Tag: butternut squash

Gardening Diary: Busy Bees Buzzing

I was weeding the vegetable garden this morning, and it made me so happy to hear the sound of working bumble bees buzzing in my blossoms. A few whizzed by my ear, and it’s funny but it didn’t scare me or make me flinch. Oh how times have changed.

I’m in the thick of it, working side by side with bugs!

What’s New?

The weeding has been kept to a minimum because of the thick layer of grass clippings I added around the tomatoes and peppers.

The cabbage is bouncing back. The critter(s) hasn’t been back, so I have only one that has been eaten to the stump. The rest seem to be doing well. My container cabbage is really thriving!

No cabbage worms to speak of for awhile now. I hope that is normal, and they are not just hiding deep inside the cabbage heart ready to pop out when I cut into it after harvest! eeek!

I only have one remaining brussels sprout plant in a container. It seems to be okay, but I’m not really an expert on what it’s supposed to look like at this stage. Let’s just say that the leaves are continuing to grow.

My carrots, well, I don’t think they are going to make it, the greens are stubby and not full and lush like you might think. But I am leaving them in the ground just in case the critter comes back. I’d rather him eat the rest of the carrot leaves and leave the other veggies alone.

I removed all the pea vines a week or so ago, and today, I pulled up what was left, along with the lettuce stubs. I hope to plant some more beets and some Chinese greens in mid-August for cooler harvesting. Yum.

What else?

OMG, the tomatoes are out of control. I’ve harvested a lot of cherry and sun golds. Still waiting for my big ones to turn red.

The ones in containers are doing okay, but they are mostly tall and skinny. Probably bolted?? The in-ground tomatoes are all over the place, branching out in all directions, definitely crowding my poor peppers.

The carmen peppers are goners I think, but I do have hope for my jalapenos.

Pickling cucumbers are awesome. I already made a batch of homemade refrigerator pickles. Oh they were YUMMY!

Eggplant is also excellent. We had some last night, sauteed with some green beans, scallions and cherry tomatoes. I don’t know that I’d plant eggplant again. Yes, it seems easy to grow, but after awhile, what do you do with all of it? haha. Even though the fruit is thin, long without much seeds, I’m realizing there isn’t a lot to do. I’m going to have to google some more recipes. I know I’ll probably be making some roasted veg pancakes using it.

Oh and speaking of beets (earlier), the ones I’ve planted are good. Cute and small. Love the beets!

I still have my two containers of butternut squash. There’s blossoms, but I don’t know if I see any female fruit blossoms. I think by now, there should have been some fruit, no? Oh well, next time I will plant in the ground or in a larger container.

On the other hand, the watermelon seems to be doing super well! DH is very pleased. Both the watermelon in the ground and in the large recycling bin have lots of fruits, getting larger and larger. It’s exciting. We can’t wait for harvest!

I think that is it for now. I still haven’t posted many photos. But I’m taking them regularly so I can see the progress, especially for next year. I’ve been so busy with my new job, that it’s been difficult to juggle everything I used to do now that I have less time. But I’ll eventually manage. DH has been a big help!

Gardening Diary: Tomatoes!

Yay!

The other day, I noticed a couple of my cherry tomatoes were on the verge of “redness” and this morning, I was able to pick some red cherry and sun gold tomatoes! 11 in all! (I picked 1 sun gold to taste to make sure they were ripe)

Unfortunately, there is a critter(s) that’s eating some of my leaves. The planted brussels sprouts plants are gone. I plucked one out of the ground a few days ago, and the other one is also now down to the nub as well. The cabbage right next to it is also being eaten, but I’m leaving that, hopefully it’ll keep eating that and leave the other cabbages alone. We’ll see.

My carrot tops are also being eaten. They were lush and tall the other day, and they’re a bit shorter when I looked this morning. The lettuce I was saving is pretty much gone too. Oh well.

I’ll be pulling the pea vines out of the ground maybe today or later in the week. They have given all they can give. I think it might have been a bit too warm for them this season, I didn’t yield as much as I hoped. I know I’ll plant earlier next season, and maybe that will help.

Hmm, what else? Eggplant is getting taller and bushier. Lots of blossoms, but no sign of any fruit yet. The butternut in the container by the garden is blossoming. I don’t think I see any “female” though, so I’ll keep an eye on that.

Our Sugar Baby watermelon, on the other hand is thriving! The plant in the ground has finally taken off, and there are a couple of little watermelon babies. The one in the recycling bin has a lot of fruit, some getting quite large! We moved the container to the middle part of the yard so it’ll get more sun. I’ll have to google if it’s okay to have so much fruit, or if some should be pruned to make it easier for the stronger ones to flourish. I did notice some blotchy holes on a couple of fruits.

