Butternut Squash Soup

So, Brian requested some butternut squash the other day.  Those are some big squash, so I thought I'd just make a meal out of it instead of serving it just as a side dish.  I found a recipe from the Gourmet Magazine and got to work.  I think the soup turned out beautifully, fantastic color, savory flavor...baby food-like consistency...ew.  That was the only problem, the texture was just like baby food (and I know that because, despite having no baby at home, we played "baby food roulette" at the EQ activity last week).  I don't know how I could have blended it any smoother.  Anyway, that was the main complaint.  If any of you try it out, tell me if you are able to obtain a silky smooth texture.  

Butternut Squash Soup

1 medium butternut squash

1 medium onion

1 Tbs. freshly grated ginger (optional)

3 Tbs. butter

3 cups chicken broth

1-2 cups water as needed (for thinning out the soup, although I used half cream and half water)

salt and pepper

sour cream for garnish

Cut squash in half lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds. Arrange the halves cut side down in roasting pan that has been sprayed with nonstick vegetable oil spray. Bake squash in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until very tender at 350-425. Set aside to cool. When the squash is completely cool, scoop the flesh from the skin. 

While the squash is baking, cook the onion and the ginger in the butter in a saucepan, over moderately low heat, for 5 minutes or until the onion is softened, Add the broth and simmer the mixture for 10 minutes, covered. Add the squash to the sauce pan. 

Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor, in batches, and puree until smooth. Add enough water to achieve the desired consistency, and salt and pepper to taste. Return the soup to the sauce pan and cook over moderate heat until it is hot. Garnish each portion.

Okay, I didn't use the ginger.  And I used about a cup of heavy whipping cream as a replacement for some of the water.  And it took about an hour and a half for my squash to roast...at 400.  Of course, my oven sucks, so maybe for you people who have a good oven, it would be less time.  Anyway, all in all, it had a great flavor.  

Raspberry Cream Bars

I first tried this dessert at Richard's aunt's house, who by the way is an AMAZING cook. She never gives recipes out though so I did a search on the Internet for it. I finally found it and now it's one of my favorites! Enjoy!

Crust:
1 cup graham crackers, crushed
1 cup pretzels, crushed
3/4 cup butter, melted
3 tablespoons sugar

Cream Layer:
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
8 ounces cool whip

Raspberry Layer:
1 six ounce package raspberry jello
2 cups boiling water
20 ounces frozen raspberries, partially thawed and undrained (is that a word?)

Dissolve the jello in boiling water, add raspberries. Put in the refrigerator to thicken slightly. Mix crust ingredients and press firmly into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 9 minutes. Cool completely. Cream the sugar and cream cheese, fold in cool whip. Spread over cooled crust. Pour raspberry jello mix over cream layer and chill.

Green Beans with Bacon

This is my favorite way to eat green beans. I'm not sure where I got the recipe but I've been making it for years and everyone in the family loves them.

1 pkg (16 oz) frozen green beans (whole, cut, French, whatever)
3 tbsp water
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chicken bouillon granules
bacon bits - a spoonful or two

Put everything in a saucepan or pot except for the bacon. Cook over medium heat until beans are tender-crisp (or really soggy, because they taste really good that way too). Right before serving add the bacon bits and give it a good stir so the bacon can warm up a bit.

The Best Chocolate Cake Ever

or at least that's what my husband thinks. I make it every year for his birthday at his request, and about 10 other times in the year, too. This makes a fairly dense cake and tastes very old-fashioned. It's not the fluffy, airy kind of chocolate cake you get from a box. One great thing about this is that it doesn't use eggs or any type of refrigerated foods - only stuff from your food storage!

3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
6 tbsp. baking cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 c water
2/3 c vegetable oil
2 tsp white vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract

In a mixing bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients. Add water, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Beat on low for 1 minute. Beat on medium for 1 minute. Pour into a greased (or sprayed) 13x9 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

We typically don't frost this, just dust with powdered sugar or whipped cream.

Banana Crumble Muffins

I like banana bread, but I haven't found a REALLY good recipe yet, until this one. Technically it's supposed to be muffins, but I stuck it in a 9x9 and it turned out marvelously!! I love it!! Of course, you have to bake it MUCH longer. Like and hour and a half or so. Just poke it in the middle with a tooth pick or something. Take it out of the oven when the toothpick comes out clean. And I don't see why you can't put it in a bread pan to make actual bread. I got the recipe off allrecipes.com

Banana Muffins

3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
6 bananas, mashed
1½ cups sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup butter, melted

Topping:
2/3 cup brown sugar
¼ cup flour
¼ tsp cinnamon
2 Tbs. butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 20 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.

Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Enjoy!!

Falafel Wraps

I sort of made this up, so quantities are guesses. Sorry. I hate recipes like that! But this is so very yummy that you'll want to try it.

