SQUASH, GREENS + QUINOA FRITTERS

Here we go, friends. We're towards the end of the parties and big meals and peppermint chocolate goodies and traffic to and from the mall and whipping cream and exhausted looking delivery people. Curran and I are making sandwiches today to set out for them which is probably way overdue because we order a lot of things online. I thought of leaving these delicious fritters but there wasn't a single one left over and I already think the UPS guys isn't sure about us, who knows what judgements I'd be securing in offering him a cold, leftover fritter. Everyone loves a PB+J. 
I'm also doing some baking for neighbors and family from Anna Jones second book, A Modern Way to Cook. I'm going to try her salted almond butter chocolate bars and carrot cake granola bars that sound just perfect for gifting if I can get them past the hungry hands around here. Anna's recipes are wholesome, simple, and creative while the chapters are broken down into 20, 30, 40 minute sections so you can plan meals according to your lifestyle (which timing I suppose is relative to the cook but I think you'll get in the ballpark). She has the kindest way of writing and gives you a confidence that you should just trust yourself. I think that's what I love about English cooks, they don't usually fuss over measurements and I think that's refreshing. 
Anyway, off to your holiday loveliness but I'm going to leave this delicious little meal right here for you when you need it. It's been a wild year trying to find my feet after adding Cleo to our crew but this space still feels like me. It's tough for Hugh and I to get motivated to shoot a recipe or for me to come up with something to say but I feel like it's important to be here anyway. So thanks for following along and engaging with me here, I think it's pretty special. Wishing you and yours a warm and meaningful holiday with the people you love most. 

SQUASH, GREENS + QUINOA FRITTERS // Makes about 10
Recipe adapted from A Modern Way to Cook by Anna Jones

I tried to add a few notes to help below for those that need more specific measurements though I believe this recipe will be forgiving either way as long as there are enough eggs to bind it all. These are gluten free and very delicate so use a gentle hand and patience when flipping - you want to get the spatula completely under them before flipping. If you are short on time, using your favorite hummus or tzatziki would be a great substitute for the yogurt sauce though it just takes a moment. 

1 cup uncooked or 2 cups cooked quinoa
a 14oz piece of butternut squash (about half of an average sized one), peeled and grated on a large box hole grater or in your food processor with the grater blade
4 medium eggs
one small bunch of green onions
5 ounces fresh greens (kale, spinach or the like), chopped
2/3 cup rolled oats
3/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. cayenne
sea salt and fresh ground pepper
7 ounces feta cheese (nearly a cup), crumbled
1 unwaxed lemon
handful of chopped parsley and cilantro
olive or grapeseed oil, for cooking

// yogurt sauce //
1 cup plain, full fat, greek yogurt
sea salt
1 tsp. sumac or dried chile
* I added in a grated garlic clove and some chopped cilantro and parsley here

// to serve //
english cucumber, sliced super thin
baby tomatoes
soft salad greens
olives

If you are cooking the quinoa, rinse it well, then add it to a pot with 1 3/4 cup water. Bring it to a gentle boil, turn it down to a simmer and cover and cook for 12 minutes until most of the water has been absorbed. In the last few minutes, add the shredded squash on top and let it steam on top to soften but not get mushy. This takes about 5 minutes. Stir it around to fluff and leave the cover ajar for it to cool (This is a great step to do the night before. It cools overnight and makes for quick work of the recipe the following day).

Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl. Add the green onions, greens, oats, cumin, cayenne and a few generous pinches of salt and pepper. Stir to mix. Add the feta, zest of the lemon, the herbs and the cooled quinoa/squash mixture. Mix everything together and set to chill in the fridge while you "get on with another couple jobs" (Anna's line. I love it :). 

For the sauce, stir together the yogurt, juice of half the lemon, pinch of salt and sumac. Add some finely chopped cilantro and parsley, if you wish. Gather, slice and chop your cucumber, tomato and olives, if using. Toss them in oil and lemon juice if you wish.

In a large pan over medium heat, warm a thin layer of olive or grapeseed oil. Remove the quinoa mixture and gently form patties about 3/4" thick and fry them in the oil, about 5 minutes per side until golden brown (I did an extra minute, covered, at the end just to make sure the centers were set).

MAYAN PUMPKIN SEED DIP

I have an overflowing clipboard of recipes I've ripped out from magazines. You read that correctly, clipboard, probably not the right tool for the task but I love them. In my other life of wanting to be a director or boss of something I carry clipboards around and wear trendy glasses and carry almond milk lattes and graciously boss people around. Though I'm sure real boss people these days use their phones. Alas, I suppose I am the boss of my kitchen so therein my clipboard lies. This recipe came from the stack and I can remember exactly when I ripped it out - on an airplane along with a tortilla soup recipe that suggested a nub of butter to make the broth silky smooth and I still do that. There are about three or four dips or dressings on this site that are different amounts of the same-ish ingredients and I can't help it, I like what I like. When our quick meals are sandwiches, bowls of leftovers, salads and tacos, it's the spreads and dressings that bring the otherwise average meals to life. Our fridge sometimes has 8+ jars of things up top but they are my arsenal for quick meals. Many things can be thrown over rice or in a tortilla and qualify as dinner with a good sauce. My best lunch this week was this sauce, roasted sweet potatoes (which I already make a big batch of for Cleo), my fave feta and more herbs in toasty corn tortillas. Hope you can find a good home for it too. 

