Showing posts with label vegetables. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vegetables. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Butternut Squash Soup


This recipe was shared with me by an awesome lady who lives down the street. She is always talking about these yummy recipes she makes and this is the first one I've tried from her. And I've gotta tell ya, I'm going to need ALL her recipes if they are as good as this :) Mmm...

Here's what you need:

1 Butternut Squash
1 apple
1 onion
2-3 carrots (or about 1 1/2 cup baby carrots)
Chicken stock (about 2 cups)
Nutmeg or Curry
Brown sugar

Preheat your oven to 350. Place squash on a cookie sheet (put foil down to help with cleanup). Poke a few holes in the squash with a knife and bake for 1 hour or until it is soft. (You don't need to peel or cut it up. Just poke it and toss it in the oven!) To check softness, poke the squash with a fork on the end closest to the stem. (The bottom half is semi-hollow where all the seeds are). Take out of oven and let cool. Once cool, cut the squash in half length-wise, scoop out all the seeds and throw them away. Scoop out all the flesh off of the skin into a bowl and set aside.

*I baked my squash in the morning and let it sit on the counter to cool for a few hours. It seemed a lot easier that way.

Peel and chop the apple, onion and carrots. In a pot, saute the apple, onion and carrots in olive oil until they're soft.

Puree veggies and cooked squash with chicken broth in a blender, food processor, or with an emulsion blender right in the pot, til smooth. If you're using the blender or food processor, don't forget to vent the lid so you don't get an explosion in the kitchen ;)

Season with salt and pepper, brown sugar, and nutmeg or curry (we did nutmeg) and heat thru. Just add the spices to your taste preference.

Enjoy! Thanks, Ingrid for sharing this with me. I'm definitely going to be trying the rest of your recipes in the future!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Sweet and Sour Green Beans



The first Thanksgiving I had with my husband's side of the family they had the traditional green bean casserole. You know, the one with the cream of mushroom soup and crispy onions on top? Well I've gotta admit, I don't remember my family ever making those green beans growing up, so I wondered, "How traditional is this casserole?" At our house it was always my grandma's sweet and sour green beans. I've made it a few times for my husband's family (one of those times being last Thanksgiving which we celebrated at our house) and they all seemed to enjoy it.

So thanks Meme for always making such delicious green beans and for passing along the recipe.

Why are they so delicious you may ask? Well what if I told you there was 8 strips of bacon and a lot of sugar? hehehehe.... Cause we all know that bacon makes everything taste that much better!!

Here's what you need:

3 cans of french style green beans
1 medium onion cut into thin rings
8 bacon strips (or the whole package if you really feel like it. I know I usually do ;)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
6 Tbsp sugar
6 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

*YOU MUST DO THIS THE NIGHT BEFORE YOU PLAN ON SERVING THIS DISH*

Drain beans and place in a 13x9 casserole dish. Place onion rings over beans. Cook bacon and set aside. (Leaving the grease in the pan) Crumble the bacon and sprinkle it and the almonds over the beans. Cook sugar and vinegar in bacon grease until dissolved. Pour over beans.

Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes and enjoy!!