Calabacitas With Sunflower Seeds

Calabacitas With Sunflower Kernels

This comes from a nice little cookbook by Barbara Flores and published by 10 Speed Press (which is a really cool little press that has a number of native ingredient cookbooks to their name) entitled The Great Sunflower Book.  The main reason that I own this little book is not just because it is an entire book on a New World food, but because of it's photographer, Lois Ellen Frank.  I have actually bought cookbooks on subjects that I don't care a great deal about, just because she photographed the food for them...oddly a lot of them turn out to be about Native American foods, or have a large number of native recipes in them, which should probably not be surprising, given Frank's background.  She's is indeed to a professional food photographer, but she is also of Native ancestry, her grandfather being Kiowa, and she has penned her own Native cookbook, American Indian Cooking, focus sing on Native food preparations from the Southwest, and which has since been expanded.  It was in the book that I fell in love with her photography; and so she became the only food photographer that I have ever been really obsessed with, looking for, and buying cookbooks just because her name was on them.  This make a great entree and would suit very well for Meatless Monday!

4 Zucchini thinly slice

2 green peppers (bell or New Mex chile or Anaheim), thinly sliced

1/4 lb. mushrooms, minced

1 tbsp. butter or margarine (I use corn oil margarine)

3/4 tsp. salt

4 green onions (scallions), chopped with tops

1 tsp. pure red chili powder (you may use cayenne if you like it hot)

1/2 lb. Swiss cheese, grated

2 Hass style avocados, chopped

1/4 cup sunflower kernels, lightly toasted

Corn tortillas or plain or Mexican style white rice

1.  Melt butter or margarine, add the squash, pepper and mushrooms and saute for a couple of minutes until cooked but still a bit crisp.  Season with salt and set aside.

2.  In a separate bowl, combine the green onion with red chili; add all but one cup of the grated cheese, the avocado and the sunflower kernels.  Stir in the sauteed squash mixture and combine.  Transfer to nice serving dish and top with the rest of cheese.  Serve with corn tortillas or whatever kind of white rice dish you like.