Fried Squash

Have you ever heard of fried squash? Not squash blossoms, but the squash itself? I don't know why, but some people like fried stuffed squash blossoms. Personally, they gross me out. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about thin slices of squash dredged in flour, salt and pepper, and then fried in the pan.

Mhmmm... my mouth waters just thinking about them.

They were a summer time treat when we were little kids, and remain pretty much the same now. Nearly everyone in my family is a fan. But I've encountered quite a few people lately who have no idea what fried squash even is. This is a deeply unsettling trend and needs to be stopped.

So, I'm here to share!

Traditionally, yellow summer squash is what we used, and is what we continue to use, but I'm sure any squash will do as long as it isn't overly sweet.

So, go pick some fresh yellow squash and bring it inside, 'cause things are about to get delicious!

Fried Squash

- Reserved bacon drippings - 1 yellow summer squash, about 1 pound - 1/4 to 1/2 cup unbleached flour - pinch of salt - pinch of pepper Set a pan on medium heat and add the bacon drippings. While fat is heating, thinly slice (1/2 inch or less) squash and set them aside. Then mix together the flour, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Dredge each slice through the flour mixture, coating both sides. Place coated slices directly into the frying pan. They should sizzle. Continue until all the slices are in the pan without overlapping. Cook them in shifts if you have to; crowding increases the time it takes them to cook. Flip as they become golden brown on the bottom. Done when golden on both sides. Remove from pan and set on paper towel lined plate. Eat them hot! They're almost no good when cool.

P.S. There's a lot of different fats you can try when you fry, but my favorite for this application is bacon drippings. Every time we fry bacon, we pour the leftover fat into a glass jar and keep it in the fridge. We use it for a lot of things, including frying, because it has a high smoke point. Bacon drippings are a form of flavored lard, and lard is one of the healthiest fats out there. (Link to a super fantastic article by one of my favorite health food bloggers, I encourage you to read it if you're feeling skeptical!) We're incorporating it bit by bit into our lives and kicking Crisco out!.

Today I'm grateful for the support of a small, loving community. I went to the high school graduation today and was moved to tears plenty of times.

Until next time,

Tiny

While browsing Netflix today (it is, after all, my day off), I came across the new release movies. A particular one caught my eye: it's called TINY.

Tiny explores the tiny house movement, in which people give up their spacious homes for very small ones. We follow a young man, Christopher, as he builds a home on top of a tow behind flat bed wagon. Interspersed with cutaways to others who have built and live in tiny homes, the movie explores what it means to be home in a very touching way.

It goes on to discover the depths of the movement, which is revealed in a myriad of ways. Some people gave up their largess because of a near-death experience (or terminal illness). Others due to financial issues, but every single one of them realized that the meaning of life is not in things and possessions. Every person realized that life is not impressing others with material things, it is being who you are, it is doing what means something. They woke up from the endless race of things that many people don't ever even look up from.

I quite enjoyed the movie. It spoke to deep places in my soul, and it opened up a world I knew very little about. I can easily see myself among the tiny house owners sometime in the future.

I recommend it highly, if you get the chance!

Today, I am grateful that summer is here! Even if we are rushing headlong through it towards winter, I am grateful to be enjoying nice weather now.

Until next time,

Basic Brownies

Awhile ago, (more than a year!) I bought The Amish Cook's Baking Book but never tried a single recipe. It is a beautiful book inside and out. The Amish generally do not let photos of themselves be taken, but this book is filled with delicious looking baked goods, as well as the occasional photo of a woman's hands wrist deep in batter or dough. I find that refreshing because it directs the focus back on the food, unlike a lot of popular chef cook books that read more like an advertisement for themselves.

This book is also filled with small anecdotes of Amish life, as well as the fond memories of the author. Having such fond memories myself of growing up cooking and baking with my mom, this book really touches a deep place in my soul.

I was browsing a few cook books last evening, trying to find a recipe for something to bring into work as a little treat for a young woman who is leaving to have surgery and then pursue a teaching career. I settled on brownies out of this book. The brownies were scrumptious! I may or may not have had them for breakfast this morning. ;) Since everyone was delighted by these brownies, I thought I might share them with you.

Basic Brownies

- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour - 2 cups sugar - 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder - 1/2 teaspoon salt - 1 cup vegetable oil - 4 large eggs Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13 inch pan. (I used butter.) In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. (I stirred together the wet and dry separately, then added the wet to the dry.) Stir vigorously for about 3 minutes, until the batter is well blended and creamy. Pour into prepared pan. Bake until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Ideally, I'd like to use a different fat than vegetable oil for reasons very well outlined in this article, but for a recipe I was sharing with many other people, and my string of bad homemade brownie recipes in the past, I stuck with the original ingredients. I do look forward to tweaking it a bit though!

Link to the The Amish Cook's Baking Book on Amazon.

