Butternut Squash Soup with Cranberries and Pumpkin Seeds

This is a great soup to warm you up after you come in from the winter weather!  It's also a good meal to have after you get a couple wisdom teeth pulled (like Michael did today).  This recipe is a little more savory than most butternut squash soups I've tried and a welcome addition to our meal rotation.

Recipe from SweetPaul:

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, peeled and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
2-pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 leek, only the white part, sliced
3 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup cream
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons dried cranberries
3 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds, to serve

Heat oil in a large saucepan and fry onion and garlic until soft.
Add butternut squash, potato, carrots, leeks and stock.
Bring to a boil and let the soup simmer for 30 minutes.
Pour the soup into a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour into the pan and add cream.
Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.
Serve soup with dried cranberries and toasted pumpkin seeds.

On a personal note, this recipe was a PERFECT way to use up the butternut squash, onions and potatoes we brought back from the Merschat's garden last weekend!  AND the homemade chicken stock we made a couple months ago worked perfectly... and freed up some space in the freezer.  I love this recipe!

Christmas 2010

We finally have photos posted of the first half of Christmas in Northern California and the second half of Christmas last weekend in Western North Carolina.  You can look at them at our website here.

Happy New Year!!!

Portobello Mushroom Burger

This post is dedicated to Martha and Roger for starting their vegan diet!

Michael and I like a less "juicy" mushroom burger so we usually put the mushrooms in a paper bag and put them in the fridge for up to a week before we cook them up.  If you like your mushrooms juicier, then just cook it the day you pick it up from the store.  This is definitely one of our favorite mid-week recipes.

Altered a tiny bit from the original recipe.

INGREDIENTS
4 portobello mushroom caps
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (just enough to saturate underside of mushroom caps)
2 tablespoons olive oil (again just enough to saturate underside of mushroom caps)
Approx. 1 teaspoon dried Italian Seasoning*
Approx. 1 teaspoon dried oregano*
1 tablespoon minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
4 slices cheese (or soy cheese!)
4 rolls of ciabatta or regular, ol' hamburger rolls
Sliced tomato, red onions and lettuce
Mayonnaise and mustard to taste

*Michael sprinkles more than 1 tsp. Italian seasoning and oregano on top of the mushroom caps... so keep sprinkling all you want!

Place the mushroom caps, smooth side down, on large dinner plate. Pour on the vinegar and oil, then sprinkle on the Italian Seasoning, oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper. Let stand at room temperature for at least 15 minutes or so.

Preheat grill for medium-high heat. (We just set our oven on 450 degrees and move one of the racks to the top of the oven).

Brush grate with oil. Place mushrooms on the grill, reserving marinade for basting. Grill for 5 to 8 minutes on each side, or until tender. Brush with marinade frequently. Top with cheese during the last 2 minutes of grilling. (Again, since we don't have a grill, we put a cookie sheet on the middle rack to catch the drippings and put the mushrooms (smooth side down) right on top of the top rack. Flip a few times until it's tender.)

Then assemble like you would a hamburger! Easy, healthy and delicious!

Leonora

Michael and I stumbled upon this cheese at Whole Foods last week.  Doesn't look too exotic and resembles one of our all time favorite cheeses, Humbolt Fog, so we thought we'd try it.  Wow!  We were so surprised how flavorful this Spanish goat cheese was!  It was delicious and definitely one of our new favorites.

Here's some background into from Formaggio Kitchen if you're interested:
Country of Origin: Spain
Region: Castile and León
City / Village: León
Type of Milk: Goat
Cheese Style: Fresh-ripened
Flavor Profile: Medium-strong

From the dry, arid hills northwest of Madrid comes this large brick of soft, cakey goat’s milk cheese that will dazzle your palate with bright grass and lemon flavors. The crusty, natural rind makes a beautiful contrast with the pure white interior.

Yum!

"Secret" Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookie

Eleven days between blog posts... not starting off the year so well on the M&M Blog!

My excuse: Studying for the CPA.  It not only takes up time, but also brain power (and motivation).  So I'm sorry in advance if I'm a little slow posting in 2011!

But in any case... here's the recipe to my new "secret" ingredient chocolate chip cookie.  The original name on The Pioneer Woman blog is Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies.  GREAT cookies... but I do love malted milk (daddy makes the best malts ever)... and they weren't malty enough for me.  So now I refer to the malt in my new stand-by chocolate chip cookie recipe as the "secret ingredient" because you can barely taste it but it still makes for an addictive chocolate chip cookie.

Step-by-step instructions with beautiful pictures and entertaining commentary on The Pioneer Woman blog. 

Boring recipe with a slight change (dark chocolate chips instead of milk chocolate chips) is below.  Yum!

INGREDIENTS
1 cup (2 Sticks) Unsalted Butter Softened
¾ cups Golden Brown Sugar
¾ cups Sugar
2 whole Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 cups All-purpose Flour
1-¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
1-¼ teaspoon Salt
½ cups (rounded) Malted Milk Powder
1 bag (12 Ounce) Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream butter, then add both sugars and cream until fluffy. Add eggs and beat slightly, then add vanilla and beat until combined. Add malted milk powder and beat until combined.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture, beating gently until just combined.

Add chocolate chips and stir in gently.

Drop by teaspoonfuls (I LOVE my cookie scoop!!!) and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Bake less if you want chewy cookies; more if you want crispy cookies.

My little note: My cookies never come out as thin and crispy as The Pioneer Woman's. Still delicious, but they just look like normal chocolate cookies and not like the photos on her blog. That's all!

Happy New Year!

Any year that starts with 1-1-11 must be a special year, right?

We just got back from my step cousin's house (I think that's what he's called) down in Richmond, Va., to see my Aunt Mary Alice, Uncle Sam, cousin Karen, cousin Kevin, second cousin Kelly, and step cousin Bill and his family.  Dinner was fantastic and it was so great to catch up with family to kick off the new year.  I love the holidays.

Yesterday, we ended 2010 by going to see the Spielberg and Lucas private collections of Norman Rockwell paintings at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  Our favorite was The Connoisseur.

It was a really neat exhibit and we're so glad we caught it just before it closed.

Hope you have a happy and healthy new year!