Butternut Squash Sauce

More adventures in cooking! I can't figure out how the palates in our house can be so varied and different. It tends to fall into 25/75 -- meaning what I like (the 25%), the others (the 75%) do not. However, I keep trying. My next post will be one of my husband's favorite meals. That way you can get a sense of what is going on here.

I will be honest - this recipe was not a huge success at our house. I LOVED this recipe, ate 2 helpings and had it for lunch the next day. Two others ate it without a ton of enthusiasm, and one cried - then ate plain noodles with parmesan.  I thought that everyone would appreciate a new take on spaghetti. I was wrong. They all wished that I had just made regular spaghetti. This makes me think that butternut squash is not as popular as I would like it to be. On mother's day I made a huge pot of Barefoot Contessa's Butternut Squash and Apple Soup and it was barely dented. Hmmm.....

This sauce ended up being vegan (if you omit the parmesan) and gluten-free (if you use brown rice pasta or some other gluten-free pasta).

Butternut Squash Sauce

1 butternut squash (peeled, seeded and chopped into pieces) *see tip below
1 onion, chopped
2 cups vegetable broth

1 package spaghetti (I used brown rice pasta)
parmesan (optional)

Saute onion until soft. Add chopped butternut squash and 1 cup broth.  I also added a splash of white wine, some garlic powder and a few shakes of Italian seasoning (just use whatever you like). Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until squash is tender 10-15 minutes. Now just puree it until smooth, adding more broth to make it the consistency that you like. Serve over noodles. Top with Parmesan if desired. You can puree in the blender, food processor, or if you are like me and don't want to dirty a large appliance, use the immersion blender. It is a bit trickier to use it for this purpose since you are trying to keep it thicker than a soup.

*My big tip here is making it easier to peel and chop a butternut squash. First, poke holes in squash (about 10-15). Wrap in kitchen towel. Microwave for 3 minutes, then leave to rest in microwave for 3 more minutes. Unwrap from towel. It is now a little bit steamed (and a little bit soft), making it easier to peel and to cut. This method works great if you are pureeing your squash in the end. I don't recommend using this method when you need to have nice little cubes of butternut squash for your recipe.

Vegetarian Paella

I love making one dish meals. This is one is easy turns out so colorful. I had been making a paella before using turkey sausage, but I wanted to do one that was vegetarian. So I changed it around a bit.  This recipe is very easy to throw together for dinner.

Vegetarian Paella

1 package yellow rice (see picture below)
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, cut up (I just make strips out of it and then cut the strips into shorter strips)*
1 can petite diced tomatoes, not drained
1 cup green peas (if frozen, soak in warm water for quick thaw, then drain)
1 can quartered artichokes, rinsed and drained

*if you are feeling lazy or short on time, I'm sure you could just use a jar of roasted red peppers, drained and chopped

Saute onion in oil for a couple of minutes. Add bell pepper and continue to cook until onions are soft. Add rice, diced tomatoes and however much water your package of rice says to add. Bring to a boil, then simmer and cover for 20 minutes. At this point, uncover, add peas and artichokes, adding more water if necessary to make it a good consistency. Continue to cook for about 5 minutes longer. Scoop and serve!

Now in order to avoid a revolt among the inhabitants of my house, I served the paella with this on the side:

Here is a breakdown of how we ate this meal:

Me: just paella 

Husband: cut sausage into pieces and mixed into paella

Child #1: sausage on side and paella

Child #2: sausage on side, tried paella, had jelly sandwich instead

To help them all recover from eating this variety of vegetables, I served good old fashioned CCC's (which stands for chocolate chip cookies - nicknamed this by Child #1, aka "Captain Dessert")

Lego Minifigures

Lego has started selling packets of minifigures. It looks something like this (well there are a couple of series, so some packages are different colors). It is a surprise what your minifigure will be. Connor has a knack for picking the same one over and over. Kelly on the other hand, takes her time and feels the package. She picks a different one each time.

 Here are some of her minifigures she has:

I just love the disco guy!!!

Well, she surprised me one day with my own mini figure packet:

And inside:

How appropriate! I love it!!

In addition to mini figures, we also love the Lego Architecture Series.

This one is the Farnsworth House, which the actual house is just outside of Chicago. We want to take a field trip there to see it in person.

Lego Hotel

I love when the kids build things out of Legos. It makes me a bit sad because they are spending less time building Legos than a couple of years ago. I love to see them change and grow, but it makes me a bit sad because they used to spend so much time on Legos. Here they built a hotel - complete with roof-top pool (notice the girls hair - the rest of her is supposed to be underwater), restaurant, rooms and lobby.

