Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

A rainy day, a Saturday filled with raking leaves, pulling down dead limbs from trees ready to slumber, these all reminded me of my favorite savory, fall squash soup. I came across the inspiration for this soup at a sampling table at my local grocer almost 6 years ago. I've tweaked it a bit over the years as my cooking and dietary habits evolve. Here is my most recent version.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

1 head garlic

Extra virgin Olive Oil

SeaSalt and Freshly Ground Pepper

1 bunch fresh sage

2 medium onions, quartered

4 carrots, quartered

2 ribs celery, quartered

2 T maple syrup (honey or agave work as well), divided

2 lbs butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and quartered

1 quart organic vegetable stock

½ c cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and drizzle extra virgin olive oil on.

Place garlic cloves, onions, carrots, celery, and squash onto the parchment paper.

Drizzle with more olive oil, 1 T maple syrup and sprinkle with sea salt and ground pepper.

Let the vegetables roast until edges brown and squash is tender, about 2 hours. You can slow or speed this process by modifying the temperature.

When vegetables are roasted, remove from oven. Squeeze garlic out of skins and use a knife to remove the squash skin.

In a large pot, add the broth, remaining maple syrup and chopped sage. Bring to a low boil and add roasted vegetables.

Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, about 20 minutes.

If you have an immersible stick blender, puree the soup in the pot.

Otherwise, let the soup cool and working in batches, puree it in a food processor or blender.

I prefer a very smooth texture and use my Blendtec.

Refrigerate soup overnight. Usually we have some the first day too! Just before serving, return soup to a pot and bring to a simmer.

Add cream if desired, or just have some on the table, and salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with cream and sage leaves.

This is best served with my Scrumptious Honey Whole Grain Cornbread. My children and husband had gobbled the entire pan, save a scant row, before the soup was on the table. They finished off the rest for breakfast this morning.

Holiday Cranberries with Agave

This is a fantastic recipe adapted from my mother-in-law's recipe for cranberry sauce. Emmett ate an entire bowl tonight.

Fresh Agave Cranberry Sauce

3 lbs fresh cranberries (that is a gigantic costco bag)

2 cups agave nectar

2 cups water

1 small package of frozen mixed berries

Juice of 3 fresh oranges

Add rind of one orange to cook

1/2 t of ginger

Mix all of the above in a large pot. Bring to boiling. Boil until the cranberries "pop." (I love that noise, it reminds me of helping my mom on holidays when I was a little girl.) Cook a little longer. Let set in the fridge overnight. If you want a firmer texture add some ultra gel. This recipe makes a huge bowl, but it will disappear fast!

It's Turkey Time! (The Vegetarian Way)

Turkey, turkey, turkey. Is that all Thanksgiving is about? Come on. We vegetarians must compensate somehow. So I compensate in cuteness and creativity. We have had a lot of turkeys around here this Thanksgiving. Starting with our Halloween Candy Turkeys. Followed by our kid friendly "Appletizer" Turkeys. Finally, these Turkey Rolls.
These turkey rolls are a time commitment. I admit it up front. But the presentation is amazing. I saw this idea in the newspaper a couple years ago. It has now become a tradition demanded by the family.
The real plus... Make them now and freeze them uncooked with some greased plastic wrap on top. Just take them out a few hours before and cook to perfection. The photo below is the uncooked version. They rise beautifully.

Turkey Rolls...Really Not as Hard as they are Cute...

Favorite roll recipe
(White doesn't seem earthy enough for these. But if your family insists I suppose you could make them white. Sigh.... If you are not into making rolls the lady in the newspaper used Rhodes Rolls. Cheater :)
Assorted Seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, poppy, flax)
Slivered Almonds
Pretzel Sticks
Peppercorns
1 egg (beaten)

Flatten and place one roll on a large greased baking sheet. This will be the body. Cut a narrow piece out of the remaining roll to be used as a head and neck.
Flatten large piece slightly and cut about 10 long slits to form feathers. Place next to body. Roll narrow piece into a rope shape and place on the other side forming a slight curve.
Brush with egg. Place peppercorn on head for eye and use a slivered almond for a beak. Decorate body and tail with seeds and nuts.

Let rise 15 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. After baking, insert pretzels for legs.

Because these are an intense project, I just make one per person.

The rest of the rolls I make into crescents. Easy and pretty. Roll your dough into a big circle and brush with butter.

Use a pizza cutter to cut as shown below. Roll into crescents. Let rise.

I cook these ahead of time and then freeze. When feast time arrives we place the turkey rolls on everyone's plates, and then fill a basket to brimming to pass with the crescents.

"Appletizer Turkeys" Variations on a Theme

This might be the last Turkey themed post, but I won't make any promises. Ellery and I had to come up with something to bring to her class feast today. I am confident the kindergarten feast will be sugar and refined flour laden. I had to fight back.
So we varied our Halloween Candy Turkeys, into something I actually wanted my kids to eat. Isn't it amazing all the variations we can create on a theme. Enter the "Appletizer Turkeys."

My kids aren't bored with this yet. Astonishing. I think for the big feast day we will make some "wings" with olives and pickles and maybe even some broccoli!

Here they are....we made one for each table at school.
....And isn't that a cute little Indian with those delicious Turkeys?