Even Better Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Just over a year ago, I posted my first attempt at butternut squash soup. It was really good and got rave reviews. This time it's better, I promise.

It's a little bit time-intensive, but it is totally worth it in the end. It honestly tastes like it just came out of an expensive restaurant.

The credit for this recipe belongs to someone else, you can find the original recipe here. I changed some of the quantities to add more flavor.

INGREDIENTS:

1 (3 pound) butternut squash - peeled, seeded, and cubed

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and ground black pepper to taste

8 strips bacon, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

6 stalks celery, chopped

6 carrots, chopped

2 bay leaf

4 teaspoons curry powder

2 teaspoon dried thyme

salt and ground black pepper to taste

1 apple - peeled, cored, and cubed (I used a Tango apple)

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups apple cider

1 1/2 quarts chicken stock

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)

Directions

Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Place squash in a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil; mix to coat; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread squash into a single layer on a baking pan. Roast the squash in the preheated oven, turning once, until fork-tender and caramelized; 30 to 40 minutes.

Place the bacon in a Dutch oven and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Remove the bacon slices to a paper towel-lined plate, reserving the drippings in the pan.

Place the onion, celery, carrot, bay leaf, curry powder, thyme, and salt and pepper in the Dutch oven; cook in reserved bacon drippings until the carrots and celery are soft. Mix in the apples and cooked squash and cook another 5 minutes. Stir the garlic into the mixture and cook another 1 minute. Pour the apple cider over the mixture; reduce heat to medium-low and bring to a simmer; allow to reduce to about half its original volume. Stir in the chicken stock; simmer over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes.

Puree the soup in small batches in a blender, or use an immersion blender. If using a blender, don't fill the blender more than half-way. Always remove the center lid piece of a stand blender when blending hot liquids so the steam can escape. Cover the hole with a dish towel while blending. Stir the nutmeg into the soup. Garnish each bowl with some of the bacon pieces to serve.

Crock-pot Sloppy José's

Get it? The Spanish version of Sloppy Joe's? 

I rarely make recipes I see on Yahoo! Shine, but this one already had some reviews and it looked interesting. I was lured in by the versatility of the recipe, claiming you can use eat it on buns, in taco shells, or in a taco salad. Frankly, taco salad was the magic word as it is one of my weaknesses. We had two hungry 20 year old boys (missionaries) coming over for dinner right after I got home from work so I decided this would be a perfect time to try out the recipe. 

As I know how my mornings usually go, I cooked up the meat and chopped all the veggies the night before so that the next day I just pulled it all out of the fridge and threw it in the crock-pot for a 5 minute preparation. 

After work, I was welcomed home by a wonderful smell. We set the table with buns, tortillas, tortilla chips, salad, salsa and shredded cheese and told the missionaries to create their own masterpieces. Between the two of them they proceeded to eat: 5 sloppy joes, 1 huge soft taco, a plate of nachos, and some salad on the side. I think they liked the food. :)  Today for lunch I had an excellent taco salad and verified the recipe's claim. 

Ingredients:

2 lb lean ground beef

3 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

1 1/2 cups chopped red and/or green pepper

2 tsp salt

4 cloves garlic

2 16oz jars salsa (I used 1 jar mild and 1 jar medium)

1 1/2 cups shredded carrots

1/3 cup tomato paste

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper*

      (this is a tame amount, if you like spice feel free to add more)

Directions:

1. In a skillet cook beef over medium heat until brown, stirring to break meat in pieces. Drain fat. In 5- or 6-qt. slow cooker stir together beef and remaining ingredients (except rolls).
2. Cover; cook on high-heat setting 4 to 5 hours or low-heat setting 8 to 10 hours.
3. 
   

Recipe Credit: http://shine.yahoo.com/food/recipes/spicy-beef-sloppy-joes-535428.html

Butternut Squash Soup

Growing up, my family really didn't eat a lot of squash. I'm not sure why, perhaps my mom didn't like it. We did have zucchini, but that's about it. As an adult I have found I have an affinity for the versatility of squash and have been branching out into different ways to prepare all the different varieties.

