week 12

Cooking in Season
week 12

The

The nights are really dropping temperature now and the morning feeding now requires long sleeves. It seems like as soon as I put my sweaters away it’s time to get them back out again. We just tilled for our winter gardens and are about to plant garlic for next season… and lots of it! We never have enough. Also to keep us through the winter, we’re planting more kale, carrots for next year, turnips, spinach (which I usually have terrible luck with), along with any other root veggie seeds we still have around. Soon it will be time to press the apple cider, which is always a really good time and very messy. The winter wheat is going in soon as well.

The melon patch has officially been picked! After months of waiting and grandma telling us every week that we were a month away, we’re finally pretty confident that they are ready. Use them right away or cut them up and freeze them for great smoothies to beat the winter blues. Our sugar baby melons took a blue ribbon at the Randolph fair, our tomatoes, flower arrangement and shelled beans got second. We’re already planning for next year and I’m kicking myself for not entering stark county’s fair. Oh well, there’s always next year.

Outside my mom’s kitchen window we’ve been watching a volunteer squash / pumpkin looking vine crawl its way among the volunteer sunflowers under the bird feeder. It’s been the mystery plant for months with big leaves and beautiful yellow flowers with spotted green fruits forming. I was worried that it was a squash cross pollinated with a gourd and it would be bitter, but it turned out to be completely delicious. I love stuffed squash. Here’s a recipe that will use up the winter squash that are just now coming in. It calls for sausage, but it is just as delicious with a sticky wild rice or some cooked down pinto beans as well.

Stuffed Acorn Squash with Molasses
· 4 small acorn squash or 1 spaghetti squash
· 1 tablespoon butter
· 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
· 2 large green onions, thinly sliced
· 1 pound bulk breakfast sausage (or substitute wild rice or julienned green beans or cooked beans)
· 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
· 1/2 cup canned beef broth (or veggie broth)
· 1/2 teaspoon pepper
· 1/4 teaspoon salt
· 2/3 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses (or I loooove to use real maple syrup)
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut two 3/4-inch-thick slices from center of each acorn squash for a total of 8 slices (reserve ends of squash for another use). Scoop out seeds and fibers from center slices and discard. Arrange squash rings in single layer in 15x10x2-inch baking dish.
Melt butter in heavy medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add bell pepper and green onions; sauté until tender, about 3 minutes. Transfer to large bowl; cool. Mix in sausage (or substitute), breadcrumbs, broth, pepper and salt. Mound mixture in center of squash rings, using about 1/3 cup for each. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
Brush squash with half of molasses. Bake 15 minutes. Brush with remaining molasses and bake until squash are tender and sausage is cooked through, about 25 minutes.


Enjoy,
~Janee