i’ll squash you!

Squash makes me want to make a lot of really bad puns. Not sure why.

At any rate, I made squash muffins. Wanna hear about it?

Roasted 1 small butternut squash. I find the classification of “large” and “small” squashes really baffling, but to be clear; I roasted it and ran in through the food processor, which resulted in 2 cups of squash mush. That is how big it was.

Also, some people find squash hard to manage, so to make it really easy for you:

Cut it open, scrape out the seeds, slice off the rind by any means necessary, chop up into smallish bits, spread on a pan, drizzle with olive oil, bake at 350 until a fork goes in easy. Puree as necessary.

I also included:

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2/3 cup yogurt ( which was actually supposed to be milk, though I now see water was also an option….huh.)

2 cups sugar

3 eggs.

And I added about a teaspoon each of nutmeg, clove, and cinammon.

I also threw in about 2 cups chopped walnuts and for the second batch some vegan chocolate chips as well.

Conclusion: These are really good! Also, I forgot baking powder, now that I’m rereading the original recipe. (which I adapted from a pumpkin bread recipe out of joy. Also, last fall after researching for a friend the difference between corn bread and corn muffins was what they got cooked in, I’ve been feeling inspired to put things in muffin tins.

The original logic of this was that butternut squash and pumpkin are remarkably similar. Turns out yes. Though if I make these again I probably won’t put chocolate in-it’s an easy compulsion of mine to indulge the question of should-we-add-chocolate-well-yes-of-course, but some things on their own don’t require it.

Also, I had kefir for the first time. Kefir is drinkable yogurt. It’s fine.

I’ve been steaming a lot of kale and eating it with balsamic vinegar, mostly because this is the easiest thing I can do to remind myself to eat green things, which I haven’t been doing enough of lately. I will develop more complex methods eventually, but in the meantime this is what I have for you.

In other news, grad school acceptance rates are low, but I might just say fuck that and move to Portland like all the other cool kids these days. Committees are still investigating but there are a lot of lovely people who have offered for me to live on their couch, including my goofy aunt who shares my birthday and is loud and funny and one of my mom’s best friends.

Also, I have a fabulous new job at a queer DV agency, and this is really exciting.

And very soon I will be making olive bread.