Saturday, September 15, 2012

The Butternut Squash Project

 This summer I took a Photoshop class from the local college.  I learned a ton of cool things and I hope I remember them. It was a short quarter and we went fast and my brain hasn't been in school for quite some time.  Plus, I have to say that I was also taking an HTML programming class that was really hard. 

My final project for my Photoshop class involved turning food into architecture.  So when I went to the store and looked at all the vegetables and fruit the butternut squash caught my eye.  Here is what it started out looking like.
I bought it and took it home and then began the process of using every technique I had learned to turn it into a guard shack at a park. Other food items were used also like eggs, cabbage and a Ritz cracker. Lots of fun!


Then school was done and the squash sat on my counter for a couple of weeks
until today when a recipe card came in the mail from the store I bought the squash from for
 " Spiced apple and butternut squash soup".

YUM!
I had no idea that butternut squash was so much like pumpkin but it is. 
Anyway, the soup was delicious and easy too. 

If you want to try it yourself here is the recipe:

1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 large onions, diced
2 large granny smith apples, peeled, cored & diced
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 butternut squash, peeled, halved lengthwise and seeded removed, diced into 1 inch cubes
3 quarts chicken stock
Salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. 
Add the diced onions and apples, and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
Stir in the spices, cook for 1 minute, and then add the squash and chicken stock.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until the squash is tender, about 20-30 min.
Puree and serve

Add additional stock, if necessary, to desired thickness. 
Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
serves 6-8

I only had one squash so I just adjusted the amount into 1/4th. 
Refrigerate any leftovers. ( if you have any ha, ha!)

Hope you all had a fun summer

Friday, July 27, 2012

Monday, June 11, 2012

Church Bells

We happened upon a reaaly old curch in St. Michaels Maryland and the bells chimed a tune. So fun!

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Checking in

It has been a very long time since I have poked my head in here. I am finding it hard to keep up with blogs, facebook, twitter and all the social media that surrounds me. Too many transitions this past year have left me wanting to back up and be silent. I needed time, and still do, to reevaluate what I want my life to look like.  There is a shift that happens when you turn 50 and you don't have kids at home anymore.  I have seen some of my friends that are the same age go through this too. Plus, we had quite a big year. We moved last July, took two vacations, my Father-in-law passed away, my daughter got pregnant, my son moved back to the area after being gone for two years, I turned 50, started three jobs and am now working just one, helped move my husbands business closer to our new home and am working on packing up and fixing up our old house to put on the market and am signed up to start college classes in a few weeks.  There are lots of other things tucked into the middle of it all that have made life very full. Everyone has stuff going on, so I am sure you can relate to some degree but being the introvert that I am, I am needing a lot more down time and rest than I did before.  So if I don't pop in again for awhile, you will know that I am working hard at school and helping my daughter through her pregnancy and taking time to stop and smell the roses.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Eat Ice cream for Breakfast

It was "Eat Ice cream for Breakfast" day so our local ice cream shop served waffles with maple ice cream and maple syrup. It was amazingly yummy.

Friday, January 6, 2012

You've Got Mail

My JJILL order came today and it is pure loveliness. I can't wait to try it all on. The best part was the huge huge discount I got on everything and paid for it with a giftcard, sweet!