Butternut Squash Soup

I made this last night, and it is amazing.  It's from 'A Homemade Life'.  William gets it for lunch today. Hopefully he likes it and this will be an easy way to get him to eat some veggies.

I forgot to buy apple cider, so I didn't use any.  After a little debate, I decided to throw in one of William's apple juice boxes as a substite. (Not the box! Just the juice from it.) It was about 4 oz of 'Juicy Juice'.  I'm sure Juicy Juice isn't quite what the recipe's author had in mind... but it still tastes wonderful!

Butternut Soup with Pear, Cider and Vanilla Bean


3 T olive oil

One 2 pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 inch cubes (about 4 generous cups)

2 firm-ripe pears, peeled and cored and cut into 1 inch cubes (about 2 cups)

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 cup apple cider or unfiltered apple juice

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

½ t salt

½ C half and half or cream

1 vanilla bean

Finely chopped fresh chives, for garnish



Heat the oil in a dutch oven or small stockpot over medium low heat. Add squash, pears, and onion and stir to coat with oil. Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and transparent and the pears are starting to fall apart.

Add the cider and bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat. Add the broth, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer the mixture, partially covered, for about 30 minutes, until squash is tender.

Using a blender or food processor and working in small batches (don’t fill blender more than 1/3 full as hot liquid expands) and puree until very smooth. Return soup to stockpot and add the salt. Continue to cook, uncovered, over medium low heat until the soup has reduced to about one-half to one-third its original volume. Stir occasionally. When the thickness seems right, it’s ready.

While the soup is reducing, put the half and half in a small sauce pan. Using a sharp knife, split the vanilla bean in hand from tip to tip and scrape the tiny seeds out using the back of the knife. Scoop seeds and pod into saucepan with half and half, and warm it over low heat, swirling occasionally, until it steams. Do not allow it to boil. Pull it from the heat, remove and discard the pod, and whisk to break up any clumps of seeds. Set aside.

Stir in half and half once soup reaches desired thickness.

Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Serve with fresh chives.

If you like it, check out Molly's blog for other great recipes and fun stories: http://orangette.blogspot.com/

Children's Museum!

Since today was a combination of extremely hot and extremely muggy, and since William is starting to get bored around the house, we went to the Children's Museum.  What a great way to spend the afternoon!  I don't think I've been since I was a kid... but I still remembered parts. My favorite was the grocery store, and they still have it (but I think it's been re-vamped.)

But that's for bigger kids. William and I spent the whole day at the Tot Spot (for toddlers) and he had fun exploring. Actually, he would've been content to sit in the ball 'pit' the whole time, but after about 30 minutes, I 'encouraged' him to explore other things. He played the xylophone (waving both hands), tried to put the pegs in the life-sized 'light bright' (he could take them out, but not quite put them in), and tentatively crawled around. We will definitely go back soon!

Turkey Feta Burgers

I promise to post some recipes from 'A Homemade Life' soon, but we had these burgers for dinner and they were so good and easy that I want to share!

I served them topped with with hummus and a Greek version of pico de gallo made with diced tomatoes, purple onions, parsley, a little olive oil, and garlic salt. I've served them on wheat buns before, but no buns tonight.

Ingredients
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• ground black pepper to taste

Directions
1. Preheat the grill for medium high heat.
2. In a large bowl, combine turkey, feta cheese, olives, oregano, and pepper. Mix together, and form into patties.
3. Lightly oil the grate. Place patties on the grill. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes, turning halfway through.

Grey and Mustard

So, I painted our office/playroom/piano-room/one-day-library... Grey stripes with a mustard/gold ceiling. It's the room at the front of the house that was originally the dining room (back in the 50's) and that we're not quite sure what to do with. When I told people how I was painting the room, I got so many looks that said "I'm trying to be polite, but really think you are crazy. That sounds awful."

And... I questioned it myself. But Frankie said it would look good, and he hasn't been wrong yet. So, one pencil, 2 levels, 3 rolls of painters tape, 3 colors and 4 gallons of paint, and about 14 hours later, we have our room.

I'm very happy with how it turned out! Here are some before, during and after pictures.

Kentucky Hot Brown

Have you ever had this sandwich? It's wonderful. Read the ingredients and you'll know why. I recently found this recipe - in the Sunday paper of all places. It's from Bobby Flay. Thanks, Bobby! Since I've been home, I've been doing a lot of cooking and plan to start sharing recipes. Here's the first.

Side note: this is easily adapted for a 1 year old. We used a sandwich thin, cheese sauce, tomatoes, and chopped up turkey and William at it pretty well. Also, the cheese sauce is wonderful! Save some and use it the next day on veggies, rice, grits, or anything really!

Kentucky Hot Brown
1 T unsalted butter, plus 1 stick, softened
1 T flour
1 ¼ C whole milk
¾ C white cheddar, grated (really, any cheese would probably work. I used a Mexican 4 cheese blend and it was great)
2 T Parmesan, grated
Kosher salt & black pepper
4 slices good quality white bread, sliced 1 inch thick (Orowheat has an Italian bread that’s good with this – sold on the bread isle)
½ lb roast turkey breast, thinly sliced
4 slices rib beefsteak tomatoes, ¼ thick
8 crisp slices of bacon
Flat leaf parsley leaves

Preheat broiler.

Melt 1 T butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour; cook 40 seconds. Increase heat to high, add the milk, bring to a boil, and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture thickens, about 4 minutes. Remove from the stove; slowly whisk in cheddar, handfuls at a time, until incorporated. Whisk in Parmesan; Season with salt & pepper. Cover and keep warm.

Place bread on a baking sheet lined with foil. Spread each side with 1 T butter (or less!). Broil until lightly golden brown, 45 seconds per side. Remove; top each slice with turkey, a few spoonfuls of the cheese sauce, and tomatoes; season with salt & pepper. Broil until cheese turns golden brown – 2 to 5 minutes. Remove; top each with 2 slices of bacon in an X. Garnish with parsley if desired.

Banner Day

William had a BIG DAY yesterday! He got is 1st haircut, crawled for the first time, AND stood in his crib for the first time.

He was such a big boy getting his hair cut. He didn't cry at all. He wasn't exactly happy, but he held back tears.

And then, when we got home, I guess he decided he would start doing big boy things to go with his big boy haircut. He crawled trying to reach his favorite book 'The Pout Pout Fish'. My mom was there, so we have a witness! :)

I honestly wasn't sure if he would ever crawl. He's so close to walking that I figured he would skip crawling completly. But, according to William's 'Lollie', Philip crawled late (right around 1 year), and then almost immediately started walking. So, I bet he is close!

Yesterday is the perfect example of how he is growing up so fast.

The Broadmoor

We recently went to the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. Philip spoke at a conference there for work - and William and I were lucky enough to go with him! We had so much fun just hanging out by the pool and enjoying the beautiful, non-humid weather, while Philip worked. The Broadmoor is beautiful - a true resort - and I hope we get to go back one day!

And now, we are back to 'real' life. William and I went to the Library today. There's a really good one over by our house. I had not been to the library in years. They have almost fully automated the check-out process, like self check-out at a grocery store. And they don't slip the little 'due date' card in the front pocket of the book any more. Sad. You just get a print-out of your receipt with the due dates listed. It seems more efficient, but just isn't the same. I bet William will laugh one day when I tell him what it was like when I checked out books as a kid!
He got attached to a Dora the Explorer book, and I checked out a cooking book called 'A Homemade Life: Stories and recipes from my kitchen table' by Molly Wizenberg. So far, it's great! Each recipe in the book comes with a story - and I already want to make almost every one. I have 4 on the menu for this/next week.