i stopped whining pretty quickly after that last post and decided that if given the clean bill of health by the surgeon today, i was officially off homebound life in a big way. so, happily, the doc gave me the green light, and i have thus decided a few days in NYC are just what, well, the doctor ordered. a couple phone calls, emails, online bus reservations, and voila – in 2 days i’ll be in new york. ahhhhhhh.
my incision and i met each other unmasked for the first time today. i have to admit, the way it looks fascinates me, especially its texture:

thanks to todd’s fascination with them and the influence of padma lakshmi‘s acceptance of her scar, i am not as freaked out as i once might have been.

i also look forward to telling anyone who may ask that my scar is the result of being stabbed in the back during a particularly tempestuous knife fight.
from wounds to….cooking? sorry, i know that’s kind of awful. it’s also kind of characteristic, which says a hell of a lot about this girl. shrug. but part of my getting ready to get out of town was using up a basket of produce that would otherwise go bad. one of my favorite things in cooking is to have a particular ingredient i want to work with, and to work backwards to see what it is i can make with it. today’s crop yielded loaves of banana bread, zucchini bread, and these funny little crumbly bars called squash hermits.

i lifted the original recipe from delicious living magazine and made my own modifications. they come out looking like brownies, which made me screw up my face for a moment upon taking my first experimental bite. however, after a moment my mouth settled into to tasting the interesting flavors and texture of this odd little concoction. since my tastes tend to run more toward the bad-for-you end of the culinary spectrum, i am so pleased to have made something that doesn’t make me feel guilty for indulging.
Squash Hermits
1/4 cup white flour
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
dash black pepper
6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 medium-sized yellow squash, puréed
3/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup dried cranberries
- In separate bowls, combine dry ingredients and wet ingredients. Mix together.
- Stir in chopped nuts and fruits and spread onto greased baking sheet.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
- Let cool; cut into squares.
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