Posted on 08/29/2014 12:20:32 PM PDT by greeneyes
You know I love acorn squash, but don’t fix it very often. It reminds me of sweet potatoes. It lasts a long time in storage.
I fix it very simple. Cut it in half scoop out the seeds. Place it cut side down in baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees till midpoint of baking and turn with cut side up.
Sprinkle with a little cinnamon, brown sugar (optional), and a little butter. Finish baking. Takes about an hour for the total baking time.
I even like it kinda plain with just salt and butter.
You bet.
No, but I should. I have a bunch on the kitchen table right now.
I mostly grow stuff, and then look for people to pawn it off on..So, after you dehydrate them, what do you do with them? What oven temp? I have a gas oven, but no pilot light which was good for dehydrating stuff in my old oven.
I have dried Juliets. They did fabulously. Used them like that in recipes that called for dried tomatoes.
I also put some of them (dried crispily) into my food processor and then strained out the seeds/big bits and used the tomato powder in recipes. That was fabulous as well. I cook roasts in the crock pot a lot and I schmear some tomato powder + garlic powder on top of that when I first put it in there. Yummy.
The powder was also good mixed with sour cream + a little garlic powder and some jalapeno powder + some dill with a bit of fresh parmesan. That was pretty yummy too. We used that as a veggie dip.
YMMV.
I planted san marzano II’s this year instead of juliets. I wasn’t disappointed in them but they drowned so I’m glad I didn’t waste juliet seeds. We had over 10” of rain in July and the garden spot I had the tomatoes in this year doesn’t drain all that great. It’s usually NOT a problem after the end of April as we usually have dry summers. Not this year though. *sigh*.
Rye is all cut, but not all threshed: over 180 pounds so far, with about 30-50 to go. Wheat is also getting cut, but it has to dry AGAIN: 5/8” yesterday; over a 1/4” and still coming down today.
Had to run like mad to help get the almost dry clothes off the line before they got totally drenched.
Everything else garden wise is on autopilot right now.
IDK if this s/b in the gardening thread or OFST.
My asparagus that I started from seed is going along pretty good. Got about a half a pound here this week usually whatever trickles in is cut up in salad but now I finally have enough to make soup out of.
My immersion ender died so my son and I went to bed bath beyond for a new one.
I just had oral surgery and speak strangely due to stitches in my tongue.
Depending on how my pain meds are and how mouth feels the sound is anywhere from Andre the Giant to abuela to eastern european.
We walk into BBB
Sales guy asks ican he help us.
With all my might I ask after immersion blenders. My son understood me perfecy.
Sales dude thinks it’s a brand name.
“Um Mersion? Do we carry that brand?”
I told my son to apply for a job there those people have never even been in a kitchen and obviously their mommies do all their cooking for them.
Since I’ve never grown them before, I’m really not sure of how to tell when they are ripe. My powdery mildew (which could start any time) would destroy the leaves, but is it best to let a light frost (sorry to mention that so early) occur and then cut them?
Too late to plant for this year, but would like to plant for next year.
Since you have seed and cultiver expierience , I would enjoy seeing the varieties that you plant so that I could benefit from your expierience.
I see that "Juliete" is an F1 hybrid (vigorous growth), 60 days , indeterminate ( constant production), moderate fruit plum tomato.
Mostly, I have enjoyed "Jetstar" and "Supersonic", both hybrids, 72 days and 79 days respectively, for mainseason vigor,
but both bear fruit late in the season, even as indeterminates .
"Juliet" is on my list for next year, but I would also enjoy seeing whatever other crops and cultivers you reccomend for next spring(2015)
so I can get my seed order in quickly.
Thank you for your consideration, as most Northern folk are fitting gardening between frosts.
I’d grow the juliets, the san marzano II’s and Cherokee purple. But I have intense disease and heat issues to deal with down here so you may have a different experience.
If Diana likes the Juliets and I like them (we have totally opposite gardening environments) they’re probably happy pretty much anywhere that’s well drained and sunny. You may be able to save seed from them that MIGHT come true but don’t bet the farm on it.
I have a ‘compost tomato’ that grew from seeds from a clamshell of little grape tomatoes. It’s the best performing one I’ve got right now. Because it’s in the compost pile. And that part of the yard drains. I’m saving lots of seeds from that and it’s *almost* like my juliets were. Size/color/ease of use. I made a pizza with them last night with slices that were about 1/4 inch thick and just layered the whole pizza edge to edge with them. Family loved them. I’ve done the same with the Juliets as well.
I’ve been very happy with the SMII’s in the past. They just drowned this year. So did my peppers and other stuff besides. I planted 100 tomato plants because we were low on tomato powder and canned maters and I have mmmmaybe 10 survivors. And 4 or 5 of them are very unhappy still. Next year we’re building 2 or 3 more long cinderblock raised beds just for maters. It’s the only way to fix the drainage problem w/o planting them in the same spot year after year.
GO slow and low on the temps, maybe 125 -150 degrees to dehydrate fruits and veggies.
