The squash adventures continue

The squash chronicles were continued this weekend with an excellent pumpkin curry from Thai Flavors. An amazing complex, rich dish- with yes, cubed pumpkin. Remember, pumpkin is a squash like butternut. It's just that everyone only sees it in one incarnation, pumpkin pie. Think outside the pie!

Today, even though it started to get hot once again, I tried an excellent recipe for Chocolate Zucchini bread. It turned out a very dark, moist rich loaf- a little healthier than the Paula Dean creation my mom found. I try not to over mix quick breads and muffins as a rule- if you do it makes them tough. But, be sure to mix in the zucchini- otherwise you may end up with a ball of zucchini in the middle of your loaf- not very appetizing. So, we just plan to eat around that chunk.

At the farmers market this weekend- I splurged, not on cake, but on a bag of roasted chilis. When I tasted them as a puree, they were sweet with a little kick. I froze them and am looking forward to pulling them out for chili or enchiladas sometime soon.

It is kind of weird having two days off in a row. I had a lot of plans this weekend, baking, cooking, dyeing my hair, cleaning- but got some stuff accomplished. We went to see a house for sale yesterday- which we liked very much and drove past some others that were on our potential list. We did the whole running errands thing- returned the dress which I shouldn't of bought in the first place, finally bought cat food (Mischa was sooo excited). Today I finished a dishcloth that had been lingering on my knitting needles forever, all I had to do was bind it off- why didn't I do it sooner? I made the bread this morning, went out for lunch with Angel's family and organized my knitting needles, made meatballs and froze them- I love the handi-vac!! and thinking about dinner....

Last night Angel was quite disgusted with my dinner plans- but really, trust me it was good! I tried this recipe, just using a multi-grain pita bread for the crust. Those pitas make great individual size pizzas- quick and easy dinner. Be sure to look for ones that are lower in fat, sometimes you can find flatbreads that have 9-10 grams of fat and really high in calories. The ones I am diggin' now are the Toufayan Bakeries that have 173 calories and 1 gram of fat- and no, they don't taste like cardboard.

Earlier this week, I used them to make bbq chicken pizzas, using bbq sauce, leftover smoked chicken, sauteed onions and peppers and mozzarella cheese. They are also great stuffed with egg salad or chicken salad or roasted veggies and cheese or hummus.

She hates beets- she tried one a couple of years ago and spit it into the trash. But at least she tried. I will use goat cheese the next time I do this and add more mozzarella cheese (for more cheesy goodness) - the feta was a bit too much, and I omitted the honey. Sliced in thin slices, it would make a great hors d'oeuvres. Enjoy!

Roasted Beet Pizza (Pizza alla Barbabietola Arrostito)

"People who think they don't like beets often become converts after sampling this tasty pizza," says Senior Food Editor Alison Ashton. Roast several golden beets at once, and enjoy the extras with salads, on sandwiches, or as a snack with crusty bread and goat cheese.

1 (4-ounce) golden beet
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 (10-inch) Basic Pizza Dough
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup vertically sliced shallots
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon honey

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Leave root and 1 inch of stem on beet; scrub with a brush. Wrap beet in foil. Bake at 450° for 40 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven; cool. Trim off beet root; rub off skin. Cut beet in half crosswise; thinly slice halves.

3. Position an oven rack in the lowest setting. Place a pizza stone on lowest rack.

4. Increase oven temperature to 500°. Preheat pizza stone 30 minutes before baking pizza.

5. Gently brush oil over Basic Pizza Dough. Arrange cheese, beet slices, and shallots evenly over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Slide dough onto preheated pizza stone, using a spatula as a guide.
6. Bake at 500° for 8 minutes or until crust is golden. Remove from pizza stone. Sprinkle with salt, and drizzle with honey. Cut into 8 wedges.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 wedge)CALORIES 104 (20% from fat); FAT 2.3g (sat 1.2g,mono 0.8g,poly 0.2g); IRON 1.2mg; CHOLESTEROL 6mg; CALCIUM 40mg; CARBOHYDRATE 17.7g; SODIUM 295mg; PROTEIN 3.5g; FIBER 1g Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2008