Acorn Squash Soup

I made this last night and it was a big hit:) I recently got an immersion blender..which I love! Someone I work with was selling one she got as a wedding present, and hadn't used, nor did she think she would...so I snapped it up! So I was excited to use it for the first time last night:) And I loved it! So much easier than transferring the soup to the blender and then back into the pot. So if you don't have one, I highly recommend one!

Ok, so the recipe!

2 Acorn squash

Olive oil

salt

pepper

1 tablespoon of unsalted butter

1 yellow onion

3 stalks of celery, chopped

1 tbsp of sage

6 cups of chicken broth

1/4 tsp of nutmeg

1/4 tsp of cayenne peopper

1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan

My modifications to the recipe-well first of all it called for butternut squash, which I couldn't find so I used acorn, and it was yummy. Also instead of nutmeg I used all spice to give it a little more kick! I also added some curry:) just cause I like it! I also added a little half and half, like 1/4 cup..just cause I can, and it was really yummy. I also may have added a little more cayenne than called for, but again we like some kick in our food:)!

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees (f). Cut the squash into pieces, about six a squash. Lay them on a baking sheet skin side down, drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Cook for about 30 min or until soft/pierce with a fork easily.

In a dutch oven or large stockpot, heat the butter over med heat. Add the onion, celery and sage, sautee till translucent. Once the squash is done, spoon it out of the skin and into the pot with the other veggies. Add the broth, all spice, cayenne, curry and a little more salt. Bring to a boil. Than lower the heat and simmer for about twenty minutes adding in 1/4 cup of half and half. At this stage it will tell you to remove it from the heat and transfer to blender to puree it, but again I just stuck my immersion blender in there and walla! it was done:) I also forgot about the parmesan cheese part..which I will try next time, but basically top with paremesan cheese and croutons. I topped with sour cream because i love sour cream in my squash soup..either way it will be delish!! Enjoy..we sure did..Dave couldnt stop talking about it..all night:)

Happy Candyween:)

This weekend Addy and daddy did some pumpkin carving, which more equalled daddy carving and addy supervising:) It was pretty cute as she didn't want to touch the "dirty" pumpkin..such a girl! At thanksgiving time we had her paint a pumpkin which she did last year, and is something that we will continue to do..something fun, something different that the littles ones can do themselves! Than last night we headed out for some candy stashing! We have taken addy out the past three years and will continue to do so, but halloween isn't something we want to glorify, but its something that we have turned into a fun family night. The last couple of years we have gone out with her cousins, but with one of them moving this weekend, and one set of grandparents gone away right now, it was pretty low key. Going forward I would like to do it more in a group with friends or family as it does make it that much more fun! All in all we had a great time and loved watching her reaction as random people at doors handed her candy! she was quite intrigued by this concept:)

On thing that I have to say though, is that I do get disappointed looking around and seeing costumes getting darker and darker...like when did Zombies come into fashion?? really?? That was hard for me.as well as screening some people's homes as they would come to the door with scary costumes and masks on. Again, people, at six thirty there are babies out there! Can't that wait till after eight?? so that is the part I wasn't really fond of. I guess we will see how it goes in the future. We can always re evalute and hit up some of the local church fairs they put on that night!

This