Foodie Friday: Kabocha squash soup

Kabocha squash

For our Christmas Eve Potluck, I decided to try a new recipe. I got this from a Farmer's Market lady (Barbi Anderson) a few weeks ago when she set up her stall outside of Jojoba Hills RV Resort (near Temecula, CA). I bought a kabocha squash (not to be confused with kombucha tea!) from her and she also gave me the recipe for a wonderful soup with this unusual squash. I got some other great stuff from her, too. Like persimmons and guava. I've never seen or eaten them fresh before, so that was a fun adventure. Plus I got some sage honey which I've never had before. It has a distinctive taste that I really like.

For the potluck in addition to the soup, I made a veggie tray, a green salad with my homemade honey mustard dressing, some sweet potatoes, chicken drumsticks with veggies in the pressure cooker, Avocado Grasshoppers, and some gluten free, grain free brownies with real whipped cream on the side. I wasn't the only one fixing food, but I wanted to have a variety I could eat and share with others. Of course we couldn't eat it all, so I enjoyed leftovers for the next several days. Win!

Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup (From Barbie Anderson)

Makes 4-6 servings
1 medium to large kabocha squash (or butternut)
1/2 onion
3 cloves garlic
2-4 cups organic chicken or vegetable broth
1 can coconut milk
sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place squash whole on the baking sheet and roast for 35-45 minutes or until you can easily poke it with a fork. Remove and let cool before you slice open, scoop out seeds, and add flesh to your blender.
Optional step: in the meantime, add a bit of olive oil to a medium stockpot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic to sauté (and any other veggies here – like carrots, zucchini, red peppers - if you’d like). Let cook for 5 minutes until translucent.
Add onions, garlic, 1 can of coconut milk, broth, sea salt and pepper to a blender.
Puree until smooth, adding more broth if you prefer a thinner consistency.
Serve warm, with toppings of your choice (whole milk Greek yogurt, rice crackers, avocado, chia or pumpkin seeds, arugula, kale, or pesto).

    I cooked my squash in the Sun Oven, and I didn't look at the recipe again until after I had already cut it open and scooped out the seeds. Oops! It cooked up beautifully anyway. I also cooked a butternut squash at the same time and together they took a little more than 2 hours to cook at the lower temp, but they were nice and moist. I also added carrots, zucchini, celery, and red pepper to the onions and shallots (instead of garlic). Totally worth the extra step! I used my Bamix stick blender in the pan once everything was in it, and it worked great. I think I would peel the zucchini first next time. I could see bits of the peel which isn't as pretty as I would have liked it to be. The flavor was amazing and I love how thick it was. It made great left-overs, too.
     Barbi suggested I wash and soak the seeds overnight and bake them the next day. Baking them in the oven would have been easier than pan frying them, as I had to stand and stir them quite a bit so they wouldn't burn, but it was worth it! Because of a windy day, the Sun Oven was not an option, and I didn't want to turn on the generator in order to bake them, so I had this stirring experience. <<wink, wink!>> It didn't take me long to eat them all, they were so good. I'm definitely going to look for this squash again. It just might be my new favorite! I love discovering new foods I can eat.

Nick and Jerry relaxing after a great meal.  The food talbe is behind Jerry, but I didn't get a good pic of that.

Vera and Delores and I looking pretty Christmasy!

Travel Tuesday: Merry Christmas!

Someone clearly spends too much time on Pinterest!

 Merry Christmas from the desert west of Yuma. This is a favorite place of ours, perhaps because it was the first place on our very first Snowbird trip that we got into the actual desert wilderness and then fell in love with the desert. Off of Ogilby Rd and American Girl Mine Rd, we sit in this spot with wide open spaces ringed with mountains. You can see for miles here! The distances are deceptive; things seem so much closer than they actual are. Lots of room to walk and jog. Lots of sky. And of course the sunsets are spectacular!
     We are with the Boondocker BOF group, but there aren't very many of us here. Only three rigs for the most part, although we had 2 come and go at different times. For our Christmas Potluck (that we had on Christmas Eve because of the forecasted wind for Christmas Day), we had a couple of people drive over and join us. Between us we came up with a tasty meal. As you can see, I had fun with my veggie tray! I also made some gluten free brownies and the Avocado Grasshoppers, along with a delicious squash soup and green salad.

Sunrise, rather than sunset, coming up over the mountains.

Looking in the opposite direction at the same time, this was the moon set.

     Before coming here, we spent a week at Jojoba Hills Resort near Temecula, CA where we caught up on laundry (loads of laundry!), shopping, and visiting with friends. One couple have a wonderful electronic keyboard in their motorhome which I was invited to play whenever I wanted to.Yes! I also got to stock up on some fresh, organic lemons and limes right from the trees that grow in a common area for people to enjoy. Can't get them any fresher than that!

Shields Date Farm Garden with Date Palms.

     We headed back to Indio for a few days and met up with another friend. She and I went to Shields Date Farm. They have a lovely restaurant where we had lunch and a gift shop stocked with several different varieties of dates (Who knew there were so many types?) After lunch we strolled through their beautiful garden along the Stations of Jesus's Life walk which had scenes depicting different events in Jesus's life.

My Christmas rock, 2-1/2 " long!

Even though we had planned to stay a few more days in Indio, we quickly took off for Kofa Ko-op Escapees RV Park in Yuma when we heard that a fellow Boondocker was in the hospital there. Of course we wanted to visit him and make sure he was OK. While we were there, I was able to enjoy a few activities; some social gatherings, Church on Sunday, plenty of walks, and some line dancing. My favorite, though was the Christmas rock painting.

Foodie Friday: Pumpkin Muffins

Sun Oven sitting in the wagon.

