Caramelized Butternut Squash Soup

Yum If velvet had a taste, this would be it. This full-bodied soup hits you with flavor and then melts on your tongue. I know I’m waxing poetic here, but this soup is really that good and I’m not typically a creamy soup kind of woman. Caramelizing the squash, onions and carrots in the oven before making this soup give it an incredible depth of flavor and really highlights the sweetness of the vegetables. To balance the sweetness, I added the bite of ginger and/or black pepper (I used both) plus salt and sage. The addition of ginger and nutmeg give warmth and a bit of mild heat to this rich, velvety soup.

Ingredients:

1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces (about 4 ½ to 5 cups of chunked flesh)

2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

1 medium onion, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons kosher salt

3 cups water

1 vegetable bouillon cube

1 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)

1 teaspoon sage

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon dried thyme

Freshly grated nutmeg and/or black pepper to taste

¼ teaspoon xanthan gum (optional, but it makes everything blend together better)

½ cup fat free half and half (or coconut milk)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the diced butternut squash on one sheet and the onions and carrots on the other. Drizzle the olive oil and 2 teaspoons kosher salt over all the veggies and toss, trying to lay everything in a single layer.

Put both baking sheets in the oven and cook for 30 minutes. Stir and place back in the oven for another 30 minutes (if the onions and carrots are turning dark, don’t put them back in for the last 30 minutes).

Place all the roasted veggies in a Dutch oven or large pot and add the water, bouillon cube, salt, sage, ginger, thyme, nutmeg/black pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for 30 minutes.

Add in the xanthan gum and half and half, then either puree in batches in a blender (center out, but covered with a towel) or use an immersion blend to thoroughly combine the soup.

Ladle into bowls and serve hot. 

Sausage and cheese stuffed acorn squash

Winter squashes are the bomb and I love them just baked with a little butter and maple syrup, but today I wanted them stuffed. And creamy. Imagine if biscuits and gravy, Thanksgiving stuffing and fondue had a love child. This would be it. This is serious comfort food and will make you forget all about that boy/girl who dumped you at the 7^th grade dance. I promise.

Yum

Ingredients:

3 acorn squash, cut in half through the stem and seeded (I’ve got Golden Acorn and Gold Nugget)

4 cups crusty bread, torn into half inch pieces (like French or Italian)

8 ounces pork sausage (half of a roll—use either mild or spicy)

½ of a medium onion, diced

1 stalk of celery, diced

2 Tablespoons of flour

2 cups milk

1 to 1 ½ cups shredded cheese (your call—I’m using sharp cheddar, but gruyere, jack or harvati would be great)

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon dried sage

1 teaspoon dried thyme

Fresh sage and thyme to garnish

Directions: Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Place the squash, cut side down, on a microwave safe plate and microwave on high for 10 minutes. Place them cut side up in a large baking dish and set aside.

Place the torn bread on a baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes. Put the toasted bread into a largish mixing bowl and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large, deep skillet over medium heat, crumble and cook the sausage until no longer pink. Add in the onion and celery and cook for 2 minutes more. Sprinkle the flour over the sausage and veg and stir. Slowly whisk in the milk. Cook, stirring often for about 5 minutes or until the mixture starts to thicken. Add in the cheese and stir until combined. Season with salt, pepper, sage and thyme.

Pour the sausage/cheese mixture over the bread and stir to combine. Stuff the squash halves full and then place a bit of water in the bottom of the baking dish.

Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until the top of the stuffing starts to turn golden.

Gruyere, Bacon and Apple Cider Soufflé

A soufflé is one of the greatest things on earth. They are so light that they are almost ethereal. This one is savory, comforting, and creamy and has a wonderful crust. It is a magical mixture of eggs and cheese and gets right to the heart of September with hard apple cider, bacon and Gruyere cheese.

Making a soufflé is not rocket science. It’s just making a cheese sauce (if you’ve made mac n’ cheese you know this), beating some egg yolks and whisking egg whites and then combining all three components. I am not a graceful woman, so believe me when I say that if I can do a soufflé, you most assuredly can. Take a little help from the stores here-Trader Joe’s® has a fabulous bag of shredded Gruyere and Swiss cheeses (4 cups, so you have one cup to spare) and most stores have real bacon crumbles in a small bag next to the salad dressings.

