Butternut Squash Soup.

Fall to me means time to break out the crock pot. Time to make some chili. Soup? You've got it. So my husband's recent absence (and his general dislike of butternut squash and its related recipes), I decided it was time to make myself some soup. I found two good recipes, and molded the two for one that is creamy and putting a taste of fall in your mouth with each bite. Bonus? You can roast the seeds too, which are just as delicious as those from a pumpkin.

While this soup doesn't go into the crock pot, it still has that rich fall flavor that will warm up your insides on a chilly-to-the-bone day.

Butternut Squash Soup
Serves 6

Ingredients:
-2 medium-sized butternut squash
-2 tablespoons salted butter
-1 medium onion, diced
-4 cups chicken broth
-4 ounces light cream cheese
-Dash of cayenne pepper
-Salt and pepper (to taste)

How to:
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
-Cut butternut squash in half length-wise and scoop out insides.*
-Save seeds for roasting.**
-Drizzle squash with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. (I use an olive oil spritzer.) Place face down on a baking sheet.
-Roast squash in the preheated oven for 50 minutes, or until tender.
-Once cool, scoop inside of squash from the skin (or just peel the skin off) and set aside.
-Melt butter over medium heat.
-Cook onion in the butter until soft.
-Add broth, roasted squash, and cayenne pepper.
-Heat thoroughly (about 10 minutes). Once hot (and the squash is soft), add cream cheese. Either blend mix in a blender or food processor (I used an immersion blender) until smooth and add back to pot. Do not boil.




*Per experience, the easiest way to do this is to slice small bits off each of the ends and cut in half while the squash is set upright.
**I cleaned them off, put on a cookie sheet, sprayed with olive oil, salted, and put in the oven at 275 for 15 minutes. They didn't seem done, so I forgot about them. I have NO idea how long I actually cooked them for, so I can't really blog the recipe. I did, however, eat them. They were fine.

Grandma C's Egg Salad.

My Grandma C. was a very special person in my life. Her passing left a big hole in my heart. I do, however, have many wonderful memories of her and our time together.

One thing I can always do that makes me feel closer to her (other than drape myself with her jewels) is to make egg salad. Growing up, the ladies in my world loved egg salad. The men? They hated it. The second those eggs started boiling, you'd hear my dad or my grandpa start griping. "WHAT IS THAT GOD AWFUL SMELL?"

We'd chuckle, and proceed with the peeling, the stirring, the mixing. These days, I've tweaked her recipe slightly (I never admitted to her that I hated green olives) and now have my own version, but it never fails to make me smile and think of our lunches together.

Grandma C's Egg Salad
(serves 6-8, based on size of sandwich)

Ingredients:
-10 hard boiled eggs
-2 celery stalks (or you can make it Grandma C.-style and chop up some green olives)
-5 tablespoons light mayo (or to taste)
-2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

How to:
-Hard boil the eggs. (Everyone has a different way to do this, but I cover the desired amount of eggs in water, bring to a boil for a few minutes, then I turn the heat off, letting sit for about 15 minutes. This seems to work pretty well, but do your own way!)
-Dice celery into small pieces.
-Chop eggs and mix with celery, mayo, and Dijon mustard.  Don't over-stir, you want it still chunky.
-Add salt and pepper to taste.
-Sprinkle with paprika. (Not entirely sure what this does aside from making this look like a giant deviled egg, but it looks nice.)
-Spread on bread, crackers, or just eat with a fork. I do all three.