GLAZED BUTTERNUT SQUASH

I'm so happy it's getting to be butternut squash season!  I love this stuff.  And I found the best recipe ever for the roasted version in America's Test Kitchen's Light & Healthy 2010.

GLAZED BUTTERNUT SQUASH

Vegetable oil spray

1 medium butternut squash (about 2 lbs) peeled, seeded, and cut into 1" chunks

1/3 cup packed brown sugar (dark or light)

1 Tbl canola oil

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp cinnamon

pinch cayenne pepper

1 tsp cider vinegar

1.  Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat the over to 425.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with vegetable oil spray.

2.  Toss all ingredients through cayenne together in a large bowl until well coated.  Spread onto baking sheet and roast, stirring every 15 minutes, until well browned and tender (about 45 minutes.)  Transfer to a platter and drizzle with the vinegar and serve.

Confession:  I've made this twice and I keep forgetting the vinegar part!  Would someone please do this and tell me how it works out?

I like butternut squash mixed with other roasted vegetables and as a soup, too. Last month's Cooking Light had a recipe for Mac & Cheese that used butternut squash as a base in place of the creamy roux.  It didn't pass the taste test with Mr. A, but he's so set in his ways.  Am I missing any other good uses for butternut squash?

Zinnia arrangements at the hospice

Carl Wayne sent some pictures of the flower arrangements at Baptist Hospice.  The flowers are from the median zinnia bed.  Gorgeous.

Garden Benches

Need a place to sit and admire your garden now that things are slowing down?  Check out these great benches at Apartment Therapy!

Garden Poetry

In fall it is mushrooms

gathered from dampness

under the pines:

in spring I have known

the taste of the lamb

full of milk and spring grass;

today it is beans green and yellow

and lettuce and basil from my friends' garden —

how calmly, as though it were an ordinary thing,

we eat the blessed earth.

   ---Mary Oliver

You can read more about this Pulitzer Prize-winning poet HERE.

Carl Wayne's Zinnias

Carl Wayne sent us this video slide show of his 100' zinnia bed planted in the median of Peterson Lake Road in Collierville.  Laura Ruth from Baptist Hospice is going to cut some for arrangements at the hospice and Carl Wayne will share those photos later.





Click HERE to read the Commercial Appeal article that Christine Arpe Gang wrote in July about this garden.

2011 Vegetable Garden of the Year

A fraction garden!

I hope everyone read about the Commercial Appeal's Vegetable Garden of the Year today!  Click HERE if you missed it.

What an inspiration this garden is - on several levels.  First, the garden, or Outside Classroom, is an antidote to the constant moaning and groaning about education in Memphis:  the administration, the teachers, the students, the facilities - it goes on and on.  A story like this that encapsulates all of the good that goes on in city schools.  You have the teacher with the great idea, the principal who supports it, her colleagues who provide more ideas and manual labor (on their own time!), grants from area businesses, students who become involved, and, most importantly, learning that takes place.

Second, the garden is a source of inspiration for similar learning gardens and even for our own home gardens.  How cool is a shape garden?

Third, the lessons go beyond gardening.  As a self-proclaimed "litter nut," I was thrilled to read about the experiment involving chip bags.

Were any MAMG members involved in this garden?  If so, please speak up so we can pat you on the back.

P. S.  In case you missed it, our own Carol Watkins was the winner of the 2011 Ornamental Garden of the Year.  Check it out HERE.