Squash and Polenta

I started out the day on Sunday with every intention of making this yummy looking RAW-sotto recipe from Organically Me for dinner.  I dare to say that I was even excited about trying it. I soaked cashews and sunflower seeds and marinated mushrooms early in the day to prepare for the dish. Later in the evening, I started to prepare the rest of the ingredients. I cut up basil and chopped zucchini. And then started chopping cauliflower for the "rice". And that's when things went wrong.

I know it's not very vegan of me, but I don't like insects. I don't like the element of surprise that they tend to bring with them. And I'm not a fan of crawly things. A few weeks ago at work, out of the corner of my eye I noticed that a grey spot on the grey carpet was moving in the direction of my desk. I shrieked and flew back in my wheeled chair. The grey spot was not a spot at all, but a very large, very furry, very leggy bug. It was larger in the back and was about 2 inches long. It sort of looked like a spider pushing a furry centipede. I'm not kidding. My coworkers ran over, we got a flash light, and we searched, but the insect in question could not be found. I spent the next two hours with my feet on my chair and my keyboard in my lap. The bug was later found in the hallway and escorted out of the building by my coworker Kevin, a.k.a. My New Hero.

What does all of this have to with my rawsotto dinner? Well, as I was cutting the cauliflower, a very large, very crawly black bug scurried out of the center, no doubt happy to finally be free of the cauliflower prison he must have spent what felt like an eternity to him in. Once again, shrieking was involved. There was also some running and flailing. Dennis isn't really bothered by bugs and he usually quietly takes them quietly outside. His reaction to this thing was "that's really disgusting." I have no idea what happened to the bug, as my senses seemed to have shut down after the incident. I came to again when Dennis said "the kitchen is safe."

So after I calmed down and was able to bring myself to go back in the kitchen, I needed to come up with another dinner plan. I already had chopped zucchini and basil and marinated mushrooms ready to go. What to with them? I decided to make squash and polenta, using a tube of premade polenta I had in the fridge and some really cute little summer squash I picked up at the farmers market. I also chopped up a nice heirloom tomato and a red onion. I added a can of pinto beans to the mix for some protein. I sliced the polenta up really thin and cooked it with a little bit of oil in a non stick pan. It ended up being a really tasty, impromptu dinner. There was a lot of the veggie/bean mix leftover, so I will probably make some quinoa to go with it and have it for lunch sometime this week.

As for the rawsotto - I'm not sure if it will ever be made now that I have a tremendous fear of cauliflower.


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Stuffed Summer Squash

It's squash season! I saw these really great summer squashes at the farmers' market over the weekend and just had to get them. They have many names - flyer saucer squash, pattypan squash, scallop squash, etc. Whatever you call them, they're really gorgeous and really delicious!

Despite the heat, I decided to turn the oven on and make stuffed squash. 

I scooped out the insides of the squash, and saved what I scooped out.

I sautéed together some garlic, onion, habanero pepper, tomatoes, the insides of the squash and black beans, and then added the veggies to cooked quinoa. I then placed the mixture inside the hollowed out squashes. 

I cooked them at 400 degrees for about about 30 minutes, until the squash was tender. I then sprinkled some Daiya cheese on top and popped them back in the oven for about 10 more minutes.

I served the stuffed squash over beds of sautéed kale. This was a really delicious meal! I'm looking forward going back to the farmers' market next weekend to get more squash to experiment with!

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