Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

1 medium butternut squash- peeled, seeded and diced

3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

Salt

Pepper

Cayenne Pepper

Olive Oil

1 medium onion

3 Tbl butter

2 large garlic cloves

½ tsp dried sage

½ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp cinnamon

4 cups chicken stock

Zest of 1 orange

Cream cheese or sour cream

Coat the squash and potatoes with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and a touch of cayenne. Roast in a 350° oven for about an hour or until soft and fork tender.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan. Sweat the onions until translucent. Add the garlic and herbs and spices. Cook together about a minute. Add the chicken stock, roasted veggies and orange zest. Puree using a stick blender.

Right when you’re about to serve, garnish with the sour cream or cream cheese. 

Better Than Sex Cake!

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1/2 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
6 ounces caramel ice cream topping
3 (1.4 ounce) bars chocolate covered toffee, chopped
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Bake cake according to package directions for a 9x13 inch pan; cool on wire rack for 5 minutes. Make slits across the top of the cake, making sure not to go through to the bottom.
In a saucepan over low heat, combine sweetened condensed milk and caramel topping, stirring until smooth and blended. Slowly pour the warm topping mixture over the top of the warm cake, letting it sink into the slits; then sprinkle the crushed chocolate toffee bars liberally across the entire cake while still warm.
Let cake cool completely, then top with whipped topping. Decorate the top of the cake with some more chocolate toffee bar chunks and swirls of caramel topping. Refrigerate and serve right from the pan!

Father's Day Breakfast

For Father's Day I served a delicious berry breakfast: Berry Cheesecake Parfaits & Blueberry Swirl Coffee Cake. We also had blueberries & strawberries in cold cereal! It was very-berry-delicious!

Berry Cheesecake Parfaits
Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups cold milk
1 (3.4 ounce) package JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
1 1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, divided
24 NILLA Wafers, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups mixed blueberries and sliced fresh strawberries

Directions:
Beat cream cheese with mixer until creamy. Gradually beat in milk. Add dry pudding mix; mix well. Whisk in 1 cup COOL WHIP.
Layer half each of wafers, berries and pudding mixture in 8 parfait glasses. Repeat layers.
Top with remaining COOL WHIP.

**From allrecipes.com

Blueberry Swirl Coffee Cake
½ cup oleo (I used butter)
1/3 cup shortening
1 ½ cups white sugar
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
4 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
dash of salt
21-30oz. blueberry pie filling
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp milk

In large mixer bowl soften ½ cup oleo, 1/3 cup shortening. Add 1 ½ cups white sugar, 1 ½ tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 tsp almond extract and 4 eggs. Blend on low speed scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 2 min. Stir in 3 cups all-purpose flour. Add dash of salt. Spread 2/3 of batter in a well-grease 15 ½ x10 ½ x 1 jelly roll pan. Spread 21-30oz. Of cherry pie filling over batter. Drop remaining batter by tbsp. onto pie filling. Bake 45 min. at 350 til golden brown. While warm drizzle with glaze made by mixing 1 cup powdered sugar with 1-2 tbsp milk til smooth and of desired consistency. Cut into 2 ½ squares to serve.

Spice Island Giveaway

So, this one time. I was making cinnamon rolls. A LOT of cinnamon rolls. And when it came time to add the cinnamon I added clove instead.

BUT that story just won me 10 Spice Island spices! Woot Woot!





Check it out- http://www.spiceislands.com/blog/index.php/2011/06/reader-giveaway-winners/

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I'm awesome.

Grilled Chicken Chipotle Salad

I've started a 'get fit kick' and have tried eating more healthy lately. I came up with this recipe myself and my husband voted it as the best salad he's ever eaten!!

Grilled Chicken:
I used my George Foreman grill to cook up chunks of chicken (then I cut them into strips). As for the seasoning on the chicken I used: salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, and chipotle pepper.

Salad:
romaine lettuce, cucumber, green pepper, yellow pepperoncini peppers, tomatoes, black beans, corn, avocado, onion, grated cheese, carrots, broccoli, olives, cilantro, chili-lime tortilla strips.

Dressing:
Fresh squeezed lime juice

With all the ingredients and flavors on the salad you really don't need a dressing. The lime, chipotle, and cilantro blend was absolutely delicious!

Strawberry Ice Cream Like Ben and Jerry's

By PCrocker on May 16, 2005

Photo by Columbus Foodie

·         Prep Time: 1 hr

·         Total Time: 1 hr

·         Servings: 6

About This Recipe

"Good enough to be served at Ben & Jerry's. Use fresh, good-quality ingredients. I love to make this during strawberry season. Plan to refrigerate berries in sugar for 1 hour before making ice cream."

Ingredients

·          1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and chopped

·          1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

·          2 large eggs

·          1 cup sugar, divided

·          2 cups heavy whipping cream

·          1 cup milk

·          1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1.    Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 1/4 cup sugar in a mixing bowl, set aside in fridge for 1 hour.

2.    In large mixing bowl beat eggs until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

3.    Gradually add 3/4 cups sugar, mixing well. Stir in milk and vanilla and mix well.

4.    Add strawberries with juice and mix well.

5.    Gently stir in whipping cream just until combined.

6.     Pour into ice cream maker and follow manufacturer’s instructions.

Bean's notes- I pureed the strawberries with the cup of sugar and added lemon zest as well as the lemon juice. That was I was sure it was very strawberry throughout each bite, and there was also just a hint of lemon. It was amazing! I can't wait to go home and eat more of it! 

Baked Beans

Modified from Rockin' Baked Beans recipe by Anne Burrell

Ingredients

·         5 slices bacon, cut into medium size pieces

·         1 large onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice

·         1 green pepper, stem, seeds and pith removed, cut into 1/4-inch dice

·         Large pinch crushed red pepper flakes

·         Kosher salt

·         4 garlic cloves, smashed and finely chopped

·         2 links Italian sausage, casing removed and crumbled

·         1 can tomato paste

·         1 teaspoon cumin

·         2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

·         2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

·         3 tablespoons brown sugar

·         2 (28-ounce) cans navy beans or 1 lb of dried beans, soaked and cooked

·         1 ½ cups water, plus 1 cup

Directions

Crisp bacon in an oven-safe pot. Remove bacon, but leave grease in pan. Add the onions, peppers and crushed red pepper flakes. Season with salt, to taste, and cook until the onions and peppers are soft and aromatic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Add the sausage and use a spoon to help break it apart. When the sausage is brown, add the tomato paste and cumin and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the Dijon, apple cider vinegar, and molasses, then add in the beans and 1 1/2 cups of water. Taste and season with salt, if needed. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat and simmer the beans until they are nice and thick and taste really good, about 15 to 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, add the remaining cup of water.

Bake until the beans are nice and thick, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, top with crisp bacon pieces and serve.