We miss you, Taco Bus!

One of our favorite places to eat in Tampa was the Taco Bus.  They had some of the best Mexican food around.  Always super fresh, really delicious, and even better, it was cheap!

A unique dish that caught our eye one day was the butternut squash dip.  It sounded really strange, but was just crazy enough to be good, and boy is it.  I'm so glad we tried it, because we never went back without getting an order to share.

Well, now we are in Utah, and sadly, there is no Taco Bus here. However, we do have an overabundance of squash coming from our garden, so why not bring a little bit of the Taco Bus to Utah!

Today's recipe - Hubbard Squash Tacos!

Here's what I used:

Squash Filling

Hubbard Squash, cubed - from our community garden
Onion, chopped - from our community garden
Olive Oil - from a local small business
Pumpkin pie spice
Cumin
Corriander
Oregano - from our community garden

Black bean filling

Black beans, cooked  - from a local small business
Green Pepper  - from our community garden
Onion  - from our community garden
Liquid Smoke
Olive Oil  - from a local small business

Salsa topping

Roma Tomatoes, diced - from our community garden
Jalepeno, super small diced - from our community garden
Onion, chopped - from our community garden
Garlic Salt
Cilantro
lemon juice

Here's what I did -

Squash Filling

Toss the squash & Onions in the olive oil & spices.  Bake in the oven @375 for about 30-40 minutes until soft.

Black Beans

Cook the onion and green pepper in the olive oil for about 5 minutes.  Add the beans and the liquid smoke and cook until warm (you can leave the water in from the beans, and wait for it to thicken a bit).

Salsa Topping

Throw everything in a bowl and mix it up well.  Let it sit for 20 minutes or so and the flavors will be awesome.

That's it - super simple.  Throw it all in a tortilla and you're done!  (We used corn torillas.)  This wasn't exactly like the Taco Bus, but boy was it close.  Can't wait to visit Tampa next month to get us some of the real stuff!

Tomatoes & Bread

To kick off our eat local challenge last week, we went to a fun garden party serving lots of local food - including local heirloom tomato sandwiches!  Those of you who follow on Facebook may have already seen my tomato sandwich pictures from last week. 

These yummy sandwiches were topped with fresh & locally made pesto along with tomatoes grown in local community gardens.  I cannot lie - these are to die for!  Of course my girls did not eat them, but they did sample some of the other local items available including cheeses, honey, breads, and music!

These are so good, and so simple, I decided to make a similar dish at home.  We are lucky in that our community garden gets lots of fresh day-old bread from local bakeries.  Usually the bread doesn't have many preservatives, but we usually don't have a problem eating it up.

For my homemade tomato sandwich (or I guess bruschetta) here's what I used:

Sourdough Bread  - from a local bakery
Roma Tomatoes - grown in our garden
Basil
Garlic salt

Here's what I did:

First I sliced up my bread and put it in the oven for a minute or two so it would be nice and toasty.  Next, I seeded & chopped my tomatoes, and mixed them together with the herbs & garlic.  Then, once the bread was to my liking, I topped it with the 'maters!  Its even better if you let it sit a little so the bread can soak up some of the juice.  Yum!!!!

Gazpacho

So in all honesty, I had never tried Gazpacho before, but we had so many cucumbers & tomatoes at home that it seemed like a really great idea!

This is another one that I threw in the food processor, but again, I'm sure it would work in a blender, if you have the right type.

Here's what I used:

Roma Tomatoes - seeded & diced  - grown in our garden
Roasted red pepper - from a local small business
Red onion - grown in our garden
Jalapeno  - grown in our garden
Cucumber  - grown in our garden
Basil 
Olive Oil - from a local small business
Oregano  - grown in our garden

Here's what I did:

First I chopped up all my veggies and threw them in the food processor.  I pulsed a few times to get them mixed together, then I threw in my oil and herbs.  I pulsed a few more times to mix and checked to make sure it was chunky, but not TOO chunky (know what I mean?)

