[chocomouse]

BakerAunt, I've never had a bitter squash; actually, never heard of any such thing. Some squash are sweeter than others, but never bitter. Queen is a variety of acorn squash, and I think I've never eaten or grown that variety. I haven't grown acorn squash for the last couple of years, simply cutting back on the amount of food I grow with just two of us here. I gave up on those gigantic hubbards years ago! The acorn variety gets very "stringy" after a few months of storage, by the end of December, and it is sometimes quite wet. I prefer the taste and texture of a buttercup, but also grow some butternut. I'm going to check with some of my Master Gardener buddies about the bitter squash.

[chocomouse]

I bet those burgers are better than the one I had last night!! But we ate ours with candied carrots and broccoli.

[chocomouse]

Wait a minute, Joan! That doesn't add up. Where's the other two? We need to know!! I suppose you'll claim taste testing? LOL

[chocomouse]

We took a break from turkey leftovers and I made spaghetti squash pizza. I made the sausage for it from scratch; it was OK, but I'd like it a bit more spicy. Does anyone have a good recipe for what I would call hot Italian sausage?

[chocomouse]

Thanks for the feedback, Skeptic, and glad you like it. I know lots of people use syrup on their squash, but winter squash is my second most favorite vegetable (after home-grown tomatoes), and I love the pure squash flavor just plain.

[chocomouse]

Me, too, BakerAunt! Except I have Moomie's Bun ready to go in the oven -- fresh buns for turkey sandwiches.

[chocomouse]

Today I baked the maple candied carrots. I bought a 14 pound turkey to bake tomorrow, wo we'll have plenty left over for sandwiches and soups. We'll also have mashed potatoes, Pepperidge Farm dressing with added celery and onions, buttercup squash, gravy, cranberry sauce, and fruit salad laced with raspberry cordial. Way too much food for 2 people, but meals will be easy for a couple of days.

[chocomouse]

I made a two-crust cream pie with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg for our dinner tomorrow.

[chocomouse]

cwc, my husband showed me the photos you sent him. wow! Football, indeed. Looks like a heavyweight defensive player fell on it. I've never seen anything like that. And I'm glad you did not lose much syrup and can repackage it for long-term storage. Thanks for posting the Food and Wine link. I'm going to make the maple-apple upside down cake for sure, and maybe try the squash/pumpkin soup.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by chocomouse.

[chocomouse]

I pulled a container of leftover pasta and meat sauce out of the freezer, along with some olive-cheese rolls, and quickly threw together a green salad. Dinner!

[chocomouse]

I made bagels, but they didn't come out so good. I knew the dough seemed wetter than usual, and added a couple teaspoons of flour, but that didn't help much. They ended up being very light, and almost soft, not dense and chewy. I didn't think the humidity was that high today to make such a difference, I guess I must have measured wrong. They are still better than no bagels at all!

[chocomouse]

I had planned leftovers for dinner, but my husband ate them for lunch! So we had grilled salmon basted with maple syrup, cole slaw, steamed broccoli from the freezer, and roasted potatoes with Penzey's Pasta Sprinkles.

[chocomouse]

That's good to hear, Joan. Just don't over-do it and have a relapse.

[chocomouse]

PLEASE NOTE: I have edited the previous entry about repackaging syrup into glass jars. When you repackage, heat the syrup up to 190*, not the 219.5* I stated. The 219.5* is needed only when you initially boil sap into syrup, or when you have removed mold. Whenever you are just repackaging into glass container, you only need to heat the syrup to 190*. Sorry - I've never repackaged syrup -- that's my husband's job!

[chocomouse]

Skeptic, maple walnut scones would be good, too! Although, I can never resist anything chocolate.

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