Yummy Chanterelles Courtesy of Mols

Molly gave me a bunch of mushrooms that she had hunted last weekend and Aleta and I made a feast out of them. We sauteed onion lots of garlic and chicken then added the shrooms and a little butter. Then we added some beautiful chard and let it cook down a tad. We served it all over red Quinoa (the kind rach and mols went crazy over last week) topped with fresh parmesean. This was the perfect simple fall meal, although it felt extravagant because it was so colorful and beautiful. This picture from Leat's phone really does not do it justice...I gotta find my camera!

Weird Veggies Trifecta

Here's my final installment for the bizarre vegetable series. Now, with the inclement weather arriving, it's time to head indoors and cook up all the pumpkin and butternut squash from this season (heaps of them this year). Happy Fall!

Though not weird, this is pretty much my last harvest from the garden. It's always kind of bittersweet... just like the kale this time of year.

The stuff nightmares are made of...

Sometimes it is best to let the picture speak for itself.

I didn't think it was possible to be hypnotized by a watermelon, until today.

*note: I carved nothing into this thing. Anyone know what causes this?

Mutant Veggies Pt. 2

Here is a creepy cucumber to add to Jake's earlier post!

White House kitchen Garden

Watch more AOL News videos on AOL Video

Oddball Veggies: Part I

The gardening in Corvallis this year has been interesting, albeit a bit slow for the tomatoes for some reason. Every year I try to grow several new vegetables, sometimes just to find out if I like them. Among them are the veggies that I just can't grow or aren't very palatable to me. The Radicchio just didn't pan out, as it tasted similar to what I imagine Skunk-cabbage tastes like. My Roma tomatoes last year were as hard as billiard balls. I've also found that often the stranger something looks, the better it tastes. A friend said that Kohlrabi looks like "some kinda weird space alien thingy...whatever..." And it does, but its taste is akin to a sweet and tender broccoli stem.

Then there are the truely bizarre, the outliers in which some process of cell division went horribly wrong. I'll post them here as I find them, and feel free to post your own in a similar fashion. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of some of them. Among the missing are the pontoon boat shaped zuchini, The two lobed lemon cucumber, and the V shaped pole bean.

The two headed fairy eggplant. I'll leave it to you to decide which part of the human anatomy this looks like.

Possibly my favorite: the so-called "Frankentuber," the oddest potatoe I've ever seen

A Crockpot is a New Mexican's Best Friend

Being back in New Mexico, I have reverted back to my old "burrito a day" habits. (and looking at my parents stash of beans I could probably eat 3 a day) .Beans are soooo good especially when they are homemade in a crockpot. I made the most amazing pot of shredded buffalo and beans last night.

I bought a couple pieces of buffalo meat and threw it in with pinto beans, red chile powder, garlic and onion, turned the crockpot on low and let it cook 24ish hours. The buffalo cooked down and shredded. I ate my bowl of beans with lots of green chile and cheese. YUMMY!

What to do with Green Beans

We've got a sudden glut of green beans from the garden. I hated green beans as a kid, but I figured I'd give them another chance. This is a very simple recipie for green beans that tastes almost as good as bacon. I'm not kidding. I haven't chowed down on beans like that EVER!
Ingredients:
enough beans to cover the bottom of a pan
2 tbsp butter (or olive oil, but make sure you salt the olive oil)
3-4 cloves of minced garlic
ginger (lightly) to taste

Melt the butter in the pan, toss in the garlic, ginger, and beans, and cook on a medium heat for about 10 min. Overcook (but don't burn) the beans a bit (the phrase "cooked into submission" come to mind here). I left them on a while longer than I thought I should have and they were perfect. When the garlic is really starting to brown and crisp is about right. Serve them seperately or with more garden veggies. I havent tried it yet, but eggplant strips would also be good in this I feel.
So easy, so nummy!