MAYAN PUMPKIN SEED DIP // Serves 8
Recipe adapted from Food and Wine 2013

The original recipe said to remove the jalapeno seeds but I strongly disagree. The dip needs the heat for flavor and there is enough fat here to mellow it out. It could handle two peppers if you really like spicy. I'm a baby with spice and I know every pepper is different but I threw in the whole thing and it was great. 

1 cup pumpkin seeds
2 Tbsp. grapeseed or other neutral oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup chopped shallots (about 4)
1 large jalapeno, stemmed and chopped
sea salt, to taste
1/3 cup each parsley and cilantro
juice of one lime
1/4 cup orange juice
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup water

In a saucepan over medium heat, toast your pumpkin seeds until just fragrant, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a food processor. 
Add the oil to the pan to warm up. Add the garlic, shallot, jalapeno and a generous pinch of salt. Saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer to the food processor to cool. Add the parsley and cilantro, lime juice, orange juice, oil, water and another pinch of salt. 
Run the processor until combined but still a little chunky. Add water or citrus to loosen if needed - you want it to be more like guacamole than nut butter. Salt to taste. 
The dip will keep in the fridge for a week, where I believe it gets better. 

CRACKER CRISP TARTINES: FEEDING BABIES

The thing about cooking and summer is that often times, meals are thrown together. It’s lighter longer, we’re outside and it’s so warm out that less actual cooking and more assembly sounds more like it. Tomatoes with a thinned pesto drizzled on top and thick slices of bread on the bbq. Peaches and lentils and lots of herbs mixed into some quick-cooking quinoa. I love when it can be both easy and good, not exclusively one or the other. There is so much great produce this time of year to pull it off. With a toddler and a very messy mash-eating baby at the table, Hugh and I have found it more peaceful to feed, bathe and put the kids to bed and then have dinner ourselves. We can actually talk, sip wine instead of swig it, and no one is asking me to pull the green bits out of their turkey meatballs. And lunch, since we’re usually all around for now, my default is sandwiches but everyone is tiring of those lately too. I started piling things on crackers instead, same but different. In this case, I used the new Wasa THINS. The ingredient list is short and wholesome, they’re great to eat on their own, but also sturdy enough to hold some of my favorite toppings. I have vivid memories of original Wasa crispbread from my childhood - my mom would eat them with mustard as part of some diet she was trying or slather them in peanut butter and honey for my sister and me. These are not just for Curran, these most definitely end up being for all of us. If we’re pulling a late afternoon beach day and I know everyone will get hungry, I bring some dips and cheese to keep everyone happy until dinner time. I can’t get over zealous with the vegetables for the toddler but I can make these recipes below to taste and they make for a quick little lunch. I love that these crackers are thin and delicate so they don’t take over. Crackers can be too much sometimes. All said, let’s just keep snacks and meals easy while the produce is amazing and we’d rather be outside.

This post was sponsored by Wasa Crackers. All words, photos and opinions are my own. Visit their site for more recipe ideas or check out the #snackingwithwasa hashtag.

CRACKER CRISP TARTINES

The trick is to make sure you have a “glue” to hold things down - mashed avocado, nut butter, hummus, ricotta, maybe a soft goat cheese. I have a toaster oven that I use daily so it’s easy to warm up the pizza one but I understand this isn’t the case for everyone. It only needs a minute for the cheese to melt so you could pop 'er in the real oven as well. 
I wrote the recipes for one, but if you are going to make one, you might as well make a few whether it’s a snack or lunch situation. These recipes will work on any Wasa cracker or sturdy cracker of choice.

Pizza Crisp

1 Wasa THINS or similar cracker
1 Tbsp. pizza sauce
1 Tbsp. grated mozzerella
1 Tbsp. grated parmesan
chopped olives
dried Italian Herbs, for garnish
chopped basil, for garnish

Preheat a toasted oven or oven to 375º. Spread the pizza sauce on top of the cracker. Evenly sprinkle the mozzarella and parmesan. Toast for 1 minute for the cheese to just melt. Top with a sprinkle of dried herbs and fresh basil. Enjoy warm.

Peach Crisp

1 Wasa THINS or similar cracker
1 Tbsp. mascarpone
1 tsp. maple syrup
pinch of cinnamon
1/2 a ripe peach, sliced thin
granola, for garnish

Mix the mascarpone with the maple and cinnamon. Spread it on top of the cracker. Arrange the peach slices on top and garnish with granola.

Veggie Crisp

1 Wasa THINS or similar cracker
2 Tbsp. prepared hummus or mashed avocado
1/4 of a cucumber, thinly sliced
shaved fennel
chopped herbs and celery leaves
sea salt and pepper, for garnish

Spread the hummus or avocado on the surface of the cracker. Arrange the vegetables and herbs. Finish with a sprinkle or salt and pepper.