Cherry Turnovers

We haven't updated in a long time, I realize.  But I absolutely had to come post this, or Carmen might actually divorce me.  Not sure, don't want to find out.

So, we recently discovered that we have 2 cherry trees in the backyard of our house.  (Oh.  Right.  We bought a house since the last time we updated our blog.  So there's an excuse for any avid readers who just couldn't wait for our next post.)  It's cherry season, so we've been picking them and giving them away.  Today our harvest was 4 pounds, so I found a couple things to make with them...  one of them was a Cherry Turnover recipe.  When I was done with it, Carmen broke her sugar-fast for "just one bite."  She said that it was the absolute best thing she had ever tasted.  She also said that I'm only allowed to make this once a year, or we'll both have diabetes in a month.

Because it's really late and I'm feeling very drained and lazy, I'm just going to link to the recipe, and copy-paste it here without changing the formatting.  Just in case the website is deleted. 

Cherry Turnovers Recipe

• Prep: 55 min. + chilling Bake: 30 min.
• Yield: 8 Servings

55 30 85 Ingredients

Savings in ann arbor, MI 48108  Change Zip

• 2-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup shortening
• 6 tablespoons cold water
• FILLING:
• 2 cups fresh or frozen pitted tart cherries, thawed
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons plus 1-1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• GLAZE:
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in shortening until crumbly. Gradually add water, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, combine cherries and sugar. Mash slightly; let stand for 15-20 minutes. Stir in cornstarch until blended. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in cinnamon. Cool.
• Divide dough into eight portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each portion into a 5-in. circle. Place about 3 tablespoons cherry mixture on one side of each circle; fold dough over filling. Press edges with a fork to seal. Prick tops with a fork.
• Place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the confectioner's sugar, vanilla and enough milk to achieve desired consistency. Drizzle over warm turnovers. Serve warm. Yield: 8 servings.

Nutritional Facts 1 turnover equals 454 calories, 19 g fat (5 g saturated fat), trace cholesterol, 298 mg sodium, 66 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 5 g protein.

I'm also going to link to this video for absolutely no reason: 

Creamy Squash Casserole

Hey - Long time no posting!
Well, Bryan and I have been busy cooking, cleaning, working on our new house, doing the holidays, and starting a new semester for him and an internship for me!

But our cooking has not stopped! We got a TON of winter squash in November from our last disbursement at the CSA. We found it easy to use up the butternut squash (25 cups of soup in the freezer!) But the other kinds of winter squash we haven't quite figured out what to do with.
So, we found this recipe:

Ingredients

Original recipe makes 8 servings

• 1 (2 pound) butternut squash - peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cube
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

• 2 carrots, shredded
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 1/2 cups herb-seasoned dry stuffing mix

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 7x11-inch baking dish.
2. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil; stir in squash cubes. Reduce heat to low; simmer squash until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
3. Mix cream of chicken soup, sour cream, butter, carrots, and onion in a bowl until thoroughly combined; stir in 2 cups of stuffing mix and the squash. Transfer to prepared baking dish. Sprinkle top of casserole with remaining 1/2 cup of stuffing mix.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until bubbling and squash is tender, about 25 minutes.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/creamy-squash-casserole/detail.aspx

So, we changed it up a bit. We used cream of mushroom instead of cream of chicken, yogurt instead of sour cream, and home made stuffing. (http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/herb-seasoned-stuffing)
It was pretty awesome the first time! The second time we were running low on carrots so we used some mixed vegetables instead. Still turned out great.
I mixed in some of my favorite quorn chicken to add some protein to make it a meal instead of a side. I also think ground "beef" would go well in it. Other options like beans would probably make it too dry, but experiment and find out!

Definitely worth trying. But PLEASE make sure you microwave the squash with some water for 5-7 minutes first before peeling because it will save you HOURS in the kitchen.