Crabs and avocados

Good evening blog readers! So Wednesday are great. It’s one of the few days I’m not running around after school. Yesterday my plans for chicken wings changed when I got pulled into a last minute interview and Mark worked late. Dinner planning is easy, schedule changes throw a wrench in things. Also, does anyone else plan ahead and when they get home from work, what is planned is the last thing on earth you want to eat? Or am I just weird?

So tonight chicken wings were on the menu and I didn’t want them. I had purchased crab from the seafood counter and on sale, earlier this week. I debated back and forth… Downloaded three crab cake recipes and determined crab cakes weren’t in the cards. But now that I had crab on the brain, what to eat…. Needless to say all this debating affected my thinking and I took no photos. So this recipe is a blind trust thing, which eventually I’ll post photos. I did a mix of like three pinterest recipes I found, so instead of sending you to three places to figure out how I mixed, I’ll share with you, but note that I was inspired by a few.

The recipe would be amazing on crackers, little pieces of bread, as an appetizer or small plate, on top of a salad or even just in a pile in your plate (the way we ate it).

Ingredients:
8 oz of pre picked crab. (save the picking for paper table cloths, beer, and warm weather)
1 ripe avocado, diced to your preference (I like small pieces)
1/4 cup onion chopped finely (I prefer less potent, I use scallions or vidallia)
1/4 red pepper, chopped finely (you got green, yellow or orange? use it, it won’t matter)
1 tablespoon mayo or miracle whip
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of one lime
2 teaspoons (or more) of Old Bay seasoning
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped (if you’re feeling adventurous, no need to add if you don’t want it. I tired both ways and loved it)

Mix together your wet items: lime, oil, mayo, egg, crab, onion and pepper. This will blend together nicely. Like wetter for a sandwich? Put more mayo. Then fold your avocado in.

It’s delicious. I hope you enjoy! Say wait… This is much like an appetizer at my wedding, however it was mango and crab… Hmmm to try that next!!

Well I apologize for not a single photo… However, inspiration catches you at “unplanned” times!!

Will you try it? Anyone ever had a an inspiration that turned out amazing? Please share

Until next time….

Live. Love. and Long for Summer.

Warmer Weather!!

Hello Blogging Friends! This weekend we went and hung out with the regular fall crew at Penn State University. It is pretty great that this large group comes together to all tailgate together. It has gotten massive enough that we gather under a building that is a hot commodity. I can’t describe it much further, we don’t want you stealing “our spot”, but needless to say, we have a lot of fun! The one part of a tailgate that never fails is the food. There is always tons of food that is great tasting and shared among the masses.

This got me thinking and anticipating summer! We’ve been hot on the trail of trying to purchase a home and unfortunately have been out bid on two, and denied a counter offer on the third. So my dreams of a house and a big bbq keep getting built up and squashed. It’s okay, we know this is all part of ‘growing up’ but I certainly CAN NOT WAIT to entertain in my future home.

From that tangent I bring you a recipe that is an all year round recipe. My first year at my school, a student parent made me the most delicious cookies. I had to get the recipe because they were seriously addictive and delicious!! The only day this recipe may not work, is a hot picnic with no indoors to cool the desserts. Here is the recipe. There are very few step by step photos, mostly because I was in a hurry to make these and get out the door. However, there are tips that are certainly a learning curve, which I learned. The last time I made them too quickly and didn’t pay attention to the directions. Always listen to the directions….

Peanut Butter Deliciousness!!

Ingredients:

1 c. sugar
1 c. corn syrup
1 3/4 c. peanut butter
7 c. Special K cereal
1 pkg. chocolate chips
1 pkg. butterscotch chips

Instructions:

1. Combine your sugar and corn syrup and bring to a boil but only for a brief moment, no need for rapid and long boil. This hardens your materials.

