Butternut Potato Soup

I love soups in the fall and winter!

I also love hiding secret nutrition in those soups.

My kids hate squash - all squash, but I love it.

I was planning to make potato soup last night, but at the last minute remembered I had some butternut squash that needed using.

I created something lovely!

And.................drum roll here.................the kids said it was better than my regular potato soup.

Until I dropped the bomb.

Chock full o' squash.

Here's what I did:

(and remember that these recipes feed 10)

Ingredients:

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups uncooked, cubed butternut squash

5-6 peeled and cubed potatoes

1 c sliced carrots

4 chicken bouillon cubes

1/2 t red pepper flakes

water

1 can evaporated milk

3/4 c flour

1 t salt

pepper to taste

1/2 tsp thyme

1 t crushed rosemary leaves (or are they needles?)

4 T butter/margarine

Directions:

Place onion, garlic, squash, potatoes, carrots, bouillon, and red pepper flakes into a large pot.  Fill with just enough water to cover the ingredients.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat slightly, but keep boiling until potatoes are softening (12-15 mins).  Pull out your potato masher and mash it in the pan until the squash is no longer recognizable.  (You could do this in a food processor or blender, but masher works fine for me and is easier to clean up.)  Remove from heat.

In a blender, combine milk, flour and salt and blend until flour lumps are gone.  Pour over the top of the soup.  Add pepper, thyme and rosemary and stir to combine.  Add butter/margarine and allow it to melt while you stir. If soup is too thick, you can add additional milk.

Serve as is, or garnish with cheese and crumbled bacon.

Pumpkin Dip

This is a recipe I pull out every October.

Anything pumpkin screams fall and it's an easy, anytime dessert.

We also have it every time we host Thanksgiving at our house.

This recipe was adapted slightly from allrecipes.com

 

Ingredients:

1 8oz package Neufchatel (or cream cheese), softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1 15 oz can solid pack pumpkin

1 T cinnamon

1 T pumpkin pie spice

1 t orange juice

 

 

In medium bowl blend cream cheese and sugar.  Mix in pumpkin.  Add remaining ingredients, blend well and chill until ready to serve.  We like this with graham crackers, ginger snaps and vanilla wafers.

 



Hawaiian Pork Sliders

I love trying new recipes - especially when it seems I've fallen into a dinner rut.

We had some leftover chalupa pork and I searched the web until I created something delicious from bits and pieces of other recipes.

It would be really tasty with plain smoked pork, as well.

Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

cooked chalupa pork or 1-2 lb smoked pork

favorite barbecue sauce

favorite dinner rolls, buns, etc

Pineapple-Mango Salsa:

1/2 bell pepper any color, finely diced

1/4 cup purple/red onion, finely diced

3 T chopped cilantro

1/2 c diced mango

1/2 c diced pineapple

Pineapple-Mango Dressing:

1 T mayo

1/2 T vinegar

1 T orange juice

1/2 t mustard

1/4 t celery seed

1/2 T sugar

salt & pepper to taste

If pork is already cooked, simply add barbecue sauce and heat on low for at least 30 minutes. 

While pork is heating, chop items in pineapple-mango topping and put together into a bowl.  Whisk the dressing ingredients together, then pour over the fruits & vegies. Stir and chill until time to serve.

When pork is well simmered, serve on rolls, top with pineapple-mango salsa and enjoy.

* This could also be served with shredded beef or chicken.  The pineapple-mango salsa was originally a slaw, but my family won't eat cabbage, so I changed it to make us happy.  Add cabbage if you like and increase the dressing ingredients slightly.