Roast Pumpkin, capsicum and baby spinach salad

Tonight I made a DELICIOUS salad to go with our scotch fillet steak and mashed potato. I am still drooling from the taste. I wonder if my hubby will notice that he doesn't have any on his plate when he gets home from work???? :)

Here's what you will need

Serves 2, so adjust to make for more people

preheat oven to 200C (400F)

Around 1/4 or 400gms pumpkin or squash (I used butternut) chopped (I cut them into pieces about 3-4cm long)

2 garlic cloves chopped

1/2 red onion sliced

1/2 red capsicum (pepper) sliced

sage (I used dried sage, sprinkled over the veggies)

olive oil (drizzle over the veggies)

sea salt to season

baby spinach leaves (I used about half a packet or around 250 gms)

DRESSING

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 garlic clove finely chopped

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon sugar

crumbed feta is optional

Place all the veggies into a roasting tray and roast in the oven for around 30 mins, or until it has a nice crispiness and colour to it.

Wash baby spinach leaves and place in bowl.

Remove veggies from oven and start on dressing.

Place all the dressing ingredients in saucepan and heat until sugar and honey is dissolved (you will have to taste to see if its to you liking. I had mine so it was a little tangy but also tasted the sweetness of the honey).

Place veggies on top of baby spinach and drizzle the dressing over the top.

I had a little dressing left over that I drizzled over the steak.

Tweaks: I forgot to add the feta til I was half way through eating, it was awesome without it, but just as good with it (I love feta). You could also add roasted beetroot, or some crispy sweet potato crisps too.

Pasta with chicken, roast pumpkin and spinach

So last night I tried to re create this pasta dish I had tried when we were on holiday. I looked on the net for a few ideas and took a few of them and added my own in. It was really delicious, it could of used a dash of something else maybe, not sure what, could of been that I used low fat cream and not full fat cream...

So first of all I got half a pumpkin (butternut would of been great, but I could only get a jap pumpkin) and cut it up into 1cm or so pieces. I cut half a red onion finely and 2 cloves of garlic. I put all this in a roasting pan with some olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper. I roasted them for about 20 mins I think on 200 celcius.

Then I cut up 2 chicken breasts into about 1-2 cm pieces and the rest of the onion. I had some frozen spinach so I de thawed that in the microwave. (Meanwhile the water was on for the pasta). Then I cooked the chicken and onion til browned and then added the pumpkin and spinach. When the pasta was almost cooked I added about 300-400mls cream, 2 handfuls of continental (flat leaf parsely) some more salt and pepper and a handful of parmesan cheese.

To serve I used Fettucine, but I think they used liguine in the place I had it. I added some extra parsley and parmesan cheese on the top once it was in the bowls.

Tonight I am going to add some feta to the left overs and see what that is like. Pine nuts could be added too for extra texture.