2. Add peanut butter (take off stove to do this) and stir.

3. Put Special K into large bowl and pour syrup mixture over this – mix.

4. Pour this mixture into a 9 x 13 inch pan (greased) and pat down.  I did this with the spatula so that it fits into all the spots of the pan.

The bar. Oh no thou, picnik is now gone, my new labels are UGLY!

5. Melt chips together in microwave or double boiler – mix and spread over bars. Refrigerate for about an hour or so to let the material get together. Don’t skimp on this because the cooling and melting and cooling can get them to separate from each other. Also, take your bars out of the fridge for an hour or more to make cutting easier.

Yum, Yum, Yum!! (ugly, ugly label!)

 

Cut and serve... YUM

 

Do you have a favorite go to recipe for potlucks? Picnics? Tailgates? Share your recipe, I’d love to make it!

Does any one do theme parties? Tailgates? We are looking for spicing it up in tailgating and having some themes to avoid eating burgers and pasta salad every weekend… not that I don’t love me a good burger and pasta salad! I love ideas and feedback! Please share

 

Well until next time….

Live. Love. and Party Rock.

 

 

Where oh where have I gone?

Did you miss me? I certainly haven’t been here in a while. I apologize. Truth is, I’ve been gallivanting all over the country. Well, truthfully I only spent one week in the gallivanting. However, the prep for gallivants calls for a week before for prep and a week after for recovery. So needless to say, I’m back and I have a lot of great things to share! Too many places to start but I’ll spend this week sharing some highlights of our vacation.

Where did we go?!  Mark and I spent a week on the West Coast in Northern California. Thank you CA for being wonderful hosts, we truly had an amazing time. We went to Napa, Sonoma, and San Fransisco. The weather was nice and the food and wine were delectable. A great vacation all in all.

Today I spent a few hours trying to make my Shutterfly book and write a few memories so that when we are old and gray and no one has photographs anymore because they are already superimposed in their memories via micro chips, we’ll be the old fogies who make their grand-kids look at our Shutterfly books.

First highlight from our trip, the best bed and breakfast you’ll ever stay in when you visit Napa Valley. They didn’t pay me any money, didn’t ask me to write this, and not even sure they will ever see it, however, we stayed at the cutest Inn in downtown Napa. The place is called The Inn on First. It is the quintessential place for a wonderful stay at your time in Napa, and here is why…

The Inn is beautiful, warm and welcoming. The entire place reminded me of staying at your best friend’s vacation home. You feel warm and cozy with your own fire place or go and sit in the sitting room with your book by the fire. The room had champagne waiting for us and little chocolate truffles that Jim made.

While I’m on the topic let’s move right to breakfast. The breakfast that Jim makes is unique, delectable, plate licking good. He has his own twist on breakfast. The first morning we came down we were greeted by a large group (17 people) who had come in for the weekend. Jim made fresh made doughnuts, a beautiful fruit salad, and a poached egg on top of breaded egg noodles. Breakfast of champions! The second morning he made fresh made churros along with egg nachos with cheese, a homemade tortilla chip and avocado cream. The churros were to die for!I’d go back and eat breakfast there every day. And every place we went in Napa asked us where we stayed and then immediately asked, “What did Jim make this morning?!?!”

But Jim isn’t a one man show. Jamie is a wonderful host who has the most amazing hospitality and best suggestions for where to go in Napa. Every morning, he sat, asked you about your previous day’s endeavors, what you ate, where you went, etc. Then if you asked, he suggested a variety of places based on what you wanted to do. Superb.

Can you tell we LOVED our first stay?! It made me want to own my own Inn. It was wonderful!!! So if you haven’t booked your stay in Napa and you really love a good B & B. Look no further!

I didn’t take any photos of breakfast But here are some of our room. We stayed in room 1, Budding Vine.

Next time… dinner and vineyards!

On the wall there were dispensers of the best herb smelling shampoo, conditioner, and soap!

I love the use of the old bathtub!

The back of the Inn, forgot to take a photo of the beautiful front ....

