Today we made Delicious Acorn Squash as featured by Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman back in October of 2008. The ingredients are very simple: acorn squash, salt, brown sugar, butter and maple syrup.
We used kosher salt from the Great Salt Lake, sold as Redmond Real Salt. Visit their site at: https://www.realsalt.com/ and look for their products in your local store. We think their gourmet all natural sea salt on broccoli tastes like you put butter on your broccoli only better. (And without all the fat of actually putting on butter!)
We made a total of six acorn squash halves using traditional green-skinned acorn squash which was starting to turn orange and one yellow-skinned acorn squash. The squash "meat" is scooped out along with some of the delicious syrup. Mmmmm....... it was very yummy and earned an excellent rating. This second picture is a close up of the delicately browned edges and the golden dipping syrup. Find the recipe at The Pioneer Woman's site: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/10/delicious-baked-acorn-squash/ Here's a great example of the ability to include more vegetable goodness in our lives.
7) Pour onto marble slab and quickly pull into separate sections, let cool and enjoy!
Thanks to my cousins Lisa and Dan (and Paul and his recipe), I received a blue ribbon from the state fair this year with this classic crunchy candy. Yummy prize-winning peanut brittle!
Some of the other ingredients: sugar, rice powder and vanilla.
Pouring in the sugar.
Pouring in the vanilla.
Everything whisked in including the cold water and then the rice powder.
A cool, refreshing glass of horchata-basically slightly sweetened rice milk.
Horchata
1 quartMilk
4 cinnamon sticks
1/3 c. uncooked rice, ground to powder in blender
¾ cup sugar
1 tbsp. Vanilla
2 quarts cold water
Bring milk and cinnamon sticks to a boil.Simmer for 15 minutes.Remove from heat and pour mixture into a large bowl. Whisk in sugar (leave the cinnamon sticks in-it’s okay if they break up some-the mixture will be strained later in the process.)Whisk in the vanilla and cold water.Then gradually pour in the rice powder, stirring vigorously as you add it so that it does not clump into a mass of rice at the bottom.Cover bowl and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to overnight.
Then strain mixture through a fine cloth ( I use a clean fine mesh dish towel) into a new bowl.Do not use a strainer or cheesecloth or a loose weave towel-these will allow sediment to get into the finished product and gritty rice powdery is not yummy to the palate.If desired, strain mixture again if you wish to get out more sediment.Throw away sediment and used cinnamon sticks.(Don’t try to save them-we’ve done that too-even trying to rinse them thoroughly-they just go moldy-not too appetizing.If anyone knows how to save the used cinnamon sticks I’m open to suggestions.)
Allow to chill thoroughly in a pitcher and enjoy!Makes 3 quarts- which is enough forJessica for 24 hours or for a few days for the rest of us.We’ve been making this since 2001 and it’s still one of our favorite summer drinks.
Horchata has an interesting history.It’s known as an aguas frescas(Spanish for fresh (cold) waters) according to wikipedia.These drinks are also made with fruit in season and are light, refreshing and not too sweet.They nicely balance out a spicy meal or just provide a cool treat on a hot summer day.
Yes, it was time once again for book group at my house. I did not make any treats with real chocolate. Instead I chose confections with autumn colors. Starting at the top left of the picture and going clockwise:
the orange and white creamsicle fudge,
a bowl of Merckens Marquis chocolate buttons (as a concession to the chocoholics)
a pan with fudgy caramels and a few cut caramels in front of the pan
the red paper plate with pineapple jellies
next is a sample of the green take home treat bag with a piece of each homemade candy
peanut brittle in the rectangle container (on top of blue lid)
square glass dish with the few remaining pieces of penouche (which I think was the favorite)
and finally a bowl of Brach's Autumn Mix of candy corn, Indian corn, and mellowcreme pumpkins.
So I actually showed some restraint in only make five different kinds of candies but I enjoyed making them and I think people enjoyed eating them. Oh, the book we discussed was Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. For next month we will be reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Although there is dispute about the origin of pie (some say the Egyptians started pie while the Greeks started pie pastry), these flaky delights can be filled with either savory or sweet fillings (sometimes both-as with mincemeat!)We engaged in some pie making of our own and made two Caramel Pecan Pies and a Cherry White Chocolate Mousse Pie.Thanks to the Taste of Homemagazines for the recipes.Thanks also to Linda Stradley from the What’s Cooking America websitefor the historical information.
Carmel Pecan Pie:
37 caramels (used Kraft caramels) ¼ cup water ¼ cup butter, cut into small chunks
Melt above ingredients in a small pan over low heat, stirring constantly and watch closely so mixture doesn’t burn.Remove from heat and let cool a bit while doing the next step.
3 eggs ¾ c sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/8 tsp salt
Beat above ingredients until smooth then add to the caramel mixture.
1 1/3 cups toasted chopped pecans
Add to the mixture and stir well.Pour mixture into: 1 unbaked deep-dish pastry shell (9 inches) Top the filling with pecan halves if desires and bake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees or until filling is set. Cool on a wire rack and refrigerate leftovers.
The pies were both good and we finished off the pecan pies the next day. (The one on the left had a gluten free crust and the one in the center was a frozen pie crust. The Cherry White Chocolate Mousse Pie had an oreo cookie crust.)
The squash "meat" is scooped out along with some of the delicious syrup. Mmmmm....... it was very yummy and earned an excellent rating.
Here's a great example of the ability to include more vegetable goodness in our lives.
