Roasted Butternut Squash Soup...

I have a nasty cold this weekend and soup was the only thing that even sounded good to me today. I had to check what I had in the fridge and cupboards to decide what I could make and I saw a butternut squash and sage leaves that both needed to be used before they went bad. Then, I googled for a low fat version of butternut squash soup since most recipes include cream or half and half and I am trying to eat healthier in 2011. I found this recipe on KansasCity.com

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
as copied from the KansasCity.com website
Makes 6 servings (about 7 cups)

4 cloves garlic, not peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 butternut squash, about 2  3/4 pounds
1 small to medium sweet yellow onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 carrots, peeled and sliced about 3/4 -inch thick
4 to 6 sage leaves, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper, plus additional pepper to taste, divided
1 (32-ounce) carton vegetable stock
1/4 teaspoon rubbed sage

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 10- by 15-inch jelly roll pan with aluminum foil.

Place the unpeeled garlic cloves on a 6-inch square of aluminum foil. Drizzle about 1/2 teaspoon olive oil over garlic; bring aluminum foil up over garlic to make a packet. Set on edge of aluminum foil-covered pan.

Using a large, heavy knife, cut off ends of squash. Peel using a vegetable peeler. Cut squash in half, remove and discard seeds. Cut squash into 1 to 1  1/2 -inch cubes. Place squash in a mixing bowl. Add onion and carrots. Drizzle vegetables with remaining olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and sage leaves; toss to coat vegetables evenly. Spread in a single layer on prepared pan.

Bake, uncovered, 20 minutes; stir squash and carrot mixture, then continue roasting 15 to 20 minutes or until vegetables are very tender and golden brown. (There is no need to stir the garlic.)

Allow roasted vegetables to cool slightly. Spoon roasted vegetables into blender or work bowl of food processor. Carefully open garlic packet, allowing steam to escape. When cool enough to handle, gently squeeze roasted garlic out of skin and add the garlic to the vegetables.

Blend until smooth. (Add a little of the vegetable stock if needed so blending is easy. Work in batches as necessary.) Spoon puree into saucepan.

Blend in vegetable stock and rubbed sage. Season to taste with pepper. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until hot and steamy.

My Notes: I didn't have any vegetable stock so I used fat free chicken stock. I also think you can never have enough sage or garlic with butternut squash so I roasted 6 cloves of garlic and used at least 10 sage leaves. The vegetables weren't roasted to my likening at 375 degrees so I ended up putting them on 425 for an extra 15 minutes. I also used the stick blender to puree the soup.

Marsha - Thumbs UP
Jeff - refused to even taste it and had a meatball sandwich for dinner instead :)

sweet potatoes and a sweet's birthday...

The Christmas dishes are put away but I am still using my "Frosty Friends" by Oneida plates that I bought at a garage sale this summer. They came as a box of 4 dessert plates but these days I am using them as my dinner plate as a mind trick to think I am eating more than I am since I am trying to lose a few lbs with portion control. Jeff on the other hand appreciates a man-sized dinner plate :)
Tonight we had pork for supper so I tried a new side dish recipe with sweet potatoes and apple slices.
My little plate was full but my portions were the right size - so I felt I was getting more food than a few spoonfuls scattered on a large plate.
Scalloped Sweet Potatoes
from the Pine to Prairie cookbook, Vol III

1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3 raw, medium sweet potatoes, peeled, sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 medium apples, sliced
3 TBSP butter

Mix sugar and cinnamon together. Place a layer of sweet potatoes in a lightly buttered casserole. Add a layer of apples, sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture and dot with butter. Repeat layers. Cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour. Makes 6 servings.

Marsha - Thumbs UP
Jeff - Thumbs UP

and now the "sweet's birthday"...
A couple of years ago I met a group of women on a food forum and over time our core group has become great friends. Suzy is the youngest one of the eight whom I call my sweet and savory friends but with us age doesn't matter. You may know her from Kitchen Bouquet, she's a great cook and a wonderful gardener. When I think of Suzy I always think of tulips (she sometimes tip toes through them, no really she does!) and the fun day trips she shares with us online. She is our resident "nurse" and we all trust her advice. She is a true southern belle full of grits and grace. No one but her could have gotten a MN girl to celebrate Madri Gras Louisiana style. Happy Birthday Suzy! I hope your celebrated in true southern style!

fettuccine zucchini...

I'm trying to eat healthier these days (and I say that straight faced in a post that also tells you I used heavy cream, YIKES!) so with an abundance of zucchini that I got at the local farm stand I made faux pasta.

The zucchinni and summer squash weren't the tiny little ones we like to use in stir fry but the cucumber sized ones where the seedy middle is developing. So I pulled out my trusty Pampered Chef apple-peeler-corer and flipped down the peeler tool to core and make long curly ribbons of fettuccine (literally "little ribbons" in Italian) zucchini. I steamed the ribbons and then browned bite sized pieces of chicken, baby bellas, garlic and onion with a generous amount of dried italian seasoning in 1 tb of olive oil and 1 tb of butter. After the chicken was fully cooked and the mushrooms golden, I added in just enough cream and grated parmesean to make a sauce and then tossed it with my fettuccine zucchini and served it with more parmesean on top. Wish I would of came up with this idea before gardening season was almost done...it will definitely be made again.

Marsha - Thumbs UP
Jeff - Thumbs UP