Welcome Champagne

Don’t Skimp on the Shrimp

Hello Friday! I thought you would never come! However, I can’t complain too much… the weather has been absolutely gorgeous, May like weather! Needless to say, I haven’t wanted to sit down at my computer and blog. Until now, today is drizzly and cooler. A perfect blogging day.

Today I thought I’d share something I made last week, but perfect for a Lenten Friday. If you have ever been to Bonefish Grill you know they are famous for Bang Bang Shrimp. They are simply amazing, as long as you aren’t allergic to any of the ingredients. I discovered this recipe a year ago in Food Network Magazine. However, the breading and frying makes it a little more time consuming and fattier. So when I found this modified recipe on Pinterest, I was in love. It was so yummy! Thank you to this blogger for inspiration!

So now from my ‘mouth’ to your stomach, Lighter Bang Bang Shrimp…

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp Light Mayo (they used 5 and so did I but it was ultra covered and I didn’t need all the sauce, use judgment)
• 3 tbsp Sweet Chili Sauce (omg I love this stuff now!)
• Hot sauce if desired (I didn’t add any)
• Shrimp (enough to feed 4 people, peeled and de-veined)
• 2 tbsp Corn Starch
• 1 tbsp Oil of your choice (Veggie or Olive)

Instructions:

1. Thaw out your shrimp, if you bought it frozen.

2. Make your sauce, ie. mix all the sauce ingredients together.

3. Coat your shrimp in 2 tbsp of corn starch. This will help your sauce stick a little better to shrimp and also help a little crispy-ness to your shrimp.

4. Pan fry your shrimp in a tbsp of oil (I always use olive oil).

5. Coat your shrimp in your sauce.

6. Plate and ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK I can’t even rate this. Oh so easy. I mean the hardest part is defrosting and shelling shrimp if they are still in shells. I didn’t put it on the lettuce like the other blogger. However, I would if I did this again. The lettuce would give it a little bit of a crunchy contrast. I think I may even try it over a broccoli coleslaw.

Well bloggers, enjoy your Friday!! I’m spent. Until next time….

Live. Love. And don’t skimp on the Shrimp!

Made for Adults Milkshakes

Hello my neglected bloggers,

I know I haven’t been around in a while. Honestly, it is terrible to say, but last week I didn’t feel like cooking. And I made a lot of great things this week but haven’t been up to date in my sharing it with you. So I pledge to try and share a few things this week/weekend for you to try. Many of them were DELICIOUS!!

Two Friday’s ago I was requested to make milkshakes for a fun Friday night. On the menu at two burger places I have been to, there have been “adult milkshakes”. But to my dismay, each place was without a liquor license… So my aim, to make an ‘adult milkshake’ that would fulfill my craving!

First a swing by the grocery store for vanilla ice cream, Whoppers, and some caramel sauce. Then, I went to the handy, GOOGLE machine and typed in a few tries: adult milkshakes, drunken milkshakes, and alcoholic milkshakes. Needless to say, some of the items they wanted to use where not found in my liquor cabinet. However, the thing I found in the liquor cabinet to use were seemingly perfect… whipped cream vodka!

Here is the recipe I made with just eye balling measurements and risks taken. First rule, try and find the ovaltine if you want to make it malted, Whoppers just made it a little chunky. Also, if you want it a little runny, you don’t need milk like other recipes, the alcohol melts the ice cream down a bit.

Ingredients:

1 shot of Whipped Vodka

2 scoops ice cream

splash of milk

2 spoonfuls of malted milk balls ground up

a squeeze or two of your sauce (can you tell we are PA people?)

 

Directions:

1. Grind up your Whoppers, unless your using Ovaltine.

This attachment grinds with the immersion blender!

 

Malt Powder

 

2. Put all ingredients in an open container like a Pyrex measuring cup and immersion blend it. (I seriously use this thing for EVERYTHING!)

He get's chocolate

 

Chocolate in PSU cup

 

I get caramel!

