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Fall Garden Crop
We were threatened by a frost advisory this weekend but luckily Mother Nature was easy on us for now. This being said, Fall is really here which I am really excited about since it is my favorite season.
Sadly my garden this year wasn't much of a success. Japanese beetles invaded my plants, killing all my beans, peas and cucumbers.
My tomatoes did alright but didn't produce many, my one small watermelon that I was so proud of got attacked by some other sort of bug and when I picked it it had been eaten from the bottom and rotted out.
I have basil coming out of my ears, my lavender died (I heard it's one of the hardest to grow so I'll just blame it on that!), my peppers were nice but very few but my squash were spreading and growing like weeds!
I purchased 4 small plants, 2 spaghetti and 2 butternut. I planted them a good distance apart but boy did they spread and take over. I Ended up having to buy wired "cages" that were triangular and wrestle them in and through the fencing so they could grow up and over and stop them from invading the rest of the garden.
2 plants "escaped" my fenced in garden and and since then spread themselves into my Dad's hay field. Luckily he left that small strip of field beside my garden untouched because I have about 2 or 3 squash now growing on the outside of the fence.
Now the trick to know when your squash is ready is to press your thumb nail into the skin, if it pierces the skin they aren't ready, if it is hard enough for your nail not to pierce they are ready to pick and eat.
My butternut are a ways behind but my spaghetti squash were mostly ready. I picked about 5 in total and gave 1 to my Dad and decided to use 2 for supper that night.
My Mom was joining us for supper and I decided to try 2 new recipes, Mom and my husband would just have to be guinea pigs tonight, sorry not sorry.
Now I didn't get any pictures of my chicken breasts you can see the recipe here:
Now don't go skipping the honey mustard dipping sauce part, it really is delicious and I plan to use this with other recipes.
Now for the spaghetti squash, I rinsed mine quickly to remove any dead leaves from their vines or dirt then cut in half length wise. Next scoop out the middle with the seeds and place in a baking dish (flesh side up) with about an inch of water in it into the microwave for about 8-10 minutes, check with a fork if it is ready if not put back in for a few more minutes until done.
Next you pull out of the microwave and place onto a baking sheet covered in either parchment or aluminum paper. With a fork scrape along the edges to remove the "spaghetti" of the squash and set into a separate bowl.
Now for the rest of the recipe please check out this site:
For me I found it a little too spicy, I might next time put in a little less red pepper flakes but to each their own.
Everyone really enjoyed the meal and it made for delicious leftovers. Now I'm waiting for my butternut to be ready so I can make some soup.
Enjoy!
