Butternut Squash & Apple Soup

Welp, fall has officially fallen upon us, ya'll. I was wandering through the farmers market this weekend, and the butternut squash just looked oh-so-delightful when I thought about them being chopped and pureed into a yummy soup... so that's what I did! And honestly, this recipe was so effortless (you can do it!)

1 med. yellow onion (chopped)
1 carrot (chopped)
2 Tb. butter
1 butternut squash (peeled & chopped into smallish pieces)
1 1/2 tart green apple (peeled & chopped)
(squash to apple ratio should be about 3:1)
3 c. of chicken broth, veg broth (I didn't have either so I just used water)
1 c. water
spiced with cinnamon, cloves, cayenne, nutmeg, S&P
if you feel that it needs a bit more sweetness (I did):
-add a few drops of vanilla extract & about a tsp. of pure maple syrup

step 1: heat butter (don't let it brown though, because the soup would get a burny-taste)
step 2: add onion & carrots (plus whatever else you find intriguing to add)
step 3: add squash, apple, broth/water and it all to a boil. lower the temp and let it simmer for 30ish mins
step 4: puree this fabulous mixture in a food processor or blender or whateva you got around (or just leave it chunky if you feel so inclined!)
step 5: add those delicious spices (a lot)

serve with hot apple cider, rich red wine, or your favorite book.
oh, and I also added a dabble of plain yogurt on top of mine. it's real good like that.

enjoi!

Maple-Lavender Choco-Chip Tea Cookies

I know it's a mouthful, but bare with me. They're light, fresh and pop-in-your-mouth tasty. Perfectly paired with a cup of Twinnings Earl Grey.

1/2 c. All-Purpose Flour
2 c. Whole Wheat Pasty Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt
1 full stick of butter
3/4 c. Pure (dark) Maple Syrup (local, preferred, hehe)
1/4 c. White Sugar
2 Large Eggs
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 c. chopped orange-dark chocolate bar
1/4 c. sunflower seeds (good for you!)
a few sprigs of fresh lavender
and then I added some pretzel crumbs, just for fun

bake at 375 for about 22 minutes

now: if I were to do this recipe over again, I would have probably added a stick and half of butter, to make them a bit more moist. Probably more chocolate too. Always more chocolate. And, lastly, if you can find dried lavender flowers, that would probably bring about a more pronounced lavender-taste... as it is, it just tastes very fresh, though it's hard to tell that there's much lavender in it.

All that to say,
I loved the cookies, and they disappeared in two days, so I'm guessing that my roommates liked them as well.

Enjoi!

Grilled Cowboy Shrimp Salad

For a quickie dinner that still turns out delish...

Fresh shrimp, doused in a cilantro-lime salad dressing. Throw those babies over the grill and be sure to flip them often so they don't get too dry and burnt. Seafood grills super fast. (learned that lesson the hard way last week with my over-cooked tilapia)

Pair that with some Cowboy Salad

(all raw)
2 cups Chopped Red, Yellow, and Green Peppers
1/2 cup chopped Red Onion
1 large cucumber, chopped
a bit of EVOO
some Cayenne Peppa
some taco seasoning
teensy bit of suga (cane)
a few sprigs of cilantro (I use a lot)
salt, peppa

Mix it all and voila! yumminess

Now, put a heaping scoop of the Cowboy Salad over some Mixed Greens and then throw those grilled shrimps on top. One scoop of salsa (I used Cherry Salsa, so good straight from Michigan!), some Cholula Hot Sauce (duh), and a hefty few squeezes of fresh lime atop all of that.

I also had some grilled corn on the cob. It's pretty simple. Keep it in the husk (with a single slit in the husk) and flip it continually. It's good to get grill marks on the husk. I found that it took quite a while to get that corn to be fully grilled, so be sure that you allot enough time.

Oh, and of course a nice orangey beer (I had Oberon).

fresh n good :)

Quinoa-Cornmeal Beer Loaf

Don't let the name intimidate you. This side dish has potential. For dinner tonight, I grilled up some wild salmon (again... my family loves salmon), rubbed in a tequila-lime spice mix and then slathered with a mango tequila lime vinaigrette. Served over (or on the side of) a mixed greens salad with freshly grated organic Gruyere cheese and chopped cinnamon-cayenne nuts.

