Grandpa Grows Calabacitas

We had a great time harvesting some of the vegetables in Grandpa's garden at his ranch in Tecolote, NM. We got squash, tomatoes, sweet corn, green beans and all kinds of herbs. "Calabacitas" can mean squash or it can mean a mexican dish made with squash and other vegetables. Wouldja look at that cabbage??!

Here's ANOTHER squash recipe and I've tried to make it as flexible as possible (to me, it just makes a recipe more accessible when you're allowed some creativity with ingredients). But try your hardest to get your hands on some fresh sweetcorn. It's very hard to grow organic corn and sure enough, Grandpa's was half eaten by worms at the top. We just cut the tops of the corn and sheared off the sweet tender kernals. A little extra work, but worth it.

Calabacitas (mexican squash vegetable dish)

2 tbsp olive oil
2 squash (zucchini or yellow or mix of both)
1 small onion, diced
1 tomato, diced (can be canned)
1 c. fresh corn (can be canned)
green chiles to taste (can be jarred or canned)
oregano, parsely or whatever herbs you like
salt and pepper to taste

It's a good idea to pre-cook the squash and corn and chiles, if they're raw, before sauteing. To do this you can roast them on an oiled cookie sheet, boil them, steam them or put them in the microwave for a few minutes until they begin to soften. Then heat the oil on medium high heat in a sautee pan and add them to the pan, with the onion, tomato and herbs (add the chiles here if they're canned). Sautee until the edges of the vegetables start to turn brown. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Good wrapped in tortillas!