Great New Blog

There is a great new blog out there called Through the Lens. It was created by none other than my firstborn! Connor received a Nikon D1X camera (on loan) and some initial instructions from his Papa. He then played around with it for a bit and decided to post some of his results. I, of course, am super biased - but what mother isn't? I have to add that my dad is a super great photographer. If you've received my Christmas cards over the years - that is always his work!

Lollipop Centerpiece

Who doesn't love candy now and again? We have been a enjoying Dylan's Candy Bar book ever since Kelly received it for Christmas.  We decided to make our own table decorations - a lollipop tree (which is not in the book - but something we just decided to make).
It is super easy - all you need is a pot, a styrofoam ball to comfortably fit on the pot and lots of lollipops!

Just start sticking them in all over the portion of the styrofoam ball that is sticking out of the pot and eventually it will look like this:

Now just try to keep the kiddies from "picking" the tree too often!

Cantaloupe, Mozzarella and Proscuitto

I love this dish. It is easy to make and looks pretty and keeps your kitchen cool on a hot summer day. I found it in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food from May or June.  I cannot find the link on her website.  Sometimes I really find her website difficult to use. Anyway, this is great as an appetizer or main dish with some crusty bread.

1 cantaloupe balled using a melon baller

1 container of bocconcini (small, fresh, mozzarella balls)

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper

1 package proscuitto

fresh basil leaves

Arrange on platter. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve and enjoy!!

Lego Creations

The kids come up with the best Lego creations. This one happens to be a dojo (a karate center)

There is a small Lego trophy on the right hand side. I love their attention to details!

Sunday Waffles

Sunday was a beautiful day. I love this time of year because the bugs and bees have not all come out yet and so we get to eat outside. We just bought a new picnic table which I love!!!! Our family enjoys waffles with fresh strawberries sliced on top. We use strawberries in lots of meals. It is one of the foods that the kids can help prep in the kitchen - washing, pitting, and slicing. I found 2 gadgets (one last year and one this year) at Williams-Sonoma (love, love, love Williams-Sonoma) that make the process a lot easier and child-friendly (no sharp knives).

The first one pits the strawberries. Just press the plunger, stick it in the strawberry top, twist, and out comes the green top and pit!

The second is a strawberry slicer. It makes slicing strawberries for waffles, crepes, etc. so much faster!

Now this last part is a GAME! Take a look at the next 3 photos and try to decide which family member is NOT a Morning Person.

Um, that might be too easy!

Cross Stitch Tips

Today I want to talk a bit about cross stitching.  This is something I have done off and on since I was in high school. I always worked small projects, but lately I've done a few bigger projects.  This latest one is from Mochimochiland. I actually have done 2 projects from this site - one for each child (this was for Kelly). I originally found this site for its cute knitting patterns and then over time, saw the cross stitch patterns.

Connor was studying tessallations in 5th grade math this past year. I had to look up what a tessallation was - and ended up learning something new! A tessellation is the arrangement of repeating polygons with no gaps in between.

It is easy to find cute cross stitch patterns for girls, but boys are another story. When I came across this pattern - I knew it was perfect for him.

Here is the finished result:

I substituted some of the colors to suit a my boy's taste. I also did not change the color of the tooth and spikes because quite frankly I don't like doing small color changes. It was enough to do the eyes. I think it came out pretty cute and need to get a frame for it. 

Here are my cross stitch tips for you:

• I always use Aida Cloth 14 count.  This is a personal preference. I have tried other size (16 and 18) as well as Linen and Evenweave. I like this best because - my eyes can see the holes without strain! I also like that the cloth keeps its shape.
• If you are using 14 count cloth -- use 3 strands of embroidery floss. Most patterns or directions always tell you to use 2 strands.  I find using 3 strands does not leave gaps and makes the finished product a little fuller looking.
• This product I just came across and cannot believe I have ever lived with out it. When cross stitching it is helpful to use some sort of wax to keep your embroidery threads from tangling or getting nasty knots in them.  I had been using this - which can be found in both the quilting and needle section at the fabric store (Joann's).  

(wax)

While I was searching around, I found this little treasure and decided to give it a try. It works sooooo much better than wax and makes the threads feel silky smooth. It is called Thread Heaven.  Their website gives more information and good instructions on how to use it (not that it is complicated). 

(best product)

My last link is for my 2 favorite sites to purchase small cross stitch patterns (Andwabisabi and Sewingseed).  Small patterns are fun to do, don't take a lot of time to finish and are portable. I like these sites because there are not a lot of small color changes and the results are always very cute. If you never tried cross stitching before, these patterns are perfect. Also, both sites give you basic instructions to get you started.  You can make Christmas ornaments, coasters, small framed pictures, bookmarks, etc. 

Happy Stitching!