Roasted Butternut Squash Soup - Liz & Delaney's Favorite Soup





Liz and Dave with Chase & Addington (niece and nephew)
Breckenridge, CO - February 2011



I have seen butternut squash in the store for years and had NO idea what one would do with it. One day, I asked a lady what she did with them. She said she split it down the middle lenghtwise and then scooped out the seeds. She then lathered it with her hands in olive oil and placed it face down on a large cookie sheet. Then roasted it on 400* for about 1 hour. She said to turn it at the 30 minute mark. Starting with face up first - in case it burned. She said her family likes it like mashed potatoes or roasted potatoes and served it with meat and vegetable for dinner.



So, I bought a large one thinking I might try making it mashed instead of my normal mashed potatoes. I did what she said and the arroma was sensational! So I started thinking about this in a soup instead of mashed butternut squash. And so was born my butternut squash soup recipe.

Butternut Squash Soup:

1 large or 2 small butternut squash - cut lengthwise and the seeds scooped out. (about 4 cups)

Olive oil

1/2 stick unsalted butter

1 lg garlic clove

1/4 medium onion chopped

4 cups vegetable or chicken stock - canned/made from powder or paste

1 cup milk/half & half or cream

1 tbsp Mrs. Dash

Salt and Pepper to taste



Delaney ( in the middle) with her soccer teammates - 2010



Cut the butternut squash lengthwise and scoop out all the seeds. Then pour a small amount of oil olive into the center of the butternut squash and slather (is this a word?) all over the butternut squash. Place them face up on a cookie sheet and into the over. Do not cover. Cook 30 minutes and then turn face down and cook another 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover with a clean dish towel for about 20 minutes. This allows the steam to dampen the skin and makes it easier to remove.



When it is not longer hot to the touch, use a pearing knife and peel off the outer skin. Chop up the butternut squash pulp into chunks. Place 2 cups into the blender with the chopped onion and garlic clove. Puree for about 30 seconds or until the garlic and onion are not longer! Use a soup pot that will suppport at least 10 cups of soup. Add the butter and melt. Add the pureed butternut squash and saute quickly. Then add the addition chunks of butternut squash. Heat up. Then add the 4 cups of stock. Bring this to a boil. Using an electric hand blender, blend the chunks of butternut squash and the stock until thick and smooth. Bring to a gentle boil and then add the cream/half&half or milk. Bring back to a gentle boil then turn off and serve.

PS - I love adding Curry Powder to this recipe. I just add 2 tbsp at the end after the Mrs. Dash and before the salt and pepper. If you like curried foods, you might really enjoy this twist for butternut squash soup.



You'll never look at a butternut squash the same again!

Dinner in Foil



Memo with Nana and my Daba (Mom's father) 1974.



My mom taught me this recipe back in 1982 when we first arrived back in the United States. Jorge, the kids and dogs were living in North Tonawanda, NY (between Buffalo and Niagara Falls). We would go to visit my parents a couple of weekends a month. It was nice for the kids to spend time with them since they had never had that opportunity before. Anyway, I told mom that my steaks were hard as rocks with I broiled them or they were rubbery. She suggested a recipe she got either from Campbell's Soup or Reynolds Foil Wrap called Dinner in Foil.

Dinner in Foil:

1-2 lbs London Broil steak or other similar steak with little to no fat or grizzle
1 medium onion sliced
2 cups carrots split into quarters
1 cup mushrooms
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 cup of milk
1 package Onion Soup mix
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Large piece of heavy duty aluminum foil

Line the bottom of a casserole dish with foil. Shiny side towards the meat. In a bowl mix the cream of mushroom & celery soup with 1 cup of milk and then add the dried package of Onion Soup Mix (I use Lipton). Mix together and then add the vegetables. Spread along the bottom of the foil lined pan and then all over the meat and along the sides using all the mixture. Make sure you have enough foil to fold the middle of the casserole dish over and the ends to seal in all the steam. Cook at 325* for 1 1/2 hours.
Pull out the meat a let stand for about 10 minutes and then slice thinly. Toss back into the vegetable mixture. Serve with rice, toss with noodles and a side dish of mashed potatoes.

This is an easy make ahead dish.

My Chicken and Dumplings



Dave with Katelyn the evening of her Senior Prom
2009



Dave and Katelyn absolutely LOVE to eat chicken and dumplings at the Cracker Barrel. It was a favorite stopping site as we traveled to Michigan, Wyoming, Arizona, and California. These restaurants are all over the US Highways and offer terrific comfort foods for their guests. So as I always do, I really wanted to try my hand at my own chicken and dumplings. So here goes!

