Curried Butternut Squash Soup

OK, so it's been quite a while since I last posted.  It's been a busy couple of years, but I suppose everyone is busy, so I guess it's not the best excuse.  I have done A LOT of cooking and experimenting in the last year and a half, and every time I think "I should really blog about this."  I guess I just wasn't ready.  Well, I'm back in business and ready to get down to it.  Here goes:

I LOVE THE FALL!!!

Recently I began receiving boxes of organic fruits and vegetables from Washington's Green Grocer.  I was super excited to find this service since a lot of the co-ops around here are very expensive and far away.  We have plenty of farmer's markets here in Northern Virginia, but some of them are held during the week.  Those of us who have full time jobs obviously can't make it to those.  The others are on Saturday mornings.  Now, I probably could get to one of these, but, well, I am NOT a morning person.  On Saturdays I like to sleep in...and getting to a farmer's market that is over by noon is not my idea of fun.  So, I now get produce boxes delivered on Wednesdays. 

The best thing about Washington's Green Grocer is that they provide local produce (for the most part), so there are always a lot of whatever is in season.  Right now I've been getting a lot of squash and apples.  These things are the best part of fall!  The last two boxes I received had butternut squash.  I am a HUGE fan of butternut squash and one of my favorite things on a crisp fall evening is butternut squash soup.  A couple of years ago I found a recipe in a Pampered Chef catalog for a soup that had curry in it.  I am not the biggest fan of curry, but I was intrigued.  I found that it did not overwhelm the soup and gave it a nice spice which my husband and I very much enjoyed.  I've made it many times and I've tweaked here and there.  The first couple of batches were too sweet, probably because of the type of onions and apples I used.  After some trial and error, my latest batch is probably the best I've ever made.  Tonight, I'm happy to share it.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

4 tbsp butter 

2 large onions, diced (try not to use sweet onions, otherwise the soup will be too sweet)

2 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed

2 gala apples, peeled and diced

1 1/2 tbsp curry (I used muchi curry powder from Whole Foods)

1/4 cup brown sugar (not packed)

1 tsp salt

6 cups vegetable stock (you can use chicken stock instead if you choose)

1 8oz package light cream cheese

Salt to taste

 In a large stock pot, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the diced onions and sweat them for several minutes until tender.  Next add the butternut squash, apples, brown sugar, curry powder, and salt.  Stir and let cook for 3 minutes or so.  Pour in the vegetable stock and stir.  Allow to simmer on medium heat for about 30 minutes or until the apples and squash are tender enough to puree.

Remove the pot from the heat.  Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth.  If you don't have an immersion blender, you can transfer the soup to a stand blender in small batches (This takes longer and is a lot messier, so if you don't have a stick blender yet, I highly recommend you get one.  I use it ALL the time.  You will not regret it.)  Cut the cream cheese into quarters and add to pureed soup.  Stir with whisk until cream cheese has melted and soup is smooth and creamy.  You may want to add more salt to taste depending on your preferences.  

The soup will be ready to eat immediately. 

I hope to be a more active blogger this time around.  If anyone out there even bothers to read this, I hope you enjoy it.  I love suggestions and recommendations, so please feel free to help me out!

ENJOY!!

PS:  Next time, I'll try to add a picture ;-)

i love the grill....and i got a smoker!

Over the weekend, I planned on making stir fry.  We had this HUGE chunk of pork loin that we had to cook.  Actually, we had a huge chunk and a smaller chunk meant for two people, but my genius husband thawed the wrong one. Needless to say, we had to a crap load of pork to cook.  I decided to make sweet and sour pork stir fry.  Of course, I had no idea what to do with the rest of the pork.  Sunday came and it was a gorgeous day outside.  And I thought, not stir fry, kabobs!  I decided instead to make sweet and sour pork kabobs.  In included chunks of pork, yellow and orange peppers, onions and pineapple chunks.  Once I started grilling, I added the sweet and sour sauce.  They were served over jasmine rice. I had no idea  how delicious they were going to be!

But what to do with the rest of the pork....  As luck would have it, my husband finally bought me a smoker. I've been begging for one of these forever.  We ended up smoking the rest of that huge chunk of pork. Talk about delicious. As awesome as those kabobs were, I almost wish that we had smoked the whole piece of pork! We sliced it and had it with BBQ sauce on some potato rolls.  It tasted just like brisket.  I couldn't get enough. It's a good thing too because we may be eating it for a week!

This is only my second post, and I haven't yet gotten it together enough to provide recipes. In the future, I hope to add them as I post...especially the ones I develop myself!

Shannon's All American Cafe

Over the last 10 years...pretty much since I started grad school and went out on my own...I've developed a love for cooking. I've always liked, actually LOVED food, but I grew up in a household that did not necessarily appreciate good, diverse, healthy foods. In all fairness, my mother did the best she could.  She was a single, working mom and often had to cut corners. She also never liked fruits and veggies, so she rarely bought or cooked them. Needless to say, we ate a lot of chicken fingers, spaghetti and fast food. Until I went to grad school, I had never tried Indian, Thai, or anything resembling Middle Eastern foods. I had no idea what I was missing!

As I discovered these culinary delights and began to expand my horizons, I started cooking more and more. I had always been pretty good in the kitchen. My stepmother and I often baked when I was growing up and I always liked helping my mother and stepmother with dinner. But I had never cooked or baked because I wanted to try something new or learn a new technique or find a healthier way to cook something.

I started mostly with baking while in grad school.  I realized early on that when you bake delicious treats like muffins and cookies, your fellow grad students LOVE being in class with you. I realized that not only did I like working in the kitchen and trying new recipes, but I loved the praise I would get when something was particularly good. Who doesn't love that!

So, I baked and baked. In 2004, when I started my first job in my new hometown of Washington DC, I realized that I was going to have to start cooking more and eating out less. In grad school in Miami, my roommates and I spent a lot of time eating out and accumulating a corresponding amount of debt.

I've also always struggled with my weight and wanted to work on that as well. So, with my new job and new home and new town, I changed my lifestyle.  Not only did I start eating healthier, but I started learning how to cook that way as well.  For the last seven years I have become a skilled, amateur sous chef and a pretty fantastic pastry aficionado.

After I met my husband and we settled down into our new home in Northern VA, I embraced cooking for two.  Until then, I was only cooking for one and I was my only critic. Now I have my husband and a great circle of friends as guinea pigs...not to mention my coworkers.

About two  years ago, I rediscovered my love for baking.  Before long, I was making killer cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies anyone would be envious of.  Every time I bring some delicious treat in to share with my coworkers or send some treats to work with my husband, I always hear, "you should do this for a living."  That would be my dream job!  Unfortunately, that costs money.

Some day I would love to own a little bakery/cafe/coffee shop. I think I would call it Shannon's All American Cafe.  At least that's what I envision.  It's a lofty goal and unlikely to happen at all.  But in the meantime, I am combining my passions: food, cooking, baking, and writing.

So, welcome to my new blog, food love, a discussion about food, cooking, baking, health, life, love, nutrition, dieting...I could go one. You name it, I'll probably write about it. But I will always bring it around back to food. 

Keep an eye out for my next blog entry.  The husband and I are making pork stirfry this weekend...a never before attempted dish which I  hope will not be a disaster.