 

OK seriously, it’s easy. And you really can’t screw up something sweet with ice cream. Plus, you don’t need just “a” shot if it’s been a long week.  Also, you don’t need to malt a milkshake, it can be without it. Clean up is never fun, but seriously when is it ever fun?

Now go, get your ingredients and have a great Friday movie night!

 

Live, Love and Don’t Forget to be Sweet

 

 

No excuses…

I know I have not blogged recently. And truly there isn’t an excuse:-) Last week I felt very much like not cooking and was spoiled enough to have my mom cook for me all weekend Needless to say I have very tasty things I’ve made this week which I promise to share ASAP, ie maybe tomorrow. In the mean time please check out this wonderfully powerful video. I know it’s a half hour long but it is certainly worth it. Let me know your thoughts and tomorrow I’ll post my “almost famous” bang bang shrimp recipe!

Even you can roast a chicken!

Hello! Nice to see you again? You look well rested, did you enjoy your weekend?

This past week I set out to conquer a task I hadn’t ever done before… roasting a chicken. I had planned on trying a Bon Appetite recipe with a salt crust. I purchase the chicken, but failed to look further at my recipe. When I got home I realized it called for 7-8 cups of salt. I am a baker, but I do not have a need to keep that much salt around, Ever. Needless to say, the salt crust was abandoned. Then I was left with an entire chicken, no roasting pan (didn’t foresee registering for one of these!)  and was stuck!

Luckily I have Google. Into Google I typed something along the lines of… roasting a chicken with no roasting pan. One of the first tries led me to this….

The Naughty Way to Roast a Chicken

Now, I know my viewers are appalled, but let me make my defense… it is not anything naughty, it’s just a funny way to roast a chicken. I promise. When you click the link, the bad things that are usually blocked on most Elementary, Middle, and High School computers, won’t come up and say, STOP you do not have permission to go to the site.

So in taking this blogger’s advice I roasted my own chicken.

Here are special kitchen equipment items you need:

• Bundt Pan
• Aluminum foil
• Meat Thermometer

Ingredients needed:

Your favorite herbs (mine: dill, salt, thyme, oregano, garlic, cumin, pepper) (there is a funny story about the thyme, but we’ll save it for another thyme)

Onion and/or Potatoes (not needed especially if you aren’t roasting vegetables with the chicken)

Olive Oil

My favorite herbs

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Line the hole of your bundt pan with aluminum foil. This prevents leakage all over the bottom of your oven. You could also pun a pan under it to catch the drippings if you’d like.

2. Clean and wash your chicken. If you’ve never done this before… take off all your jewelry. Take out the guts and such that are in the core of the chicken. Toss those immediately. And give your chicken’s insides and out a good rinse. I did this in my strainer, that way I didn’t have to try to hold and wash the chicken.

3. Cut up your onions and put them in the bottom of your bundt pan. (We didn’t eat the onions, just used for flavor)

4. After he gets all rinsed out set him on your bundt pan so that the wings are at the top. I did it opposite of the other blogger who put it at the bottom, I doubt it matters. But make sure your guy is balanced, we don’t need to take a tumble into the flaming hot oven. Also, at this point, give him a good rub down with olive oil. He’ll appreciate one last massage.

5. Put on the herbs that you enjoy. I love a herb crusted chicken so mine took a lot.

Herb-acious!

6. Place in your 450 degree oven for 15 minutes, then drop the temperature to 350 degrees. Roast there for 40-45 minutes. After this time check your temperature if you are at 155 turn your oven up to 450 and roast for another 5-10 minutes until the temperature reaches 160. I did this but left it in a little longer than to 160, I think I got to 170.

7. Now let it rest, this will continue to cook a little and you want all those juices to reincorporate back into the chicken. While it rests, you can eat the wing. It will be delicious.

Resting

OK, I know that some things I make I am impressed with, but I don’t think I’ll ever be going back to the $8-9 Rotisserie Chicken in my groceries deli.

