Best Butternut Squash Soup Ever!

 Found a great recipe to use with the 3 Butternut Squashes I have gotten in my Bountiful Baskets this month.  I roasted my squash first by adding some olive oil, lemon pepper and garlic salt to the inside of the squash.  I then put the squash face down on a cookie sheet and added just a bit of water to roast/steam them in a 400 oven for about 40 minutes.

When the squash was done, I scooped out the meat and added it to the recipe below.

Coconut Curry Squash Soup

3 small/med butternut squash (about11/2 pounds - pre roasted)
2 tablespoons olive oil or other healthy vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 medium apple, any variety,peeled and diced
2 cups prepared vegetable broth
2 teaspoons good-quality curry powder
2 teaspoons grated fresh or jarred ginger, or more, to taste
Pinch of ground nutmeg 
1 14-ounce can light coconut milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Saute the onions and apple in olive oil.  Add the squash and remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Use a emulsifier to blend in the apples and squash until creamy.

Life's a Bowl of Cherries!

Sunday's are my day to cook!  The past two Sunday's I have been missing in action in my kitchen so today was a very busy day for me!  I had splurged and got 16 pounds of Bing Cherries in my Bountiful Basket this past Saturday.  The cost for the cherries was $26.00 - which is about a $1.63 a pound!  Bing Cherries can cost anywhere from $3 - $5 a pound depending on where and when you buy them.  I think this was a really good deal.  So, thanks to my wonderful friend Laura; I borrowed her cherry pitters and got all of our cherries pitted and ready to eat, freeze and dehydrate!

Laura let me use two different pitters, the one shown worked really great!  Dave was able to really get it going and was pitting cherries like a pro by the time we got through all 16 pounds.  I was the official de-stemmer and we made a good team getting them all prepped.

It was not a clean process!  But it was a great way to get them done quickly.

I decided to dehydrate some of them. They had to dehydrate for 16 hours!  So I had started a some of them last night before we went to bed.  They turned out great and taste great too!  But they only made a pint of them!

Once the cherries came out we decided to put in some of the leftover apples I had from previous Bountiful Baskets.  Dave got out my Pampered Chef apple slicer/corer thing that I have not used in over 13 years and helped me get them peeled, sliced and cored in a zip!  So now the dehydrator is drying up a batch of apples!

I also made a batch of Rhubarb Muffins, Blueberry Lemon Bread and a batch of Butternut Squash Curry Soup!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pies

I love getting my Bountiful Basket each week!  I also am very spoiled to have it delivered to me at the store by by two good friends; Brenda & Laura!  Last week I got the rhubarb and strawberries add on and saved them to bake for Mother's Day.  No, the pie crusts are not homemade - but they turned out great!

Here is the recipe I used -

• 1 1/2 lb. strawberries, hulled and thickly sliced (about 3 cups)
• 1 1/2 lb. rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 3/4-inch pieces (about 3 cups)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 1 Tbs. cornstarch
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten with a few drops of water until slightly foamy
• 1 Tbs. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Directions:

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 425°F.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the larger pastry disk into a 13-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer to a 9-inch pie dish, easing it into the bottom and sides. Trim the overhang to 1/2 inch. Roll out the remaining pastry and transfer to a baking sheet. Place both pans in the refrigerator.
In a large bowl, gently stir together the strawberries and rhubarb. In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cornstarch until free of lumps. Add to the fruit mixture and stir to combine.

Remove the pastry from the refrigerator and brush the bottom and sides with the egg mixture. Spoon the fruit mixture evenly into the dish. Dot with the butter. Place the top crust over the fruit and trim the edges to leave a 3/4-inch overhang. Fold the edge of the top crust under the edge of the bottom crust, then crimp to seal. Cut a few vents in the top. Set the pie on a baking sheet.
Bake until the crust is golden, about 40 minutes. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool for at least 1 hour before serving. Serves 8.
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Cooking from the Farmers’ Market, by Tasha DeSerio & Jodi Liano (Weldon Owen, 2010).

Day with Jared

Visit with Jared - great road trip, great food at the Woodlot, great weather and great time with our son!

Views from My Dash!

Along the Clearwater River -