Last weekend I bought a butternut squash and when the weather took a chilly turn, I made it into a healthy, delicious soup. Most recipes will call for some form of cream to thicken the soup, but honestly, it's not necessary. The squash is quite capable of thickening and creaming on it's own. 

I took this soup to a soup/salad potluck and it was a hit. :) Not only did it taste delicious, but how can you beat the festive autumny-orange color?

Here's my rough guesstimate of how I made it (you should all know by now that I don't follow recipes)

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash, quartered and roasted face-down in oven for 45 min

2 tbsp butter (or olive oil)

1 onion, diced

2-3 tbsp garlic, minced

3 cups chicken stock (give or take)

2 tsp Marjoram

Salt

Pepper

Cayenne Pepper

Directions:

After roasting squash, let cool and peel off skin. 

In large pot, combine butter, onions and garlic and cook on medium heat until onions are translucent.

Add squash and chicken stock.

Using immersion blender, blend until smooth and creamy. (Or you can dump ingredients into a regular blender, but I suggested just investing in an immersion blender if you like creamy soups.)

Add Marjoram, salt, black pepper and red pepper to taste.

Cook until heated, stirring to ensure the bottom doesn't burn.

You may find that you need to add additional stock or water or reduce to get your desired consistency and depending on the size of your squash.

If you wish to add some additional creaminess, you can add 4oz of cream cheese or 1/2 c. half and half.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

I know, another soup. I just have a weakness for drinking my dinner.

This cream of broccoli soup is perfect for those who don't prefer cheese, (such as my husband) however, for those that do love cheese, the soup can be enhanced by a cup of shredded cheddar.

Another neat thing about this soup is the variety of ways to use the leftovers. We took this soup and mixed it into some cooked egg noodles and added peas and chicken and topped it with bread crumbs for a classic casserole. I also really enjoyed using the soup as a topping for a baked potato.



Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
8 c. broccoli florets
3 c. chicken broth
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
2 c. milk
Ground pepper
Bacon bits (optional, but yummy)

Directions:
Saute onion & celery in butter. Add broccoli & broth. Cover & simmer until tender. Mash to rough texture. (If you are seeking a smoother, creamier texture you can puree the broccoli. In separate pan stir flour, butter & milk till boiling. Add to soup. Season with pepper & bacon bits.

Oh, just a side-note: I had a head of cabbage in the fridge and I put a good amount of cabbage into this soup and it was delicious!

Rustic Potato Stew (sounds gourmet, eh?)

Last night I came down with some kind of sinus infection and after a super rough night, all I wanted today was some warm soup and a cozy blanket. Sadly, my mom is 1100 miles away and her homemade soup is a little out of reach right now. After taking some pills I decided to "mom up" and make a pot of nutrition filled potato soup. Once again, this was a "made my own recipe" soup where I threw in everything I had in the fridge and luckily I had some good stuff in there.


Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter
1 med onion
4 carrots, peeled & chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
7 red potatoes
2 cups cabbage, chopped
4 cups water
2 cups milk
4-6 tbsp flour
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp pepper
2 tbsp dill
2 tbsp chicken bouillon

Directions:

I started by warming up the butter in the pot and adding the onion, celery & carrots. Let it cook up for about 10 minutes before adding the water and potatoes. Bring to a boil and let it cook for about 10 minutes. In a separate dish whisk the milk and the flour together before adding it to the pot. Add cabbage, salt, pepper, dill & bouillon. Let simmer for 10 minutes or until vegetables are cooked through.

I think this soup was just what the doctor ordered because I am already feeling quite a bit better. This was the first time I had added cabbage and I really like the inclusion. The soup was chunky and full of veggies and putting the cabbage and potatoes together felt like an homage to my Irish heritage. ;)

Better Than Delivery Pizza

This past weekend we were craving good pizza, so I decided to try my hand at making it.



