Before I start on this easy recipe for chicken butternut soup, I'll just admit right here and now that I know that butternut squash can be intimidating. More than once I've regretfully pushed my cart past the pile of butternuts in the supermarket (okay, the Southern husband was pushing the cart, but the butternut abandonment was all mine. I own that.) because it just looked so dang hard to handle. And more on that later, because there are various ways butternut squash Can Be Conquered. But more importantly were all those days that I was missing out on this thick, hearty soup that is full of tender chicken and spinach and roasted carrots and lots and lots of butternut. It's one of the most good and good for you soups I know, and I'm here to tell you that you need to brake at the butternut just to be able to cook up this soup. Let's make it! Read More & Get the Recipe
Mashed Fall Vegetables with Bacon and Thyme
This recipe for mashed fall vegetables with bacon and thyme is one of those things that just came out of the blue and kind of made itself, when I had set out to make something completely different. Or so I thought. What I thought I was making was roasted fall vegetables. I had some nice cut up butternut squash, some red potatoes, a couple of onions and some carrots, and I was right in the middle of roasting them to go with some roasted chicken, and that's when it hit me. Read More & Get the Recipe
Honeyed Butternut Squash Puree
I have a love-hate relationship with butternut squash. I love the way it tastes...sweet and smooth with just a hint of veggie flavor. I love it when it is mixed up with other things, like honey and herbs and shallots, especially when I get that whole sweet and salty thing going on. I love it when someone else makes it for me. And that is because I do NOT love the peeling cutting up of it that is part of so many butternut recipes, because butternut squash is hard as a rock. And I do not love the paying of approximately one million dollars for buying already cut-up butternut squash in the supermarket. Which is why I madly love this particular recipe for honeyed butternut squash puree. Read on! Read More & Get the Recipe
Butternut Cider Bisque
Okay, so this is one of my blog posts that has a long involved back-story, and since there is nobody here to tell me to cut to the chase except for the dog (who can't talk) and the Southern husband (who is WAY too smart to say anything of this nature) I'm going to go ahead and tell it. Take comfort in the fact that it will be broken up with some entertaining pictures. At least I think they are entertaining. So to start at the beginning, a while back I was invited to take a series of pictures of chefs from restaurants in our area. For a food groupie like me, this was a fabulous assignment, and I met a bunch of terrifically talented people this way (and got to sample some rocking good food along the way.) Here's the first chef I photographed for this project: Chef Chris Calcagno. I know, it was a hard assignment, but someone had to do it. Anyway. Part of the assignment was to photograph each chef holding a copy of their favorite cookbook, which worked out to be double Read More & Get the Recipe
Roasted Vegetable Lasagne
I am always a little skeptical about whether lasagna is really, truly worth it. I mean, we've all had it one million times, and it's always kinda the same. But every once in a while I run across a recipe that restores my faith in lasagna, and this was one of them. Roasted vegetable lasagna that involves a sauce made of roasted tomatoes and a filling that includes roasted butternut squash and sauteed spinach. It all comes together for a beautiful layered look that melts the heart of even a lasagna-doubter like myself... I used lovely fresh mozzarella and ricotta and that helped (and in case you have not heard me go on and on about my adventures in ricotta-making, please click here. Or you can do what normal people do and get your fresh ricotta at Whole Foods.) So if you are looking for a delicious and different lasagna, this ones for you. It also uses those no-boil noodles that I never think are going to work but they always magically DO! It's one of the great mysteries in Read More & Get the Recipe
Butternut Chai Soup
I fell head over heels in love with chai tea several years ago when my friend S took me by the hand, led me into Starbucks, bought me a chai tea latte, put it in my hands and said, "Trust me." Ever since then I have been a complete sucker for anything with the word "chai" in the title. And so when I ran across this recipe for butternut soup cooked with chai spices...well, they had me at hello. When you think about it, it is kind of genius...butternut is a close cousin to pumpkin, chai spices include a lot of the sweet and spicy flavors you find in pumpkin pie...so it kind of was a match made in heaven. And to (literally) top it all off, the recipe also calls for a quick and wonderful topping that you make by stirring together a little creme fraiche, a little apple cider and a little cinnamon. Creme fraiche is usually in whatever part of your supermarket where they keep the refrigerated fancy things, but if you have trouble finding it, sour cream will work for this too. You drizzle Read More & Get the Recipe