Mystery Squash Pie

Remember that squash that Uncle Bubba sent us the other day?

I had a plan.....

Roly Poly Girl helped me carry out my plan..... She scooped the "guts" out of the squash and we got it ready for the oven.

Here it is in the oven. I baked it at 350 degrees for an unknown amount of time- sorry, I didn't look at the clock- just went by smell to know when it was done.

We got all of these seeds out of the squash so while it was cooking, we laid these little guys out to dry. We are saving them for Uncle Bubba to plant next year. At this point I wasn't sure if having these squash in the garden was worthwhile but I soon found out that it was.

This particular squash tastes just like pumpkin when it's prepared in a pumpkin pie recipe. I didn't even put a crust in because I was that unsure if it would turn out a disaster or not. (After all, pie crusts make me nervous and I didn't want to waste the time and effort to create one from scratch if the pie might turn out "yucky")

The verdict- It turned out tasting and smelling just like a pumpkin pie. It is a strange color for one thing. The pumpkin, when done roasting in the oven, turned out a white color. I knew that the kids wouldn't eat a "white" pumpkin pie so I added brown sugar to the pie mixture for some color. It worked. One of the kids didn't even realize I had a "pumpkin" in the house to even make a pie from!

So, it turned out pretty yummy. I told the kids not to eat the last two pieces because we were saving those for Uncle Bubba- afterall, I'm sure he will want to know how his squash turned out.

Later that day, I made a jar of lacto-fermented sauerkraut. I used a combination of 2 recipes. One from the Nourishing Traditions Cookbook by Sally Fallon and the other that you can find here. I had some left over that wasn't going to fit into the jar so I just added some mayonnaise and, the three of us that like "slaw", had a treat.



....and last on the food agenda of the day, my in-laws blessed me with a bag of pears. I have no idea what to do with them but I'll have to do something with them soon.....Any ideas?

Bananas, Spiders, Fog, and Muffins

It all started with these three bananas. They came from Whole Foods Market. Bananas from Whole Foods Market taste really, really good compared to bananas from other stores. This threesome was purchased about 3 days ago. They kind of ripened faster than I had hoped they would.

Being the thrifty mom that I am, I do not let anything go to waste these days. These three bananas had to be made into something soon. I peeled them, whipped up a little something, put that "little something" into the oven, and threw the banana peels in my compost "jug" that I keep on the counter I then proceeded to go outside to dump my compost "jug" into my compost "bucket"-with the intention that one day, I will, once again, dump my compost bucket into the compost "pile". The compost pile will be the dirt I plant my seeds into next year.

Now that we are straight on that little fact, back to the story at hand. I've got to blend this tale of bananas, spiders, fog, and muffins all together.


When I opened the back door, it was obvious as seen in the photo above, it was- f-o-g-g-y.



Here is another view of the fog. It doesn't look too bad but I tell you, half an hour before that, you could hardly see the picnic table. (I didn't think of grabbing the camera a half hour before so you will just have to take my word for it.)


The volley ball pole had been visited by some spiders the night before. Ok, it could be one spider, I didn't ask to see exactly how many spiders there were on that pole and rope.

Are you following me, so far, I've touched on all three aspects in the title of this blog post: bananas, spiders, and fog. See, they make since together after all, don't they.
As I walked closer to my compost bucket, I noticed the shiny web of another spider. It had made it's little home under the seat of a bicycle.



I glanced up before I walked under the volleyball net just to make sure a spider didn't drop on my head and I noticed this little web here.

I looked down and saw the web on the spokes of the bicycle.

I looked up again and saw another web like the one above.

When I walked back into the house, these guys were ready to be taken out of the oven. MMMM, yummy. What kind are they you say? I think I'll call them Foggy, Coconut, Banana, Spider muffins.

A little "Figgy" Jelly

A basket of figs (turkey figs to be precise)
(Sorry that the picture is a little blurry- I took this one with my cell phone)

My in laws are always reminding me that, "The figs will be ready soon". Real soon finally came the other day in the form of this basket full of figgy goodness. What did I do with that basket of figgy goodness?

I canned those suckers. I ended up with 11-1/2 of the half pint jars, and 6 pint jars full (plus a little extra that was left in the pot, which my daughter and I fought over for the rights to eat).

I have three jars of sugar free fig, 3 jars of raspberry fig, and the remaining small jars are strawberry fig. My father in law had told me that if you mix any other fruit in with the figs while cooking them, they will take on the taste of that added fruit. He was right. My personal favorite ended up being the raspberry fig preserves. I don't think they will last long.

I just started canning last year and I had forgotten the specifics of canning fig jam (or jelly, as I call it). I searched the internet and found this fantastic site that walks you through, step by step in making fig jam. Take a look see if you are thinking of tackling some figs anytime soon. http://www.pickyourown.org/figjam.htm

Hey, the next crop of figs should be ripening any day now- I wonder what I'll mix in with them this time?