Fall is in the Air, Squash is everywhere

With a chill in the air and some squash in our farmthisway distribution, it really feels like Fall is starting to settle in.  The beginning of Fall is probably one of my favorite times of year.  I love cooking soup and the colors of fall, the smell of Fall and all of the cool things that there are to do.

I love to ride my bike with the smell of crisp leaves in the air.  The almost sickly sweet smell of apples fallen on the road as you ride by, or if you're really lucky, the smell of grapes on the vines.  I had a great ride out to farmthisway the other day on my bike.  Helped to pack up some heirloom tomatoes, which are THE BEST and then headed back home on the bike.  It was a glorious day.  Seriously, go buy some heirlooms...Tops has them.

But, back to my FALL obsession.  With half a bushel of acorn squash, which is part of our distribution this weel, you can make it several ways.  I'm fond of squash soup.  You can find a ton of recipes on line, and pick one that you think sounds best to you.  I sometimes like to pick one that has apple in it as well.   They make a great flavor combo.  You can roast the acorn squash tossed with olive oil, some shallots, or onions, and garlic, and whatever else you care to throw in (like dried cranberries) or for a simple and sweet side, you can split the squash in half, clean out the stringy and seedy bits, and then brush the insides with butter and sprinkle with a little salt.  A tablespoon of brown sugar sprinkled in each half, and some maple syrup.  Pop them in the oven for about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes (don't forget to put about a half an inch of water on the bottom of the pan to keep the squash from drying out and the skin from burning onto your baking dish) at 400 and the kids will almost think it is dessert instead of their veggies!

You say To-MAY-To, I say To-MAH-To

This week brought a lot of tomatoes.  Of course, in my house, this means SAUCE time!  I like to can my sauce when the tomatoes are fresh and then have it all winter long.  Last year I made enough that I had my homemade sauce all the way through early March.  I am hoping to do the same this year, even with the tomatoes ripening later than last year.

I have also just received the gift of a Foley Food Mill.  Hand grind style.  It is wonderful and it means that all of my sauce will NOT be chunky style this year.  Last year it was, and I like it chunky, but some things work better with a smooth, chunk free sauce, so I will probably make mine half and half this year.

I like to throw other veggies in my sauce, like chunks of green peppers (which we also got in the @farmthisway distribution) and onion (ditto), to give the sauce some texture.  Some of my batches last year got squash and/or zucchini added to them as well.

If you like a little spice to your sauce, you can add one or two of the hot banana peppers as well.


Other than sauce, we have found other ideas for our tomatoes.  One of my 13 year old daughter's favorites this week has been to hollow out a tomato a little bit with a grapefruit spoon, and then fill it with cottage cheese and eat it that way.

There are also plenty of nice slicing tomatoes in the box, so some will go toward our Caprese Salad addiction.  We just pull the basil from the back deck, slice the tomato and pair with fresh mozzerella.  Reminds us that it is still Summer, despite the fact that the kids are back at school.

Fried Green tomatoes are on the menu again this week, and eggplant parm casserole as well.

Happy canning, and happy eating, from my kitchen to yours!