I came across this recipe at a grocery store.  It was really yummy, although the original recipe was a bit spicy for my family (and we really like spicy food).   I think the key is to adjust the amount of red pepper flakes to taste, because the amount of heat in curry powder can vary wildly.  I have very hot curry powder, so the combination of it and 1/2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes was too much.  I'm giving the amount here as half that.

Curried Winter Squash with Apples

2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 cups winter squash, peeled and cubed
1-1/2 cups diced onion
1 baking apple (Granny Smith, Johnagold, etc.)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter

Mix together curry powder, salt and red pepper flakes in a large bowl.  Mix in squash, onion, apple and olive oil.  Pour into a large shallow baking dish.  Roast at 375F for 40 minutes.  Mix in butter, and roast 5 minutes more.

Cold

Our first frost arrived yesterday morning.  It was a couple of weeks late this year and was very light.  Oftentimes it's in the mid 20s during trick-or-treating, but we barely managed 30 this time around.  Tonight colder weather is supposed to move in, dropping the snow levels in the mountains, and "winter" will settle in.

For fun, I'll check the DOT cameras for the weather in the mountains.  What's the snow level like?  Is it at Stevens Pass (4000 ft) level?  Snoqualmie (3000 ft)?  Or below that?  I also can tell based on where the snow line is on the mountains out east how low the snow level is, once it's below 3000 feet.  Or, checking the Doppler radar with snow or rain/snow mix color enhancement is fun, too.  Hi, my name is Kristi, and I'm a weather geek.  It's been 45 minutes since my last weather fix.

I cleaned out the furnace filters as I do the first of every month.  I hope for a warmish day because I have to run them through the dishwasher, and of course the furnace isn't on during that time.  Last December our furnace gave out completely.  We took advantage of the tax credit and had a high-efficiency model installed.  I find it interesting that our gas usage hasn't dropped a bit, considering that our old model was only 80% efficient.  I need to have it tuned up in December, so I think I'm going to ask some pointed questions when they show up.

Tonight we're having Buttermilk Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes, and curried apples and squash for dinner.  Comfort food for a cold day.  DH is going to stand in the rain at the soccer game, and I'll bet he'll be chilled and soaked through when he comes home tonight.  He might opt for leftover Gulaschsuppe (goulash soup) instead.  Both heat up well.

I'm conserving wood for our stove right now.  I haven't found a source for firewood yet this year.  I need to hurry up, because we only have enough for a couple of weeks, less if the power's out.

How do you stay warm? 

Well, it's been just about a year since I last posted to this blog.  I've truly missed writing.  It's one of those things that I need to schedule into my day (along with everything else).  So what's new?  Well, I've had a few successes, some failures, some plans come to fruition, and others that were hopelessly overoptimistic.  So, the usual, I guess. 

Thing 1 and Thing 2 grew like weeds this last year.  I purchased the first "men's department" clothing for Thing 2 the other day.  I think Thing 1 is mostly done growing.  At almost 6'3", I certainly hope he is, because otherwise finding clothes will be even more tricky than it already is.  Jeans in 31-34s?  How about a dress shirt for 15-37?  You get the idea.  We don't need "Big and Tall", we need "Scrawny and Tall".

I am currently making Thing 1 a nice, it-better-last-you-for-ten-years-so-you-better-take-care-of-it sweater.  I actually had it finished, or so I thought, but the sleeves were too tight once I sewed it up.  The pattern was a bottom-up body, but top-down sleeves, and it just didn't fit right.  So I frogged the sleeves, and am reknitting them bottom up.  I have one done, and about six inches (of 23) on the other finished.  The sleeves should attach to the sweater better as well.  The odd thing is, I made the same pattern in a smaller size for him several years ago, and it worked out fine.  Strange.

I didn't weigh out all of the produce from our house this year.  Spring was extremely cold and wet, and I was so disappointed by June, that I just didn't bother.  There simply wasn't much to harvest.  The mice got into the few potatoes and carrots that I had, and the early beets, spinach, and lettuce simply didn't grow.  The rabbits totalled the peas.  With the exception of the cherry tomatoes, which were a full month late to harvest, I had maybe a half dozen tomatoes off of a dozen plants.  Talk about dismay.  I managed one butternut squash from my plants, and some small oddly-shaped acorn squash.  Strangely enough, the cucumbers did relatively well, and I pickled many quarts.

I did manage to can several quarts of applesauce.  Enough to get the family through the winter and into strawberry season, I hope.  I also purchased two boxes of peaches, and canned those as well.  22 quarts should hopefully be enough.  I was hoping to buy a couple boxes of pears as well, but didn't see any at the time.  Nor was I smart enough to buy out the only guy I found that sold pie cherries this year.  I did make lots of strawberry jam and some pizza sauce, though again from purchased fruit, and I'm now trying my hand at making mustard. 

I'm still making my own sandwich bread, and occasionally fresh pasta and spaetzle.  I found a new to-die-for recipe for an apple batter cake, and an easy BBQ pork sandwich recipe that I'll share soon.  It's a good thing the rabbits have disappeared, because I was seriously thinking hasenpfeffer might be on our table this fall.

I guess that's it for today.  Back soon to add more.