Behold the Cucuzza (Googootz!)

Yesterday I mentioned I had to my daughter's utter delight, picked up a cucuzza (pronounced googootz) from the local produce stand. Cucuzza is an Italian squash, similar in taste to a zucchini, but is very long and thin. I bought it mostly for the novelty, as my father in law is Italian and I had heard him speak of his mother cooking cucuzza a few times- I thought it would be fun for nostalgia's sake. I spoke with him Saturday night, was given instruction as to how to prepare the unwieldy squash, and plans were made to cook it in a traditional Italian dish.

Look at this baby and her squash! Anyways, Sunday morning, the day we were supposed to cook, I woke up with a splitting headache, a swollen throat, an aversion to light and noise- I may have woken up a vampire. I'm not sure. I sent my husband to my inlaw's house with the prepped cucuzza and a two year old, and those dear souls did double duty cooking and caring for the sweet little one- even braving the grocery store and bringing me Sudafed. On top of all that, dear husband came back with huge bowls of spaghetti sauce and the cooked cucuzza- could they be any more kind?

It is delicious! It was served with pasta, or course, but I'm going to try it with konjac noodles, as I try to keep my carbs low and I am generally just all around weird. So delish!

Always An Underachiever

It looks like my posts are becoming almost a yearly thing. I'm getting off a weird sickness right now, and with my reemergence into the real world I've gotten back into making foodstuffs. Simple things, as I've got a toddler and am still not 100%, but anything is something, I suppose. We are in the height of summer, and fresh fruits and veggies are in season, ripe and in abundance. I picked up beaucoup strawberries Thursday of last week before I got sick, along with a cucuzza (which delighted my little one), and some creole tomatoes. By the time I felt a little better Sunday night many of the strawberries had spoiled, the rest I sliced in halves and popped in my trusty way old Ronco dehydrator, and Elle was thrilled with the result. After that I loaded the dehydrator with some figs from my mother in law's tree she was kind enough to send my way, and they should be done tonight. Home dried fruits are my favorite- it's been years since I've messed with the dehydrator, but they are so easy and honestly that's all I can muster in this insufferable Louisiana heat.