butternut squash bisque

- 1 Tbsp canola oil
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 4 cups cooked butternut squash (about 2 whole squash, or is it squashES?)
- 3 cups vegetable or chicken broth
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Ground nutmeg to taste
- 1/4 cup cream
- 1/4 cup water + more if you want a thinner bisque.

1. Preheat over to 375. Cut butternut squash in half, remove seeds. Lay cut side down on baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes.
2. After squash is cool, cut up into small cubes, yield about 4 cups.
3. Heat the oil and melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add carrots and squash into the pot, saute for a minute or two. Pour in chicken broth, and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until vegetables are tender (about 10 minutes).
4. Put water and squash mixture in a blender or food processor and puree until nice and smooth. Add the cream at the end. Push that puree button a few more times to mix in cream and return to pot to keep warm.
Serve with a dash of nutmeg, and turkey and cranberry sandwiches, or a grilled cheese sandwich. And don't be offended if your husband says, "this reminds me of when you would make baby food." It's really delicious, promise.

fruity trifle

What you need:

• Betty Crocker Angel Food cake mix + water, baked according to directions and cooled
• 1 package of vanilla pudding + 3 cups of milk, prepared according to directions
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
• 3 bananas, sliced
• 1 pint fresh blueberries
• 12oz of cool whip / or heavy whipping cream, whipped

What you do:
Layer all the goodness: cake, pudding, strawberries, bananas, blueberries. Repeat. Top with whipped cream.

abbie's easier mediterranean-ish salad

I wanted to make THIS salad (saw it via Bloom), but I didn't have all the stuff so I made this one up and it was sooo good and so easy! and it was filling so that's all I made for dinner.

Things you need:

• 8 oz Orzo pasta
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• mozzarella cheese, shredded
• handful grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 cup fresh basil (I used my purple basil), finely chopped
• handful of almonds, chopped
• Olde Cape Cod Balsamic Vinaigrette

Cook orzo according to box directions and cool. Layer everything up and top with vinaigrette. Eat and then eat some more and then eat some more.

tilapia with peach salsa

My husband said, "when I saw this I didn't think it would be very good, but it is." I agree.

Make the salsa first:

• 1/2 cup chopped peaches
• 1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup (ish) fresh cilantro, chopped
  
• juice from 1 lime
• a bit of salt and black pepper
• 1 bell pepper, chopped (I used half of a purpley-redish and half of a neon green-yellow. Obviously I am an expert and know the real names of bell peppers)

Mix everything up and put in the fridge until you're ready to serve.

On to the tilapia:

• 2-4 tilapia fillets (I use frozen - still yummy and cheaper)
• 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp (ish) salt
• 1/4 tsp (ish) black pepper
• cooking spray

Preheat over to 375. Spray cooking spray in baking dish. Put the fillets in the dish. Pour olive oil over the fillets; then spread garlic over the fillets; then shake the basil, salt, and pepper over the fillets. Bake for 8-12 minutes (mine are perfectly flaky at 10 min)

When the tilapia is done, top with salsa. Serve with wild rice and zucchini (not asparagus and potatoes as seen above).

Creamy Tomato & Pesto Sauce

This was a big hit with my 4 year-old tonight. And my husband. And me. Not too shabby on the fly, I must admit. =)

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. bulk sausage

1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes

1/3 c. pesto

1/2 c. heavy cream

1. In a saucepan, cook and break up sausage, drain if desired.

2. After sausage is fully cooked and broken up, pour in tomatoes and pesto.

3. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Just prior to serving, add cream and stir, heating through.

We served it over cheese ravioli, and I can't wait to use it on lasagna!

Donut Muffins

I would be a horrible person if I didn't share this recipe with you.

These are delicious. So much so that...well...

I. Have. No. Words.

Run, don't walk, to your kitchen and whip up a batch of these babies.

My husband and I *might* have just plowed through a dozen of them in the space of about 7 minutes.

(I've taken the recipe from this website. Bless this website for so many reasons. She has some typos in her recipe--I've fixed that).

Ingredients (muffins):

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. butter, melted

1/4 t. ground nutmeg

1/2 c. milk

1 t. baking powder

1 c. all-purpose flour

Ingredients (coating):

1/4 c. butter, melted

1/2 c. sugar

1 t. cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a mini-muffin tin, set aside.

