Butternut Squash & Goat Cheese Dip

Tis' the season for gatherings, parties, fat, sugar, glutinous eating and more. This lovely dip is an alternative healthier than most options that will give reprieve to the appetizers and party food that we come to regret in January. It is also rich in flavor with the Seasonal Butternut Squash taking on the majority of the creaminess.

Butternut Squash-Goat Cheese Dip

1-2 lb butternut squash, cut in half, scrap out the seeds
1 head of garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely minced
½ cup orange juice
4-8 ounces goat cheese
1 package whole wheat crackers, melba toasts, or slices of pumpernickel bread or a gluten-free rice cracker… or something that will accompany whatever way you want to dip, spread or love up your dip

Preheat oven to 375. Place the butternut squash skin side down on a baking sheet. Keep the head of garlic whole and slice off the top of the garlic to expose just the tops and place in between the two squash halves on the baking sheet. Drizzle the olive oil on the squash and garlic. Sprinkle with the salt and half of the rosemary. Roast in the oven for 35-45 minutes until the squash is soft and almost mushy.

Squeeze out the garlic cloves, scrap out the squash from the skin place in a large bowl or food processor. Mash the squash, garlic, orange juice, and remaining rosemary. Mix in the goat cheese depending on the amount of squash to taste. Add salt to taste.

Garnish with fresh rosemary sprigs. Serve with crackers or slices of toast.

Curried Pumpkin Soup

In the spirit of Halloween tomorrow I wanted to share with you a simple pumpkin soup that so often graces my table as my door bell rings incessantly on Trick-or-Treat night.

It is warm, cozy, simple and delicious. This can be made with full fat half & half making it luxurious and extravagant or we very often mix in coconut milk instead. Whether you use coconut milk or half & half the pumpkins in this soup will give you a vitamin boost including beta-carotene & Vitamin A as well as calcium, potassium, and a bit of Vitamins C & K. Great way to balance out some of the sugar overload that starts tomorrow and doesn't seem to stop until January.

Use canned pumpkin or cook up your own. Preheat your oven to 375. Cut a pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds (and then roast them up for Pepitas). Place flesh side of the squash up and bake for 30-45 minutes until a butter knife can gently cut into the flesh.

I grew that little cutie that accompanies the soup- can't wait to cook it up into something delicious. Maybe for tomorrow nights Trick or Treat!

Curried Pumpkin Soup

1 lg onion
2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil
1 16oz can pumpkin or 2 cups cooked pumpkin
4 C chicken broth or non-chic vegetarian broth
1 bay leaf
1/2 t sugar
1/2 t curry powder
1/8 t nutmeg
2 C half and half or coconut milk
salt to taste
pepper to taste
chives and/or pumpkin seeds for topping

Sauté onions until golden brown. Add the pumpkin through the nutmeg and simmer uncovered 15minutes, stirring occasionally. Puree in food processor or blender. Returns to pan add half and half or coconut milk, salt and pepper. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Top with chopped chives and/or a sprinkle of toasted pumpkin seeds.

Apple & Blue Cheese Salad with Maple Dressing

I have to apologize. It has been a silly amount of time since I last posted a blog. Just silly.

There are things going on that I am not quite ready to broadcast, but there is one I want to give a sneak peak of which is my latest & greatest project www.lillys-table.com. Please check out the splash page and sign up to be the first to be notified when we are live.

Another change is I invested in some new photography lights. To celebrate I invited over a few darling friends who showed up potluck style with many of my own recipes. We had a photo shoot with all of the model dishes and then we had a great feast!

I just had to share one of these photos and unlike my others it has not been touched up with Photo Shop, so please let me know what you think. We are happy to go back to touching up, but we weren't sure what we would change this time- so here it is in a post!

So, about the dish.... I am completely obsessed with Apples currently as they are so gloriously in season. Fennel while not quite as popular is also having its moment right now and the licorice flavor is subtle yet makes its own statement in this salad. If you prefer stronger flavors you could even try thinly sliced red onions. Paired with an Autumn inspired Maple Dressing, Pecans or Walnuts (your choice) and a sprinkle of blue cheese or even goat cheese- It is a quick & easy seasonal treat. Have it as a side or a main vegetarian salad.