How was it to bake (make):  easy, like every who has a bundt pan can do

How much does it match what I thought I was getting: totally, 100% worth the effort

How time consuming it really is : takes a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes or so including resting time.

Well until next time blogging world…

Live. Love. and don’t be a chicken

Are you PHO real?!

Hello blogging friends! I know, ever since I saw this recipe I couldn’t wait to use all my whit and humor to play with this! Here are other titles I debated…

I pity the PHO who won’t make this recipe!

Stop PHO-ing around and try me!

Don’t be PHO-ish, it’s good!

You can’t PHO around with this one!

I know, you’re begging me to stop. I’m PHO-getting you said that because you love it!

So needless to say, I’m very excited for this post. Ever tried PHO? I had never tried Pho before, need a cultural reference?  (look I learned to link!)  I am certain the DC area has many to offer, however, I only recently have become adventurous in my eating and experimenting with different cultural foods. I am not sure what someone who is Vietnamese would say about my Pho, but I hope they would say it was PHO real!

I spent yesterday, feeling very Presidential and cooked for a few hours in my kitchen. Nothing like spending a day with no plans, helping to get the week started right. Turn on the TV, discover new shows like The Chew and Revolution. Dance to Ellen, and take a nap during the 4pm news! I mean for as much as I love cooking, some days at the end of a long work day, all I want to do is curl up and eat take out pizza. But to avoid the extra cost and bulge of pizza, I spend these days making at least 2-3 “make aheads” that will survive in the fridge and on my plate. I know, very Rachel Ray of me.

One of these was a PHO-abulous Pho Recipe this recipe is adapted from Bon Appetit (I LOVE this Magazine!)

Here’s what you need:

• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 small onion
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed (I forgot these, so I used garlic powder, about 3 tbsp.)
• 1 small piece of ginger (about 3 inches long), peeled
• 2  1/2 cups beef broth
• 1  1/2 cups of water
• 1 whole star anise (friends near here, I found mine at Shoppers for 65 cents for 4, at Giant they were $8 for 10!)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 cups mushrooms mixed (I used just regular old mushrooms and oyster mushrooms… I discovered, I don’t like oyster mushrooms)
• salt
• 2 packages of Ramen Noodles
• 1- 1 1/2 lbs of beef eye round sliced thinly
• bean sprouts
• basil leaves
• Serrano chilies (I didn’t use these, too spicy for me!)

Some items refused to be photographed

 

 

1. Heat oil in a medium pan over medium heat. Add your onion(no need to chop small, you’ll be removing this), garlic, and ginger. Cook and stir for about 3-4 minutes.

 

2. Add to your mix: water, broth, star anise (a sister to fennel!), and cinnamon stick (also add garlic powder here). Bring this to a boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer for 7-8 minutes. I ended up doing this about 15 min because I was busy doing other things, I don’t think it mattered.

Simmer, simmer, simmer, simmer, simmer, yeah!

 

3.Meanwhile… make your ramen noodles, things start to move fast at this point so multitasking is key. Ellen might be dancing with Rosie and Sophia but you gotta sing… focus! Also, at this point the recipe didn’t say, but I removed all the things you weren’t supposed to eat. aka. all the floaters. I did this because it will be easier than trying to get it out when all your other deliciousness is in.I also spent this time chopping my meat.

Ramen PHO you!

Brothy! (notice it's still swirling)

before

 

after

4. Add your mushrooms and simmer for 2 minutes (I of course did longer, because I was watching Sophia rap to Nikki!).

Then cook your meat in your sauce. It says 20 seconds, and I now believe them. I cooked it for 1 min 30 seconds and my meat was chewy. I just couldn’t believe meat would cook in 20 seconds.Now I’m a believer!

