How this blog all started "hippie burritos" and Winter squash with crême fraiche and honey

Someone told me it would be good to start a blog.  So I am giving it a shot.  My friend Dawn
came over, one of her past life jobs was as a stylist.  Now she is a "Handy Gal"  personally assisting people with her  whiz-ablities.  Well there is nothing like a barter.  She helped me throw out bras from circa 2000, and well about 99% of my closet, but it was good. The cloths really did not serve me.  If a friend is going to come over and spend a good amount of time watching you try on most of your wardrobe food must be involved, but shoot if I am going to cook I should at least invite my roommate who is a vegetarian and provides me with a ton of free magazine from her advertising job,  some including cooking magazines. I saw a veggie burrito recipe from one of them, but then my sister makes hippie burritos, which is a hodgepodge  of whatever you can find. 

veggie burritos with out the burrito  this time consisted of:  (trying to remember it all)
olive oil for pan

half a scallion
some garlic gloves
 3?  green onions
handful of chopped asparagus,
1 yellow bell pepper
half a sweet potato finally diced 
1/4 of a raw beet ( because my roommate loves beets and I bought some in Bolinas, Ca when I went to visit my sister and went on an amazing hike to bass lake (this hike could be a single blog post it was amazing!
spinach
1 can Trader Joes refined black beans with jalapeno
paramasian cheese


I heard that chow mein started with a foundation and just random meet and veggies thrown in. during the gold rush era. 

It was a great success and a boost to my culinary ego.


Besides the beets that I bought in Bolinas I also bought a Kuri Squash because my sister bought one and has done some amazing stuff with squash so I thought it would inspire me.  All else fails you roast a squash because they are impossible to cut raw. 


I love google I found a recipe that could be used as a dessert.  Winter squash with crême fraiche and honey  I did not have creme fraiche so I used Greek yogurt and it it worked out ok, and my roommate hates Greek yogurt. 

Winter squash with crême fraiche and honey

This may sound like a dessert, and you can eat it as dessert if you like. But it's also a great side dish, for roast pork, roast lamb and so on. The cinnamon and cayenne add just a bit of zing that brings it all together. I could eat bowlfuls of this.

• About 4 cups of cut-up kabocha or kuri squash (here I used the orange-skinned Knirps, or kuri squash kind)
• 1 cup crême fraiche
• 3 Tbs. honey
• 1/4 tsp (or a pinch) each of cinnamon and cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp. salt

Put the cut-up squash into a pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer until the squash is tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drain the water.
Put the squash back in the pan. Add the crême fraiche, honey, and salt. Stir gently and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add the cinnamon and cayenne; mix well. (It will disintegrate somewhat, don't worry about it.) Serve while hot. This also re-heats in the microwave very well, and leaving it in the fridge for a day deepens the flavors.


I also added some Chinese five spice blend.  


The roasted winter squash with feta cheese sounds tasty and will be on my to cook list next time I have a winter squash.