Tahiti Custard Pie

2 cups steamed Tahiti or butternut squash

1 can condensed milk

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon cloves, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 unbaked pie crusts in 8 inch pie tins

Mix the squash, milk, eggs, sugar and spices and pour into pie crusts.

While the pie is baking, create a top crust from the following ingredients:

1/2 cup rolled oats, ground in coffee grinder slightly
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Blend the crust ingredients, and sprinkle over the pies after they have baked for 1/2 hour. Return them to the oven and bake for another half hour.

Let pies cool and eat with whipped cream. They are great without any topping too, if you want to eat them plain.

Walk tall, walk straight, and look the world right in the eye.
Val Doonican

Zucchini Pasta

This recipe has been added as a part of the never ending quest to find more things to do with zucchini when it over produces at the height of the season.

Steam any kind of summer squash and then put it in the blender to make a puree. Add eggs and flour and salt to make a suitable dough and roll or put into a pasta machine.

This is a great way to make raviolis or ribbon noodles. You could also try a number of dumpling shapes and fill with anything you like: cooked vegetables, goat cheese, ricotta, cooked meat, or cooked winter squash or potatoes.

Cook and serve with sauce or add to soup.

More from Monarch of the Glen -

Golly: Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter because nobody listens.

Peanut Butter Truffle Snacks

These high protein peanut butter snacks are easy to make and can be flavored in a variety of ways. They do not require any cooking or baking.

Mix:
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 cup powdered milk
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 tablespoon instant coffee
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 cup honey
1 - 2 tablespoons cream if needed for extra moisture

You may want to mix the instant coffee and cocoa powder together before adding. It is often better to blend cocoa powder with another dry ingredient before adding moisture to it. Otherwise the order of these things makes no difference.

If the mixture is too dry, add a tablespoon of milk; if it is too wet, add some more wheat germ or powdered milk.

Roll these into small walnut size balls and coat with a mixture of powdered sugar and cocoa powder.

To experiment with other flavors, look for flavored instant coffee mixes. The "International" line has several, and Starbucks has some new instant coffee products as well. These can be very overpowering, so start small - a couple of teaspoons, at most, and then add if needed.

Other options are to use smooth peanut butter and then add chopped nuts such as pecans or walnuts. Chopped chocolate pieces would also be an option for sweeter snack.

Cover and refrigerate. These can make a nice gift, and they're a good alternative to candy.

There are days in a life in which one is the fly, and rare, magical moments in which one is, at long last, the windscreen.
Molly MacDonald (character from Monarch of the Glen)
This quote is not in keeping with the others on this blog, but it may resonate with those who tend to take the long suffering approach a bit too far at times.

Summer Squash Soup with Wild Rice

Soup made from butternut and other winter squashes is quite common, but summer squash soups are also a good idea. The base is made from steamed and pureed summer squash. While the water used to steam the vegetables is still hot add some bouillon of your choice - vegetable, chicken or tomato will all work. Add the water to the pureed squash when you are blending them.

Other vegetables to add to the base are onion, garlic, bell pepper, chili pepper or whatever you have in your garden or your pantry.

You can cook the wild rice at the same time you are steaming and stirring the vegetables or you can make it ahead of time.

Spices that will go well with this soup are fresh basil, fresh parsley and chives. These should be added after the vegetables have been pureed. To make this soup even more delicious, add a quarter cup of cream or full fat coconut milk; top with grated Parmesan cheese or slices of avocado. The truly health conscious could use whole milk instead.


A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Super Easy Summer Squash with Mushroooms

Since the squash does not seem to end, the recipes will just keep on coming!

Use any kind of summer squash for this easy casserole.

You will also need about 1 cup sautéed mushrooms, cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, Panko bread crumbs and some gorgonzola cheese. If you like a little spice, add a few diced green chilies. Fresh or canned will work.

The mushrooms can be sautéed ahead of time, if you like.

Wash and cut squash into irregular pieces that are close to 1 inch cubes.

Pour a little olive oil in the bottom of a casserole dish - any size. The more squash you have the larger the casserole dish! Layer squash on the olive oil, and sprinkle with salt, pepper and some grated cheddar.

Sprinkle the sautéed mushrooms over this first layer.

Put more squash and peppers - if you are using them - on top of the mushrooms and then crumble some gorgonzola cheese over everything - about 1/2 cup of gorgonzola will be perfect if you are using a 9 x 13 casserole. You can sprinkle a little more cheddar on the top of the second layer of squash if you like. toss the mixture slightly to get all of the cheese and the mushrooms and the squash evenly distributed throughout the baking dish.

Bake uncovered at 375 for about 35 - 40 minutes. While the vegetables are baking, grate 1/3 cup Parmnesan and add to 2/3 cup Panko crumbs. After about 30 minutes, sprinkle this mixture over the vegetables and bake for another 10 - 15 minutes.

It's great as a side dish or as a light summer lunch all by itself.

The greatness of a man can mearly always be measured by his willingness to be kind.
G. Young

SUMMER SQUASH RATATOUILLE

Ingredients:
Onion, minced
Garlic, minced
Green and yellow squash, cut in cubes
Yellow or green chili pepper, diced
Tomato, sliced or chopped
Fresh herbs, especially basil
Fresh Parmesan cheese, grated
Mozzarella cheese, grated
Seasoned bread crumbs
Olive oil
Procedures:
1. Use a large skillet to sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft
2. Add the cubed squash and diced green chilies to the onion/garlic mixture. Add more olive oil and some salt and pepper.
3. Sauté until the vegetables are slightly cooked.
4. Remove from heat and add cheeses. Toss lightly to mix cheeses with the vegetables.
5. Layer chopped or sliced tomatoes and chopped fresh herbs over the vegetables and sprinkle with seasoned bread crumbs.
6. Put in a 350 oven and heat for about 25 minutes. This is just long enough for the cheeses to melt and the tomatoes to cook slightly.
This make a good side dish or a great lunch all by itself.

Put a grain of boldness into everything you do.
Baltasar Gracian

Splendid Summer Squash

On the Grill

Use any kind of summer squash for this delicious vegetable dish; patty pan, green zucchini or yellow crookneck work equally well. Remove the ends and slice them longitudinally into one-fourth inch slices. The patty pan squashes make a round slice and it’s easy to put a slice of tomato on top of them and grill the tomato and the squash together.

Make a mixture of 1 part olive oil and 1 part melted butter with salt, black pepper and chili powder in fairly generous amounts.
Lay the slices on a hot barbeque grill and brush with the olive oil mixture. Grill on medium heat for 7 – 10 minutes and turn over for at least another 5 minutes. How much time grilling takes depends on the temperature of the grill.
These can be eaten straight off the grill or can be drizzled with a sauce made of mayonnaise, creole mustard, and honey mustard. Any hot mustard mixed with mayonnaise will make a delectable sauce for these vegetables.
BETTER YET
Phase 2 of this grilling project is to layer the grilled squash in a 9 x 13 glass baking dish with bread crumbs and grated Parmesan. Repeat the layers about 3 times, and then top the whole casserole with grated mozzarella. Put into a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes to melt the cheeses together. Cut into squares and top with warm spaghetti sauce and just a sprinkle of Parmesan. The smokey flavor and the texture of the grilled vegetables together with the cheeses creates a main dish that is easily as good as lasagna or eggplant Parmesan, and it is amazingly easy to put together.

The means are the end in the making. Mahatma Gandhi