Fall favorites—squash mac & cheese

It’s Harvest Feast night at my kids’ school.

Families bring food pot luck, and each class makes a food based on what they grew in the school garden. I’ve helped my girls’ classes make jam and thumbprint cookies and soup.

Our family is bringing this squash mac and cheese to the potluck. It’s one of my favorite fall foods. The squash adds fiber and a little sweetness. I’ve this from adapted from Elie Krieger’s recipe.

Squash Mac & Cheese

1 lb macaroni (I used a slightly smaller box)
1 quart cooked squash* (2 10-oz packages frozen)
2 cups milk
8 oz grated cheddar cheese (or other sharp cheeses)1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. powdered mustard
dash cayenne
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp olive oil

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Cook the macaroni and drain well. Pour into a buttered 9 x 13 baking dish.
  3. In the meantime, heat the squash and milk together until it starts bubbling. Stir frequently to prevent sticking. If your squash was not pureed previously, you may want to use an immersion blender at this point to smooth out the sauce.
  4. Stir in the salt, mustard, and cayenne.
  5. Add the cheddar cheese and stir until just melted in.
  6. Pour the cheese mixture over the macaroni, stirring to make sure the sauce spreads over all the noodles.
  7. Mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan, and olive oil together. Sprinkle over the macaroni.
  8. Bake for about 20–25 minutes.

Sometimes I add a meat like ham and/or other veggies like peas, broccoli, or kale to make it a more complete part of dinner.
* I cut my squash in half and place cut side down in a baking dish. I add about an inch of water and bake at 350 degrees F until the squash is soft. After it cools, remove seeds and scrape the squash flesh out of the skin. (You can simmer the seeds and skin to make a mild vegetable broth if you wish).

 

Boredom busters and fairy soup

“I’m bored.”

My five-year-old is usually pretty good at entertaining herself, but today, as happens more and more in the afternoon, she started pouting, “I’m bored.” I threw out ideas, all of which led her to wail and writhe on the floor, saying, “I don’t know what to do. I’m bored.”

I bit back a sarcastic comment about all her toys. I didn’t order to clean the play room. I abandoned temporarily my own plan to get back out in the garden. “We’re going to do a project,” I told her.

“What’s the project?” she asked as I laid out a handful of colored pens and a stack of old  business cards on the porch table.

“We’re going to write down our ideas of things to do when we are bored.” I half expected her to start pouting again, but she jumped right in, “If you’re bored, you can . . . ”

  • Do art
  • Ride your bikeIMG_3084
  • Play with your dog
  • Play with your dolls
  • Watch birds in the sky
  • Set up the box fort
  • Weed the garden
  • Pick food from the garden
  • Play a board game or card game
  • Look at books
  • Do a word search or maze
  • Dust
  • Swing on the swing
  • Blow bubbles
  • Wash the outside toys
  • Play with chalk
  • Hula hoop
  • Give wagon rides
  • Go on a scavenger hunt
  • Make a fairy house
  • Catch bugs
  • Play with Play Doh
  • Look for stuff for fairy houses

When she tired of listing ideas, she seized upon the last one we came up with—look for stuff for fairy houses—grabbed a basket, and went collecting. I weeded the garden and occasionally handed her things to add to her pile. I’m not sure how well our boredom busters will work when the next round of “I’m bored” starts, but making our set of idea cards broke the cycle today.

Inspired perhaps by her fairy house search, she asked to have fairy soup for supper. She described it me, made it, and ate it. I don’t know why it’s called fairy soup, but here it is.

K’s Fairy Soup

Seasoned black beans
“messy” cheese (shredded Mexican blend)
salsa
tortilla chips

  1. Spoon black beans into a bowl. Take only as much as you will eat.
  2. Add two child’s handsfuls of shredded cheese. Heat to warm the beans and melt the cheese.
  3. Stir in a spoonful of salsa.
  4. Crumble a few chips over the mixture, again taking only what you know you will eat.
  5. Serve with additional chips for dipping.

boredom busters
How do you deal with
“I’m bored?”

Garlic scape grilled pizza—welcome summer

I was late to the game when it came to Garlic scapes for garlic scape pestoboth garlic scapes and grilled pizza, but last summer I finally figured out both, and they make the perfect pairing for an early summer dinner.

