Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut is the ingredient that brings me the greatest feeling of Autumn harvest.  I love it in just about any way and it is super nutritious.  One of my absolute favorite forms of butternut is in a creamy, velvety soup.  Many times I've had butternut soup that was way too sweet.  This soup is more savory using the butternut as its own natural and non-overwhelming sweetener.

Ingredients:
  • 3 T butter
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
  • 1/2 tsp. thyme
  • 1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
  • 8 cups water
  • 4 chicken bouillon cubes
  • 1-2 pinches cumin
  • salt and pepper


*You may have to adjust ingredients to taste, depending on the size of your squash.  If you have a large squash you will probably need to add more water and spices.
Wash and peel your squash.  Peeling can be difficult but it is important to not leave any peel behind.

Cut it into even cubes of about one inch.
Slice or chop (it doesn't matter because it will be pureed anyway) your onion and put it into a large soup pan with the hot melted butter.  Add the garlic and cook until the onion has softened.  Do not brown or caramelize the onion!  Mix in the thyme.
Add the butternut cubes, water, and the chicken bullion cubes.  You could use 8 cups of chicken broth instead of the water and bouillon.
Bring to a boil and simmer for about 15 minutes until the squash has softened.
You must remove the pot from the heat source completely at this point.  Using a stick blender, puree the soup until no chunks are left.  Be very careful not to splatter hot soup out of the pot.
It works best if you tilt it to the side slightly so all the chunks and pieces fit under the blender.  If you find it's getting too thick to blend, add a little bit of hot wa
It will look something like this when all the ingredients are pureed.  Add the salt, pepper and cumin to taste and blend or stir it through.
This soup is delicious and would be great for a light dinner on Thanksgiving Eve.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Blackberry Blush

My friend Bekah just started a new etsy shop!  She handmakes these beautiful wristlets.



She's also giving one away, so "like" her on facebook and follow her blog!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Pinecone Owls

So sorry for being MIA recently.  We have had a super crazy couple of weeks around here filled with an ear infection, the stomach flu and a cold.  Luckily, with the bad times there were some good ones.  Like my dad's birthday, two of our niece's baptisms (even though we could only make it to one) and our nephew's first birthday party.  AND I have managed to create one Thanksgiving project that I had planned.  Wohoo!

Look at these little cuties! These owls are very easy to make and this is a great project for kids to help out with.
I have to admit that I stole this idea from my teachers way, way back in elementary school.  My sister Cristina was the first one to do this project at school for Thanksgiving when she was in fourth grade.  Her owl is on the left.  I, being just one grade younger was extremely excited to get to make my owl the next year.  After all that anticipation, they had us make them differently and I ended up making that little number to the right.  I didn't even realize how un-cute mine was until I brought it home the last day of school before Thanksgiving break and set it down next to my sister's...  Complete disappointment.  I have been wanting to redo it for the last couple years and I finally got everything together and did it.

Materials Needed:
  • pinecones  (I bought mine at clearance from a craft store.  They are lightly scented but not strong.  If you live somewhere that you can easily collect them from under a tree that works too.)
  • cotton balls (pulled apart into smaller pieces). 
  • felt (I used white, black and a couple shades of orange and tan.)
  • craft glue
  • scissors
  • pencil

The bag of pinecones that I purchased came with two different types.  If you run into the same thing just separate them like I did.
The dark brown pinecones that are wide with a good amount of spacing work best for this project.  The other ones wont go to waste because I have a Christmas craft underway for them.
Use the felt to create the owl's face and body parts.  I started with the eyes, using the cap of my glue to get a good circle.  You'll also need ears, wings, a beak, a belly and feet.
Glue the overlapping felt together with craft glue then lay out your owl features.
Dot some glue onto the "petals" of the pinecone then stuff them with cotton pieces.
Now you should have the owl's body and body parts.
Glue all the body parts to the pinecone and you're done!  Isn't he cute?
You can even make a family of owls!  They are the perfect addition to my Thanksgiving decor. 

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

In honor of cooler (kind of ) weather I'm posting my version of a delicious Italian soup, Chicken and Gnocchi.  If you have never had gnocchi, it is a potato pasta.  I had always thought gnocchi would be difficult and was intimidated by it but it is actually VERY easy.

Gnocchi:
  • 2 potatoes or one can of whole potatoes (You will need one cup of mashed potatoes, and the canned potatoes generally mash down to just over 1 cup.)
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 egg


If you are using fresh potatoes, peel and boil them until cooked.  For canned potatoes, drain out all the liquid.  Put the potatoes in a bowl to mash them.
Mash up the potatoes with a potato masher.  Once the potatoes were pretty well mashed I used a fork to get rid of some of the larger lumps.  If it's a tiny bit lumpy it will be okay.
Put the potatoes in a bowl with the flour and egg and mix together.  (The gnocchi for this soup is meant to be a little bit bland.)  Once the ingredients are well mixed the dough will look lumpy.  Knead the dough together with your hand until it comes together.
Divide the dough in half.  You will only need half of the gnocchi dough for one batch of the soup.  Wrap the other half of dough in plastic wrap and put it in the freezer for next time.

Roll the dough half into the shape of a long breadstick.  I always forget that the dough expands when it's cooked and end up with huge gnocchi pieces that barely fit into my mouth.  So, the narrower the better.  Divide the dough in half again and roll out two lengths of dough if that makes it easier to thin it out.
Cut the bread into bite-sized smaller than bite-sized pieces (because the dough expands).  I like to roll each piece once on the counter or cutting board to soften up the edges.

If you were to make these for a purpose other than soup, like under pasta sauce, you would start off with salted boiling water.  Drop the gnocchi in (they should sink to the bottom).  Once they make their way back up to the top (3-4minutes) they are done. Remove and cover with pasta sauce.

In this case we will leave them and move onto the soup...
Chicken and Gnocchi Soup:
  • 1 T. olive oil
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 3 celery stalks, diced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
  • 2 carrots, shredded
  • 1 pound chicken breast, cooked and cubed
  • 4 chicken bouillon cubes
  • 6 cups of water
  • half recipe of gnocchi
  • 6 ounces baby spinach leaves
  • 1 T. corn starch with 2 T. cold water (optional)
  • 2 cups milk, cream, half & half -- your choice
  • salt and pepper to taste

Prep your veggies and boil or steam your chicken.  Once the chicken is cooked and cooled, cut it into bite-sized pieces.
Heat the oil in a large soup pan over medium-high heat.  Add the onion, celery, carrots and garlic to the hot oil.  It is very important that when you cook with oil that it is hot prior to adding ingredients.  If you add ingredients before the oil is hot they will end up absorbing a lot of the oil and you'll need to add more to compensate.  No need for the extra calories.
Once the veggies are tender, add the water, bouillon and chicken pieces.  Bring the soup back up to a simmer.
Drop in the gnocchi, careful to unstick them before they fall into the pot.
When they are done, they will float to the top like this.  This should take 3-4 minutes.
Stir in the spinach.
Allow the spinach to cook and wilt for about 3 minutes.
Add the milk and bring it back up to a simmer.  If you want a slightly thicker soup, add the corn starch/water mixture with the milk.  It doesn't make a huge difference but my husband likes it better thicker.  I prefer it brothy so sometimes I don't add it.

Salt and pepper to taste.

This soup is amazing and perfect for Autum!