Ingredients:

Cooking spray

2 Tablespoons fine, dry breadcrumbs

6 Tablespoons butter

1/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Freshly grated nutmeg to taste (I like a lot)

1½ cups milk

½ cup hard apple cider (or regular apple cider)

3 cups grated Gruyere and/or Swiss cheese

1/3 cup crumbled bacon pieces

6 eggs, separated (egg whites in one mixing bowl and yolks in another)

Directions: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

If you have a nice, large soufflé dish, by all means use that. If not, just spray a 2 ½ or 3 quart casserole dish (it needs to be deep, not long) with cooking spray and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Turn the dish around to thoroughly coat the bottom and sides with breadcrumbs. Turn the dish over and dump the excess breadcrumbs.

Take a big enough piece of wax paper to go all the way around your dish and then fold it in half lengthwise. Place it around your dish and tape it so that it stands about 2 inches above your dish. Just to save you trouble later, go ahead and do a few small ramekins with spray and breadcrumbs too, in case you have too much soufflé mixture.

Place the prepared dish on a baking sheet and set aside.

Now, then, let’s get to the cheese sauce: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Dump in the flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Stir for a minute and then add the milk. Whisk the mixture together over medium heat until it gets thick. Whisk in the cider.

Turn the heat to low and add in the cheese by handfuls, whisking each handful until it melts before adding the next. The mixture should be really thick by now, so add in the cider a little at a time until you get a mixture that whisks easily—not super thick, not soupy. You may need more than ½ cup of cider, so keep that bottle handy. Add in the bacon pieces and give it a stir. Turn off the heat and let the cheesy goodness cool a bit while you prep the eggs.

Whisk the egg yolks together until they are thick and golden—just a few minutes.

In another bowl (a stand mixer is a blessing here), whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Add a bit of the cheese sauce to the egg yolks and whisk together. Pour the entire bowl of egg yolks into the cheese sauce and whisk until smooth.

Fold a big spoonful of the stiffly beaten egg whites into the cheese sauce. Add a bit more and continue adding and folding until you have one big, glorious bowl of soufflé mixture.

Pour the soufflé mixture into your prepared, collared dish. You want to come up to just about an inch from the top so, if you have too much, just put it into some ramekins and place those alongside the main dish on the baking dish.

Run your finger along the inside edge of the baking dish, going about ½ inch down. The outermost edge of the mixture should be about ½ inch deeper than the inside. This just helps the middle part rise a little more than the edges, so it’s not a huge deal if you don’t do it.

Bake the soufflé for 90 minutes without peeking (ramekins for 60 minutes) or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

Remove the wax paper collar and serve as soon as you can by placing two forks back to back and pulling a piece of the soufflé apart. Continue around the soufflé with the two folks and serve with a large spoon to scoop each piece out.

Serve with some French bread, grapes, sliced apples, green salad, whatever.

Don’t you look fancy now? 

Fresh Apple Cake with Buttermilk Glaze

The first rainy, chilly day in autumn calls for comfort food and this recipe takes the cake. I was winging this recipe, with only the knowledge that I wanted a moist apple cake. Worked like a charm. The cake turned out incredibly moist and still had a delicate crumb to it. Bonus-those little $.40 containers of buttermilk have 1 cup in them. Plenty to make the cake and the glaze without worrying about what to do with leftovers. If you want your house to smell like fall and you want a seriously comforting dessert, please try this cake.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

1/2 cup canola oil

½ cup buttermilk

½ cup applesauce

2 eggs

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups flour (I used Glutino® All Purpose Flour, but regular AP flour will work fine)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 ½ cups chopped apples (from about 3-4 peeled and cored apples—any kind is fine. I’m using Jonathan)

For the glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

½ cup buttermilk

½ teaspoon vanilla

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13 by 9 inch baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.

Using a stand mixer or handheld electric mixer, mix the oil, buttermilk, applesauce, eggs, sugar and vanilla together until completely blended (about 3 minutes).

Add in the flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking soda and combine thoroughly. Stir the chopped apples in by hand.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until the top is golden and the cake doesn’t wiggle in the middle. A toothpick should come out clean in the center.

Prepare the glaze by mixing the powdered sugar, buttermilk and vanilla together.

Remove the cake from the oven and poke holes all over the top with a skewer. Pour over half of the glaze, letting it seep down into the cake. Let the cake cool for 30 minutes and then pour the remaining glaze over the top.

