Holiday Baking

I was just wondering who said it was good for the soul to bake in an organized kitchen??

Butternut Squash Soup

I love soup!! Especially when it is below freezing outside. My favorites include 13 bean soup (from Bob's Red Mill-get their seasoning), broccoli w/ a touch (or a ton) of cheddar and my all time favorite is butternut squash.
Several weeks ago I was making baby food for Kate. I roasted two butternut squashes. When I realized I had more than would fit in my freezer I decided to make some soup. I looked up several recipes on the internet and improvised to make a wonderful winter soup.
So here goes:

1 large butternut squash, roasted
(I roast mine cut in half, inside up, 350 till tender)
1 onion
2 tablespoons butter
4 cups+ chicken stock (for those of you who do not make your own this is one box)
2-3 cloves of garlic minced
1 cup or so of cream or whole milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Dice onion and saute in butter on medium heat for a few minutes till onion is translucent and fragrant. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add minced garlic. Peel squash, cut up and add to stock. Return to a boil and simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Use an emulsifier to puree soup or transfer to a blender and puree. Return to pot and add cream, salt and pepper. Enjoy with fresh bread with lots of healthy butter.

*This recipe is so versatile. Make a bit of creme fraiche or sour cream, dab on top, sprinkle with toasted hazelnuts, pecan, etc. Over Thanksgiving I made delicata squash and had a bit left over. I just added what was left over to the recipe. If you like your soup a bit sweeter add a touch of real maple syrup. Have fun and enjoy.

**If you love soup as I do you can find many tried and true recipes on my friend Tiffany's blog. She has a Soups on Saturday post each week. Yummy!

Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Rhubarb

As I said I have or had rhubarb coming out of my ears. I love rhubarb. When I was a kid my grandma use to make a rhubarb dessert soup that we would put fresh cream over. It was wonderful served on a hot day. She also made rhubarb pie, not strawberry rhubarb just rhubarb. Mmm, so good! I have not attempted a rhubarb pie but hope to this week. Yesterday was family dinner night (will explain in a later post) so I made rhubarb cake. This is a very tasty, wonderfully moist cake. I would like to give some credit for this recipe but all I know is that my mom made it and passed it on to me. Here is the recipe.

Rhubarb Cake

1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 egg beaten
2 c. Flour
1 tea. baking soda
2 c. rhubarb (I add more just because I love the taste)
1 c. sour milk (2 tbls vinegar, finish cup with milk, let stand until it starts to curdle, 1 min. or so)
1 tsp. vanilla
Topping
1/4 c. butter
1 tea. cinnamon
1/4 c. sugar
crumble with pastry blender or fork

Mix all ingredients together, pour into a 9x13in pan, add topping and put in a 350 degree oven for 45 min. Or double the recipe and put in a 11x15in pan for the same amount of time.

disclaimer:
I truly believe and try to live by the principles of Nourishing Traditions (by Sally Fallon). As you can see this recipe does not follow any of those principles (except the butter). I am going to work with the recipe next week to make it more healthy. These are the things I am thinking. I will replace the white flour with whole wheat flour and soak the flour in the sour milk for 12-24 hours. I am also thinking I may try to use buttermilk instead of the sour milk for soaking. The other major issue is the sugar. I have not worked much with sugar replacement. I use honey in several recipes but I have never replaced honey for sugar. I could try stevia, rapadura or some other natural sweetener. If you have any ideas send them my way. I will re-post the recipe with the healthy changes.