Apple and Blue Cheese Salad with Maple Dressing
½ cup walnuts or pecans
Maple Dressing:
¼ cup orange juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
¼ cup olive oil
2 small or 1 large apple, fuji, gala, or jonagold
1 lemon, cut in half, optional to keep the apples from browning
4 ounce blue cheese or goat cheese
1 small fennel, trimmed and thinly slice
4 cups baby spinach

Preheat oven to 400. Toast the walnuts or pecans on a roasting pan for 4-6 minutes until just slightly golden.

Whisk together the orange juice, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, and apple cider vinegar. Whisk in the olive oil slowly into the dressing.

Cut the apples in half and remove the seeds and stems. Thinly slice the apples. If desired, rub the lemon on the slices to prevent them from browning. Thinly slice the blue cheese or crumble it.

Arrange the spinach on individual plates or a large bowl. Toss on the fennel slices, apple slices, walnuts and blue cheese. Drizzle the maple syrup on top.


Please enjoy and I promise to post with a little less ridiculous lack of frequency ;)

Beet Ravioli with Tofu Spinach Filling

Making pasta from scratch was one of the first large cooking endeavors I took on as a kid. Hours later the kitchen and myself would be covered in flour as dinner was finally served. The efforts were well worth it as the egg-y smooth texture of homemade pasta is often an ethereal experience.

Today I am a touch faster, but I give myself plenty of time to enjoy the process.
Pasta Makers really, really make life a lot easier, especially for homemade raviolis. I say this entirely from experience. For fettuccine and other egg pasta used in dishes such as Chicken Noodle Soup, I am fine using a rolling pin, but in the case of ravioli I draw the line. It once took three of us my roommate, her boyfriend and myself hours of determination to roll out dough as thinly as possible only to end up with what was thick, difficult to eat ravioli not exactly what we were looking for, especially since our upper-bodies were sore from rolling.

This time, I had a Pasta Maker and a few tablespoons of Beet Powder for fun color. If you don’t have beet powder, it is entirely optional, but I love the dark pink color of this pasta.

The filling is Vegan, because my visiting niece is dairy-free and her friend is a Vegetarian so we settled on this Vegan filling since rarely do they enjoy the Ricotta-Herb filled versions. The dough however is not Vegan- so sorry.

I am sure a few of you are thinking this pasta making stuff is crazy, but the filling is perfect... well, I have an alternative solution if you are looking for a faster and not-requiring-a-pasta-maker version try: Wonton wrappers! They are usually cut into the appropriate square shape and with a few dabs of water the wontons easily come together as ravioli. They won’t be bright pink, but at least they have the tasty dairy-free center!

What are your favorite ravioli fillings?












Beet Ravioli with Greens, Pine Nut, and Tofu Filling
3 cups flour
2 tablespoons Beet Powder
4 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons olive oil
1-3 tablespoons water

In a food processor, blend together the flour and beet powder. Slowly add one egg at a time, blending to incorporate, drizzle in the olive oil to form a ball. If it doesn’t start coming together slowly add the water a few splashes at a time until the dough is a big roll-able ball.
Let the dough rest to relax for about 30 minutes. Wrap up in plastic and set in the fridge until ready to use.

Meanwhile, make the filling:

Greens & Tofu Filling
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch of spinach or other dark leafy greens, finely chopped
10 ounces tofu, crumbled
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, optional
5-8 leaves of basil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic into the olive oil, toss in the chopped greens and wilt slightly. Add in the crumbled tofu, sprinkle in the nutritional yeast, basil, salt and pepper. Toss and then cool slightly.

