Sunday, January 25, 2009

Show & Tell: Gluten Free Fridays


On last week's Gluten Free Fridays, I featured squash in the New Mexican Stew recipe. I also shared a story about my squash purchasing adventures this past fall. Here's what's left of the 70 pounds of squash I bought. From left to right, we have butternut squash, a mixture of carnival and sweet dumpling squash, acorn squash, and one large banana squash that I have yet to figure out what I am going to do with. I've heard it tastes like pumpkin. Is that like weird meats that people say taste like chicken? In the front from left to right is the remaining pie pumpkin, a quickly shriveling buttercup squash, and one more acorn squash. Since I don't have a proper root cellar, all the green on the acorn and carnival squashes have turned orange. I've already eaten all the spaghetti squash, so they are not pictured here. Spaghetti squash is a great substitute for pasta!

It's a good thing I hauled out all the squash from the basement to photograph. A couple of these are past their prime and need to be eaten immediately. I found one pie pumpkin squash that had disintegrated into a moldy puddle. Lesson learned: the pie pumpkins do not keep and really should be eaten at Thanksgiving. That was my intention, of course. The butternut squash is holding up the best so far, as well as the acorn squash. The spaghetti squash seem to keep forever. I had one I bought in the fall of 2007 that I ate last fall, and it was fine. I'm trying to keep up on the carnival and sweet dumplings, that look exactly alike, but I bought so many of them, it's hard. These two squashes are like delicata squash, but moister, hence the reason I bought them and not the delicatas. I could not find my favorite squash this year, amber cup. It does not grow well in my state. If you ever find it, get it. It's like buttercup squash, but it's orange and tastes like pumpkin pie. Yum!

This Show and Tell is really supposed to be a shameless plug for Gluten Free Fridays. Gluten, including wheat, is often one diet item that many women are told not to eat if they want to improve their fertility. Infertility can be linked to undiagnosed celiac disease or gluten intolerance. I have the latter. My intention for Gluten Free Fridays is to offer some educational information on why gluten can be problematic for fertility and other health reasons, and to feature a gluten free recipe as well. It can be overwhelming to exclude gluten or wheat from your diet, but I'm here to tell you it's possible and you won't miss it! It took me a long time to say that, but I seriously do not miss eating gluten foods. OK, well maybe pizza, but I can't eat the cheese that goes on it anyways. My recipes are also dairy free, with options for cheese toppings. I also try to include vegetarian variations as well.

Any guesses on how many pounds of squash are left, as pictured above? I was a little surprised at the answer myself. I will reveal the answer tomorrow, so take your guesses in the comments!

Answer: And the winning number is...40 pounds!! The banana squash alone weights 10 pounds, so if you subtract that from the original 70 pounds, I've basically eaten half the squash. I've had this stash for 3 months and I still have half to go?! Oh my! I loved the commenter who guessed 75 pounds! They are multiplying like tribbles!!

Don't be scared away by Mel's Show and Tell title this week. It's really quite tasteful and touching, with a dash of humor thrown in!

11 comments:

DAVs said...

I am so jealous of that butternut squash! I went to the store yesterday and there was none to be had. Didn't get a chance to check the local farmer's market. I have a fabulous recipe for butternut squash pesto pizza, but alas it wouldn't work for gluten free. But I love love love roasted butternut squash.

Mo said...

hmmm...maybe 20 lbs? just a completely random guess - but squash can be heavy!

your recipes always look so delicious!

mo

Baby Smiling In Back Seat said...

I'll guess 9 pounds.

I like some kinds of squash, but every time we have some, my husband likes it less and less. He's gotten to the point where he's declared No More Squash!

Kristin said...

Oh wow...that squash looks delicious. I think I would have to guess 24 lbs left.

Megan said...

WOW. You eat a lot of squash. I love spaghetti squash.

JuliaS said...

I love spaghetti squash - I think it is so fun and I never met a butternut I didn't like. :0) I am going to say you have about 75 lbs of squash there.

I have never ever seen a banana squash before. You'll have to tell us if it really does taste like pumpkin! I was just thinking the other day I wanted a recipe for a squashy chili . . . . yum!

The Steadfast Warrior said...

I love squash in my creamed veggie soup! I'm guessing you have about 33 lbs?? It's a random but slightly educated guess as I have a rough idea how much all those different kinds of suashh weigh...

Lost in Space said...

That's a whole lot of squash! I love to just steam it with a little zucchini.

Let us know what that banana squash tastes like. I've never tried it.

Brenna said...

18 lbs!

I just made roasted root vegetables for dinner last night using sweet potatoes, parsnip, and butternut squash. YUMMMMM.

Now I need more butternut squash! Maybe I'll make a soup tonight.

Thanks for the cool post!

the misfit said...

I just started making my own squash bisque this fall and I love it (my recipe needs some improving still though). I wonder whether that could be made gluten- and dairy-free? I didn't think of that, since I really live on bread and cheese. And yet I'm afraid I'm going to get a diagnosis of some sort of gluten intolerance...my digestion has been screwed up continuously for at least three months. The closer I get to dietary restrictions, the more of your posts I'll read...there's nothing better than recipes with PICTURES. Thanks for doing this!

Phoebe said...

The Steadfast Warrior wins for being the closest! May I ship you some of my squash?!