Let the glazed cake sit for 20 minutes to firm up and then cut into squares to serve.

Chicken Breakfast Sausage

In the mood to change up your breakfast routine? Give this savory chicken sausage a shot. Using ground chicken breast helps the flavors of whatever seasoning you are using to shine, however the lack of fat can make the sausage dry. Fat free half and half keeps everything moist and makes sure that the seasoning is well distributed. Use this seasoning blend as a start and fry off a little patty to taste. Then, adjust the seasonings to your liking.

Ingredients (makes about a dozen):

1 pound ground chicken breast meat (or ground turkey breast)

2 Tablespoons fat free half and half

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 ½ teaspoons rubbed sage

½ teaspoon dried marjoram

½ teaspoon dried thyme

Pinch of grated nutmeg

Pinch of red chile flakes

Directions: Combine all ingredients. Dampen your hands with water and form the sausage into patties. Spray a non-stick skillet with cooking spray over medium heat and cook about 4 minutes per side until done.

Bavarian Cheese Toast

At the grocery store this morning, I came across a beer called “Schnicklefritz” from Urban Chestnut Brewing Company here in St. Louis, MO. I remember my parents and grandmother calling me that so many times when I was growing up, that I had to buy the beer. Apparently, “Schnicklefritz” is a term of endearment for mischievous or talkative children so, yeah, that was me! Seeing this beer also brought back memories of one of my parent’s favorite snacks—Limburger on rye or pumpernickel bread with shaved red onion. Limburger is not really all that stinky when combined with a milder cheese (I promise) and the flavor is deep and rich. It is also great with beer. Please keep this in mind for Oktoberfest!

Ingredients:

4 slices rye or pumpernickel bread, toasted

Limburger Cheese Spread (recipe follows)

Bavarian Toasted Caraway and Dill Salt (recipe follows)

Red onion, shaved into thin rings

Serve with any combination of:

Dill pickles

Cherry tomatoes

Sliced apples

Grapes

German sausages, cooked and sliced

Directions: Cut each piece of toast into 4 squares. Spread with Limburger Cheese Spread, sprinkle with Bavarian Toasted Caraway and Dill Salt. Place a few shavings of red onion on top.

Limburger Cheese Spread

Ingredients:

1 (8 ounce) package Limburger cheese, room temperature

1 (8 ounce) package Neufchâtel or cream cheese, room temperature

Directions:

Place both cheeses in a mixing bowl and combine well with an electric mixer or whisk. That’s it.

Bavarian Toasted Caraway and Dill Salt

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon caraway seed

1 teaspoon dill seeds

1 teaspoon celery seeds

1 teaspoon dried parsley

½ teaspoon onion powder

6 Tablespoons kosher salt

Directions:

Add the caraway, dill and celery seeds to a dry skillet and heat to medium low. Cook until just fragrant (about 6 minutes), stirring frequently. Remove from heat, cool and place in a small sealable bag. Crush the seeds lightly with a rolling pin and place in a small container. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. This salt is best if it has a few hours to hang out before use.

Apple and Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal

At first I was worried about combining bananas, pumpkin and apples, but I didn’t need to be concerned. All the flavors in this baked oatmeal blend together beautifully. This is a warm, comforting and hearty casserole for breakfast or dessert that will give you all the cozy feelings you could ever get from food. Plus, the scent in the house right now is amazing—pumpkin, apples, warm spices….yum!

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon flax seed

3 Tablespoons water

1 very ripe banana

1 cup pumpkin puree

2 cups almond milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon butter flavoring (optional, but it really is good)

1 can (20 ounces) apple pie filling

3 cups rolled oats

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 scoop vanilla protein powder (optional)

¼ cup toasted wheat germ (optional)

¼ to ½ cup raw sugar, depending on your desired level of sweetness (remember, there is sweetener in the pie filling)

1 cup chopped walnuts

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon cloves

1/3 cup apple jelly, melted

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13 by 9 baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.

Mix the flax with the water in a small bowl and set aside.

Using an electric mixer in a large mixing bowl, mix together the banana, pumpkin, almond milk, flax mixture, vanilla and butter flavoring until well combined.

Stir in the apple pie filling, oats, baking powder and baking soda, protein powder if using, wheat germ if using, sugar, walnuts, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes or until the top is lightly golden.

Remove from the oven and brush the melted apple jelly over the top.

Let cool slightly and serve warm.