Hello, hello. I hope all you lovely Americans had a great Thanksgiving by the way! The rest of the world continued on as normal. No turkeys over here…yet. Though saying that I did pre-order our turkey for Christmas day the other day. Jeeeeze Louise it must have been famous or something because it was an outrageous price. OK truth be told, I did buy a free-range bird…from M&S…the biggest one. Yeah, ouch.
But hey, ho. We’re having my parents and Ben’s parents round ours for Christmas lunch so it’s a necessary expenditure. I’m so excited. I absolutely adore Christmas dinner. People say that turkey is one of the driest and most boring meats but I disagree. I could eat it everyday. And probably will for quite a few days after Christmas 😉
Anyway, I digress. For a few weeks now I have been on the search for that illusive squash. The king of all squashes…the blogging world holy grail, if you like. The kabocha squash. I think I might just have found it!
I think it’s the top right picture. Let me live in my delusion if I’m wrong. I haven’t yet tried it but I’m hoping for good things after all the love that’s been outpoured for it. The alien spaceship-looking squash on the left (could be delicata squash?) is rather tasty I must say, and the two little ones bottom right aren’t too shabby either.
I’ve been eating my squash as a side-dish to meals, such as a lovely slow-cooked roast chicken.
This was the alien spaceship squash
I always have to go back for more chicken when I have this meal. I probably eat like a third of the chicken. With half a bottle of BBQ sauce.
Speaking of BBQ sauce (which, by the way if you couldn’t tell, is my favourite sauce in the whole wide world), I had some outrageously good slow-cooked BBQ pork ribs. The whole day I was excited that I had ribs waiting for me at home (oh dear, I sound quite sad). And they did not disappoint.
The meat just fell off the bone. I used THIS recipe which was just so easy.
This meal rocked my Friday night. Yep, that’s how exciting things are around these parts right now.
And someone else who’s been eating pretty well is this furry little guy:
With a bag of food as big as him. That’s what happens when you order dog food online and have no concept of weight. Well he was happy. In fact, I think it’s gone to his head a little. He was absolutely enthralled by the animal channel the other night.
I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s a lion. He didn’t move from that position at all. He just watched. I didn’t have the heart to explain to him that if he was going to be another animal it probably wasn’t going to be one of the big four cats…
I’ve got my second physio appointment today, which I’m looking forward to (is that weird?). My knee feels a lot better in general terms and walking. I’ve been to the gym and rower and cycled a lot with no issues but I haven’t run. In fact, I’m actually scared to run. I don’t know when my first run back will be…I’m just terrified there will be pain or discomfort. So I’m holding out for as long as I can before I go mad.
Anyway, after showing you a small insight into what I’ve been munching on recently, go check out Jenn’s blog for What I Ate Wednesday fun with other bloggers 🙂
Do you have any good recipes or suggestions for my kabocha squash? I’m reluctant to use it yet as I haven’t found any more!
Do you buy your food online or do you go to the shop itself? Recently we’ve been ordering online because the only free time is at the weekend and that’s a nightmare.
What’s your favourite sauce?
I just like it roasted straight up! It tastes so yummy as is : )
I think that’s what I’m going to do. I can use other more boring squash in other recipes.
The ribs look so good – I’m missing me some good Southern BBQ.
Ahh it’s just amazing how good it tastes. Probably all that sugar 😉 Can’t beat it.
Yep, it’s kind of sacrilege to do anything other than roast kabocha! haha, actually I used to make it into the most delicious soup – all I would do is roast the squash (its the only squash where I eat the skin) and blend it with vegetable stock until it’s silky smooth. So delicious 🙂 You know I don’t think I’ve ever had BBQ sauce, will have to give that recipe a try!
HOLD THE BOAT – you haven’t had BBQ sauce?? Honestly it rocks my world. Way better than ketchup. The smoky kind is the best.
That does look like kabocha- I would think just roast it and enjoy. Although a little goats cheese always goes very well.
We always order our main food online, and then just pop in for top up bits as and when we need them. So much quicker.
Sooo chuffed. I think I will just roast it naked and fully appreciate it that way.
I’m not an expert on squash, but I think you may have hit the jackpot and found a kabocha squash! Or a buttercup… they look so similar. Oo… and that looks like a carnival or sweet dumpling squash on the left maybe. And acorn on the bottom? Haha. Just guesses. I have some squash in my dorm room right now and I’m not entirely sure what one of them is despite looking it up on the internet.
But if it is delicata, that is one of my FAVORITES!
Kabocha squash. Here is some flourless cinnamon raisin bread that I found recently and I think looks amazing (As you can tell by my super detailed question in the comments section 😉 ): http://realfoodforager.com/recipe-flourless-cinnamon-raisin-bread-paleo-gaps/ and I think Hungry Healthy Girl has a pancake recipe using kabocha… Yep! Found it: http://www.hungryhealthygirl.com/2013/05/18/a-kabocha-pancake-as-big-as-your-head/
We have not started buying any food online yet but I’ve been trying to convince my parents for eons that coconut flour and almond flour is SO much cheaper online.
It totally know what you mean by being kind of excited to go to the physio. There’s just so much hope for a good outcome. Let us know how it goes!
I was staunchly in the ‘go to the shop yourself’ camp…until recently when we’ve done a few shops online (for the same reasons as you guys) and I love it! So convenient 🙂 Plus the supermarket we use has obviously noticed we’ve started doing bigger shops with them (before we used to split it between two different shops), so have been inundating us with money off vouchers, result! Glad the physio is going well 🙂
Yeah it’s those sneaky vouchers they give you that keep me crawling back to them hehe. I do love looking round supermarkets but at the moment it’s just not possible anymore.
Oh, I titally forgot to say that I’d be excited about the ribs too – and I also LOVE Xmas dinner (although we have beef at my parent’s house), so you are not alone 😉
Beef not turkey? I couldn’t live with that! BUT having someone cook it for you, well that’s a nice compromise hehe.
Haha that dog food is enormous! Hope your physio goes well. Glad you found some kabocha, I just like simply roasting it, the flavour is amazing on its own.
That’s what everyone is saying – I’m going to just roast it and have it naked! The squash not me, that would be weird otherwise haha.
Oh boy those ribs look so heavenly! I’m with the gang – roasted kabocha is perfection! I do have unconventional toppings – coconut oil and miso paste. It’s the sweet/fatty/salty combo that makes it ludicrously good, as strange as that sounds!
Oooh like the combo idea. I will bare that in mind!!