SQUASH SOUP

Patrea told me about a recipe on allrecipes.com that was good. I think this must be it. It is my new favorite squash soup. I know I shared a recipe last year for soup, but this one is superior in my opinion. I like that it is more savory than sweet. It calls for 3 cups of cooked mashed acorn squash. I only had one acorn squash, but I have a bunch of butternut squash, so I cut up one butternut and one acorn squash in big chunks. I boiled them until soft, scooped out the squash from the skins and mashed it up. I had about 2 cups left over to put in the freezer. I was also out of chicken broth, so I made 2 cups of broth with chicken bouillon granules and hot water.

ACORN/BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

Ingredients

½ onion chopped

¼ cup sliced celery
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon dill weed
¼ teaspoon curry powder
Dash of cayenne pepper

2 cups chicken broth

1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk

3 cups mashed cooked acorn or butternut squash

Salt and pepper to taste

5 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

1. In a large saucepan, saute the onion and celery in butter. Stir in flour, bouillon, dill, curry and cayenne until blended. Gradually add broth and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Add the squash, salt and pepper; heat through.
2. In a blender, process the soup in batches until smooth. Pour into bowls; garnish with bacon.

Fowl Confusion

I put a turkey figurine on the mantle.  Juliana looked up at it and asked, "Hey what is that duck doing up there?"  We explained that it is Thanksgiving time and that the figure is a Turkey.

 A few days later our neighbors across the street placed a large inflatable turkey on their front lawn.  She looked across the street and excitedly shouted "Look at that rooster!"  Do you think we should get some good picture books for her?

Halloween

After the stitches were removed.  The super glue is still holding on. 

Scary dracula teeth!

Happy Halloween!  Lots of things happening this past week.  I spent a week in Casper Wyoming with my sister Patrea and her family.  She had surgery on her neck 2-1/2 weeks ago.  Her stitches were removed on Tuesday, but she still has some restrictions of no repetitive lifting overhead and not lifting over 10 pounds.  It was fun to visit with them.  I miss them already and wished they lived closer.  Juliana and Ty had fun playing together and getting into mischief while I was cleaning or cooking. (They gave a talking doll a bath on the carpet with my water bottle, then on the bed.  Juliana got into my purse to find gum.  They ate the whole pack minus one stick in one sitting.) Good thing they are so cute and funny. 

I came home on Wednesday.  Thursday was a day for a preschool Halloween party and a Halloween carnival for the primary children at night. 

Saturday we went to South Jordan for cousin Ivan's baptism.  It was nice to visit with family.  I saw Lisa, one of my college roommates, there.  Her nephew was getting baptized the same day from the same ward as Ivan.  It was so fun to see her again and chat. 

I tried something new with baking this week.  I am a happy owner of a new Bosch mixer, so now I want to bake more.  I think I may understand the glee my grandmothers must have felt when they finally had electric washers and dryers.  I appreciate the quickness, ease, and comfort this gadget brings.   I made some banana cake and perfect chocolate frosting.  Then I made some fondant.  I rolled it out and cut little ghost and pumpkin shapes to place on the cake.  It was fun. 

Karen, Doug, Nick, and Ethan came over for Halloween soup, then the kids went trick-or-treating.  I loved their costumes, very funny!

They are only 9 and 11!

Bryce Canyon

It has been 8 days since we returned from our trip to Bryce Canyon.  I have too many pictures, but here are a few.  We stopped at the Panguitch Cemetery to see the gravesite of great great grandma Lloyd.  I like Panguitch.  It is a pretty town.  Bryce Canyon is amazing.  We did several hikes, but we need to go back sometime to do all the other hikes we missed.

October Creations

Here are some things Jenicca and I made at Super Saturday or learned how make then finished at home.

They served some delicious pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that were made with only three ingredients - Canned pumpkin (14 ounces), spice cake mix and chocolate chips.

I decided to make some a few days later and went to two stores.  Neither store had spice cake mixes left on the shelf, so I decided to try the Decadent Supreme Cinnamon Twist cake mix.  I added 1/2 tsp nutmeg and 1/4 tsp ground cloves.  They were so yummy and moist.  It is amazing to me that you dont't need any eggs or oil for the cookies.  Try it.  (Note:  I have used Libby's brand and

Western Family brand pumpkin.  The Western Family brand pumpkin is thicker than Libby's, so I added a little water to the cookie dough (about 1/3 cup) for the thicker pumpkin.

Autumn quilted table runner.  This was a fun project.  I want to make another one for winter. 
See tutorial here http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/p/tutorials.html

PEACHES, AGAIN?

