Squash With String Beans, Bitter Gourd and Ground Beef

It's still squash season and my relatives with squash plantation gave me quite a few. I save a few pesos and I was so eager to cook my favorite squash with string beans, bitter gourd and ground beef. My hubby has learned how to eat veggies cooked the Pinoy way. I'm so proud of him because he likes our foods and he has adapted himself to Filipino life. I am very fond of eating veggies and I love it more than meat. I love it more if the veggies are organic. I used to have a veggie garden at the back of our house in Texas. I wish we have one here but then again, our land here has a very limited space. Anyways, here's how I cook this recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 whole squash, peeled and cut into medium cubes
1 bundle of string beans, sliced into 1-2 inches
2 medium size bitter gourd, sliced
1 med. onion ( sliced)
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
3 tbsp. fish sauce
1/2 cup ground beef
1 cup water
salt

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a pan put olive oil.
2. Saute garlic and onion.
3. Add ground beef and continue cooking until golden brown or fully cooked.
4. Add fish sauce, squash, string beans, bitter gourd and water.
5. Adjust the taste by adding some salt and water.
5. Simmer for a few minutes or until vegetables are tender.
6. Serve hot with rice.

Squash With Okra and Bitter Gourd

It's been a while since I posted here. I know I've been lagging behind but what can I do. I haven't been cooking much lately. It's my youngest brother whose done the cooking most of the time. I just enjoyed eating without getting tired cooking, LOL! But this week, hubby and I are up here in the city of pines enjoying the cool weather. My brother is not here to cook so I have been cooking the past 3 days. What else would I cook but my favorite vegetable recipes of course. So here's my recipe of squash one more time. They said squash is good for the eyes. I hope it would improve my vision which is getting blurry due to constant exposure to the computer.

INGREDIENTS:
1 squash, peeled and cubed
10 pcs okra
2 pcs ampalaya (bitter gourd), sliced
3 pcs tomatoes, sliced
salt or fish sauce (I used liquid aminos)
cooking oil
1/2 lb ground beef
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
2 cups water

DIRECTIONS:
Pour the cooking oil in a pot and saute the garlic and onion. Put the ground beef and brown it. Add water and let it simmer. Add salt or fish sauce, and all the vegetables. Cook until the vegetables are soft. Serve with rice.

Veggies From My Garden

Well, what can I say? I'm just having a great time harvesting my vegetables from my garden like the camote tops, squash flowers and saluyot to name a few. I've been cooking dinengdeng, an Ilocano recipe that we used to cook in our house in the Philippines. I just mix the veggies with fried fish and add some fish sauce and it satisfies my cravings of Filipino foods. The other day I cooked pinakbet na saluyot because I gathered a lot of saluyot leaves from my garden. I ate a lot after I cooked the saluyot. It was like I was in the Philippines while I was eating the saluyot with fish. Yummy...By the way, all my vegetables in my garden are organic, no fertilizers or pesticides.

Squash Flowers

I harvested a lot of squash flowers from my garden already. Everyday as I wake up, my destination is my vegetable garden at the backyard. I have to be careful though because there are lots of bees eating the pollen of the flowers. I have to shoo them away before I will cut the flowers with my scissors. After harvesting the flowers, I put them in a plastic bag and put it inside the refrigerator so it will last longer.

Cleaning & preparing squash flowers
An hour or two just before cooking, place the flowers in a colander and rinse them well inside and out with cold water. Gently tug the petals open and fill with water. Stick you finger inside the flower to dig out any insects that may be trapped inside. If the flowers are not dry by the time you're ready to cook with them, just pat them lightly dry with a paper towel.

While some squash flower connoisseurs advocate removing the innards of both male and female flowers, others prefer leaving them in with no ill effects. Personally, I leave the flower as intact as possible to get the most vitamins and nutrients from this rare treat -- I suspect this may also contribute to added merriment around the table after consumption.

How to Make Fresh Vegetables Last Longer

Vegetables will last long enough for you to serve them to your family if you spend a few minutes getting them ready to store. Here's how.

Instructions:

Step1. Remember that a tomato is actually a berry. It should be stored on the countertop, stem side down and away from direct sunlight.

Step2. Place cucumbers on the top shelf of the refrigerator to keep them from partially freezing. Wrap fresh corn in a damp cloth and store it still in its husk on a shelf.

Step3. Store carrots and celery in the crisper. Cut the green tops off the carrots and place them in a paper bag before storing them. Mushrooms should also be placed in a paper bag.

Step4. Onions, potatoes and garlic should be stored in a basket or wire bin in a dark place.

Step5. Freeze certain fresh vegetables but remember to blanch them first. Cut them up, drop them in boiling water for a minute or so, then plunge them into an ice bath. Dry them and place in plastic bags. Carrots, peas, corn, cauliflower, broccoli and green beans can be frozen this way.

Step6. Dice and freeze onions, celery and bell peppers. Veggies like these that will be cooked thoroughly in the course of meal preparation don't need to be blanched first.

Tips & Warnings

* Never try to freeze lettuce, radishes, potatoes, onions or whole tomatoes.