During one of those sunny breaks I ran out and did a quick circuit of the garden. I have four pea shoots! WooHoo!
I sowed some seeds today for four different kinds of winter squashes -- Waltham Butternut, Blue Hubbard, Sweet Meat, and Small Sugar Pumpkin (OK, technically that's not a squash...) I tried growing winter squash my first year here, and failed miserably. I have high hopes for this year. I'm going to keep them under plastic for a while, till the weather really warms up, like I do with my tomatoes.
Because I couldn't do much out in the garden, I cooked today, and I thought in honor of my seed sowing, I'd share the recipe with you. It's basically the filling for squash pie. Squash pie without the crust. Or squash pudding. Anyway, it's yummy! (I looooove my orange vegetables, but I think I like winter squash best.)
Squash Pudding
Ingredients
One medium size butternut squash
2 tablespoons coconut milk
2 tablespoons almond butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon cinnamon (or more)
½ teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of salt
Directions
Peel the squash, cut it in half and take out the seeds and stringy innards. Cut it up into more or less 1/2 inch cubes. Toss in a bowl with some salt and light olive oil (NOT extra virgin, or you could use some melted butter). Lay it out on a cookie sheet in a single layer and roast in the oven for about 15 minutes at 425 degrees. Take the tray out, and turn the pieces over as best you can (I usually just kind of end up tossing them around). Then roast them for another 15 minutes. When you take them out they should be nice and soft, and have caramel-y brown edges on some of them.
Put the cooked squash in a food processor or blender with all the other ingredients and give it all a good whir. It helps if you warm the almond butter up a little bit so it's runny. When the squash has been well and truly pureed and all the ingredients have been incorporated, spoon it out, either into a big bowl which you can use to dish it out from whenever you want some, or you can portion it out into individual serving cups. If you absolutely have to have something crunchy with it, you can top it with some chopped nuts. And if you really want it sweet, add a couple of tablespoons of honey. But the squash really is sweet enough.
Refrigerate it, so it will set up thicker. OR you can just eat the whole thing right then and there, and save the space in your fridge for something else.
