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 :)

Sunday breakfast...banana french toast

My sister, Tammie, emailed me this recipe back in 2006 - wow, took me long enough to pull it out of the "to try" file!She originally got the recipe from the March 2006 issue of Readers Digest magazine but changed out the bread. I made it using her subsitution of blueberry bread.

Banana French Toast
recipe from Tammie S.

8 slices of raisin bread (we used blueberry bread)
2 medium bananas, cut into 1/4" slices
1 cup milk
4 oz cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees, if preparing the same day. Place four slices of bread in a buttered 9 x 9 baking dish. Top with bananas and the last four slices of bread. Blend milk, cream cheese, eggs, sugar, flour and vanilla in a blender until smooth. Pour over bread. Let stand 5 minutes or refrigerate overnight. Bake 40-45 minutes (50-55 if refrigerated) until set and top is toasted. Let stand 10 minutes. Cut french toast into diagonal halves; dust servings with powdered sugar if desired.

My notes: I baked it the same day as making it so let it stand 5 minutes - next time I would maybe let it stand 10 minutes so more of the custard soaked into the top layer of bread. I used a blueberry cobbler bread (Grandpa's Oven brand) and forgot the powdered sugar dusting but it was still very good.

We will make this again and try different variations of it as well - blueberry bread with fresh blueberries rather than bananas, raisin bread without fruit and plain bread with strawberries.

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cranberry chili sauce...

Shortly before Christmas I found this recipe for cranberry chili vension sausages on the blog, Everyday Gourmet. Since I had an abundance of vension sausages in the freezer I used the recipe to make a crockpot of sausages for Jeff's extended family Christmas and it was very good. I forgot to take a photo then but I used the same sauce on meatballs for a New Year's eve gathering with friends and quickly snapped a shot of them still in the crockpot.This recipe is a "keeper" because it is semi-homemade and quick to put together as well as very tasty.

Cranberry Chili Sauce for Sausages or Meatballs
from the blog, Everyday Gourmet

Ingredients

* 2 cans (14 ounces) whole berry cranberry sauce
* 2 bottle (12 ounces) chili sauce
* 1 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon chili powder
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 4 lbs fully cooked homestyle sausage or meatballs

Directions

* In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the first six ingredients; stir until sugar is dissolved. Add sausages; cook for 20-25 minutes or until hot, stirring occasionally. Yield: about 30 servings.

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birthday pie...

Remember that song, "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to"? Ever since I told Jeff I wanted him to make me a birthday pie instead of a cake I've been humming "It's my birthday and I'll have pie if I want to" :)It all started with this fun pie plate I bought at Goodwill last month and then while looking for recipes for a few Christmas treats I found a recipe titled The Ultimate Caramel Chocolate Pecan Pie. I knew we had a perfect recipe to try in the plate. While Jeff stood around and watched more than he actually made the pie, it was a fun project to do together.
This is a rich pie made with 3 cups of pecans, caramel & chocolate so you only need a small piece.
The Ultimate Caramel Chocolate Pecan Pie
recipe from Kraft Creative Kitchens

Crust
2 cups finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted butter

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix pecans, sugar and butter. Press onto bottom and sides of a 9 inch pie plate. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool.

1st layer of Filling
1 pkg (48) caramels
1/4 cup milk
1 cup chopped pecans

Melt caramels with 1/4 cup milk in heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently until smooth. Pour over crust; sprinkle with pecans.

Top layer of Filling
1 pkg (8 squares) of semi sweet baking chocolate
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/3 tsp vanilla

Stir chocolate, 1/3 cup milk, powdered sugar and vanilla in a heavy saucepan over very low heat just until melted. Pour over caramel pecan filling, spreading to edges of pie. Refrigerate. Serve with sweetened whipped cream, if desired. Makes 10-12 servings.

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Merry Christmas from my table to yours...

Oatmeal Craisin Cookies...

On Wednesday as I was reading through the blogs I follow I saw Kathy of Glacial Ridge Knits & Quilts did this post on "The 3 C's.....Cranberry & Coconut & Chocolate". I knew I would be making these as soon as I heard the title :) By Wednesday afternoon I had her recipe printed out and was searching the cupboards to see what I had on hand to follow her recipe. I soon saw I did not have the cake flour she included and then in reading the recipe I saw that it didn't use as much oatmeal as the craisin cookies I usually make so I ended up using my recipe and adding in the chocolate and coconut. Please go to her post and view her recipe as well - I think her cookies look like they are softer (less oatmeal?) while mine are more like a crunchy texture.

Oatmeal Craisin Cookies
from Allrecipes.com but adapted to Kathy's version with the addition of white chocolate chips, coconut & pecans.

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups quick cooking oats (I used old fashioned oats)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins (I omitted)
1 cup dried cranberries

Beat butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla for 5 minutes. In another bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture 1 cup at a time.

Mix in raisins and craisins.

Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets and bake for 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees.

My notes: I used old fashioned oats, omitted the raisins, added a 12 oz bag of white chocolate chips, used the entire package of craisins and added a cup of coconut right out of the bag (Kathy's version called for slightly toasted).

Can you say YUM! Chewy, decadent and full of flavor - It is the season to indulge after all!

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chocolate and coconut...

Many years ago a neighbor, Adeline, known for her baking skills introduced me to macaroon bars. The recipe was like a brownie with a middle macaroon layer and I made them often when we were first married. Soon macaroon mix became obsolete and no longer available in our local stores and I just forgot about the recipe until my last hair appt. You see my hairdresser, Danielle, is the granddaughter of Adeline, the neighbor who shared the recipe with me. Her Aunt Deb (Adeline's daughter) owns the salon and while we were talking about her parents who have both been gone for twenty plus years, I reminisced about Adeline's cooking and her bar recipe. Deb remembered them as well and said if I still had the recipe she would love a copy. For my appt today I did one better - I brought them the recipe along with some freshly made bars.I searched and found the original recipe as written here.

Adeline's Macaroon Bars (circa 1976)
2 cups sugar
1 cup shortening
4 eggs
1/2 cup cocoa
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Filling:
1 pkg coconut macaroon mix
1/2 cup water

Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs, beating well. Add rest of ingredients. Spread 1/2 of this mixture in a greased 9 x 13 pan. Mix the macaroon mix with 1/2 cup water. Spread this over the brownie mixture. Then spread on the rest of the brownie mixture. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Since the packaged macaroon mix is no longer available I decided to try this bar recipe using my favorite recipe for Coconut Macaroons as the filling. Deb remembered her mom frosting the bars with the boiled 1 minute chocolate frosting but I used a chocolate ganache.

Coconut Macaroons
(Heart Healthy Living Magazine)

3 cups shredded coconut
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 egg white
Dash salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine coconut, condensed milk, vanilla and lemon juice. In a medium bowl, beat egg white and salt with an electric mixer until it holds soft peaks. Fold into the coconut mixture. Using a teaspoon, drop small mounds of the mixture, measuring about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, about 1 1/2 inches apart on the prepared sheet. with slightly wet fingertips, pinch the mounds to make them narrower and taller. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, rotating the sheet from front to back after 10 minutes. When done, slide the parchment off the cookie sheet onto a wire rack. After 10 minutes, remove the macaroons from the parchment using a thin metal spatula, and place them directly on the rack to cool. Note: Because we love the chocolate topped macaroons from a MN bakery I dip these in chocolate as pictured instead of leaving them plain.

Because these cookies are a favorite I made a second batch of the coconut mixture and actually made the cookies. It was dark by the time they were done so I used a photo of them from a few years ago.

Macaroon Bars & Cookies
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