Delicata fries

My farmer friend Amanda is obsessed with winter squarshes. This is the first season I've ever had delicata; it's so yummy and easy to work with! You can pretty much treat it just like potatoes. FRIES TIME!

Slicers them in half and spoon out the goo. Save that goo! We're making salty crunchy snacks out of the seeds too.

Slicers roughly into fries shapes. Squeeze as much of the goo as you can off the seeds, until it drives you nuts.

MAGIC SAUCE TIME. Olive oil, kosher salt, pepper, paprika.

Goobers them fries well. Say hello to Oster the toaster so he doesn't get lonely.

The seeds too.

Laid out nice and flat and oven ready. I think I set it to 450°F...I don't remember.

Toss things around a bit as needed; watch them carefully! I think I did 10mins per side on the fries, and 5mins per side on the seeds...Just watch 'em and toss 'em as you like. You can see I like my seeds nice and black. ^ _^

Oh hello, chorizo rice! So nice of you to join us from leftiesland in the fridge to make a proper dinner plate!

Coming up next time: Sarah tries to use her new hand corker and not make a complete mess out of bottling a CRAP TON OF MEAD for Amanda and Mike's wedding!

French bread

Simplest tasty bread! 1C+1TBS warm water, 1TBS butter, 1TBS sugar, 1TSP salt, 2.5C flour, and 1.5TSP bread yeast. That's it!

Be sure to let the yeasties warm up to room temperature first.

Go get your cheater machine (I mean bread maker...Thanks mom!) Dump all the crap in according to your special directions. Mine is all liquids and spices first, topped with flour nicely spread out over the water, with the yeast on top.

Wait...For the dough kneading...

Punch the dough down (the best part!) and pull and poke it on to a nicely buttered pan.

Cover it up with your favorite cat dish towel and let it rise for 30-40mins.

Holy crap that has risen!

Heat your oven to 425° and then slather your loaf with an appropriate amount of melted butter.

When it's golden brown and sounds hollow if you tap the top with a knife it's ready to come out (about 20-25mins). Set on a wire rack to cool so it doesn't turn into mush when you first try to cut into it.

Eat with something tasty like, oh I don't know, that weirdo kale pesto you just made. ^ _^

Kale PESTO?!

Oh yea, that's right, kale pesto. Kind of. More like "Kale puree with whatever else I've got lying around" which appears to be garlic, sun flower seeds, olive oil, and SPEARMINT? Good Lord!

Behold! The cheater's way to rinse kale. 1) Stuff in plastic bag with holes poked in bottom. 2) Slosh water around vigorously inside bag, then tie to faucet to let drip dry. 3) ??? 4) Profit! Yea ok, I know that meme is a little dead, but it still makes me laugh so shut up!

Smashy smashy...

Pull off some spearmint and wash it thoroughly, then throw it with the garlic and sun flower seeds in the food pro. Maybe a bit of O.O. so it doesn't all stick together and PUREE!

Yummy. Minty, oily, garlicy sunflower butter. Transfer to another bowl and move on to the kale.

Peel the kale off its tough stem, tear it up and puree in the food pro with plenty of O.O. Maybe throw in some spoonfuls of the sunflower mush so it all blends as you're working. Repeat until you want to scream, or you have reached an appropriate kale-i-ness taste to your pesto.