Tarantulas

Why, oh why do these creatures feel the need to come in the house?

Butternut Sqash

I was never a big squash eater, but we decided to try growing some butternut and acorn squash. The acorn squash didn't do too well. It was outside of the fenced-in garden area and the chickens and rabbits got to most of them before we did. The butternut squash however was inside the fence and is doing very well. So far we have tried it cut up into small pieces and baked, and as a soup base. Both ways have been delicious. I was surprised at how flavorful it was simply baked with olive oil and a little salt and pepper.

This week Ron baked some and then put it in the blender and used it for soup. He added some chicken broth, coconut  milk, curry paste and some kaffir lime leaves (from our own tree). It was so tasty! He even added some coconut milk at the end for presentation!

Figs

Our fig tree had lost of ripe fruit and we managed to pick some of it before the birds ate it all. While delicious on their own, we had fun trying a couple easy recipes with them. The kids are still warming up to them. I think they just aren't quite used to the texture, because the flavor is amazing!

Our first recipe was very simple: figs cut in half, dipped in balsamic vinegar and topped with goat cheese. We put them in the toaster over for a few minutes and they were delicious.

Our second recipe was only slightly more complicated. Figs and pears sauteed in butter and brown sugar in home made crepes topped with cinnamon and home made whipped cream. Yummy!

Home Made Tomato Sauce

Today we made tomato sauce. We bought a food mill that basically strains out the seeds and skin so all you need to do to prep the tomatoes is wash them and cut them. We cooked them in a pot for about 20 minutes and then just put it in the mill. Ron turned it into spaghetti sauce by adding onions and basil.

Prickly Pear Margaritas

In addition to all the fruits and vegetables we are growing in the garden and in the orchard, there are a few things that are growing wild on the land that we can use in cooking. One of these things is the prickly pear cactus with it's lovely purple fruit. It's not easy to pick a prickly pear (or to say it either), but the juice is pretty sweet and we were able to make margaritas without too much injury to ourselves.

Ron picked the pears using a pair of tongs (I think that I am going to take up writing tongue twisters) and placed them in a bowl of water. After they soaked for a short time, he cut them in half and cut off any parts that looked bad and put them in the blender. We used an old t-shirt to strain the juice by stretching the shirt over a juice container and pouring the juice. Ron had read that a t-shirt is better that cheese cloth, I'm guessing that you want the smaller holes to keep out any of the small spines. I was going to reuse the shirt and started rinsing it off only to get a couple small spines stuck in my hand. They are very small and hard to see! Needless to say, I ended up throwing the short away. Luckily the kids outgrow shirts at a fast rate so there will always be more.

Dork that I am, I forgot to get pictures of the actual margaritas! But they were good thanks to Emeril Lagasse.

Next we need to find a recipe to eat the pads, nopal.