I found a great pizza dough recipe online and made my very first homemade pizza crust. I will admit to having some difficulty when it came to rolling it out and I ended up spraying pam on my countertop and dusting it with flour so that I could pull the nicely rolled dough right off and move it to the pan without ripping. It took me a couple of tries, but the dough didn't seem too tough, despite being re-rolled 3 times.

I decided I wanted a sauce with more flavor, so I mixed a can of diced tomatoes with a can of tomato sauce and added onion powder, garlic, salt, brown sugar, and oregano. I let it sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to let the flavors mix together and it was perfect.

We bought pre-shredded cheese and were careful to find the bags labeled "right off the block" rather than the imitation cheese (as you will find it doesn't melt). We also topped the pizza with green, yellow and red peppers & onions (we used frozen ones that we happened to have on hand and we just defrosted them before putting them on the pizza), pepperoni, ground beef seasoned to taste like sausage (using fennel and sage), olives and pineapple.

I can honestly say that it was the best pizza I have eaten in a long time (though, I haven't had much pizza lately so my judgment may be off). The next day Alexander was asking if we could make it again. :) That's what I call a successful dinner!

Momma's Chili

With the cool weather setting in, I can't help but pull out all my favorite soup recipes and when I want comfort food to warm me up, I can't do much better than my mom's wonderful chili recipe. She usually served it up with fresh cornbread, but I made homemade biscuits instead (find the recipe here), and boy were they tasty! (As a side-note: I also used that biscuit recipe for a biscuits and gravy breakfast and the biscuits were solid enough to handle the thick gravy while still managing to be fluffy.)



Mom gave me a recipe for the chili, but nowadays I tend to just throw it all in the pot and guess at quantities. I think it tastes better that way. With that in mind, I will tell you my guesstimate on the ingredients:

2 large cans of tomato juice
Red/kidney beans (mom's recipe used dried beans that were soaked, but I always cheat with 3 rinsed cans of beans instead)
About equal quantities ( 2-4 tbsp, to taste) of the following spices: cumin, curry powder, garlic powder (or fresh garlic), sugar, chili powder (although I tend to add a lot more of this), salt to taste
1 lb ground beef, cooked with 1 chopped onion

Add it all together on the stove and cook for about an hour, give or take. If you use the canned beans I recommend waiting to add them until halfway through.

Southwestern White Chicken Chili

My husband and I just got back from a soirée in Arizona where the weather was hot and my craving for Mexican food was a bit overwhelming. Now that we are back in Kansas City, the air feels chilly and today seemed like the perfect day for soup. Like all my soups, it was created based on what was in my cupboard at the time. I decided to create a white chicken chili since I had never done it before and I happened to have white beans on hand. Halfway through cooking, I decided to give it a more pronounced southwestern taste to answer my tex-mex craving and added black beans as well.



As I never measure anything I create, the rough estimate of my soup recipe is below. The good thing with soup is that it is easy to fix if it doesn't taste quite right.

1 1/2 lbs of chicken, chopped and cooked in 1 tbsp of veg. oil
2 Tbsp of southwestern chipotle pepper seasoning mix
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 Tbsp minced garlic
2 stalks of celery, chopped
5 cups of chicken broth, or water with chicken bouillon
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 can of great northern white beans (rinsed)
1 can black beans (rinsed)
1 can of chopped green chilis
1 Tbsp white pepper
2 cubes of cilantro bouillon (seriously, this stuff is amazing and can be found in a little box in the hispanic food section of the grocery store)
1 Tbsp cumin
Other ideas I had that would be good but I didn't have on-hand: red or green pepper, sour cream, fresh cilantro

Mandatory add-ins: (these REALLY made the soup terrific!)
Shredded Mexican Cheese (mine is a mix of cheddar & monterey jack)
White Rice (we had this leftover from our chinese dinner last night)
Tortilla Chips, broken on-top of soup

Chop the chicken and cook it in the veg oil, seasoning with salt & pepper. Halfway through the cooking add the southwestern chipotle seasoning.

