Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

                                    Contributed by Beth Rank

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

1 large Spaghetti Squash
* 1 container Mushrooms, sliced (optional, see note)
Butter and Olive Oil
1/2 lb Lean Hamburger
1 small Onion, chopped
3-4 cloves Garlic, chopped
1 14.5 oz. can Diced Tomatoes
1 small can Tomato Paste
2 cups Ricotta Cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese (grated)
Mozzarella Cheese (8 oz package)
Parsley
Basil (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut squash in half, lengthwise. Place cut side down on baking sheet and add a little water (about 1/2 and inch). Roast for about 45 minutes, or until tender. Remove from oven and place on a rack until cool enough to handle.

After squash is cooked, clean the baking sheet to use later....

While the squash is roasting, sauté sliced mushrooms in a high sided frying pan with some butter and olive oil for about 5 minutes or until tender. Place in a bowl. In the same frying pan, add onions and hamburger and fry until brown. Add garlic and heat for about 30 more seconds. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, sautéed mushrooms, chopped basil ( if desired) and salt to taste. Simmer for 5 or 10 minutes until everything is nice and hot.
Take a fork and scrape the "spaghetti" flesh from the squash and mix in with hamburger sauce.

Mix Ricotta, Parmesan cheese and parsley together in a bowl.

Place squash shells on baking sheet. Divide half of the Ricotta mixture and spread in the bottom of each shell. Divide half of the sauce mixture and spread on top of Ricotta. Spread one more layer of Ricotta and the rest of the sauce. Place in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, then top each with Mozzarella cheese (I used an 8 oz package) and cook for 15-20 more minutes. Top with chopped parsley and/or basil.

I cut 1 of the halves in half to make 2 very generous portions. This can be made with 2 smaller squash.

* Use 1 lb of hamburger if you do not like mushrooms. Yes, mushrooms are kosher by the way.

The pictures are of the serving warm out of the oven and the other one is of a leftover, entire 1/2 of the squash before I warmed it up the next day. It was actually better the next day.

Breadsticks

                                    Contributed by Tammy Long

 I used my pizza dough recipe and rolled out stick shapes instead. Sprinkled with garlic powder. And then after baking brushed really good with butter.
I can give you the pizza dough recipe if you like. It's actually a Wolfgang Puck recipe. I tweak it a bit.

1 pk Dry Yeast
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons of Honey or sugar ( I use a little more)
3 cups of flour (rounded figure)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup olive oil or butter (little more if butter)

Mix
Knead
Rise
Shape (add garlic powder if using)
Second rise
Bake 425 
Butter

Then add about 2 3/4 cup all purpose unbleached flour, about 1/4 cup olive oil (or you can use melted butter, but I'd use a bit more if doing butter) 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and start mixing. I use a wooden spoon to start. Add a little flour as you go. And once it starts coming together in a ball (it'll still be a little sticky) then turn it out onto your work surface to knead. Add only a little flour at the time. That is key. No more flour than absolutely necessary. But you will need to continue to dust it to keep from sticking to hands and word surface. Knead for at least ten minutes, Place back in bowl with a little olive oil to keep from sticking. Cover and let rise at least 2 hours, preferably more. At least an hour before you're ready to bake them, punch dough down, knead a few rounds, and then let it sit again for about 5 minutes. Then knead a few seconds and cut in half, and keeping halving each piece until you have sixteen pieces. You may need a sprinkling of flour again, but only if necessary. Roll out each piece into lengths about 7 or so inches. I really just tried to size it to fit the pan I was using cross ways. Place on a lightly oiled pan. Sprinkle with garlic powder, or not. Let rise at least an hour or until ready to bake. Preheat oven at 425 and Bake about 12 to 15 minutes. ( We both know how ovens differ so use your own discretion here) I just kept and eye on them until they were as brown as I wanted. Then I had some melted butter ready to bathe them in

Apple Cake

A favorite through the Fall Festivals, because Festivals are about the only time I bake and apples are in season . . .

Apple CakeIt seems I only make this cake in the fall, although I’m sure it’s delicious year round. It’s our traditional dessert for Feast of Trumpets. I make it again through the week of Feast of Tabernacles.

1 ½ C Sugar                                                 1 tsp. Baking Soda
½ C Butter                                                   1 tsp. Cream of Tartar
2 Eggs                                                          Pinch of Salt
5-6 Apples, peeled and diced                      1 tsp. Gr. Allspice
1 ½ C Flour                                                 ½ tsp. Cinnamon
                                                                     1 C English Walnuts

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat. Mix in diced apples. Combine all dry ingredients and spices and sift into batter. Add nuts, mix well.

Bake in greased and floured 9” X 13” pan @ 350 for about an hour. Best when served warm.

Top this treat with cream cheese icing.

Gilbert

                              Gilbert Starter

This is something that I happened upon, totally inadvertently.  One of my reflexology clients was talking about making bread from a refrigerated starter.  She said she made it for years, then something happened . . . I offered to Google Search and see what I could come up with.  I found a ton of different bread starters and sour dough recipes.  It seemed that most of the starters I came across still either required yeast to use in recipes or needed to be “fed” with something I didn’t have around the house.  After a few tries and many errors, I decided to come up with one I liked on my own.
If you live close by or are planning to visit our area, I’d be glad to just give you a start, but here’s the recipe to start and feed a Gilbert of your own.  Gilbert Starter must be kept in glass, covered, and not exposed to metal, so I cover with cling wrap.

In half gallon jar or bowl mix 2 C Warm Water, 2 C Flour, and 1 pkg. Yeast.  Leave covered loosely, on the counter overnight.  The next day you should be able to see bubbles and yeast activity.  If not, throw out and try again.  If so, add 1 C *Potato Water, 1 C Flour and ½ C Sugar, and stir.  Let set out for a few hours until yeast activity is visible.  Refrigerate.  Stir daily and on 5th day, take out of refrigerator and let stand to room temperature.  Add 1 C *Potato Water, 1 C Flour and ½ C Sugar, and stir.  Allow activation time and return to refrigerator.  Gilbert will be ready to use in baking in 5 days.

Weekly Gilbert Food:
                      1 C *Potato Water         3 Tbsp. Flour
                       ¾  C Sugar
* Potato Water consists of the water in the pan that you would normally drain, after potatoes are boiled + about 1/3 of a small boiled potato mashed or minced.
Gilbert Starter should be used and fed weekly, and starts can be given to friends.  Always make sure to keep 2 C. of Gilbert Starter to feed.
Remove Gilbert Starter from refrigerator.  Measure out the amount of Gilbert Starter needed for recipe.  Let Gilbert Starter stand to room temperature.  Feed Gilbert Starter and stir.   Allow for activation time, return to refrigerator til next week.
Gilbert Starter does not work like a fast acting yeast, so all recipes containing Gilbert will require about 8 hours for first rising.

I use Gilbert Starter in all of my bread and roll recipes now.  I replace the water and yeast measurement with Gilbert.  Since I bake all of our breads and pastries, using Gilbert Starter in the place of yeast packets, offers a substantial savings.  And it seems Gilbert Starter increases the number and size of loaves in my standard recipes.  With the price of flour, that’s nice too.  The loaves freeze well.
For example in the Challeh recipe, I use 1 1/3 C of Gilbert Starter