Greek Inspired Ground Turkey & Chicken Liver Sauté with Mashed Acorn Squash and Steamed Asparagus (AIP, Paleo, Whole30)

First, I have to admit that I am a big fat baby when it comes to eating my liver. I have been able to tolerate many other types of offal, but liver has been my nemesis. Usually, I have to sneak it into meals or I just take liver pills. Trust me, I have tried at least half a dozen pate recipes and EVERY single time I basically spit it right back out. Right before our little Emily was born, I made another big batch of liver pate, thinking maybe pregnancy will change my taste buds, but alas, no such luck. So I frozen it up in 1 cup serving sizes, determined to do something with it.

Last night as I was trying to figure out dinner (this child thing is really messing up our meal planning, we will figure it out soon), I saw the liver pate in my freezer and decided tonight was the night. As a trolled the internet I found several great recipes to hid your liver in, but I was either missing something, or too lazy to make them (see: newborn mom). The only solution was to blend all the things I could find and like right now and cross my fingers it turns out well.

After my first few bites, I was like, "woah, this is pretty dang good." To which the hubby replied, "the olives work well." That's a success in my book! And since it turned out so well, I decided to share it with you. It's a mouthful of a name, but I know you will want a mouthful of this dinner. (har har, Mom jokes are already coming so naturally).

Greek Inspired Ground Turkey & Chicken Liver Sauté with Mashed Acorn Squash and Steamed Asparagus 

Serves 4-5

Ingredients

• 1 large acorn squash
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lb of ground turkey
• ¼ to ½ a lb chicken liver pate (your preference, here is a great AIP aproved one)
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• ½ sweet onion, diced
• ½ teaspoon of sea salt 
• 1 ½ tablespoons oregano
• Juice from ½ a lemon
• Zest from 1 lemon
• ½ cup of kalamata or green olives, halved
• 1 tablespoon of capers
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped, divided
• 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 cup of water
• 1 lb of frozen or fresh asparagus

Instructions

1. First, get your acorn squash started. You can cook it one of two ways:
1. Via your Instant Pot
1. Rinse off squash and place in your instant pot on rack or veggie steamer basket, (leave whole)
2. Add one cup of water to the pot.
3. Close lid and be sure valve is set to sealing
4. Using the manual setting at high pressure, set it for 14 minutes
5. Once complete, manually release pressure and then remove from pot when done. 
2. Via your oven
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 
2. Cut squash in half and place face down on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
3. Cook in preheated oven for 50 mins or until you can easily pierce with a fork.
2. While squash is cooking, you can start working on the sauté.
3. Start by heating extra virgin olive oil in a large frying pan over medium/high heat.
4. Once pan is hot, add the ground turkey to the pan and allow it to cook until there it is no longer pink, about 4-5 minutes.
5. Next add the chicken liver pate, onions, garlic, sea salt, and oregano to the pan and stir to combine. Let it cook until the onions and garlic begin to soften, about 2-3 minutes
6. Turn heat down to low and add the lemon juice, lemon zest, olives, and capers to the pan and stir to combine. Allow to cook uncovered while you prepare the asparagus. Stir occasionally.
7. In a medium frying pan bring 1 cup of lightly salted water to a boil.
8. Once boiling add in asparagus spears, cover and turn off the burner.
9. Allow to cook for 7-8 minutes for frozen and 9-10 minutes for fresh.
10. Once time is up, drain water from the pan and set asparagus to the side.
11. The acorn squash should be done by now and cooled a little. Carefully remove the skin by peeling if off and place the flesh in a medium size bowl.
12. Using a potato masher, mash the acorn squash. Sprinkle in a pinch of salt.
13. Layer a spoonful of squash on a plate, followed by a layer of asparagus spears.
14. Turn off the turkey and chicken liver sauté burner and stir in the parsley and thyme.
15. Spoon the sauté over the asparagus and acorn squash and enjoy!

Three Squash Beef Chili (AIP, Paleo, Whole 30)

What says comfort during the fall season then a delicious squash soup or a big bowl of chili? Well, I figured why not combine them to make a squash soup chili of sorts. It combines three of my favorite squash: butternut, acorn, and pumpkin. Hope you enjoy this chili as much as I do.

