He Had Me at the Tuna Melt

Mango Jam, or Gourmet Syrup, or Smoothie Flavoring

Butternut Squash for a Late Summer Saturday Evening

We are butternut squash fanatics.  If there is one thing to love about the end of summer, it's seeing these beige beauties ripen on the vine in the garden, or stacked in the produce section in huge crates like the pumpkins that have come early.  I love them, and will take them any way - steamed, mashed, in souffles, as part of risotto, creamed into soups, or pureed for a pasta filling.  It's absolutely worth the work cutting through the hard shell...the fleshy inside is sweet, and when cooked becomes soft, rich, caramelized and substantial. It pairs nicely with butter and spices like cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, anise, ginger, cumin, nutmeg, paprika, sage...the list goes on (as I'm discovering)...it depends on whether you are looking for sweet or savory.  Either way, the flavor will be bold.  I've served it as a main course, a side dish, and as a dessert.  Fantastic vegetable.  <3  Here are a few of my favorite recipes: 

This is actually a soup that I found thick enough to serve over pasta...my son had some friends over and they ate this for lunch...BOYS even!!!   





 Butternut Squash Soup





I made another soup this evening...the recipe really surprised me as the flavor changed intensely at each step...love the addition of bacon on top when serving, which completely balanced the honey in the recipe.

Caramelized Butternut Squash Soup 

And, my favorite recipe of all, the Butternut Squash Souffle, which was one of the first foods I have ever blogged about. 

I wasn't properly introduced to the butternut until a few years ago...didn't even know what it was until I had been in this country for probably 10 years.  This squash and I have some catching up to do!!!  Enjoy!

Sitting Down to a Meal of Garden Fresh Veggies and Grilled Chicken Sausage

Mmmm... Summer... Saute.  Wait...garden vegetable saute!  Add some sausage, in particular chicken sausage, and you've got one of the tastiest dinners calling your family to the table.  And it was so simple!!

As an Allrecipes Brand Ambassador, one of our September assignments is to try a few of Al Fresco's All Natural Chicken Sausage recipes found on Allrecipes.com.  I chose the Garlic Chicken Sausage and Summer Vegetable Saute for tonight's dinner because I had a few bell peppers and a couple of zucchini left from this weekend's garden picking.  Plus, we had piano lessons tonight and not a lot of time to prepare a big home cooked meal. 

I put the chicken sausage links and zucchini on the grill, and started the onions in my wok a few minutes later.  After the sausage links had browned up nicely, I brought them inside to slice diagonally and add to the onions.  We are big fans of tofu, so I cubed some up and added to the saute.  Tofu takes on the flavor of whatever it is cooked with, so I knew it would not only extend the well-mixed flavors, but also add a texture to replace the mushrooms, which we are not fond of.  I added the peppers to the stir fry last to keep them crisp and crunchy.  And, finally, I served the dish with the grilled zukes sliced up chunky-like and added to the side.

What an awesome celebration of seasonal bounty...grateful for yet another amazing recipe from Allrecipes.com.  And, of course, thank you, Al Fresco!!

Lemon Bars (or Squares, depending on how you cut them) :)

Chicken Tortilla Soup for a Below-Freeeezing Day

It was a blustery day in this thin-aired part of Colorado...a dusting of snow turned into a few inches, and we kept ourselves bundled up at home, enjoying the fireplace, some wassail, a couple of board games, and this wonderful soup. 

Ingredients
1 hen
1 32oz can whole, peeled tomatoes
1 10oz can enchilada sauce (green)
1 onion, chopped
1 4oz can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 c chicken broth
1 14.5oz can chicken broth
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 10oz pkg frozen corn
1 T chopped cilantro
Corn tortillas
Veg. oil

Directions:
Place hen, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles and garlic into a slow cooker.  Pour in chicken broth, and season w/cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf.  Stir in corn and cilantro.  Cover, cook on Low for 12hours.  At this point, I usually let the entire slow cooker pot cool, then I place the removable pot into the refrigerator overnight.  The next morning I take out the hen and shred the chicken.  I pour the entire contents into a regular pot for the stovetop, along with the shredded chicken, and I reheat on the stove.  The extra day makes the soup flavors blend even more, and allows the hen to cool down enough to handle.

For tortillas:  Preheat oven to 400F, lightly brush both sides of tortillas w/oil.  Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.  Bake in oven until crisp, about 10-15min.

(*Note - original recipe found on www.allrecipes.com.)

Omuraisu for Breakfast? Hai!!

Omu Rice - my son's favorite thing to eat for breakfast.  It's just a fried egg over fried rice.  What you don't see pictured here is the ketchup he smears over the top of the egg before digging in.  (Wasn't sure I could capture that attractively.) 

Mind you, the fried rice I use for omu rice is not the same that I make for a normal dish.  A lot less complicated, and because the omelette-style egg is placed on top, I don't add egg into the fried rice itself.  First, I fry up a few slices of bacon, let the slices cool and then I crumble them, and place to the side.  Depending on the amount of cold rice I take out of the fridge (placed in there from dinner the night before), I cook 1/4 c to 1/2 c of chopped onion in a different pan with a few tablespoons of vegetable oil over med-high heat.  Today I added some chopped up carrots for a little more flavor.  Next, the cold rice goes in and is stir fried until it looks about right.  I add the crumbled bacon and some flavoring - soy sauce of course, salt & pepper.  After it looks and tastes perfect, it goes on a plate.  In the same pan, I add the beaten egg (or eggs if you like the omelette to be thicker), and fry it up nice and golden, and FLAT.  It goes on top of the egg, and as earlier mentioned, top with ketchup!  Note: if I don't have bacon, I sometimes stir fry chicken in lieu.  Or, I'll just add some bacon grease to the onion while stir frying (making sure to lessen the amount of veg oil).  Oishii desu ne!