Posts Tagged squash

It’s Not About the Soup

delicata or della cotta, it's good squash

delicata or della cotta, it's good squash



This post is not about the soup that I made last night. Not that it was a bad soup. Missy even ate the beet greens that were in it after only a few moments of hesitant prodding with her spoon. It’s not about the soup because I made the soup in a hurry. I was sick. I’d spent the weekend blowing my nose a lot and talking in the way that people do when their heads are great sacks of mucous. I felt ready for work on Monday, rode in, and suffered some embarrassment when a co-worker caught me staring blankly at my personal email for, like, seven or eight minutes. Having thus obtained independent verification that I was not in a productive state, I packed it in and went home early.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , ,

No Comments

Scraping by With Some Unidentified Squash

squash

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m Brokey McBrokerson lately. And last night I wanted nothing more than something warm and comforting to eat. Plus, I had three unidentified squash from my final CSA share I needed to use before they went bad.

At first I thought I’d just roast the squash, so I cut it open, reserved the seeds for toasting (!), and proceeded to roast its meat with with olive oil and sea salt. But then I figured I could make that squash go a lot longer if I put it into a casserole. Not that I had too much to work with. Still, I decided I would attempt a version of a recipe that appeared in my cookbook “Casserole Crazy: Hot Stuff for Your Oven,” using only what I had on hand.

The original recipe was contributed by my friend and former roommate Maria. It was her grandmother’s, and one Maria swore by. Made with yellow squash, crumbled Ritz crackers and lots of butter, it was low-class comfort food at its best, and perfect for “Casserole Crazy” (it appears on page 47 in case you’d like to try it yourself) and exactly what I needed last night.

Given my affinity for onions, I’d added some to the recipe when it came time to write the book. And it called for butter. And milk. I had none of those things. It also called for a cup-and-a-half of cheddar cheese. I had about a half a cup.

But I did have three unidentified squash (which I identified as Delicata after the fact), olive oil and even some Ritz crackers (don’t ask… they were football shaped, too!). Oh, and eggs. It called for eggs.

Because I’m sort-of the MacGyver of the kitchen, and always use enough salt, the result was delicious, gooey and perfectly comforting.

The recipe is after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

2 Comments

The anxiety of the ant

Streetside artichoke, SE Division, Portland, OR

Some folks actually let their food turn into flowers. Streetside artichoke, SE Division, Portland, OR

This $50 a Week thing is triggering all kinds of emotional crap I did not expect when I signed my family on for the ride. I’ve talked before about the abundance thing. I thought I was getting better about that, because the sight of an empty fridge at the end of the week no longer gives me nervous hives. Turns out I’m not better about that at all. I’ve just transferred my need for abundance onto the garden.

I guess I’m afraid we’re going to run out of food somehow. I’m afraid we’re going to starve. And worst of all, it will be ALL MY FAULT.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , ,

1 Comment