I got the idea for this loaf because I saw a recipe for a Quinoa skillet-bread. Tonight I was originally just going to make quinoa and keep it simple, but then as the time kept ticking without my fam showing up, I just kept adding more and more to the saucepan. I decided, hey, it's summertime.. why not some cornmeal? So I stirred that up. And it just didn't look very good... and then it started soaking up so much water, but I didn't want to add more water because I could tell it would taste bland. So I got to thinking.. what's liquidy and tasteful and summery and fresh?

Oh, Bud Light with Lime, of course! So I poured in enough to allow the quinoa and cornmeal to soak up. And it still didn't look complete at all. And no one was home yet. So I stuck it in a loaf pan, chucked some butter chunks on top, more salt, some Craisins, the juice of half an orange, and some orange rinds. Then put it in a 350 oven until the top turned golden. Then serve with honey dribbled over it.

All in all, it turned out pretty good!
But this is what I would change:

-more beer!! We could hardly taste it. I would honestly put in at least half a bottle. It has a really nice flavor pairing with the cornmeal.
-more salt... don't be fearful (like I was)... the beer will need it.
-add about 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour to thicken it up (mine was less of a loaf and more of a mush)
-more orange juice (only fresh though, of course). use the juice of a whole orange rather than just one half. and more orange rinds on top.

Sooo just more of everything. I guess it's good to go safe the first time, because now I know.

Homely Fish/Veg + Cherry Pie

I asked Dad what he had a taste for to have for dinner tonight, and he responded with "fish and asparagus". This is a classic Gough meal, so I had to do it right. We've just recently gotten a new electric grill (we tried grilling shish-kebabs indoors last night... my eyes burned all night from the smoke). So the grill was brought outside (as all grills should be).

I picked two fillets of Wild Salmon, two fillets of talapia, a bunch of asparagus, and two zucchini.

After going home and looking around to see what was in our kitchen, I formulated a plan for my meal.

Both the salmon and tilapia were smothered in Salad Girl Lemony Herb dressing. I cut the zucchini into long spears, and smothered them in Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Roast Vegetable & Fries herb blend. Similarly, I olive-oiled the asparagus and covered them in salt and pepper. All of this was simply thrown on the grill, until they got beautiful brown grill-lines on them (I love grill-lines). Voila!

Oh and then I just boiled up some brown rice.
And to make it all more unique, I made a buttery sauce that would cover the asparagus and rice.
Into a saucepan, I put in...
about 1/5 of a tub of organic sweet cream butter,
about a 1/2 cup of vegetable broth,
about a 1/2 cup of unbleached organic white flour,
about 1/2 teaspoon of dried basil,
and about 1 tablespoon of sun-dried tomato pesto

stir it all together and keep the saucepan over low heat. Sooo yummy.
(it would also be really amazing as an eggs benedict topper).

It had a very home-like taste to it, while also being suitable for summer (fish and grilled veggies, always a summer-must).

And to top it off, I made my first ever fruit pie today!

The crust (make two):
1 c. all-purpose organic white flour
1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 tbsp. cane sugar
1 tsp. milk
and as much cold water as is needed to make it into dough

then put it in a ball (flattened), wrap in plastic, stick in the freezer for an hour to cool

The mid bit of the pie:
A full bag of bing cherries (pit them all)
1 tbsp. all-purpose white flour
1 tbsp. cane sugar
1/2 tsp. pure almond extract

stir it all together and throw it in the flattened/molded pie crust!

But my filling just looked really short, so I wanted to add some height to it. In searching my kitchen, I found a bag of cinnamon covered assorted nuts. I chopped them with my wonderful Slap Chop contraption, and spread a thin layer of the bity nuts over top of the cherry mixture.

Lastly, with the second pie crust, I flattened it out, cut a few shapes in it (which allows the pie to "breathe" in the oven... make sure to put a circle in the middle) and then laid it over top of the cherry mixture. Crimp the edges however you'd like, just make it tight. After about 20 minutes it should be done. Look for it to start bubbling out of the middle design in the pie.

Success! Everyone liked it, including myself.