Falafel mix - 1 or 2 boxes depending on your family
1 bag of broccoli slaw
tortillas or flatbread or pitas
any combination of mayo, sour cream or yogurt
curry or garam masala seasoning
oil for frying

Make the falafel mix according to package directions. Usually you mix it with water and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. While it's sitting, mix the sauce. I took 2 or 3 large spoonfuls each of mayo and sour cream and mixed them together then added a tsp or so of curry and tasted it. I added another bit of garam masala and some salt then tasted. I LOVE curry so I ended up using a few tsps but taste it as you go until you find the level you're comfortable with. Throw it in the fridge to chill.

Once the falafel mix is done "resting" (lazy falafel, get back to work) fry it in oil. I just blobbed a medium scoop into the oil so they were about the size of an egg, only flatter because I squished them.

To assemble the wrap, put some sauce down the middle of a tortilla or bread of choice then add a falafel nugget or 2 or 3, then broccoli slaw then a bit more sauce. Eat.

These were so dang good. We pretty much ate them all and didn't have leftovers. The first time I used flour tortillas and this week we'll be trying whole grain tortillas. We'll also be trying it with yogurt mixed in. I loved that this was fast, vegetarian, and mostly healthy. And that the kids ate it!

Caramel Frosted Cake

My mother-in-law was telling me how her mother made a caramel cake that was so good. She had lost the recipe, so figuring it was on the back of a box, I looked it up. There is a great website called back of the box, or something like that and there it was. Most recipes people pass down really are from the back of boxes, so I tried it out. I thought the instructions were a little weird, but it was really good.

Golden Caramel Cake-
1 package yellow cake mix
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted and cooled
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
Caramel Icing (below)


1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 2 round pans, 9x1 1/2 inches.

2. Beat all ingredients except Caramel Icing in medium bowl with electric mixer on low speed 1 minute, scraping bowl constantly (batter will be thick). Beat 2 minutes longer. Remove 1/2 cup of batter; cover and refrigerate to use in icing. Pour remaining batter into pans.

3. Bake 28 to 33 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Fill layers and frost cake with Caramel Icing.

Caramel Icing

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup reserved cake batter
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla


Heat butter in 1-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until brown; remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar, cake batter and evaporated milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with wire whisk, until smooth, bubbly and almost thick; remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Cool slightly.

Special Touch: Caramel and chocolate are natural companions. Drizzle caramel-frosted cake servings with melted chocolate chips.

Chicken with Peach and Melon Salsa

So as I was surfing the foodnetwork website for some ideas on what to cook that week, I came across this recipe. Let me tell you, it is soooo good! Chris was a little sketchy at first with the fruit salsa, but even after all the chicken was gone he ate it with chips, cause it's so tasty!

It's a really, really easy recipe, if you can't find jerk seasoning (which I couldn't) then just get some good chicken seasoning, and I doubled the recipe for the salsa. Also, you can just find a pre-cut melon medley for like 2 bucks ready to go at walmart.

Ingredients
1 (15-ounce) can peach halves, drained and rinsed
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 teaspoons Jamaican Jerk seasoning
1 cup pre-cut melon medley, diced
1 tablespoon diced pimientos
1 tablespoon freshly chopped cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat.
Place peaches halves on grill pan and grill 2 to 3 minutes per side. Set aside to cool and then dice into small pieces.
Season both sides of each chicken breast with 1 teaspoon Jamaican jerk seasoning. Place chicken breasts in pan and grill for 6 minutes per side, or until cooked through.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine grilled peaches and remaining ingredients. Stir thoroughly.
Serve chicken topped with peach and melon salsa.

French Onion Soup

I just this soup yesterday. I love it! And the best part of it is that my house smells like onions for the night!!

French Onion Soup
(Pampered Chef)

Soup:
4 large onions
¼ cup butter or margarine
2 teaspoons sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
8 cups reduced-sodium beef broth
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Croutons:
8 1-inch-thick French bread slices
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese


Preheat oven to 400°F.

For soup:
Slice onions. Melt butter over medium heat; add onions and sugar. Cook and stir 15-18 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are tender and golden brown. Stir in flour and salt. Gradually add beef broth; bring to boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Cover; reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Pour into soup bowls, put French bread on top, sprinkle (I use much more than a sprinkle) on cheese and broil until cheese is melted.

Sharon's Meatloaf

I hate meatloaf. Well, until I ate my mother-in-law's. It's pretty good. In fact, it's the only meatloaf I'll eat. I just made it the other day, and it was good.

Sharon's Meatloaf

2 lbs. Hamburger
1 package of Mrs. Cubbison’s bread stuffing
1 egg
½ cup chopped celery
Small onion, chopped

Mix all ingredients together until the loaf is firm. Shape and place into a pan. Bake at 350 for 1-1½ hours.

Eat.