Busy, Busy, Busy

Mary Honrud / For the Courier

We spent the past week (plus a few days - there were some weather delays) harvesting our wheat crop. I really appreciate the Courier holding over my column from two weeks ago. It freed up a bit of my time so instead of writing I was cooking. I usually cram in my writing Sunday evenings (as I'm doing with this column) after spending the afternoon golfing. At least that's what I do in the summer. Last week I played piano for church (service is at 11 a.m.), then came home to fix a meal to haul to the field for Dennis. He doesn't usually work on Sundays, but harvest is late this year and rain was being forecast (the forecast was right). Don't ask me what I fixed as I can't remember, but it was definitely more than the sandwich he'd taken for lunch!

We do get help with harvest, but Corbin was otherwise engaged when our crop was ready. For a couple days I was able to get by with fixing quick and easy meals for just the two of us. Those were hauled out to wherever Dennis was at noon, while he got to make do with a "cooler meal" for supper. By that, I mean he got a frozen bottle of water, a sandwich (never a PBJ!), a small container of either cashews or pistachios, a sweet (brownie or cookies, occasionally a candy bar), and some fresh fruit. I put in a resealable container of crackers "just in case," but it never got opened.

Then the other crew showed up so I fed an extra three to four people that noon meal. I didn't pack coolers for them, though. Sometimes it's fun to cook for a crowd, especially a crowd that really appreciates the fresh carrots, cherry tomatoes, and green salads from the garden! Two of the crew are from Costa Rica. They'd been subsisting on the cold meals they'd packed and brought up from their temporary home here. Their country is vastly different from ours: a much warmer climate, with hills and trees "everywhere," and they grow a lot of rice. They also grow pineapples, and coconuts are "too expensive" here. Our huge machinery isn't feasible there. (We have an open invitation to visit Arturo's family should we ever go to see Costa Rica. Art wanted me to continue cooking for him while he's still here - but I'm happy to go back to cooking for just Dennis and myself.)

I did look up recipes from Costa Rica, but didn't have the proper ingredients for most of them. I was able to make one. Arturo got really excited that I'd made the effort for them. He called it Pinto, and told me they often have this for breakfast. I served it as a side dish with meatballs. I'd also made potatoes (boiled, with butter, garlic, and Italian seasoning), but Dennis will eat rice and canned beans (just not healthy green beans). He didn't notice the celery and peppers from the garden I'd chopped into this dish. But he ate around the few green beans I'd added.

Black Beans and Rice

(Gallo Pinto)

1 Tbl EVOO

1 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1/2 C celery, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 C black beans (1 can)

Salt & pepper to taste

3 C cooked white rice

Heat oil. Add veggies and sauté 5-7 minutes. Stir in beans (undrained). Season to taste. Sauté until liquid evaporates, 3-5 minutes. Stir in rice. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.

My afternoons were mostly mine, except when I got to help move machinery, or move trucks (I drove the truck driver back and forth: I wasn't actually driving the semis). I spent a lot of time in the garden, doing my own harvesting. There are a lot of good things still coming from my plot of land, despite the influx of grasshoppers. They've really moved in as the crops around us have been cut and hauled away. There's also a fresh hatch of box elder bugs that need spraying!

The summer squash (yellow crooknecks) are coming into their own. I'd seen on Pinterest a recipe for muffins using that as an ingredient. I'd just purchased blueberries, so I made them. This recipe is definitely going into rotation. I'll be using it next summer, and quite likely this winter as one crookneck yielded enough shredded squash I was able to freeze a baggie of it. I can use frozen berries then.

Lemon Blueberry Yellow Squash Muffins

2 large eggs

1/2 C vegetable oil (or melted butter, NOT hot)

1 C sugar

1 C shredded yellow squash

Zest from 1 lemon plus 1 Tbl juice

2 1/2 C flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 C fresh or frozen (do not thaw) blueberries

2 TBL sugar, to sprinkle on top

Oven at 350°. Beat eggs with a fork. Stir in oil, then sugar. Squeeze juice from squash and pack into measuring cup. Stir in squash, zest, and juice. Stir together the dry ingredients, then toss in the blueberries (this keeps them from sinking through the muffins). Stir the dry into the wet, but do not over mix. Spoon 1/2 C mix into each opening of a paper-lined muffin tin (makes a generous dozen). Sprinkle 1/2 tsp sugar on each. Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool tin on a rack 5 minutes before removing muffins to finish cooling.

And here's a bonus recipe. This cake is rich and delicious. I kept part of the frosting to use for graham cracker sandwiches, but it needs a bit of microwaving to make it spreadable since it should be stored in the fridge. I have a half pan of this cake in my freezer along with a half pan of zucchini brownies (also great). And shredded zucchini so I can make this later in the year. I've decided the chips are optional since I forgot them the second time I made these, and they're just as wonderful.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 C flour

3/4 C Dutch cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 C sugar OR xylitol

1 C mini chocolate chips

1 C shredded zucchini

1/2 C oil

1 1/2 Tbl vanilla

1 C water

Oven at 350°. Grease 9x13" pan OR 2 8" rounds. Whisk together the dry ingredients, with the mini chips. Beat the oil, vanilla, and water. Stir in the squeezed dry packed zucchini. Add the wet to the dry, stir just until mixed. Smooth into prepared pan(s). Bake 30 minutes, use toothpick test. Cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Cream

Cheese Frosting

1/2 C Dutch cocoa

Optional: 2 oz melted chocolate

8 oz room temperature cream cheese

1/4 C room temperature butter

1 1/2 - 3 C powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2-4 Tbl milk of choice

Beat all in mixer. This as needed with milk, or thicken with more sugar. Smooth over cake.