Once I was happy with the consistency, I put it in the fridge for an hour or so before eating, and oh yum!  I am a Gazpacho believer!  I even got my 1 year old to eat some, and she kept coming back for more!  This will definitely make another appearance (or two) at our home!

Hubbard Squash Pie

I can't take credit for this one - my husband made this all on his own (Ok, I made the crust)!  So, I actually don't even know the recipe, but I can assure you, the squash is local, and boy was it huge.

This is basically just like a pumpkin pie, but made from a Hubbard instead.  Hubbards are just as big as pumpkins, and this one is now taking up a bunch of our freezer space.

While I don't know how to make the filling, I can update you on the yummy crust.  This pie has a graham cracker crust, made from all non-local ingredients. 

10 Graham crackers
1/2 C Sugar
1/2 C melted butter

Crush up the graham crackers, mix in the sugar & butter, and press into a GREASED pie pan.  (I forgot to grease our pan, so now we have to chisel our pie out.)  Then bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.



Now, I'm sure there are plenty of recipes out there for pumpkin pie filling.  Just pick one and have at it.  I can assure you that ours is non-dairy (we used almond milk in ours). 

After serving to our official taster - the verdict is - YUM!

Yum - Yogurt!

For a while now, I've been making home made yogurt.  It is so super easy and is so much better than store bought.  It does have a different taste, which did take some getting used to, but after making it a few times, I don't want to eat store bought any more!

Its super easy to make - all you need is milk and starter. The starter can either be from a jar (below) or from some previously made yogurt!  (imagine that!)

 

We make both non-dairy and dairy yogurt regularly.  The process is the same.  This time, our milk is from a local Utah dairy, and our starter is from a previous batch of yogurt. (That's local, right?)

 

There are tons of tutorials out there if you are interested, (and even included on the back of your yogurt starter).  I will spare you the details, but basically, you need to heat up the milk to kill bad bacteria.  Then let it cool down to about 110 degrees, add the starter, and let it culture.

 

 

I use a yogurt maker for mine, but I hear it can be made in a good thermos as well.  

After about 6-9 hours (depending on your milk) you will have fresh yogurt!  YUM!!

Zucchini Hummus

What better way to start out our week than with a little bit of our favorite summer veggie!  Zucchini!

I'd seen a recipe not long ago for raw zucchini hummus and thought this would be a great way to use up some of our extra zukes!  The recipe is so simple, but it does use a food processor (or would probably work in a vitamix or blendtec in a pinch).


Here's what I used:

Zucchini (1 regular size, or 1/3 giant size) - grown in our garden
2 T tahini - from a local small business
2 T lemon juice
1/2 t garlic - from a local small business
1/4 t cumin
1/4 t paprika
1/4 t salt

Topping (optional)

10 pitted Kalamata olives - from a local small business
1 roasted red pepper - from a local small business
1 T olive oil - from a local small business


Here's what I did:


First, I peeled and seeded the zucchini.  Our zucchinis are so huge, that we have to remove the seeds, but for normal zucchini, this shouldn't be necessary.

 



 Now, just throw everything in the food processor, and process until smooth.  I scraped down the sides a few times throughout processing. 

 

To make the topping, I just rinsed out my food processor, put the remaining items in and pulsed a few times.  This turned out great!  A bit wetter than run of the mill hummus, but still great!  YUM!

*no the chips are not local

Eat Local Challenge!

Hi Everyone!  Bet you've missed me and all our zucchini!  Well you are in luck - sort of.  I'm back to blogging this week, and with less zucchini this time (but still a little bit). 

This week marks the Salt Lake City Eat Local Challenge!

 

I am pretty sure that other cities have this challenge as well, but usually a bit earlier in the growing season.  I signed our family up for the challenge this year, attempting to use 75% or more local ingredients (mostly produce) in our dishes this week.  With our community garden in full swing, I don't think this should be too difficult.  In fact, the only thing I've really done differently is buy a different brand of milk (non-organic, but from a local dairy claiming to use no added hormones/antibiotics).

 

So here's our thought for the week ahead:  Let's eat local!  If not locally grown, then let's go for local small business. 

 

Good luck to us - follow along to see how we do!