And back to the tomatoes, wow! The ones in containers are a bit leggy, but still bearing fruit. But the ones planted are thriving beyond belief. Bushy branches taking off in every direction! I’m hoping that is a good thing! They seem very healthy! I keep having to re-stake!

Pickling cucumbers are doing very well. I’ve picked a bounty of cukes already, with hopefully more to come well into August!

My peppers, eh, I don’t have high expectations for most of them. There have been some blossoms on the jalepenoes, but unfortunately some are so close to the tomatoes, that they are getting shaded by the low flowing branches. I’ll have to rethink some staking. The bell peppers in containers have shown some blossoms, but I don’t know if they are able to go forward into fruit. I might skip peppers next season, and just stick to the farm stands and farmers market, where they are plentiful!

When I started my garden I had recently become unemployed, but thankfully, I did find a new job, but that means my time in the garden has been cut back considerably. I’m a little behind on weeding, but it still seems to be thriving. I’ve been adding grass clippings and that helps.

So, that is my update! I’ll add some photos later.

Gardening Diary: Garden Expansion Photos

I wanted to share some of the photos I took of my little veggie garden. It started off smaller, then expanded, and expanded.

For now, I’m posting wide angles, but soon, I’ll share more detailed photos to show the growth of each plant.

Last season, we started with a very small patch of garden, as you can see from notes on two photos. Our first expansion was adding a few more feet next to the fence, and another row with a pathway.

Here’s what it looked like on 5/24 (with notations for last season).

We’ve got (1st row near fence) snap & shell peas, a large perennial oregano plant, beet seedlings, more peas, pickling cucumbers, then (2nd row), carrots, lettuce, brussells sprouts, red cabbage, and eggplant. In containers, there’s red cabbage, potatoes, (2) lettuce, and (2) brussels sprouts.

Oh and we also have grape vines in the fence corner, and another vine in the middle area of the fence.
the garden started
The containers were placed on top of long metal fence posts to allow good drainage.
the garden started
garden diagram from last season

Continue reading “Gardening Diary: Garden Expansion Photos”

Yummy Roasted Butternut Squash Seeds

Found an interesting recipe from Jamie Oliver’s book “Cook With Jamie” for “Incredible Boiled Butternut Squash with Squash Seed and Parmesan Pangrattato”. The recipe suggested mixing fried butternut squash seeds with bread crumbs, and parmasan cheese. It got me thinking about roasting squash seeds. I never thought about roasting anything but pumpkin seeds, and it’s not something that I’ve ever done personally.

So, of course I googled, and I found a roasted butternut squash seeds recipe online at Simple Daily Recipes. On her blog, Jill insisted that roasted butternut squash seeds taste so much better than pumpkin seeds! The one or two occasions that I’ve eaten roasted pumpkin seeds, I found them to be chewy, and too “seedy”. Not sure if they weren’t roasted enough, or if that is really how they are supposed to be. But I was now intrigued and inspired to try roasting butternut squash seeds!

Tonight, as I started scooping seeds from a butternut squash for dinner, I had a conversation in my head. I thought okay, I really should save these seeds to roast them. I hesitated, nah, I’ll try it next time. No, don’t wait, winter vegetable season will be ending soon, just get a bowl and save them……so that is what I did.

It was fairly easy to scoop the seeds away from that stringy stuff, and I saved them in a small bowl, leaving them on my counter to wait until I had time to clean them.

Jill’s recipe was super easy, she actually referred to her roasted pumpkin seeds recipe, but suggested to lower the temp to 300°

So, here’s exactly what I did:

  1. After scooping out the seeds from the squash, I rinsed them under cold water using a colander, then transferred them to a flat dish to dry a little. My squash was very small, so there wasn’t a whole lot of seeds.
  2. I placed a piece of parchment paper on a small aluminum baking tray and dumped the seeds onto the tray. I let them sit while we had dinner, so they’d dry out a little bit more on their own.
  3. Jill suggested to salt the heck out of them, so I did.
  4. Then I put them in a hot 350° oven (which was on from cooking dinner), lowering the temp to about 300°. I roasted for a little over 10 minutes, then poured them into a small dish.

My notes:

  1. I wasn’t sure how the extra orange stringy stuff would be, so I tried to get it all off the seeds. I should have read the comments posted to Jill’s blog, as one person suggested to keep the gunky stuff on, as it gave more flavor.
  2. I used way too much salt. Next time, I will definitely use a lot less. I will also experiment with other toppings like a bit of brown sugar (sucanat) and cinnamon. I’m also thinking that a little melted chocolate on top might work too. Oh the possibilities are endless!
  3. Jill’s blog commenters, also suggested roasting spaghetti squash seeds too, so that will be something I’ll try soon!

