Baked Acorn Squash

This is a favorite of the family anytime of the year, especially in the winter. The next time I make squash soup, I will post it now that we are getting into the fall and winter months and I will be doing more soups, stews, and casserole dishes that can easily be frozen for later. These are the types of meals that are great in the crock pot and baked in the oven. The good old fashioned comfort food, it is so nice to have a nice bowl or soup or stew when it is cold and rainy (sometimes snowy) outside. But for now, here is my Baked Acorn Squash, so easy that anyone could do this.

Baked Acorn Squash

1 acorn squash, seeds scooped out, quartered
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 Tbsp butter or margarine
1/4 cup water

Remove seeds and cut into quarters. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large baking dish, put in the squash quarters flesh side up. Put 1 Tbsp of butter or margarine on each piece of squash, then divide the brown sugar 4 ways and put equal amounts on top of each squash piece with the butter. Pour the water into the casserole dish. Bake 40 minutes or until squash is fork tender. Serve.

Strawberry-Banana Breakfast Milkshake

Kids love milkshakes, they do not always like to eat breakfast. My kids are no different, sometimes a healthy milkshake is a good breakfast when they are on the go. Before sports activities is also a good time for a healthy milkshake as my daughter loves to have one before she goes to Tae Kwon Do class or any other physical activity.

This is a very versatile recipe as you can use any kind of fruit and any kind of yogurt. The wheat germ adds some vitamins, the banana adds protein, and if you are using blueberries instead; it adds a lot of antioxidants. I have the pickiest 3 year old on the planet and she even likes these (and she doesn't like anything, it is so hard to cook for her). Here is what I throw together in a blender for this recipe.

Strawberry-Banana Breakfast Milkshake

1 cup 2% milk
1 container vanilla or strawberry yogurt
1 banana
1/2 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
1 Tbsp honey
1/4 cup wheat germ (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a blender and blend well, serve in a tall glass with a straw.

Notes:
- Substitute any fruit for the strawberries and bananas
- Substitute any yogurt for the vanilla or strawberry
- Make this thicker by using less milk and serve in a parfait cup topped with granola and more whole fruit for a tasty parfait treat.

Gameday Chicken Wings

When we watch football, I cannot forget chicken wings. The whole family loves to munch on chicken wings during the big game. I have concocted my own wing rub recipe for my chicken wings that is so yummy and it goes with any type of dipping sauce or is just great by themselves. Here is my version of chicken wings complete with the wing rub recipe and my recommended dipping sauces. Be sure to have lots of napkins on hand, as these can get messy!

Gameday Chicken Wings

WING RUB: (the picture below is what your rub should look like after it is mixed)
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup coarse salt
1/4 cup paprika
2 Tbsp seasoned salt
2 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp granulated garlic or 1 clove garlic that is minced and pressed (if using fresh garlic do not add it to the dry ingredients, add it to the shaker bag with the rub when you coat the chicken wings)
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp onion salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (depending on how hot you like your wings)
1 tsp hickory flavored liquid smoke (optional)

CHICKEN WINGS
2-4 lbs chicken wings (thawed if you are using frozen wings)


Mix dry ingredients except liquid smoke (and fresh garlic, do not mix with dry ingredients). Put chicken wings in large plastic bag with 1 cup of rub and shake to coat. Add liquid smoke and fresh garlic if you are using fresh garlic and shake again. Refrigerate minimum 24 hours and maximum 48 hours).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make a single layer in baking dish or cookie sheet; bake 1 hour or until done.

Crock Pot directions: After coating with rub and refrigerating, put in crock pot; turn on low for 4-6 hours and on high for 2-3 hours.

Notes:
- I recommend baking so they do not fall off the bone while trying to eat and dip, if you do not care, the crock pot makes very tender wings.
- Dipping sauce can be used; I recommend BBQ sauce (homemade is better; here is the link to my own BBQ sauce in this site Dips, Sauces, and Condiments and scroll down until you come to the homemade BBQ sauce recipe), ranch dip, blue cheese dressing, or honey mustard sauce.
- Store extra rub in airtight container in a dry cool place, or in a ziplock storage bag clearly labeled

The dipping sauce we used is a purchased sauce (I do not do that often at all unless the sauce tastes very good). We got it when we went to the fair and the wing sauce is to die for! It is called Honey Habanero Wing Sauce made by The James Gang BBQ Company and they have so many products that look good, it was a hard choice. Richard (my husband) is the sauce whiz and he is very picky about sauce but he liked these so we bought some to give them a try. In the box he bought we got 1 bottle of the Honey Habanero Wing Sauce (spicy but with a nice sweet bite to it), Spiced Rum Steak Marinade, and their original Hickory Smoke BBQ sauce (we got 2 bottles of that, it is very good). If you do not make your own sauce, I highly recommend buying this sauce. I usually make my own, but this is a good one to buy. One more little tidbit about this sauce, we looked at the labels of the sauce and we did not find any high fructose corn syrup in any of them, just fresh ingredients and it tastes so good. Give them a try!

Herb Roasted Chicken

(pictured here is Plain Herb Roasted Chicken and the variation is below the lemon recipe)

Lemon Herb Roasted Chicken
(there is another 2 variations at the bottom for different flavors with this chicken)

1 chicken (about 2 1/2 to 3 lb whole chicken)
1/2 stick margarine or butter, softened
2 Tbsp coarse salt
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp lemon pepper
1 tsp poultry seasoning or sage
1/4 cup water with 1 Tbsp lemon juice added
1 lemon cut into slices

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Rub the chicken with coarse salt (including inside the cavity).

Combine the butter, garlic, parsley, thyme, lemon pepper, poultry seasoning or sage until creamy. Spread all over chicken including under the skin on the breast. Put into baking dish. Put the water with lemon juice in the bottom of the baking dish to help keep chicken moist while cooking and for basting later in cooking. Slice lemon and place slices randomly on chicken and inside the cavity.

Put in preheated oven for 2 hours, basting after the first hour. Tent the chicken so the top doesn't brown too quickly. After the 2 hours, increase the temperature to 400 degrees and bake for another 40 minutes, basting every 10 minutes until meat thermometer inserted in breast comes to 165 degrees for an internal temperature.

Variations:
1. Plain Herb Roasted Chicken (like in the picture since my husband doesn't like lemon like I do, I fix the lemon when he is not home): Just substitute black pepper for lemon pepper and omit the lemon juice from the water, and the lemon slices.
2. Apple Herb Roasted Chicken: Substitute black pepper for the lemon pepper; substitute apple juice for the lemon juice, and place apple slices around the chicken. (Granny Smith apples would be my apple of choice for this way to make this chicken because the sweet and tart of the apple goes well with the savory herbs)