We have three peach trees that I adore. I was worried we would not get many peaches this year because of the extra cold and wet spring we had this year. I was pleased that summer lasted into September, and the peaches were able to ripen. Phil and I picked the last boxes yesterday. This morning we had frost on the lawn and garden, so it was a good thing we picked them.
I guess Juliana has had her fill of peaches because as I was making a fruit salad last night and began slicing peaches she moaned, "Peaches Again?" Personally, I still love them, but I guess I will freeze or bottle the rest today. We have had peach pie, peaches in our cereal, juiced peaches, salads, peaches over ice cream and today I am making beef stroganoff in the crockpot which will include 6 tablespoons of peach juice.
I wish I had a picture of peach pie, but here is my favorite recipe for peach pie filling.  It is so yummy. This came from a Relief Society Meeting. Sister Quist makes the best pie. I am glad I went to that meeting. I learned how to make better pies. My friend, Gaylene, also makes an awesome peach pie/cheesecake dessert. It is the best! She should post the recipe. (Hint hint) J

PEACH PIE FILLING
Mix:
1 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons starch
Add:
1 cup water
½ peach mashed
Yellow food coloring
Stir until the mixture boils clear then thick. Turn down the heat. Cook one more minute, then take off stove.
Add:
¼ cup butter
1 tsp. lemon juice
½ tsp. almond extract (this is what makes it so incredible)
Let the mixture cool.
Slice peaches and place on baked pie shell. Pour cooled peach mixture over the peaches. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Beef Stroganoff (adapted from mykitchencafe)

Put in crock pot:
2-3 pounds stew meat
1 tsp. salt
dash of pepper
1 onion, sliced

Mix in a bowl and pour over meat:
¼ tsp. garlic salt
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 can beef broth (14 ounces)
1-1/2 tablespoons ketchup

Cook in crockpot on low for 7-8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. When cooked make a simple roux by whisking 1/3 cup flour with enough peach juice or apple juice (about 5-6 tablespoons) to make a thick but still pourable flour mixture. Whisk the roux into the crockpot and add 1 cup sliced mushrooms.

Cook on high for 15-30 minutes. Then stir in ½ cup sour cream. Serve over egg noodles or other pasta. You can serve this over baked potatoes or rice too.

Step 1

7 hours later

Our Revenge on the Grasshoppers

Phil here.  Kristen asked me to be her guest blogger today.  I returned home from Costa Rica last weekend, and found that the grasshoppers were making a feast in our garden.  The large numbers of grasshoppers in our area was even a topic of conversation at our bishopric meeting on Sunday.  I mentioned that we should just eat the grasshoppers to get our revenge.  I have eaten locusts in pickled form, but I have always wanted to try the hoppers in a taco, Oaxaca style.  The problem is that the Oaxacans use very young grasshoppers, and our pests had been eating so well that they had attained a far more mature size.

The thought of eating my grasshoppers took a firm possession of me on Monday morning when I was working in the yard.  They were everywhere.  I began grabbing them when they were in easy reach, and I soon had a nice herd of little appetizers:

 I left them in the bucket all day so that they could rid themselves of their last meals.  When it was time for dinner, I put a pot of water on the BBQ Grill and started it boiling.  In the meantime, I pulled off the legs and the heads --- the legs can be left on, but the barbs tend to wedge themselves in your gums.  The great thing about grasshoppers is that when you pull the heads straight out of the bodies, the stomachs come right out as well:

If you are not squeemish, you can leave the innards in for a little more juicy flavor, but many hoppers carry tapeworm in the stomach, and as a tapeworm survivor, I prefer to take the safe route. 

Once the legs, heads, and inward parts are removed, throw them in the boiling water.  Boiling them before frying softens the casings.  I left them in for about 15 minutes, but they could come out as soon as they turn a bit red:

Once they have been boiled, the wings are easily removed. Once the wings are off, you are left with a nice pile that looks (and smells) like shrimp.

 If they were small, I would love to cook them in a chili and lime sauce at this point.  But since they were large, I dipped them into egg and rolled them in corn meal: 

The funniest thing I heard all evening was when I pulled the corn meal out of the pantry. Kristen said, "That has been in there for a while. Better check it for weevil."  She cracks me up. If only we had a few, fat, weevils, we would have been dining in style!

Fry them in oil.  Be ready to be amazed at the "shrimp smell":

BBQ sauce was the most popular, but the honey-mustard-horseradish was good too.  Suprisingly, everyone partook:

If we do it again, I'd try bread crumbs instead of corn meal.

This is not up to Kristen's usually high and exacting cooking standards, but it was fun.