Bottom line, roasted butternut squash seeds are fantastic! Reminded me of popcorn that is “half popped” – Crunchy and flavorful, with just enough chew. It doesn’t taste like you’re eating unhulled seeds like with pumpkin. I ate the whole bowl! I was bummed there was such a small amount, I wanted more!

Jamie Oliver’s Butternut Squash (or Sweet Potato) & Chorizo Soup Recipe

I borrowed a bunch of Jamie Oliver books at the library, and am currently reading the Jamie’s Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals and it’s a winner for sure.

The book is full of simple rustic recipes. I found so many ideas and inspirations!

I decided my first recipe from the book would be the Sweet Potato & Chorizo Soup (pg 131). It was suggested by Jamie and others online that butternut squash is a good replacement for the sweet potato, so that is what I used instead.

The soup was very tasty, and paired with some fresh homemade whole wheat bread with butter or melted cheese, you got yourself a complete dinner!

It’s difficult to photograph this soup and make it look visual appealing, but I did my best. As you can see, I left it chunky. I was too lazy to get out the blender/food processor, so I hand mashed it with a potato masher.

butternut squash & chorizo soup from jamie oliver's jamie's food revolution cookbook

From Jamie’s Food Revolution cookbook:
Sweet Potato and Chorizo Soup

Serves 6-8, you can easily adjust this recipe to make more or less servings. I used a small butternut squash and 2 small carrots with about 3 cups of broth, and it served 2 of us, with one leftover serving for lunch the next day.

carrots, onions, chorizo sausage, garlic, butternut squash and fresh parsley

Ingredients:

  • 2 carrots
  • 2 celery stalks
  • 2 medium onions
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1.75 lbs sweet potato or butternut squash
  • 7 oz of Chorizo Sausage
  • Small bunch of fresh parsley
  • 1.75 (7 cups) quarts of chicken or vegetable stock
  • Olive oil
  • 1 tsp (heaping) curry powder
  • sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
  • fresh red chilies for topping (I omitted)

Cooking Instructions: ( See below for my personal notes and alterations)

  1. Chop carrots, celery, onions, garlic, sweet potatoes (or butternut squash), fresh parsley and chorizo sausage and mix all ingredients into a large saucepan. Mix in 2 tbsp of olive oil and the curry powder.
  2. Put the broth in a 2nd saucepan and heat until boiling
  3. Cook vegetables (on high) with the lid askew, for approximately 10 minutes or until carrots have softened but are still holding their shape, and the onion is lightly golden.
  4. Pour boiling broth into the 1st pot with vegetables and sausage and stir well
  5. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until sweet potato (or butternut squash) is cooked through
  6. Season with salt and pepper
  7. Using an immersion blender, pulse the soup until smooth and top with a little bit of finely chopped chile
  8. Enjoy!

My Extra Notes:

  • I keep a freezer bag of fresh parsley in the freezer. When I need some, I just break off a piece and chop it up. It works fabulously!
  • When I went shopping that afternoon, I couldn’t find many options for chorizo at the local Market Basket grocery, so I settled for Chipotle Chorizo chicken sausage from Al Fresco. I used to buy this brand of sausages before I became a more strict, clean eater, and they are not too bad. I will have to check at Whole Foods for better Chorizo options. I think the soup would also work using other precooked sausages or even uncured natural pepperoni or bacon.
    Al Fresco Chipotle Chorizo chicken Sausage
  • I don’t keep curry powder on hand, so I used a few shakes of Penzy’s Arizona Dreaming spice instead. It added mild heat.
  • I didn’t have any celery on hand either.
  • I heated the veggies on medium flame, not high as suggested in the recipe, and it took about 20 minutes for the carrots to soften. I mixed often.
    veggies and chorizo sausage ready to be cooked on stove
  • I didn’t boil the broth ahead of time (wasting another pot), I just poured it from the carton, over the ingredients.
  • Unfortunately I don’t have an immersion blender, and I was too lazy (and hungry) to dig out the food processor or blender, so I mashed the soup by hand with a potato masher. It was still chunky, but it all tastes the same, so whatevah! haha.
  • I might add a speck of fresh chopped chili peppers next time, as instructed in the recipe, but this time, I wasn’t sure how spicy hot the soup was, so I omitted the chilies.

Small Image I highly recommend Jamie Oliver’s book “Jamie’s Food Revolution” especially for newbie home cooks. It’s a back-to-basics rustic no fuss cookbook!