Tomato Sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped/minced
24 ounce can crushed roasted tomatoes
½ cup chopped basil
1 pinch red chili pepper flakes, optional

Place a large saucepan over medium heat. Add in a drizzle of olive oil and the garlic. As soon as you can smell the garlic starting to heat and sizzle add in the tomatoes. Bring up to a simmer, stirring occasionally for 10-15 minutes until the sauce is to your desired consistency or flavor. Toss in the basil. If you like a smoother sauce, puree in a blender after you add the basil and then return to the pan to simmer slightly.

Put it all together:

Cut the pasta dough into at least 4 balls. Roll out the pasta dough thinly, using a pasta maker is ideal, but with some serious work a rolling pin can do the job.

Roll out two thin sheets and lay them next to each other. Dollop on 1 tablespoons of filling every 2 inches a part. When the sheet is full of dollops dab a little water around each pile of filling. Lay the second sheet of pasta dough on top. Lightly press the sheets together, pressing around the filling to ensure it is secure without air bubbles. With a pizza or pastry cutter, slice through creating even square raviolis. Set aside on a drying rack and continue making raviolis until you run out of pasta or filling.

Once all of the pastas are made and arranged on drying racks, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add in a few generous pinches of salt once it is up to a rapid boil. Toss in a few of the raviolis being sure to not over crowd the pan. They will float to the top when they are ready. Scoop off a few, sauce up with the warm tomato sauce and serve.

Make sure the ravioli have plenty of room to dance and cook in the boiling water. When they float to the top, scoop them off:














Have extra rolled out thin dough? We ran out of filling before we ran out of dough, so we just sliced them into noodle-sized pieces and boiled them after we boiled the ravioli. A little extra fresh pasta treat!

Sun Dried Tomato Caesar Salad

I feel I can reasonably mess around with Caesar to create my own version (you know such as removing the raw egg that makes so many nervous) but for me the quintessential flavor of Caesar Salad comes from Anchovies. I hear a few of you gagging at the thought, but bear with me and try it. I serve this regularly to anchovy haters (albeit fish eaters) and they have become believers. If you cannot get past the *idea* of eating flavor-packed fish paste in your salad dressing, try a splash of Worcestershire Sauce instead-- but be warned this also often contains anchovies. While you are reading the back of the label on the Worcestershire watch out for the now often included High-Fructose Corn Syrup. I find generic brands are sometimes 'safer'. If you have to avoid the anchovies altogether (Hi there Vegetarians!) Annie's makes a lovely Worcestershire without anchovies or HFCS.

This particular version of Caesar salad is inspired by a large jar of Costco sun-dried tomatoes marinating in olive oil and a Gluten-Free friend coming over. Toasted pine nuts replace the crunch provided by the usual croutons. Sun-dried tomatoes add just enough flavor to make this salad memorable.

Sun-Dried Tomato Caesar Salad
For the dressing:
1 clove garlic, crushed/minced
1 lemon juiced (about ¼ cup)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbls anchovy paste (or 1 tbls Worcestershire sauce)
¼ cup plain yogurt
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

For the salad:
4 cups romaine lettuce, torn into pieces
1/2 cup sun-dried tomato pieces (marinated in olive oil)
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts*

Meanwhile, whisk together the garlic and lemon for the salad dressing. Allow to sit for about 2 minutes as the acid from the lemon mellows out the garlic. Add in the Dijon mustard, anchovy paste and yogurt. Whisk until combined. Taste to see if you need more of any flavors. Slowly emulsify in the olive oil: while whisking rapidly, pour the olive oil in to the dressing in a thin, steady stream. Continue whisking until all of the olive oil has been added. Taste again. Fold in the parmesan cheese.

Drizzle some of the dressing on to the romaine lettuce. Toss lightly to coat. Add more dressing as needed. Toss in about half of the sun-dried tomatoes and pine-nuts. Garnish with the remaining sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts.

*To toast pine nuts, gently shake raw pine nuts in a skillet over medium heat. Allow to sit for 1-2 minutes. Shake. Repeat until evenly golden. Keep your nose involved. If you smell burning remove the pine nuts from the skillet as soon as possible.