Not-Pumpkin Pie

I wish I had taken pictures of this while in progress, but it was an experiment.

This pie is made with butternut squash instead of pumpkin.  You first have to cook the squash.  I used a pressure cooker to make the squash for dinner the night before and had some leftovers.  After the squash is cooked, it needs to be pureed in a food processor.  Use enough to make 1 cup of puree.  This was about 2 small butternut squashes (probably 1 large). 

Make a pie crust or be lazy and use store bought, like I did.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

For the pie filling: combine 1 cup of squash puree, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup evaporated milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and a pinch of salt in food processor.  Pour into pie shell and bake for 10 minutes or until crust is browned.  You may need to use a pie crust shield or some foil to protect the crust from burning.

After 10 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.  Bake for 50 minutes or until set.  Cool and serve.

This was much better the next day after it had cooled overnight in the fridge.  Very similar to pumpkin pie, very custardy and very delicious.  Enjoy!

Bonus picture of our new place:

OKRA, part one

Okra. Not orca (as in whale) or oprah (as in tv host). The weird green sorta-looks-like-a-pepper vegetable that for some reason people adore in this state I am living in. Every barbecue joint around here serves fried okra.

The farmer's market bounty.  Looks like I need to buy a cornucopia.

I've eaten okra before, usually fried, but never actually touched a fresh one until today.  Royall got close to two pounds of it at the farmer's market this morning.  It has a fuzzy layer on the outside like a peach and a mysterious goo with a texture that is not un-like spit on the inside.  I tried it raw and it was nothing spectacular- kind of sweet, pretty bland.

Oooey-gooey.  This is why people use it to thicken soups.

Ooey-gooey, take two.

So, what is the first thing you do with a vegetable that you don't know how to properly cook?  If you live in the south, the answer is: fry it.

I googled how to fry okra and came up with this conglomerate of a recipe:

1. Cut okra.

2.  Place in ice water in the fridge for an hour.

Add salt to ice water.

3.  Drain and dredge in cornmeal, salt and pepper.

I double dredged: coated once, let it sit for a few minutes and coated again.  EXTRA CRISPY!

4.  Fry for 4-5 minutes at 375 or so.  

Our fryer is banished to the storage closet.  New house, new rules.  No frying inside, it makes everything smell!

Don't they look like tater-tots?

Don't worry, OKRA, part two is healthier.  Much healthier.

New Recipes are Coming Soon!!!

Thanks for being patient, wasp foodie readers.

I just moved across the country from Arizona to North Carolina!  I think I will find some good inspiration in this neck of the woods. 

Just today I was at a restaurant that featured the following "vegetables": slaw, bbq slaw, onion rings, fries, chicken nuggets, hushpuppies.  Last time I checked, hushpuppies and chicken nuggets were not vegetables and the other options, although vegetables, are fried or covered in dairy fat.  Don't get me wrong though, these things taste pretty darn good!

I also had the joy of eating my first canned ham with cloves a few days ago.  Now that is a recipe that needs to be in a wasp cookbook!

I am getting settled in to my much smaller and a little outdated kitchen and will have some new content up soon.  Please vote on what you'd like to see!