Well, since my idea for this blog was to only post happy things (or at least things that make ME happy) I thought I would share my recipe from supper tonight. I looked at several recipes and simplified and combined a few of them. So here are the directions, with commentary in between.
Butternut Squash Soup
1 medium butternut squash
2 T butter (real butter, not margarine. that stuff is horrid for you)
1 medium onion diced
3 cups vegetable stock
1/2 t pepper
1/4 t curry powder
8 oz cream cheese
First, choose a cold day (we have plenty of those lately), the day BEFORE you want to make the soup. On that very cold day, make your kitchen nice and cozy by baking the butternut squash. (many recipes call for peeling and cubing the raw squash - this is insane and will do nothing but result in blisters on the fingers... trust me, I've tried. Plus baking it beforehand eliminates the need for blending the soup in a food processor.) Split the squash in half lengthwise. Put 1/2 inch water in bottom of baking dish. Place squash upside down in baking dish. Bake at 375 approximately 45 minutes, or until the squash is soft. Let cool and spoon out into a container, and place in fridge.Next, since your oven is heated up put in a sheet of your favorite cookies.
The next day, in a large soup pot saute the onion in the butter until transparent. Add squash and sitr in the vegetable stock slowly. Add pepper and curry powder. Bring to simmer for about 10 minutes. Turn heat down to low. Cube the cream cheese and add to soup. Stir constantly until cream cheese melts. Heat through another 3-4 minutes.
Serve hot, preferably with French bread and a big fat salad. ("big fat" and "salad" don't really belong in the same sentence do they?)
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Difficult Firsts
Why is the first blog post always the hardest to write? Is it that I have so many things on my mind, so many fabulous ideas and thought provoking inspirations to share? No, definitely not that. Could it be that I'm finding more inspirations elsewhere and thinking i need to share those inspirations... that may be a little closer to the mark.
So here I sit, listening to baroque music, looking out at the two feet of snow on the ground, and dreaming of a lush summer garden that has yet to come into existence. Thanks to my sister Darlene, who dug out her flower garden last summer, I should have some prettiness in my back yard this year. Irises, day lilies, ferns, and herbs. However, I would like to have some organic sustenance coming from my own garden also.
In preparation for this, I'm pouring over seed catalogues online and reviewing the book "Square Foot Gardening" as I am limited - not on space but on diligence. (I've more than once neglected my gardens in the past, but sometimes to my surprise had an overflow of produce.) I also have a city-boy for a husband who, while the thought of having organic produce is enticing, finds the whole gardening thing a bore. Most people would think "dig up the ground and stick a plant in, how hard can it be?" But this is going to take more work than one would think:
First, we have an abundance of trees lining both sides of our back lot where said gardens would be placed. A couple of those would need to be cut down in order for the narrow yard to get enough sunshine. This would require asking for the help from a few men we know with chain saws. Second, because of the sandy soil in our area, we would need to build raised bed gardens filled with compost and nice fertile soil. All this must be done before one seed, one tiny fledgling plant is put into the ground.
I'm intrigued with these theme gardens such as a pizza garden complete with herbs, tomatoes, and peppers, or a Bible garden that hosts plants and herbs from the old testament. How about a Colonial kitchen garden??
So if you like you can follow us along this journey, among others. I'll try to post photos of any progress we make (if any) and in the meantime you can read about my rabbit trails, organic tangents, home school rants, healthy soapboxes, and not so humble opinions.
So here I sit, listening to baroque music, looking out at the two feet of snow on the ground, and dreaming of a lush summer garden that has yet to come into existence. Thanks to my sister Darlene, who dug out her flower garden last summer, I should have some prettiness in my back yard this year. Irises, day lilies, ferns, and herbs. However, I would like to have some organic sustenance coming from my own garden also.
In preparation for this, I'm pouring over seed catalogues online and reviewing the book "Square Foot Gardening" as I am limited - not on space but on diligence. (I've more than once neglected my gardens in the past, but sometimes to my surprise had an overflow of produce.) I also have a city-boy for a husband who, while the thought of having organic produce is enticing, finds the whole gardening thing a bore. Most people would think "dig up the ground and stick a plant in, how hard can it be?" But this is going to take more work than one would think:
First, we have an abundance of trees lining both sides of our back lot where said gardens would be placed. A couple of those would need to be cut down in order for the narrow yard to get enough sunshine. This would require asking for the help from a few men we know with chain saws. Second, because of the sandy soil in our area, we would need to build raised bed gardens filled with compost and nice fertile soil. All this must be done before one seed, one tiny fledgling plant is put into the ground.
I'm intrigued with these theme gardens such as a pizza garden complete with herbs, tomatoes, and peppers, or a Bible garden that hosts plants and herbs from the old testament. How about a Colonial kitchen garden??
So if you like you can follow us along this journey, among others. I'll try to post photos of any progress we make (if any) and in the meantime you can read about my rabbit trails, organic tangents, home school rants, healthy soapboxes, and not so humble opinions.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)