My Chicken and Dumplings:

2 lbs of chicken breasts - boneless, skinless cut into 1 inch chunks

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp Mrs. Dash

1 large onion sliced

1 lb of carrots diced

4 stalks of celery thinly sliced

4 cups of chicken stock (4 cups of water and 2 tbsp of Knorr Chicken broth in powder)

Gravy Thickener: 1/2 flour mixed with 1 cup of water - shaken until there are no lumps

Dumplings:

2 cups Bisquick

1 cup milk

Add olive oil to dutch oven or pressure cooker or large stew pot. Heat up 1/2 the olive oil and add chunked chicken and sprinkle with Mrs. Dash (original) and garlic powder over raw meat in pot. Saute until lightly brown and turn until all sides have been browned. Remove and place into a bowl add the remaining olive oil to the heated pot and add the sliced onions, celery and carrots. Saute until onions are transparent. Return the chicken to the pot and cover with stock. Cover the pressure cooker, dutch oven or stew pot and cook for at least 30 minutes in the pressure cooker and 45 minutes in dutch oven or stew pot.

Using a Chinese wire mesh skimmer, remove the chicken and vegetables from the liquid and set aside. Make the dumplings mixture and set next to the stew pot. Bring the liquid in the pot up to a boil and add the gravy thickener stirring constantly until thick. Allow the gravy to gently boil for about 1 minute. Take a deep spoon or a cookie scoop and scoop out the dumpling mixture into the boiling gravy. Each ball will float to the top of the gently boiling gravy. Keep adding until all have be placed into the gravy pot. Cover for about 3-5 minutes until the balls are light and fluffy. Again, use the Chinese wire mesh skimmer to gently remove the dumplings onto a plate.

I make mashed potatoes for this dish. So to assemble place the chicken and mashed potatoes on the plate and ladle with gravy. Then place 2-4 dumplings on top of the chicken mixture and place another small amount of gravy of that and serve hot.

Cream of Corn Soup

Christmas 2010 at Delaney and Morgan's house. Jeff Carter in the background!

I have been wanting to make a cream of corn soup ever since I had the Corn Soup Chowder at Mimi's Cafe. It is very tasty but as many of you know, I have an issue with the corn shells. No matter how much they cook them, they get stuck in the lap band and I cannot eat them. So I tried to come up with a recipe that would do away with the shells of the corn without sacrificing the taste. Much of this recipe was trial and error.

I first wanted to get fresh corn and cut off the kernels, cook that up and make the recipe that way. I was OK but by the time you cut off the fresh kernels off the husk and cooked it....there is not much there for taste. Next I used canned Niblets - a tasty sweet corn. However I found here that the corn kernels were very hard and I had to cook up the corn longer than I wanted to and the taste of the soup was incipid. While at King Soopers last week, I saw they had frozen vegetables on sale for $1 each! I got spinach for spinach soup or creamed spinach, pearl onions for stews or alone with a white sause and corn.

Today I made the best sweet corn cream soup I have ever tasted!!!

Cream of Corn Soup:

2 bags frozen corn

1 tbps butter

2 cups vegetable or chicken stock (can also be made by adding 2 tbsp of powder to hot water)

2 cups half & half

To thicken mixture: 1/4 cup flour and 1 cup water - shaken well till there are no clumps

Pepper to taste

I put both bags of FROZEN corn into a microwaveable bowl along with the butter. Covered it and cooked for 10 mins. In the meantime I boiled 2 cups of water and added the chicken stock (vegetable stock can also be used). I transferred over the corn and stock into the blender the mixture for about 2 minutes stopping every 30 seconds. Place a sieve over the soup pot and start pouring the mixture through the collander. (I used a whisk inside the sieve to help stir the liquid through quicker.) I threw away the corn shells only keeping the corn pulp liquid for the soup. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil then add the 2 cups half & half. If you want the mixture to be thicker, mix the roux (recipe above) and add to the soup and bring back to a boil. Make sure you stir constantly as the corn will stick quickly.

I served this immediately and sprinkled fresh ground pepper on top. Dave said this was one of the tastiest soups I have ever made. Now most of you don't have a lap band inside of you and might enjoy the corn shells so if they do not bother you, leave them or take out only some of them. It's up to you and what you like. Enjoy!!

PS Mimi's Cafe adds chunks of potato, some chopped chives to their mixture. Be creative and see what you might like to add to yours. Or just leave it sweet, creamy and tasty as I did.