In a rice cooker or separate pan, cook rice according to your usual methods, set aside.

Meanwhile, in a soup pot add olive oil, onion, garlic & celery. Cook until soft. Add water or broth. Mix in cream of chicken soup (to thicken the soup) & green chilis. Bring to a boil. Once at a boil, reduce to simmer and add beans, cooked chicken, cilantro bouillon, white pepper & cumin.

When serving, put about a 1/2 cup rice in the bottom of bowl, pour soup over top. Top with cheese and chips. Enjoy!


Beverage Tip: Ginger ale is a great pairing with this dish as the ginger is a compliment to the spicy flavors in the soup.

Quick Sweet & Sour Chicken

Stir-frys have become my "go-to" dish when I don't have a lot of time but I want something delicious and my stir-fry did not disappoint tonight. I was inspired by the very ripe pineapple that I needed to use and the red and green peppers in my fridge.

I forgot to take a picture before we ate, so here is a picture of the leftovers I packed into the fridge:


I cooked my chicken in my usual and favorite way, as mentioned in the chicken soup post below. I then added in the chopped peppers and pineapple and let them soften up a bit.
I had a secret weapon that I was able to pull out of my freezer, the leftover orange sauce from the orange chicken I had made a few weeks ago.

For the benefit of all of us, I will record my recipe for the orange sauce here. If I don't put it here I know I will lose the recipe and regret it forever.

1 1/2 cups pineapple juice
2 tablespoons
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
To thicken: mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water and add in to sauce

Add everything together and bring to a boil. Let cool for 10 minutes

I mixed in the sauce and let the flavors combine for about 5 minutes and served it over a bed of basmati rice. On the side I served garlic green beans which were a perfect accent and also tasted great with the orange sauce.

The end result accidentally tasted EXACTLY like the sweet and sour chicken bowl from Teriyaki Stix, without the gross chicken fat that I always seemed to get. ;)

30 Minute Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

As I was getting ready for a stressful catering job on Saturday, I decided that I could really use some comfort food but I didn't have the time or energy to devote hours to creating the perfect gourmet food. No worries, I pulled out my no-fail, 30 minute Chicken Noodle Soup. This dish has no recipe, it is created out of whatever happens to be living in the fridge and cupboards at the time. However, I will say that this particular batch was exceedingly tasty.



I took 2 chicken breasts and chopped them up, seasoned them with salt and pepper and cooked them in a bit of vegetable oil. The oil combined with the salt gives the chicken a really nice little crust that is super flavorful and keeps in the moisture.

In my soup pot, I started with a quick simmer of chopped onions, celery, garlic and red pepper in butter. Once they were softened, I added chicken stock (no, it's not homemade stock, but I'm willing to trade that for a 30 minute meal) and add the cooked chicken. I like to add a bit of creaminess and extra flavor in to my soups, so I sometimes use a condensed soup like cream of chicken. This time I added cream of celery soup.

Any type of noodle tastes great in this soup but I am a bit traditional and lean on the egg noodles. On Saturday I happened to have German egg noodles in my cupboard, so I used them. They are not as wide as what we usually think of as egg noodles, but they are thicker and have a nice, rough homemade texture.

After rummaging through my fridge and freezer, I pulled out some frozen stew vegetables and gave them an extra chop before throwing them into the pot. I finished the soup with a seasoning of oregano, basil and pepper.

Just a note, although I LOVE soup, my husband is not a huge fan. He is willing to eat one bowl, but would rather not eat an entire pot of it. Keeping that in mind, I keep my liquid level quite low, almost like a stew. Once that goes into the fridge, the noodles soak up the broth and the leftovers end up being like a creamy chicken and noodles casserole rather than a soup, which Alexander really enjoys. It's quite easy to rehydrate that again with chicken stock should I want soup again.