2. Mix up the 1/2 c. sugar, 1/4 c. melted butter and nutmeg in a large bowl.

3. Add flour, milk, and baking soda and mix together until just combined.

4. Fill muffin tins about 3/4 full and bake for 15-17 minutes.

5. While muffins are baking, combine sugar and cinnamon into a bowl, set aside.

6. Melt 1/4 c. butter and place it in a bowl. (I just melted my butter in a skillet and left it there).

7. When muffins are done and cool enough to handle, remove them from the pan. Dip the tops of the muffins in butter and then roll the WHOLE muffin in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Let cool and then try not to pig out too badly!!

Side note: This recipe is egg-free...so my nephew can eat them. So for all of you who have adorable nephews with egg allergies, this one's a winner!

Radish Dip

So, this is the second week of our CSA (crop share association), and this is the second week that we've had an inordinate amount of radishes in our share.

I'm not really a fan of radishes.

But my friend clued me into this dip, and I'm thrilled about it.

1 (8 oz.) pkg cream cheese
8-12 radishes, washed and chopped in half
3/4 - 1 t. salt

Optional ingredients:
dill
garlic

1. Put radishes in a food processor and pulse until radishes are in teeny-tiny pieces....think crushed candy canes...it'll look similar. =)

2. In a bowl, mix the radishes with the cream cheese and salt (and optional ingredients, if you like) with a spoon or stand mixer.

Serve with tortilla chips, celery, cucumber....really, it's all delicious.

chicken kabobs

Thanks to George Foreman, we backyardless people can enjoy delicious summer food.

Grilled Chicken Kabobs

• 4 chicken breast halves, cut into 2 in. cubes
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1-2 Tbsp honey
• 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (reduce for less kick)
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp salt

Veggies

• grape tomatoes
• 1 zucchini, cut up
• 1 bell pepper (any color works), cut up
• fresh pineapple, cut up

Mix oil, lemon juice, honey, thyme, pepper flakes, pepper and salt and put in flat baking dish. Place chicken in dish to marinate for 4 hours (or how ever long you want). Turn on your grill. Skewer everything up as seen above and slap it on the grill. Cook until chicken isn't pink (duh). So good!

Sesame Noodles

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and it was a BIG hit with my family--even my 4 year-old.

Ingredients:

1 (1lb.) package linguine
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 T. oil
6 T. vinegar
6 T. sugar
6 T. soy sauce
2 T. sesame oil

Optional ingredients:

2 t. chili sauce
6 green onions, sliced
1 T. sesame seeds, toasted

1. Cook linguine, drain and set aside.
2. Place a separate saucepan over medium heat. Stir in garlic, sugar, oil, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili sauce (optional). Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. Pour over linguine and toss to coat. Garnish with optional ingredients.

**NOTE** I also tossed in a shredded head of napa cabbage and some leftover grilled chicken breasts...it was delicious.

Green Chile Sauce

This recipe makes a great green enchilada sauce. I've started using it in place of the stuff in cans since the price of buying the chiles is comparable, plus I sort of prefer the taste to the canned sauce. So far I've only used it in these honey lime enchiladas, once with chicken and once with pork (both were good).

The recipe is really easy, but does take a little time. Next time I make it I'm going to double or triple it and freeze some for later.

Recipe from Cooking Light magazine, December 2007

6 fresh Anaheim chiles (long, slender green chiles found in most grocery stores)
1 T. canola oil
2 c. chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 T. all-purpose flour
1 t. ground coriander
1/2 t. salt
1 14-oz. can chicken broth

Preheat broiler.

Place chiles on a foil-lined baking sheet. Broil chiles for 14 minutes, or until blackened and charred, turning after 7 minutes. Put charred chiles in a heavy-duty ziploc and seal. Let stand 15 minutes. Remove from ziploc and peel and discard skin. Cut a lengthwise slit in each chili and remove tops and seeds (I find that they're usually attached, so when I pull off the top the seeds come along). Chop chiles and measure 3/4 c. (I always end up with more than 3/4 c. chopped chiles, but I throw it all in anyway. I suppose you could save the rest of the chopped chile for later and use in place of a can of green chiles or something.)

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion to pan and saute for 5 minutes or until tender. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute. (Mine always starts to burn when I add the garlic, so you might try reducing the heat a bit, or stir more often.) Stir in flour; cook 1 minute. Add chiles, coriander, salt, and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Scoop half of chile mixture into a blender. Remove center piece from the blender lid so team can escape and put a dish towel over the opening while you blend. Blend until smooth. Return blended mixture to pan and stir well. Remove from heat and cool.

Makes about 3 cups sauce.