Another Love: Spaghetti Squash

Ok, I have to admit that I am still a little annoyed that the spaghetti squash has taken over my garden. But, I am also very excited that I've started seeing some results.

Spaghetti squash is an awesome vegetable substitution for pasta. I wouldn't mix it with pasta, because it's not EXACTLY the same thing, but it's close enough to give you the texture you want, without the added carbs.

I picked one spaghetti squash last week, but failed to take a picture of it. But, here are two more from the garden today. (There are also about 10 mid-sized ones out there, that should be nice and huge by the time I get back from traveling next week.)

So, what do I do with spaghetti squash? Oh lots of things! I can't wait to share! Standard cooking:

Cut it in half length-wise
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Empty out all the seeds and excess stuff (think like a pumpkin).
Set the Spaghetti squash cut side down in a 9x13 pan with a little water.
Puncture skin with a knife to allow heat in.
Cook for 40 minutes.
Pull from oven and shred. If you want it hot, serve immediately.

I was a little nervous about the one I picked last week, so I went ahead and changed dinner plans to not hinge on it working out. To my pleasant surprise, it actually turned out AWESOME. It was a little young, which resulted in more "angel hair" spaghetti squash vs. the normal stuff that is a little thicker.

So, I decided to make a little pasta salad to accompany my lunches this week. YUM! Here's how it turned out:

I guess I have a little bit of my grandma in me, because I dont usually measure things when I make things on the fly. But this is what's included if you want to try it yourself:

Spaghetti squash
Olive Oil
Garlic Salt
Italian Seasoning
Artichoke hearts
Black Olives
Tomatoes

Mix ingredients, serve chilled.

Enjoy! Oh - and stay tuned for my lesson on what happens when you plant Zucchini and Spaghetti Squash too close together.

What A Month It Has Been...The Case of the Spaghetti Squash Monster

Sorry for the lack of updates on the garden! For those true detectives from the last post, my garden was planted at my new house. Patti (who was referenced in the last post) was our WONDERFUL seller, who not only offered to let me plant my garden -- but even had it tilled for me.

So, a couple things have prevented me from posting about the garden (or even getting into the garden). We moved. Two houses. And, it just keeps raining. Poor Ryan hasn't even been able to mow very much.

This week I finally had to stop ignoring the garden. I did snap some photos before we finished weeding, so these photos look TERRIBLE!

First up - Spaghetti Squash

I've never planted spaghetti squash. I had no idea its ability to completely take over my garden. I thought I had spaced things out appropriately. I THOUGHT WRONG. It just kept growing and covering everything else. I've heard similar things about cucumbers, I should have done my research. The solution was to just chop off the ends and pray for the best. So far, it looks like it has decided to flower instead of continue to grow - Yay!

Zucchini

The zucchini has the biggest leaves I've ever seen on a plant. It has remained pretty contained to its space, but there are a million flowers. I see a lot of zucchini bread in the future, along with a bunch of new recipes that I make with zucchini. I really love zucchini, so I'm looking forward to having some. I anticipate it will be ready within the next week or so!

Cantaloupe

Cantaloupe was a late addition to the garden. I wasn't sure how it would react. The plants are pretty small, but it's already flowering. We'll see what happens!

Tomatoes

Our tomatoes were an interesting situation. We were only able to cage two plants prior to our moves. So, this is one of the ones that was caged early. They are doing great and I think they will produce abundantly. However, the other 4 plants are a different story. We've had some pretty strong storms and were only able to cage them this week. Hopefully they will recover and be able to support themselves, but I'm not sure what to think right now.

Peppers

The peppers have been caught in spaghetti squash's quest to conquer the garden. They seem to be ok, but I worry about their strength since they've been shaded by the monster zucchini and spaghetti squash leaves.

Watermelon

Ryan's watermelon. We thought early on that it would not do anything. Now, it is going quite well. We should see some things later this summer.

Three nights of working in the garden made it look quite pretty this week. Hopefully we can keep up on the maintenance and it won't take as much work in coming weeks :) Is it time to eat this stuff, yet?!?!

Growing Gardens Need Water

I knew I would be saying this eventually - but I think we could use some rain! Oh well, if we don't get it early next week, I will be forced to water, water, water. As far as weather goes, HOT is the only way to describe the last few weeks.