5. Spoon over your cooked ramen, sprinkle with bean sprouts, basil and chilies… and enjoy!

Nakey ramen

 

Clothed

 

Stirred

 

OK, it was DELICIOUS. A secret, I kept the ramen beef flavor packets and I wanted a beef-ier broth, which I feel store bought broth doesn’t have, so I added them to my broth. No need to do this, I just did.

How was it to bake (make):  easy, just follow the instructions and the worst that could happen is chewy beef… or burning down your kitchen… but I don’t think we are at risk for you to do that quite yet.

How much does it match what I thought I was getting: my picture looks almost like the magazine photo, if only I could hire a food photographer!

How time consuming it really is : takes a total of 30 minutes max

Come on now! You can do it! Pho real! Pho serious!! Pho sure!!

Please let me know how this recipe goes PHO you! I’d love to hear your thoughts!! Happy FAT Tuesday!!

Live, Love and be PHO real!

 

 

Egg-cellent Brunch

Welcome back! Thank you for passing through again. This week celebrates a little over a month of blogging! Thanks for sticking it out with me as I learn all about blogging!

Before this weekends recipe I reflect on life lessons learned this week:-)

1. Blogs were meant for short and long posts. No one really wants to dedicate tons of time to reading my whit and humor even though I crack myself up.

2. Patience is a virtue when dealing with a car dealership. When the computers die and you wait around for a few hours to get paper work done, patience is really need because it seriously is out of everyone’s control. Reserve all patience until the lady doing the paper work asks when you are due. Like she thought I was a few months pregnant?! Enough to ask me when I was expecting?! I mean seriously lady, great customer service reviews you will be getting all over the interne from me.Though, shout out to all the other people at the Nissan dealer who were rock star, you should probably get rid of your dead weight there.

3. When playing Just Dance on Wii doing fitness mode, avoid picking super shuffle. I don’t want anyone to think they are not capable of super shuffle. It’s just the down fall of super shuffle is that they don’t stop shuffling once you earn the “sweat point” amount desired. So you punish yourself thinking that they will stop you when you reach desired amount, only to realize you doubled desired amount when you finally give up.

Now to the recipe. We had some of my husband’s family over for brunch on Sunday morning. We spent a lot of time yesterday at the dealership, so I didn’t really do night before prep. However, the prep work for this casserole is simple, easy, and makes a yummy casserole for your brunch long friends/family! I don’t suggest inviting strangers, this is a tough meal for “get to know yous” .

Egg-Cellent Casserole

Ingredients:

8 large eggs

1/4 cup of milk

1 cup cheese of your choice (I use 3 cheese blend)

1 cup of bell peppers (I love Trader Joes frozen 3 Pepper Montage) (you can use any soft veggies!)

1/2 of the Gimme Lean Sausage (I was at TJ’s and there wasn’t any pork sausage, so I bought the vegetarian and it is delicious!)

spices of your choice… I put a dash of cumin and garlic

Instructions:

1. Grease your glass pyrex and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Make all your ingredients mix and mingle. I whisk up the eggs first so that my other ingredients don’t get caught in my whisk (strong dislike of mine). After whisking eggs, I use just a spoon to mix the rest of the ingredients. Enjoy some … egg-cellent photos (See I’m laughing at my ‘punny’ jokes).

Serious YUM!

 

3. Cook for an hour. Check at about 45 minutes, if liquid-y keep cooking. Just avoid overcooking. No one likes a rotten egg (I know again!)

 

Now there are no more photos because everyone came in, socialized, played with niece and nephew and then ate. However I did take some photos of other items necessary and yummy for a brunch …

1. Fresh fruit. Skip the fruit salad. I love fruit salad but that is prep time that you could be enjoying doing something else. Pick one or two

2. Mimosas. I mean, if you are of age, mimosas make a Sunday brunch even tastier:-)

3. Coffee.

4. Casseroles. I also made a French Toast Casserole that I wasn’t impressed with, thus why it doesn’t make an appearance here. I promise another brunch I’ll get it to my liking. However, everyone else liked, which is a total plus! But you know me now, I’m picky about what to share

A beautiful dish from my Grandmother with celmentines

French Pressed Coffee (once you go pressed you may not go back)

 

Anyone else getting delicious winter strawberries?! These are rockstar!

