash with cranberries, ginger, and orange

Ingredients:
EVOO cooking spray
3 1/2 lbs butternut squash (@ 4 1/2 cups) peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tsp grass-fed organic butter, melted
2 Tbsp orange juice concentrate, thawed
2 tsp freshly grated ginger, divided
2 Tbsp EVOO, divided
2 Tbsp brown sugar, divided
1 Tbsp orange zest
1 tsp raw honey
3/4 cup fresh cranberries
Unrefined sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground coarse black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup whole-wheat panko crumbs
Juice from 1/2 lemon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degres F

Spray an 8x8 inch casserole with cooking spray. Add the butternut squash. In a small bowl, whisk together the butter, orange juice concentrate, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 Tbsp oil, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, orange zest, and honey; pour liquid over the squash and toss to coat. Add the cranberries and gently toss. Season with salt and black pepper; gently toss ingredients together. (I did this all in the 8x8 dish, but stuff kept falling out of the dish, so I would recommend doing the tossing of the squash with the liquid etc in a really big bowl, then transferring it all to the 8x8 casserole dish).

In a small bowl, mix together the panko crumbs, remaining tsp of grated ginger, remaining Tbsp of oil, and remaining Tbsp of brown sugar. Sprinkle the seasoned crumb mixture on top of the squash. Drizzle lemon juice on top.

Roast for 45-50 minutes, or until butternut squash cubes are soft. Allow squash to sit for 10-15 minutes before serving. Serve warm.

Modifications:
I used regular butter, just plain orange juice (not thawed concentrate - I think I added a bit more than what was listed too), dried ginger (I did add close to what it said for fresh ginger, thus why the dish was super gingery!), dried cranberries (the same amt as what was called for fresh), and whatever bread crumbs were in the cupboard (Italian flavored, I think).
Also, I would suggest putting the casserole dish in the oven for about 15-20 minutes WITHOUT the crumb covering and kind of tossing the squash around during those 20 minutes or so to give the sqaush extra time to soften up, THEN cover with the crumbs and roast off the rest of the time. The squash I used wasn't super ripe, so I think that contributed to a longer baking time, but I couldn't bake it too much since the crumbs were starting to burn.

Enjoy!! :)

Egyptian Tomato Soup

Recipe for Egyptian tomato soup

The "brown onion" in the recipe is a yellow onion for us in America. ;) I used vegetable stock and over a pound of cherry tomatoes from my garden. Yum!

Local catch

Clams with wine sauce (Ameijoas à Bulhão Pato)

4 cloves of garlic
half a bunch of cilantro
2 glasses of white wine
2 cups of water
4 pounds of clams
2 Tbsp of olive oil
salt to taste

In a large pot combine live oil and garlic, simmer. Add the cilantro and the clams and salt. Pour white wine, let it come to a boil. Add the water. Let cook for 15minutes. Serve with bread as an appetizer.

Stuffed crab

1 crab
1 Tbsp of pickles
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp of whiskey
1 hard boiled egg

Boil the crab, empty the crab out of the flesh keeping the carapace. Mince the egg and the pickles. Combine everything in a bowl. Season to taste and stuff the carapace. Refrigerate. Good on bread or crackers.