Three Squash Beef Chili

Ingredients

• 1 butternut squash - peeled, seeded, and diced into ½ inch cubes
• 2 acorn squash, - peeled, seeded, and diced into ½ inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 onion, thinly diced
• 1 cup pure pumpkin puree
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 ½ tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon thyme
• ½ tablespoon ground savory
• ½ tablespoon ground sage
• ½ tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 2 cups bone broth

Instructions

1. Fill a steamer pot about 1/4 full of water, and add in/on steam basket. Add approximately 1 ½ cups of diced butternut squash and 1 cup of diced acorn squash to steamer basket. You want to steam about a third of the diced squash. Turn burn on high, cover, and steam for about 15 mins, or until squash is soft.
2. While squash is steaming, in large, deep pot over medium high heat  extra virgin olive oil. When oil is hot, add ground beef to the pot and cook until browned. 
3. Add onions to pot and cook until to just translucent. Turn off burner and set pot aside.
4. By now, the squash should be steamed. Add the cooked squash to a food processor, and blend.
5. Add squash mix to pot with meat and onions. Add the remaining ingredients from the pumpkin puree to bone broth to the pot. Lastly, add in the remaining raw cut squash to pot.
6. Stir ingredients to fully combine.
7. Return to burner, and set heat to high. Stir frequently and bring to a boil.
8. Once boiling, turn heat down to simmer (about a medium, medium low, depending on your stove), and allow to cook uncovered for 1 hour. Stir occasionally.
9. When it is done, remove cinnamon stick, and enjoy!

Recipe note: if you are able to get a hold of a cooking pumpkin, like a sugar pumpkin, you could leave out the pumpkin puree. Instead, peel, seed, and dice the pumpkin and steam and puree a third of it with the acorn and butternut squash. Then add in the raw to the pot with the other squash.

Roasted Acorn Squash with Brussel Sprouts (AIP, Paleo)

Sometimes it's fun to try your favorite foods in different ways. Usually I just bake my acorn squash in halves and stuff it with meat or other veggies. However, this time I decided to ditch the shell, chopped up the squash it in to bite size pieces and mix in some brussel sprouts. I coated them all with bacon fat, because, I mean it's bacon fat, but you can use your favorite fat of choice. This is a delicious side to go with your favorite protein and a fun new way to try this versatile squash.

Roasted Acorn Squash with Brussel Sprouts

Ingredients

• 2 acorn squash, peeled and diced
• 1 lb fresh or frozen brussel sprouts, halved or quartered if really big
• 2 tablespoons warmed bacon fat (or your fat of choice)
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Add prepped acorn squash and brussel sprouts to a cooking sheet.
3. Drizzle veggies with bacon fat and top with spices. Toss until completely covered.
4. Place in preheated oven for 30 mins, stir once, half way through.
5. Remove from oven and serve immediately.

Harvest Ground Turkey Stuffed Acorn Squash (AIP, Paleo, Whole 30)

I love Fall. It is by far one of my favorite times of there year. Cold mornings, leaves changing colors and the awesome fall produce. I just love all the winter squash available and love trying different soups and recipes with them. When we came home from the grocery store a few weeks ago with two giant acorn squash, I immediately started my Google search.

After search and looking through a bunch of recipes online and not finding what I was looking for, I decided to take the plunge and make my own. The gorgeousness below was the result.

Harvest Ground Turkey Stuffed Acorn Squash

I started the recipe creation as many of us usually do, looked at what was in my fridge and went from there. By combining some of my favorite fall flavors together, I created this healthy and delicious Harvest Ground Turkey Stuffed Acorn Squash recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 medium to large acorn squash, halved and seeded
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 – 1.5 lbs of ground turkey (depend on packaging)
• 2 large carrots, sliced
• ½ large onion, diced
• 1 apple, cored, peeled, and chopped
• 1 ½  cups of cranberries (fresh or frozen)
• 2 cups of fresh spinach 

Instructions

1. 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 
2. Place squash halves face down on a cooking sheet tray and place in oven for 50 mins or until you can easily pierce with a fork.
3. Prep veggies while squash is cooking, or you can even prep them up 3 days ahead of time.
4. When the squash has about 20 minutes left to cook, heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat,
5. Add ground turkey to preheated pan and allow to completely brown. 
6. Once meat is cooked, add onions, carrots, apple and cranberries to preheated pan. All them to cook down for about 10-12 minutes or until the cranberries start to pop and carrots start to cook down. Stir frequently.
7. Lastly, add in fresh spinach and cook for another 2 minutes, or until spinach wilts.
8. By now your squash should be done and start to cool out of the oven. Drop the oven temp down to 350 degrees.
9. Flip squash halves over and scoop out a little over half of the flesh from each half. You want to leave a nice layer around the shell so they don't collapse. Add flesh to pan with turkey and  veggies.
10. Fully incorporate squash with turkey and veggies. Once well combined, divide the mixture and place it back into each of the squash halves.
11. Please back in the oven and cook for 10 more minutes.
12. Remove, and let sit for about 5 mins. Then enjoy!

Share and Give Thanks

The recipe makes four, big portions, so you can really have just one and be good. I served them with a small slaw and also with nothing on the side. It’s really up to you. And of course share this beauty with someone. Here is the hubby enjoying his squash. He claims it tastes “healthy.” I think he just says that when he knows it’s actually good for him, but it actually tastes good and doesn't want to give that away.