I heard recently that I am "quite the gardener" or from others they heard I "love gardening". I'm here to set the record straight on this, or at least provide some clarity. I like planting and watching things grow. I LOVE eating what comes out of the garden. The process of weeding, however, is my LEAST favorite thing to do. And, I'm terrible at it (you'll see as this post goes on). So, I think that would make me a B- gardener, at best. I guess this post somewhat falls in the "not an expert" area again. I just want to say that I'm not "quite the gardener." I think its about 80 percent luck!

A few things have transpired this week, so let's take a look at them...Some of the tomatoes are ripening! Please note: none of the early girls are ripening or close to ripening. What a joke! I won't waste my time/space with them in the future. This small picture really doesn't give you a full idea, but it does show some orange amongst the green.



We still see the results of earlier flooding. The tomatoes are a bit stunted, I would say. Aside from large areas of dead plant, the fruit that is producing is smaller than average when it is ripening. I see this with the surviving green peppers as well. Of course, this doesn't stop the appeal or taste. In the case of this tomato, size does not matter. It was FANTASTIC!



The eggplants, which are actually in the same row as the tomatoes and one row over from the green peppers, look just fine (another mystery)! I predict eggplant fries in our near future!



Oh look! The watermelon is getting bigger! We now counted 13. "Sharing is caring" will be our motto in a few weeks I'm sure.



I received feedback on my last melon post suggesting my cantaloupe didn't look like cantaloupe. They were still pretty young at the last post. Here is one that is maturing and OH NO! it looks like a cantaloupe to me! (This is also the same exact cantaloupe from the last post):



I researched the cantaloupe life cycle online and they appear to be normal at this stage. I grew cantaloupe last year, but I never even noticed them until they were yellowed and ready to be picked!

In other news, the green beans produced well and the zucchini keep on ticking. I didn't take any pictures, but they're good to go - trust me.

Pleased With the Peas

For those of you who are faithful "Kayla's garden" enthusiasts, you may remember last year's Sugar Snap Pea harvest. The harvest consisted of 12, maybe 16, sugar snap peas. Total. Reminder: I am not an expert!

Due to the utter disappointment of last year's yield, I chose snow peas over sugar snap peas this year. They are basically the same concept in my mind, so it makes little difference in my plans to pick, eat, repeat.

I've attempted to update you on the progress of the peas this year, showing you regular pictures of their growth and even showing you a freshly weeded row last week. Reminder of that picture:



You can only imagine the SHOCK I experienced today when I came out to the garden to find snow peas growing on my "green beans"!



Did I mention that I'm not an expert? I apparently switched the order in my mind somewhere after planting and I've been pretty consistent since they've emerged! Oh well.... the good news? We have lots of snow peas!



It was a happy surprise for my Friday and I'm certainly please with my peas!

Green Thumb

A blog follower has already complained about the lack of pictures. She will remain nameless, but she's a little photo obsessed *hint* *hint*.

So here's a picture of my green thumb!



*Slaps knee* Har Har Har!

Confusion in Gardening

We finally found a single banana pepper plant at Farm and Fleet. It was much bigger than the one I planted Sunday, but I really wanted to get another one in the ground.

I went to plant it and realized this is a sweet banana pepper plant. The previous plant was a "hot" banana pepper plant. Variety is the spice of life, right? I had no idea there were differences in banana peppers considering the "hot" ones are only mildly hot!

After a quick google search, I'm still equally confused - it appears there may be no difference between these plants! A lot of websites use a general "banana pepper" term.

While I'm on the topic of confusion, I would like to talk about my asparagus. My mom told me it takes awhile (like years) for asparagus to grow. She said it would take more than one season for it to produce anything. I listened but disregarded her comments when my package of asparagus roots mentioned nothing of the sort!

Monday, I found aspargus plants at Farm and Fleet. Their package said they would not produce asparagus this year. FRUSTRATION. So, I turned to my friend, Google. My research concluded that asparagus does take three years to mature and grow to the vegetable we see in the stores. No wonder it is so expensive! Sorry, Mom

This research left nothing but questions for me. How old are my roots? Are they on their third year? Is that why their package didn't mention waiting years for a product?

I'm hoping that I purchased three year old roots and I will be pleasantly surprised in 72 days! I'll keep you posted.

A Preface for This Blog

I started a garden in Spring of 2009 - and while I enjoy it..I am by no means an expert. I spent the summer with my small garden, updating my facebook from time to time to give people an idea of what was happening. I didn't realize how many people read my updates - but they seemed to really enjoy them.

This year will be a bigger experiment and I am still learning. With warm weather already setting in, it's time to get digging!