I’ve been waiting for garlic scapes—the curly tops of garlic that get cut off in late spring/early summer—to appear, and recently CISA told me it was time. I don’t grow garlic (yet). Somehow in the bustle of fall, I never manage to plant garlic . I’m determined to change that this year but for now, I have no scapes of my own. I pick them up at a farmer’s market or the local co-op.

Garlic scape pesto is bright green with a bright garlic taste. It’s easy to make and stores well. Both the color and the flavor will mellow a little if it’s cooked as it is on pizza.

Garlic Scape Pesto

  • 1/2 lb. garlic scapes
  • 1/3 c. lemon juice (from about one medium lemon), or more to taste
  • 3/4 cup olive oil
  • ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 3/4 cup grated Pecorino romano cheese
  1. Roughly chop the garlic scapes and put them in the bowl of your food processor. Add the oil and lemon juice.
  2. Run the processor until you have a fairly smooth puree. It will be rougher than a traditional pesto, but you don’t want huge chunks in it.
  3. Add the cheese and pulse briefly or stir in by hand.
  4. Taste. Add more cheese or lemon juice if needed. If the pesto is too thick add a bit more olive oil.

Garlic scape pesto is great on crackers, toasted bread, pasta—and grilled pizza.

Like I said, it took me a while to figure out grilled pizza. How do you get the pizza onto the grill? Won’t the dough just fall through the grate of the grill? I finally read about it, realized it wasn’t that hard, and got mildly obsessed with it last year.

Grilled Pizza

  1. Start with your favorite dough. Roll or stretch it into an individual pizza size (too big and it gets hard to handle). Do not roll the edge—the dough should be flat from side to side. Sprinkle a pizza peel or the bottom of a cookie sheet with corn meal and place the dough on it.
  2. Prep all your toppings and have them grill side.
  3. Heat the grill and brush with olive oil. Slide the dough onto the hot grill and close the cover. DO not walk away. Grill for about 2 minutes. Seriously—it’s quick.
  4. Use tongs or a spatula to remove the crust from the grill and place it cooked side up on your cookie sheet. Cover the grill again to keep it hot.
  5. Spread sauce or better yet, garlic scape pesto, (go lightly so the pizza isn’t soggy) on the crust. Add cheese and tgarlic scape pesto pizza, early summer dinneroppings (again go lightly, especially with wetter ingredients).
  6. Slide the topped pizza back onto the grill and close the cover again. Lower the heat and cook for another 2–3 minutes and dinner is ready. Enjoy!

I used garlic scape pesto, basil Italian sausage from our local market, and roasted tomatoes for my pizza. The girls had sauce, mozzarella, sausage, and pepperoni. We had salad on the side, because the garden is really cranking out greens and the radishes are begging to be picked.

Welcome, summer!

Late spring salad

It was a simple salad, but so satisfying.late spring salad, mixed greens growing

There isn’t a whole lot going on in the garden, aside from the weeds that are ready to take over. A look at my garden journals suggests I’m always hopeful and waiting impatiently this time of year. I’m eager for anything to pick; my kids are too.

“What that red round thing?” my big girl asked, bending to show me. It was a radish—and there were more. We picked them, red, pink, and white. I looked around and realized that we had plenty of greens for a salad.

“And what about these?” K asked pointing to the purple chive flowers.

“Yes, we can eat those. And some johnny-jump-ups too.”

She picked flowers and some chives. Both girls helped spin the salad (a favorite kitchen helping job). E tore the lettuce, spinach, and mustard greens. And K asked to cut the radishes. I looked at the sharp knife. I looked at her. I handed her the knife, showed her how to place her hands, and watched. She sliced carefully, if not neatly. She tried a piece, and I was surprised she liked it. Maybe it will be a salad summer.late spring salad—make it pretty with radish and johnny-jump-ups

We tossed the greed, red, white, yellow, purple together in a wooden bowl—and served it with grilled steak, potatoes & onions, and asparagus (planting asparagus is still on my long-term garden to do list). I opened a bottle of wine from a friend, and the girls put johnny-jump-ups in their water. It was a lovely spring spread.

We’re on the verge of summer—a few more weeks before the official start, another week and a half before the end of school. I lose track of time around dinner, and bed time creeps later. We sat out at the picnic table last night in the late light. In my mind it was a glorious evening, though thinking back, it was kind of gray and the mosquitoes were starting to come out. Still we’re on the verge of summer, we were outside, and we were finally eating something from the garden.