With the new electronic gas ovens , you now need electric ignition which renders the stove usless in a power outage for either heat , or cooking.
On another board that I frequent , folks have had to go 'retro' in order to find stoves that work during a power outage.
There actually is a market niche for older stoves that use a pilot light as they are useful for proofing breads, as well as passive dehydration.
Since the "Juliet" is a hybrid, it won't stay true to seed, so I won't bet the farm .
I agree that since you and Diana have opposeing climates, it sounds like a winner wherever grown .
I will admit ,I burst out laughing when I read that your "compost tomato" is your best performer..
.. isin't that the way that Mother Nature spits in your eye just to keep us humble ? !
It sounds like you would do better in a raised bed garden, but 'hindsight is always 20-20 vision ', and who knows what next year will bring .
Even though you are planning on more raised beds , don't forget to rotate your crops .
The San Marzano (old style Italian pear) 85 days , indeterminate is on my plans for next year, and since it isn't hybrid, you can keep the seeds.
Thanks too for the recipie ideas on the 'Juliet'.
I never got into the Cherokee purple, even though highly recommended, because I would never know when it was ripe and don't know the variety, except by reputation.
Actually, with tomatoes, sometimes hybrids will come true 95/100+ of the time. The ‘Santa Sweet’ you get at the grocery store will come true. So will the Campari variety.
You never know until you try.
Sungolds won’t though. Lots of people have tried that one. Although there are ‘selections’ from grown out sungolds that are close approximations of the real thing.
Cherokee purples are southern selections that may not perform all that well w/o sufficient heat units.
I’m so happy for my compost mater this year. It’s really the only one that’s completely happy. We will have 6 raised beds when we finish our upgrade plans. I will keep 2 of those for maters and just switch them out year to year. I have a couple more garden spots I can put tomatoes in as well, they were there last year and the year before. This spot has produced 5 gallon buckets of tomatoes before. Never had this issue before. Usually we only have the occasional tstorm after the middle of may until the middle/end of September. I use soaker hoses to keep stuff happy. I had no idea drainage was an issue in this particular spot until I tried to actually garden there in the midst of a multi day multi week summer deluge. I will put something else there next year that might be happier with the rain. Pole beans maybe. Or maybe plant my winter squash there and just mound up the hills they start on and let them pull out all the moisture if it gets too much rain. If it’s normal summer I can always use a soaker hose.
Here’s a link regarding the harvesting of squash. Waiting till after frost apparently does improve flavor, but reduces the length of time that it will remain good in storage.
http://www.ehow.com/info_8359842_harvest-pick-acorn-squash.html
LOL. Funny story. Thanks for sharing.
That’s the bad thing about wheat. I am trying to convince Hubby that we need a way to hang in from the ceiling in the garage while it’s drying.
He manages to get harvested, but before it can sit and dry for the required time, it usually rains on it.
We have had very little rain here. I have been carrying 5 gallon buckets a little over half full is all I can manage. Used to be stronger.
Hubby had a bit of drainage problem with his new half raised bed. It is perpendicular to the slope of the hill.
The lower side has 3 to 4 timbers stacked up and running about 15 ft. The upper side is level with the ground. So the water comes gushing down the hillside, and carries of some of his great dirt.
So he is digging down on the upper side and filling the trench with rocks. That way the drainage will go down first instead of over the top of the garden. We’ll see if it works.
Yup , powdery mildew will do it to the leaves ! Leave 1 inch stub of stem, any longer and it may break off.
Baked Acorn Squash
PREP TIME : 5 MIN. .. Cook time : about 1 hour@ 375 degrees in pre-heated oven
Wash off exterior , split in half, clean seeds out of the cavity
Place squash halves, cut sides down in baking dish with 1/2 inch of water. Bake 30-35 minutes.
Carefully remove squash dish from the oven, turn the squash over with cut side up. (Optional; make several striations with a fork into the interior cavity)
Turn the squash ,cut side up in the pan, add/spread 2 tablespoons of butter, 1 tablespoon brown sugar (or Maple syrup) into striations,
continue bakeing for 25 -35 minutes or until soft to the touch.
(Optional Stuffing: applesause,apples and cinnamon, stove top stuffing-cooked seperately, then added for the last 5 minutes,longer if you like crusty stuffing)
Well, except for the part about my kitchen gettting super hot in the summer because of the pilot lights, I did like my old stove. It was a GE XL 44, and they quit making them.
My new one is a Premier Brand, and the ignition source is eight AA batteries. No wall plug needed. The burner grates on the top of the GE were a lot heftier than the Premier.
Sounds like a 'French Drain'
Is he putting in small corrigated pipe too ?
Just saw a GE XL 44 Stainelss Steel (used) for $499.oo on eBay.
Sale was in Penna. , so I imagine shipping would be expensive !
Yeah , those burner guard tops look like a beast; you could put a heavy canner on that stovetop.
But we all know the survival rule : " When Momma ain't happy , ain't nobody happy !"
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