bison chili in a squash bowl

Oh, man! Let's chalk that one up to the folly of youth.

Yesterday the Trainer and I lounged around for most of the day. Between the cup of coffee I really shouldn't have had around 4:30 Saturday and daylight savings time i didn't get much sleep and was pretty zapped by the time we decided to go to the gym. When I shuffled out in the late afternoon to fetch some cinnamon the weather was a perfectly nice fall day.

It didn't occur to me, as I was hauling the bikes out of the basement, that the sun was going to set earlier and that the temperature would drop along with it. I was concentrating to hard on the machines, and then the warm fuzzy feeling I got when the Trainer called me his "strong woman". However, this strong woman forgot her gloves

The ride to the gym wasn't to bad, although my fingers were cold and stiff when we arrived. I prised them from the handle bars and fumblingly help the Trainer with the lock. The ride home, after the sun set, was seriously cold. Riding through Queens in the cold and dark felt like we were doing something forbidden. Besides the frigid fingers it was a great ride. I love feeling my body working, pushing toward my goal.

But, back to those frigid finger. As mush as tried to pull my sleeves down over on fingers, but it's awfully hard to shift and break with your fingers pulled up inside your fleece. I was afraid that I would lose the use of my fingers for the rest of the evening, having suffered from raynauds phenomenon before going gluten free. I was pleasantly surprised that my fingers did not turn white and I did not lose feeling in them for hours. Very exciting! Of course, this does not mean that I'll be running around without gloves all winter.

The best part of the whole ordeal was the bison chili baked in a squash that was keeping warm for me in the oven. A little grated cheese and I had the perfect dark cold night dinner.

Bison Chili in a Squash Bowl

3 smallish acorn squash or pumpkins,
1 Lb ground bison
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, mined
1 carrot, diced
1 large celery stalk, diced
2 vine ripe tomatoes, diced
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
salt
fresh ground pepper
sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350°F

In a skillet add the onion, garlic and spices. Saute for about 5 minutes, until onions are tender. Add the carrots, celery and tomatoes, reduce heat and simmer while you prepare the squash.

Wash the outsides and cut the tops off the squash. Try to cut on an angle so that the tops will fit back on, like a jack-o-lantern. Scoop out seeds and pulp, try to get as much pulp out as possible.

Fill each squash as full as possible with chili. Press the chili firmly into the squash and fill them completely.

Place tops back on squash and place on a sided baking sheet on pan. Pour enough water into the pan to cover the bottom.

Bake for 45 minutes

Allow to cool for several minutes and garnish with grated sharp cheddar cheese.

*Eat the squash along with the chili, the contrasts in tastes is amazing! If you aren't going to bake the chili in the squash I recommend peeling, dicing and cooking the squash along with the rest of the chili.

stuffed tomatoes save the day

This past Thursday I was fortunate enough to have the day off work for Yom Kippor. I did not fast on this Jewish day of atonement, but I did spend the day in meditation. In the kitchen.

Since it is so unusual for me to have a day off, the Trainer decided to stay home for the morning to spend time with me. His day did not begin so well. He awoke to find that we were out of coffee filters and had to trek out in search of them, finally finding them at the place I would have assumed would his first stop.

While making the coffee he burned his pancake, then tore it up in a pique, muttering how it was going to be such a bad day. I salvaged breakfast with some Tropical Squash Bread from the freezer and things calmed down as we sat with our coffee for a few minutes.

Soon after retreating to our nest it was time to start the special lunch or Bison Stuffed Tomatoes that I had planned for our morning together. I was interrupted in this by the real day saver, thanks to my friends C and J. Knowing that I would be home, C sent me an Edible Arrangement as a belated birthday gift. (J is currently deployed overseas) The Trainer answered the door, and nearly turned the delivery guy away since we weren't expecting anything, let alone a huge bouquet of fruit.

We were so surprised, and the Trainer so impressed, that everything had to stop so that I could open and photograph the masterpiece before the fruit was eaten. This, of course, put me behind in my lunch preparations. On the other hand, it brought us together and I've never seen the Trainer eat so much fruit at one time.

I quickly got back to our lunch, preheating the oven, sauteing the meat, scooping out the tomatoes. All with the Trainer hovering at my shoulder asking when we were going to eat and reminding me that we said lunch would be at 11:30. Never tell a Hungry Man (or as I sometimes call him, my Very Hungry Caterpillar) that something will take 30 minutes in the oven. With hungry masculine selective hearing they hear 30 minutes and can't comprehend the prep time. Luckily I got the tomatoes into the oven and they didn't take as long in the oven as I had estimated.

We enjoyed our lunch, and the Trainer was quite impressed with the stuffed tomatoes. The day was officially saved! I had him to myself for another short hour before he headed to the gym and I got down and dirty making burgers for the next two weeks.

Bison Stuffed Tomatoes

1lb- ground bison meat, or other ground meat
1- red onion, chopped
3- cloves garlic, chopped
6Tbsp- chopped fresh cilantro
1Tbdp- chili powder
1tsp- ground cumin
1tsp- kosher salt
1/2 tsp- fresh ground black pepper
5- large ripe tomatoes
1/3 cup- almond meal
1Tbsp- olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a large skillet saute the onion and garlic with a small amount of vegetable oil.

Add the bison meat, 3Tbsp cilantro, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper and brwon the meat, breaking it up into small chunks.

While the meat is cooking prepare the tomatoes. Cut of the tops, about 1cm from the base of the stem. Scoop out insides into a bowl. Save the flesh and discard the seeds.

Chop the tomato flesh and tops and add to the meat.

Arrange the tomatoes in a foil lined baking dish.

Fill each tomato as full as possible with the bison mixture. Sprinkle reserved cilantro on top.

In a small bowl toss together almond meal and olive oil.

Top each a tomato with a small amount of almond meal mixture and shake a little salt over the whole pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until tomatoes have split thier skins and almond meal topping is toasted light brown.