Spicy Carbonara

I threw together this dish after going through the fridge and pulling out everything we needed to use before it went bad. I call it a Spicy Carbonara. It features linguine, red peppers, chicken, chili oil, red onions, garlic and half and half.



I chopped up the chicken and cooked it for about 5-7 minutes in a small bit of olive oil, sprinkling it with hot chili oil and chipotle bouillon. I then put in half of a red onion, half a red pepper and some minced garlic. After about 3 minutes, I stirred in half and half and chicken bouillon. I thickened it with a bit of cornstarch and let it boil until the consistency was just right. I then dumped it over my cooked linguine. Before serving I sprinkled cracked black pepper and bits of bacon over the top.

This was a successful experiment with a good kick! We are definitely going to make this again. :)

Asian Inspirations

This past weekend I decided to pull out the ol' Asian guns and really impress some friends that were coming over for dinner. I chose to try new recipes and overall I was quite pleased with the results. I created Pork Lettuce Wraps, Orange Chicken and Chicken Lo Mein served with Basmati Rice (I know it's not Chinese, but I love the flavor!). The Lo Mein was not bad, but not quite on par with what I was looking for so I won't post about that here. However, the rest of the food was divine!

I made the lettuce wrap filling out of ground pork, seasoned with chili oil, onions, garlic, hoisin sauce and soy sauce. I served it with fresh crisp lettuce leaves for the perfect texture and flavor. Just writing this makes my mouth water!



The orange chicken was marinated and breaded and served in an orange sauce made from orange zest and juice. I mixed in some stir fry veggies for a yummy healthy addition.



Overall the dinner was an absolute success! I will keep working on the Lo Mein recipe until I get it just right. Oh, and dessert was a warm chocolate cake with homemade chocolate icing. Yeah, I think that pretty much cinches up my gourmet chef title. ;)

Jägerschnitzel - Schnitzel with Noodles

These are a few of my favorite things...

I cooked up an awesome German dinner for my hungry German husband this week that was really tasty! I turned boring old pork chops into schnitzel and served it up with noodles and an amazing bacon mushroom sauce.

For those of you who don't know what schnitzel is, it's just German for cutlet (and no, it has absolutely nothing to do with sausages). It can be made of veal, pork, chicken, or really whatever you want. The version I made is called Jägerschnitzel (pronounced Yay-grr-shnitz-el) which means "Hunter Cutlet" and is so named because of the mushroom gravy. Other types of schnitzel include the famous Wienerschnitzel (Vee-ner) or "Viennese Schnitzel" that is breaded and served plain with a slice of lemon, and Zigeunerschnitzel (Tzi-goy-ner) or "Gypsy Schnitzel" that is served with a spicy paprika and red bell pepper sauce, (which I am going to have to make next, because it sounds delicious!).

I've decided to share the love and post my improved directions below. You are welcome! :)



Ingredients:

6 pork chops
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons paprika
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons mustard
2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 pound bacon, diced
1/2 diced yellow onion, approximately 1/2 cup
1 pkg mushroom soup mix (I used a German variation featuring chanterelle mushrooms)
2 teaspoons Maggi or Worcestershire sauce (I recommend Maggi for all gravies)
Vegetable oil, for frying
2 cups half and half
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

Directions:

Pound pork chops between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper to 1/4-inch thickness. In a shallow medium bowl, mix together 3/4 cup flour with salt, pepper, garlic and paprika. In another shallow medium bowl, combine egg, milk and mustard. Put the bread crumbs in a third medium shallow bowl. Dredge pork slices first in flour, then in egg wash, and finally in crumbs. This works best if you do it like Alton Brown and have a dry hand and a wet hand. Let set on a baking sheet fitted with a cooling rack for 5 minutes.

