Today, or rather, this afternoon, has been one of those that just needs to end. If I drop one more thing in the kitchen, I swear… ok, no more of that.
DINNER!
I got the idea for dinner tonight while looking over my post from the other day. I remembered that I had these micro-kabochas to cook up, and wanted to do something fun with them. Normally, kabochas are about the size of a small pumpkin. Mine are just larger than an apple
I cut the tops off of them and scooped out the seeds. There was a huge ratio of seeds to edible squash in them, but whatever…I had tiny kabocha bowls at this point. I made a filling of 3 de-cased Italian sausages, 1 egg, 5 chopped mushrooms, and 1/2 c. sharp white cheddar cheese. This isn’t really a recipe, I guess, but a process. I filled the kabocha bowls to the top with the sausage mixture, and baked them at 325 for about an hour, until the squash was soft and the meat was done. The result? See for yourself:
The squash was soft and sweet, the filling rich and spicy, and the combo together was downright dreamy. Just what I needed after an afternoon like today. Well, that and a super hot shower.
Do you buy organic anything? Have you seen the movie Food Inc.? I always feel like questions like these are so loaded. Yes, I saw Food, Inc. In all honesty, and call me heartless, it didn’t teach me anything I didn’t already know, nor did it change the way I look at food or what I buy. I knew about factory farms, and I know about GMOs, but I did think that how some of the companies treat their farmers was atrocious. I do buy organic when I can, but usually just beef when it’s available, and I plan on buying organic milk once Adam and I start thinking about having a family. And, even more honestly, I don’t have a problem not buying organic. Sure, if we had unlimited funds and a nearby Whole Foods, I’d probably buy organic a lot more. Right now though, it’s just not in our budget to buy organic most of the time. I buy what’s cheap. I buy what I like. I know a lot of people may judge me for this, but at least we’re living within our means.
ANNNNND the giveaway! The lovely folks at Tropical Traditions (who are dead set on making sure I never go without coconut anything) sent me a jar of their organic coconut peanut butter to try. Something about coconut peanut butter seemed a bit odd, yet a bit intriguing, so I agreed… man was I surprised! This stuff is absolutely to DIE FOR! It’s creamy and dense, with a light coconut flavor that’s just screaming to be used in oatmeal. I would recommend it to any of you… but only ONE of you can win a jar!
It’s simple to enter!
First and foremost, leave a comment on this post. Any comment at all, and you’ll be entered!
For additional entries:
- Subscribe to the Tropical Traditions Newsletter and leave another comment letting me know you did.
- Become a fan of What’s For Dinner? on Facebook and leave another comment that you did.
- Tweet the giveaway! “I entered to win @troptraditions coconut peanut butter with @imadedinner and you can too! http://bit.ly/9Fqg8l” and leave a comment that you did
Easy as pie peanut butter!
Good luck, and winners will be announced on Friday, February 19.
Have a wonderful night. I’ll leave you with another cute Ozzy picture
Technorati Tags: ask me, beef, cheese, dinner, food, giveaway, Italian, pork, Tropical Traditions