Today I am grateful for the lovely birds that serenade our house and yard with their songs.

Until next time,

Wildflowers

We have this patch of land on our property that isn't really ours. It officially belongs to the town, but it's been here forever with its beautiful stone wall and its graves. Oh yes, it's a family graveyard. Not our family. The one that originally settled this area as their farm. It's long since been broken up and sold off. 2 or so acres is ours, some of it is our neighbor's, and the vast majority is state land. Though you can go hiking and hunting and the like on it, we don't have many people do that. There aren't any paths that I am aware of through it.

Anyway, our piece includes the old graveyard. There's a civil war veteran and well as adults and children. All of them passed away in the mid to late 1800's. More than a decade ago, a fierce windstorm came through the valley and knocked all the tall pines in the graveyard over and onto the apartments/garage on our property. Plenty of the headstones were damaged, and the tree roots ripped up great swathes of land as they fell.

No, we didn't see any bodies or coffins.

Because this property technically isn't ours, the town takes care of it. By 'takes care of it' I mean someone comes maybe three times a year and mows it. They've mowed it once so far this year. It's back to being overgrown, but that's fine by me. There are lots of wildflowers in it this year which has made having a fresh bouquet much easier! I'm having a great time trying to identify these flowers. So far we have mostly hawkweed, what I've always been told is Indian Paintbrush, but lookes nothing like the pictures online. In fact it looks a lot like red hawkweed with just one head, and blue-eyed grass, which I'd never seen before this year. I grabbed some daises from behind the building at work and some orchard grass for its tallness in a vase. It's been a nice challenge keeping the pitcher/vase full.

Sunday June 15th firsts:

Garlic Scape

Wild Strawberry

Cultivated Strawberry

Today I'm grateful that growing season has been in swing for a month or so now, but harvesting has finally begun!

Homemade Lemonade

I'm a big fan of easy.

I'm a big fan of tastes good.

See where those two might not mix?

I dislike those lemonade recipes that call for a cooked syrup to mix with water. All that waiting for the syrup to cool down or adding lots of ice, which washes flavor away... Bah!

So here's an awesome, easy-as-anything lemonade that's ready in the time it takes for the sugar to dissolve.

Homemade Lemonade

- 3/4 cup sugar (link to the kind we use) - 1 cup fresh squeezed & strained lemon juice (about 6 lemons) - 6 cups water Pour everything into a pitcher, stir until sugar is dissolved. Pour over ice cubes and enjoy!

I like to add frozen strawberries instead of ice cubes. Not only do they keep it cool, they add a lovely hint of their flavor. I've doubled this recipe with rousing success. I can't recommend it enough!

Today I'm grateful for lovely rainy days. Especially when it means no garden watering!

Until next time,

Dashing for Summer

These long beautiful days make me feel as if good weather will last forever. It also makes me keenly aware than winter is looming closer with each day that passes me by. I am always meaning to do something soon, but before I know it, the whole season has zipped on by. I distinctly remember as a child these days seeming long and as if having three months off in summer was surely just as long as being in school. Not so anymore. Days just run by at a frantic pace.

I look at the clock: 1:15pm

I look down at whatever I'm doing.

I look at the clock a few minutes later: 3:45pm!

This makes me slightly concerned that there is a mischievous elf in the house, but all the other clocks say 3:45pm too! Poo.

I have a lot of issues with time. I spend a lot of time thinking about time. I am keenly aware that any moment may be my last. I am sure of where I am going, but I read once that fear, any fear, is fear of being hurt. Hurt emotionally or physically, it doesn't matter. I think that's true. Most of the fear of death stems from "Will it hurt?", and an equal amount of fear for the anticipation of sadness that we will leave behind us when we go. I hate the idea that I will cause someone the great sadness that is the loss of a loved one. ...but I digress.

Time is a concept thought up by our big ol' brains that somebody thought was an excellent idea, and now we all follow it. Sure a day always passes with more or less the same number of hours regardless, but when we add actual hours in numbers to the mix, we start anticipating.

"If I don't have to leave until 4:15, then I can wait until 3:30 to shower which means I have five hours until I have to do that. I need fours hours to make bread so I can start that in an hour and be fine..."

Ugh. I hate this. Constant clock watching jangles my nerves and makes me keenly aware that I have to go to work... in five hours.

I would love to (and one day hope to) run on my own time. Not have to constantly anticipate the time and thinking of what to do next.

Did I tell you I want a farm? Not just any type of farm, but a family type place where we produce our own food. Where I don't have to punch in and punch out on a clock. Where I don't have electricity bills to pay (well, not as much as I have now). That kind of a place. Peaceful, fulfilling, a true home.

Today I am grateful for all the beautiful spring flowers that all come one right after another, never leaving my windowsill empty of fresh wildflowers. Right now Hawkweed is blooming!