     When some friends came to visit us near Borrego Springs, we got to talking about my Sun Oven. So of course I had to show them how quickly it got up to 300-325. Then I had this hot oven just begging to be filled with something delicious, so I decided pumpkin muffins were in order. By the time I got them mixed up, they didn't get in the oven until 2pm. At this time of year the sun is on its downward slide and it goes behind the hills around 4:30, so it was a bit of a race for them to get done in time. The Sun Oven uses the angle of the sun to shine on the reflectors and collect the solar energy to heat up. When the angle gets too low, it's hard to maintain the temperature, and when the sun goes down it cools off. I did manage to get them baked, although at a lower temp, so it took a bit longer than usual.
     I then shared some around the Happy Hour group which included more discussion about the Sun Oven. And happy sounds of appreciation for how they turned out, plus a bit of surprise for a few people at how good something healthy could taste. Score! Since I use 1/2 of a can of pumpkin to make the muffins, and Jerry was kind enough to go into town to get me more eggs, I made another batch then next day. Getting them in the oven before noon, they only took about 45 min to cook the second day. They were just as tasty and moist as the first batch. They were so well received I thought I'd post the recipe here. I have a link to the original recipe, but of course, since I can't leave any recipe alone, I'm posting what I actually do. 

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Linda's Pumpkin Muffins,  original recipe HERE that uses honey instead of stevia

1 stick butter, melted (I put this in my Sun Oven as it's heating up), set aside to cool a bit, add at end.

1/2 can pumpkin, stir to smooth

6 eggs, beat into pumpkin

1 tsp vanilla (I make my own extract) add to above,

4 droppers (half way up the dropper) of English Toffee Stevia, add to above

4 droppers Vanilla Stevia, add to above.

      In a small bowl mix the dry ingredients all together:

1/2 c coconut flour (or 1/4 c almond flour, 1/4 c coconut flour)

1/2 tsp baking powder (original calls for baking soda, but I like the taste of baking powder better)

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Combine the dry with the wet, then add in the melted butter. Mix thoroughly. Add nuts if desired (1/2 cup) and spoon into muffin cups. I use silicone muffin cups. Paper will stick when using coconut flour, so I don't recommend them. Bake 400 degrees for 15 - 19 min. Or until top is set and lightly browned. In the Sun Oven, it bakes at 300 - 350 for 45 min to 1-1/2 hrs depending. If you push on the top and they spring back, they're done. With the extra pumpkin, these are fairly moist.

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      This is my favorite recipe for gluten-free and grain-free baking. They don't seem to last long, even when I don't have help eating them all! Of course, they disappeared pretty quickly at Happy Hour, so if I want to indulge in more of them, I'll have to bake again the next sunny and low wind day. I put my Sun Oven in a folding wagon which makes it easier to move around. It lifts it up and keeps it pretty stable. At our home base in Olympia, I have to chase the sun around our lot since we are surrounded by so many tall trees, so the wagon is super helpful. I love that I can avoid using the generator or heating up the rig when we are out Boondocking with no hookups.There are lots of things I like to cook in my Sun Oven. Below is pictured a couple of my other favorites. If you notice, the pans are dark. The dark color helps to absorb the heat which is what you want. Highly reflective silver cookware doesn't work as well. Enamelware is great! Plus it feels more like I'm camping when I'm using it. It brings back good memories of camp outs.
 

Chicken and veggies with herbs, and pumpkin cheesecake. Yum!

Sanctified Saturday: "Exchange"

A place of serenity where I feel the Lord's presence.

Exchange!

I recently had a dream where I saw the word "Exchange" hovering in the background as the ideas of what God exchanges were floating up in front of me one after another. What He
has done for me takes my breath away! What kind of crazy, extravagant love is this?!

Where once:
     I was entrapped by anger----->He filled me with His peace and forgiveness
     I was threatened with destruction----->He established me in His safety and protection
     I was trapped in sin------>He set me free with His forgiveness and His righteousness
     I was a captive----->He gave me freedom
     I believed lies----->He spoke Truth, and taught me to hear His voice
     I compromised----->He filled me with His Holiness and and taught me integrity   
     I felt I was an incompetent failure----->He taught me to walk in victory
     I was dying----->God gave me Life!
     I was in despair----->His hope lifted me up
     I had fear and axiety----->He taught me that I could really trust Him and be at peace
     I was awash in sorrow------->He filled me with Joy
     I was wounded and in pain----->He poured the oil of healing over me
     I had a life of chaos------->He brought order and peace
In my areas of lack----->His abundance overflows
In my sickness------>He restores my health
In times of confusion----->He gave me His clarity and wisdom
In the midst of my weakness------>His strength overflows
From my life's pile of ashes----->He created beauty
Where once I was so broken----->He restored me and made me whole

Whatever my need, He is there with His exchange. There's no limit! I don't have to prioritize the top five needs and settle for living with the rest. Wow. Jesus nailed all of it to the cross, He gave His life, His blood for me, for all of it. "It is finished!" It's a done deal. My part is to believe it and receive it, to walk in it. His resurrection life is alive in me and as I walk with Him He renews me; my mind, my body, my emotions. As I seek Him with all my heart, as I put Him before everything else, He exchanges more and more.  I just ask. "Papa God I'm feeling anxious right now about something, I need Your peace", "Papa God, this situation seems pretty bad, I need Your hope and wisdom." As I seek His presence, as I rest in His company, fears evaporate, hope springs up, strength arises, joy explodes. There is nothing to compare with His presence, with hanging out with Papa God, sitting in His lap, getting loved on by the One Whose love is so perfect, so complete, so indescribable.

Exchange!