The Day Plus 2 Recipes

It is dark and damp but not very cold. Yesterday it was down right warm for Jan 2nd and we got two rounds of thunder storms too boot-one at dawn and one at dusk. Strange weather to be sure but at least we are not getting the storms the west coast is getting nor the fires the Tex/Okla/N Mex are is getting YIKES! Of course we could easily get something just as devastating. No telling in these days of rapid climate change.

Farming is very slow this time of year. Sent out our first seed order (Fedco) and will get others in the mail the next few days and weeks. It was a reasonably small order, under $75. Some years our seed bill will be hundreds of dollars and we are not all that big and we save a lot of our own seed. Seeds are not cheap.

Eugene has been getting areas ready for seed starting. The barn has a south facing room with good heat and light that was full of boxes of craft items, bushel baskets of squash, onions, etc. So the past two days he has been moving and rearranging things so two big light tables could fit in the room and fit they do.

I have been processing squash that has decided to start to rot. pretty simple process. preheat the oven to 400F, halve the squashes, scoop out the seeds and roast in the hot oven for 30 minutes or so. Take out of the oven, let cool and scoop out the squash, leaving the rind behind. Now you have squash pulp good for pies, breads, soups, soufflés, cookies, jam, etc.

I used a potpourri of squash including Lakota, acorn and butternut and now I am making squash cookies with the puree

1/2 c butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup squash pulp
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 c white flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350F. Cream the butter and sugars together. Add eggs and combine thoroughly. Add the squash and mix well. In another bowl mix the flours, leavenings salt and spices together. Pour the dry mixture into the wet mix and mix well. drop 1TBL onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 13 to 14 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
©Lucy Goodman 2006, use with permission only

Oh the other thing I made a lot of was roasted squash seeds. Easy to do though time consuming because it takes a bit of time to get the goop off of the seeds in order to roast them. You do not want to roast seeds with squash goop, it tastes wierd. But once the seeds are cleaned up you simply put them in a baking pan or sheet, sprinkle them with kosher or sea salt and put them in a 400F oven for 20 to 30 minutes (they should start to pop in the oven and turn a light brown). Remove from oven, let cool and enjoy.