Now for my words of wisdom:

How was it to bake: EASY EASY, make this ahead of time or the morning of, it all will be delicious. Plus you really can’t go wrong until you burn it.

How much does it match what I thought I was getting: well I am sure I have to give credit to my Mom for this one. She was the master of the kitchen when I was a child and gave me free reign to cook and.. clean in her kitchen. I am sure she made something like this for us before and gave me inspiration. Thanks Mom! I promise I’ll come make a mess in your new kitchen if you want

How time consuming it really is : set it, and forget it! oh, WAIT, well not forget! You know… ( Don’t you love info-mericals?! Right Dan?!)

 

Well blog until next time. Happy Presidents Day! Cross your fingers for some snow! and..

Live, Love and Eat Strawberries

 

 

Wet Wednesday (it’s soup!)

Happy Belated Valentine’s Day bloggers! Did you cook for your hunny? or did you enjoy an evening out?

So I know my ‘baking’ blog focuses primarily into ‘baking’, but why not show some baked items that aren’t sugary?! This is my favorite, winter time go to recipe: Butternut Squash Soup. I love, love, love this semi made recipe due to its easy nature, but also because it isn’t loaded with cream like many of the other soups you get. The reason I claim: semi home made is because I am certain someone else has done this and I’m sure it’s not an original. However, it can be semi original if I mix ideas right? Unfortunately, I can not site an original source but I am sure many people on the internet and in recipe magazines, deserve some credit towards this recipe. So here we go…

Ingredients:

1-2 Butternut Squashes (is that grammatically correct?) (I buy pre-cut, it is not that much different in price)

1 quart chicken broth

1 small Knorrs Chicken Stock thingys (yeah hard to describe, look at picture, ask further questions)

1 Sweet Onion

1 Sweet Apple (Gala, Macintosh, etc)

Olive Oil

I used two containers, depends on how much soup you want:-)

Little stock thingy will be in the broth area of grocery

Equipment:

Larger stock pot

Oven

Pans (I live by my glass pyrex ones)

Blender or Immersion Blender (brides, register for this!)

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Take your squash and peel and slice into similar chunks, no need to be small. If you bought pre-cut (my friends who don’t mess around) just cut into about the same size, this way they roast evenly. Do the same for your onion and apple. But here is the deal, DON’T overload your pan. Spray it with your cooking spray, put one layer in. If you pack it tight, they steam, and they don’t roast. I ended up using two glass pyrex pans.

2. Drizzle with olive oil. Don’t put too much it will swim and not be as good. Use your judgment. Now sprinkle with your favorite spices that you think would be delicious. Not a good judge of this? I love cumin, garlic salt, and a little bit of Spanish paprika. I love the smokey taste.

3. Roast in the oven for 45-60 minutes. Why such a large time frame? Large pieces need more time, small pieces need less time. Keep an eye on them, you don’t want burnt squash. The best way to tell if they are done is that they can squish with a fork easily.

4. Put the squash into your stock pot along with your stock thingy and 1-2 cups of your broth. Now comes my favorite kitchen piece, the immersion blender. Blend away!

5. I add broth as I go. This is to your liking. I didn’t use all my broth but I also like my soup thicker. Do you like thicker or thinner? Add as you wish! The only way you can mess up is if you add more than you like so do it a little at a time.

6. Heat up and enjoy!

I like mine really hot. See the steam?

Now for my words of wisdom:

How was it to bake: EASY EASY, make this ahead and freeze or keep in fridge!

How much does it match what I thought I was getting: you really can’t go wrong

How time consuming it really is : easy.

Do you love to make soup? Do you love your immersion blender?!

Have a very warm and wonderful Wednesday!!

Live, Love and Stay Warm!