Sunset Meals

I love Sunset Magazine. It's always a great day when the mailman delivers it. Even though I live many, many states away from the Western ones (sniff, sniff) I still take my favorite magazine and try out most of the recipes. Now, they are always pretty good... but the last two months have been insanely good. October was filled with one-dish dinners (who needs to make two dishes when you only have to make one?! Um, mom's with newborns). Also in October, lots of recipes that incorporate exotic spices. I made the most delicious chicken dish. And I don't even like chicken most of the time. It was amazing. I served it with a small side of butternut squash soup and frozen garlic naan from TJ's.

Bengali Five-Spice Roasted Chicken

Click here for recipe.

*I marinated the chicken overnight.

Yummmm... Butternut Squash Lasagna

It's official, I have become a casserole mom. I get it now. With limited time to whip up dinner these days I'm all about casserole creations and slow cooker recipes. So what if I'm prepping my dinner around 3:30 pm?! Makes bath time and feeding time that much more enjoyable when all you have to do is pull something out of the oven and pour a glass of wine a few hours later. Here's what I whipped up last night and it was delicious:

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Ingredients:

- 2 bags of frozen butternut squash (microwave until thawed and mash with a fork)

- 32 once of part skim ricotta

- 3 handfuls of fresh chopped spinach

- 1 yellow onion (I prefer a sweet onion)

- 2 c of shredded mozzarella

- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, cinnamon, garam masala (all these spices are optional)

- 12 lasagna noodles (regular or no-bake)

Method:

- boil noodles for 4-5 minutes if needed

- saute onion until golden

- mix ricotta, spinich & onion. salt to taste.

- add desired spices to squash puree. salt to taste (i used a good amount as it was quite bland).

- Layer noodles, ricotta, noodles, squash, mozzarella. Continue order until you have reached the top of your casserole dish

- cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes in a 425 degree oven

- remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes until cheese is golden brown