During the fall I always get more squash than I know what to with in my CSA box. As I've mentioned before I'm trying to become a better baker, so I thought I'd try my hand at making a squash bread. I got lucky because the base recipe I used must have been damn good, because this bread was damn good.
Squash bread
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground allspice
2 1/2 cups mashed squash (I used a combination of honeynut, butternut and acorn)
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup water
1 cup dried cherries
Mashed squash: Cut the squashes in half, de-seed (keep the seeds for roasting!), and bake at 350 until they're soft (about 45 minutes depending on the size of the squash). Scoop out the guts and mash them with a potato masher.
Bread: Preheat oven to 350. Generously grease a 9x5-inch loaf pans (I forgot to do the greasing, they turned out ok though). In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, set aside.
In a large bowl, combine mashed squash, sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, and water until well blended. Add the flour mixture and stir until just blended. Lightly stir in the cherries.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for about an hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Makes 2 loaves.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Tater tot casserole (LOUDLY!)
That's right. You read that right, tater tot casserole. I mean...if a can of cream of mushroom soup, frozen tater tots and ground beef doesn't represent cooking with real food then I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK DOES!
Actually, this casserole was made mostly from scratch. Mostly because I didn't milk any cows, or ferment any soy beans, but if you're doing that then you SHOULDN'T BE READING THIS!
This whole recipe is pretty simple, I used some of the cream of mushroom soup that I've posted here before, I mentioned it's good to freeze and use for cooking AND THAT'S WHAT I DID!
I took a pound of grass-fed CSA ground beef and put it into an 8x8 baking pan, MAKING SURE TO PRESS IT DOWN AND OUT INTO THE CORNERS! Put about 2-3 cups of cream of mushroom soup on top of the beef, a point though, the soup needs to be thick, so if yours isn't that thick than THICKEN IT WITH CORNSTARCH!! Put about a quarter cup of soup into a cup and dissolve in some cornstarch, than MIX IT BACK INTO THE SOUP! This should THICKEN IT NICELY!
Now for the FUN PART! We're going to MAKE HOMEMADE TATER TOTS! This is actually pretty easy, and QUITE A BIT OF FUN! Take your potatoes, I'd say 5-6 good sized potatoes, because you're going to EAT A LOT OF THE TOTS WHILE YOU COOK THEM! Shred the potatoes, you can do this by any method you'd like, I USED A GRATER! Next, you need to squeeze excess water out of the potatoes, the easiest way to do this is with a potato ricer, but you could probably come up with some other CLEVER WAY TO DO IT!
After you've got your de-watered potatoes mix a small amount of flour and beaten egg in with THEM! Be careful with how much egg you add, the goal is to make the 'taters a little sticky, NOT GOOPY! Then add in your spices, I used salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder, PRETTY CLASSIC TOT SPICES! Stir the mixture and FORM IT INTO BALLS! DEEP FRY THOSE BITCHES! After you've fried the tots, hopefully you still have enough to make the casserole, COVER THE BEEF/SOUP MIXTURE WITH TOTS!
DON'T BE STINGY!
Put the casserole in the oven at 350 and bake it for about 45 MINUTES! The tots should be dark brown and the soup hot and bubbly when you TAKE IT OUT OF THE OVEN! Let it cool and EAT IT!
Actually, this casserole was made mostly from scratch. Mostly because I didn't milk any cows, or ferment any soy beans, but if you're doing that then you SHOULDN'T BE READING THIS!
This whole recipe is pretty simple, I used some of the cream of mushroom soup that I've posted here before, I mentioned it's good to freeze and use for cooking AND THAT'S WHAT I DID!
I took a pound of grass-fed CSA ground beef and put it into an 8x8 baking pan, MAKING SURE TO PRESS IT DOWN AND OUT INTO THE CORNERS! Put about 2-3 cups of cream of mushroom soup on top of the beef, a point though, the soup needs to be thick, so if yours isn't that thick than THICKEN IT WITH CORNSTARCH!! Put about a quarter cup of soup into a cup and dissolve in some cornstarch, than MIX IT BACK INTO THE SOUP! This should THICKEN IT NICELY!
Now for the FUN PART! We're going to MAKE HOMEMADE TATER TOTS! This is actually pretty easy, and QUITE A BIT OF FUN! Take your potatoes, I'd say 5-6 good sized potatoes, because you're going to EAT A LOT OF THE TOTS WHILE YOU COOK THEM! Shred the potatoes, you can do this by any method you'd like, I USED A GRATER! Next, you need to squeeze excess water out of the potatoes, the easiest way to do this is with a potato ricer, but you could probably come up with some other CLEVER WAY TO DO IT!
After you've got your de-watered potatoes mix a small amount of flour and beaten egg in with THEM! Be careful with how much egg you add, the goal is to make the 'taters a little sticky, NOT GOOPY! Then add in your spices, I used salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder, PRETTY CLASSIC TOT SPICES! Stir the mixture and FORM IT INTO BALLS! DEEP FRY THOSE BITCHES! After you've fried the tots, hopefully you still have enough to make the casserole, COVER THE BEEF/SOUP MIXTURE WITH TOTS!
DON'T BE STINGY!
Put the casserole in the oven at 350 and bake it for about 45 MINUTES! The tots should be dark brown and the soup hot and bubbly when you TAKE IT OUT OF THE OVEN! Let it cool and EAT IT!
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