What I've Learned about Cooking (so far)

So, I've been doing this blog for three months now, and today I'm doing my first non-recipe post.

After three months of experimentations, trials and some errors, there's a few things I've learned. First of all, I cook seasonally. And there's not a cookbook out there that can give me enough recipes for all the vegetables I grew. I can make every cabbage recipe in any cookbook, and I'll still have more cabbage than can be cooked. So at times you have to go off the cookbook and go on Pinterest.

Second of all, cooking takes a lot of time....and even more dishes. I may have never noticed this if I had a dishwasher, but since we don't have a dishwasher in our new place, believe me, it's hard not to notice. Especially when the sink is piled so high with dishes I'm in fear of an avalanche. Cooking takes a lot of time, and then you have to do dishes, and that takes about twice as long as the cooking. I end up spending a lot more time in the kitchen than I ever thought I would, not being the Holly Housewife type.

And lastly, if cooking takes a lot of time, blogging takes a LOT of time. My husband doesn't have a problem with my cooking, but the time I spend blogging has been an issue of several occasions. But, the whole thing kind of went hand-in-hand. So it's new recipes and blogs, or it's tuna sandwiches. I can't really believe I've stuck with it this long, but here it is, 3 months later, and I haven't missed a single day. Of course, sometimes I make two or three recipes in one day, and that way I can skip a day here and there. But I've yet to skip a blog. So here's to nine more months.

Happy Cooking everyone!

Baked Winter Squash (Butternut)

For years, I've looooved butternut squash. I mean, I could eat one every day all winter and never get tired of it. I know, because I've done it. So when my mom gave me some seeds, I was excited to plant them. Unfortunately, I didn't have much space in my garden, so I was only able to plant 4 hills (5 plants came up). I quickly decided that was enough, as the plants seemed intent on taking over the world. 

However, just when I thought I'd be overwhelmed by squash, the squash bugs descended and killed all my plants. Fortunately, they'd already set about 30 squash. Unfortunately, they weren't mature enough to pick yet. I wasn't sure what to do, since my mom said to pick them although they weren't quite ripe. I picked one to see how it was, and it was a bit watery (NOT the correct texture for this rich, creamy squash) and not at all sweet.

So I went to Fannie to see if I could use it up somehow (I left the rest of the squash in the garden to see if they could ripen up from whatever leaves were left on the vines).

Fannie's recipe for this is quite simple.

You will need:
1 butternut squash, cut in half lengthwise.
1 tbsp. maple syrup
1/2 tsp. salted butter

Bake the squash at 375 for about 40 minutes or until soft.
Mash it a bit while leaving it in the skin.
Add butter and maple syrup and enjoy.

While this was not nearly as good as a mature squash, which is sweet enough on it's own, it did give me an edible way to eat the immature squash I'd picked. I haven't tried another one yet, but I'm sure I'll post when I do.