In a medium saute pan over medium heat cook the bacon and onions until crispy. Pour half and half into a small saute pan and mix the soup mix into it. Add maggi, bacon & onions, and season with a couple of shakes of salt, parsley and pepper. Depending on your desired thickness, you may want to add more/less half and half. Keep warm.

Heat 1/4-inch oil in thick saute pan. Once heated, add pork and cook evenly on both sides, about 3-5 minutes for the first side, 3-4 minutes for the second. Remove to platter when done. To serve, cover pork with sauce. Either egg noodles or mashed potatoes would be an excellent addition to this dinner.

Chimijitas - A Taste of Pure Happiness

Seriously, pure happiness! Today I was craving Mexican. Okay, I actually ALWAYS crave Mexican (or technically, tex-mex) but today was my breaking point so I decided to do something about it. Depressed by the lack luster offerings of the surrounding El Gross-o restaurants, I sent myself to the kitchen to see if the fridge had anything useful in it. Luckily for us, it did.

I set to work with no recipe, just a vague idea of what I wanted the end result to taste like. I took all my favorite parts of tex-mex cuisine and combined them. The filling was based on fajita filling, with green & red peppers, onions and chicken. I added a special and unique blend of spices to get it just right. Once I had rolled the filling up in tortillas, I fried them up a few seconds on each side in a little bit of oil.

After they were plated, I spooned on some of the special sauce I had made. The sauce is a green chili sauce, made with a mixture of cream of chicken soup, green enchilada sauce, diced green chilis and an assortment of spices. The idea was to make the inside hot and spicy and the outside cool and refreshing, mixing the two in perfect harmony. Because they are a mixture of fajitas and chimichangas, I named them Chimijitas. :)

I served the chimijitas with mexican rice/black beans, corn, and romaine lettuce, creating a fairly balanced plate of flavors. The end result was shockingly good. They needed no salsa or cheese, they were simply perfect displaying all the flavors I had been craving. Success is rarely so tasty!

What's For Dinner: Korroke Potatoes

On tonight's menu is Korroke Potatoes, which are Japanese potato croquettes. This is one of Zuke's favorite meals that his mom used to make while growing up. The recipe is really easy, but kind of time-consuming, so make sure that you give yourself plenty of time for prep. You can link to the original recipe here, but I've typed up the recipe below with our own little changes that we've made over time.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 lb potatoes
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1-2 tsp curry powder, to taste
• Salt & pepper
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup flour
• 2 cups Panko or unseasoned breadcrumbs
• 3 cups peanut or vegetable oil (for deep frying)

DIRECTIONS

1. Boil the diced potatoes in salted water, until tender.

2 Meanwhile, crumble the ground beef into a heavy skillet and cook, stirring, until browning.

3 Add the chopped onion to the beef, and saute until tender.

4 Combine salt, pepper, and curry powder and add to the meat/onion mixture.

5 Cook for a few minutes, then remove from heat.

6 Drain cooked potatoes and mash until smooth.

7 Combine the meat mixture with the mashed potatoes.

8 Add a quarter of the beaten egg to the meat and potato mixture and blend together thoroughly.

9 Divide the mashed combination into 16 equal portions.

10 Form each portion into a small sausage shape.

11 Dredge each portion in flour, then dip each into the remainder of the beaten egg.

12 Coat each croquette with panko or unseasoned breadcrumbs.

13 Arrange the breaded croquettes on a waxed paper-covered tray or cookie sheet.

14 Refrigerate for at least 2 hours- this ensures a crunchier result when deep-fried.

15 Heat peanut oil in a wok on high, or until just smoking.

16 Deep-fry the croquettes a couple at time until lightly browned.

17 Drain on paper towels and keep warm.

18 Repeat with remaining croquettes until finished.

In Japanese tradition, these are usually served with Tonkatsu Sauce (or Bulldog Sauce), which you can either make at home or purchase at any oriental market. My kids and I prefer them with ketchup, so you have many options on how to serve them. Enjoy!