Experimenting With Squash

Are you up to your ear with squash, too? I never thought I could get sick of it but, damn. There is SO much of it around. Don't get me wrong, I love the stuff but not with every meal, every day. So, in light of it's over abundance I decided to experiment and am I glad I did. I now have yet another delicious way to eat this vegetable. Best part - for dessert! That's right. i decided to play with that whoopie pie recipe and concocted zucchini bread whoopie pies. Try them, you'll like them!

Zucchini Bread Whoopie Pies

For the Cookies:

• ½ cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon maple whiskey
• 1 teaspoon maple extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 2¾ cup flour
• 2 cups grated zucchini, squeezed of excess liquid 
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp lemon juice

For the Filling:

• 1/2 cup softened butter 
• 1/2 cups shortening
• 1 cups marshmallow fluff,
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/8 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350F

In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment cream together shortening, butter and sugar. Slowly add remaining ingredients and mix until smooth.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoon onto a foil lined baking sheet. Bake approximately 15 minutes until set. Allow to cool.

While the cookies are baking add the filling ingredients to a mixing bowl of your stand mixer and mix with the paddle attachment until smooth.

When cookies are cooled, assemble with the filling.

Enjoy! Share with friends and neighbors! These are GOOD!

Down the Hatch!

A few weeks ago my Dad went to visit his brother who isn't doing all that well in the health department. His wife had asked for some help taking care of him as she was exhausted and quite frankly, sick men are enormous babies. So, out my Dad went because he is awesome like that. What I was NOT expecting was for my Aunt to load him up with one of my most coveted ingredients to bring back for me. What is this mystery ingredient you ask - HATCH GREEN CHILIES! Did I mention that my Aunt and Uncle live in Albuquerque, NM? Oh baby was I so happy to see them. And so many! She sent me 8 quart sized zip lock bags of the green monsters - roasted and peeled! I love you Auntie Barb! So, anticipating a long day yesterday, I got up early and made myself a nice batch of Chili Verde to put in the crockpot and cook away all day. I had everything I needed from my CSA share and it let me use up the last of the fresh salsa that I had made before it spoiled. Double WIN! Here is how it came together. First I cut up a pork tenderloin into 1 inch think slices (give or take) and put them in the crock pot. I added a pint of freshly made salsa (tomatoes, green onions, cilantro, lime juice). Then, I took a bag of those green beauties (there were about a dozen chilies in it), removed the stems and seeds, gave them a rough chop and put them in the crockpot too. Finally, I peeled and rinsed 8-10 fresh tomatillos and put them in a saucepan with water and 2 rough chopped white onion. I brought that to a boil until the tomatillos split open and the onions were cooked. When that was done, I hit it with the immersion blender until smooth, poured it into the crockpot, put the lid on,  set it to low and left for work. I can't even describe how good my house smelled when I got home! I immediately fished out the pork pieces,  shredded them, and returned them to the pot. I added some masa for thickening as it was a tad watery and brightened it up with some fresh lime juice. I also stirred in a can of black beans (Kuner's Black Beans with Cumin and Chili Spices) undrained. Then it was ready to eat! I was concerned about the spice level since those Hatch chilies can be wicked so I topped my chili with shredded cheddar and a dollop of sour cream. It was delicious. When I ate some today for breakfast, lol, I noticed it had mellowed quite a bit so I think just cheese will suffice for the remainder of the pot.