More Garden Bounty ~ Loving It!

The Lord blessed us even more.  Our garden is still producing enough tomatoes to make Spanish rice, along with green peppers.  I also picked several butternut, yellow, and acorn squash.  It will feed us for quite a few meals.  I was also able to pick several cayenne peppers, which will go into the freezer for winter meals.

The chickens have once again blessed us with an abundance of eggs, so another angel food cake and a batch of homemade noodles are in order for this week's chores.  I believe I will go back out and treat my chickens to some garden greens.  Tonight we will enjoy those eggs, scrambled with fried potatoes and onion (and other herbs and spices from my herb gardens.

Today I filled my rosemary jar half way, and have cut even more to dry before the first frost arrives.

I'm baking Butternut Squash Muffins with our home grown squash.  Here's my version of several I have read on the Internet.

Butternut Squash Muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup white granulated or organic sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice (see note*)
Whisk the above ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

Peel and remove seeds from butternut squash.  Chop into 2 cups of butternut squash, place in saucepan with enough water to cover squash.  Boil until tender (20-25 minutes).  Remove from heat, drain excess water, and puree in a blender or food processor.  You could also hand mash them with your potato masher.

In another medium mixing bowl, whisk:
2 eggs, farm fresh or organic
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup non-fat plain yogurt
2 Tbsp. organic or homemade applesauce

Add the squash to the egg/milk mixture.

Gently fold the wet mixture with the dry, until moist.

Spray muffin tins with organic olive oil non-stick spray.  Fill muffin tins with batter, approximately 1/2 full.  Bake at 400°F. for 18-20 minutes or until done (check by inserting a wooden toothpick in the center of a muffin to see if the batter is baked completely).  My muffins only took about 18 minutes to bake.

Note:  Pumpkin pie spice is very expensive and you don't get very much.  Make your own spice mix to save money.  You can also use 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice along with 1 tsp. ground cinnamon and 1 tsp. ground nutmeg.  I'm still tweaking this recipe.  Espeically the flavor.  It seems to need a bit of zip to it or maybe some walnuts added.