Thursday, January 29, 2009

Roasted Winter Vegetable Soup....

Cold snowy day, there is nothing better than a good bowl of soup. I had bought a butternut squash a couple weeks ago and need to use it, so I had to decide what to make. Then I remember Ina had a recipe for a roasted veggie soup. Voila...dinner!

Veggies...butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots and parsnips.

Roasted veggies....pureed

The end result! Yummy!

Ingredients


3 to 4 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 quart Roasted Winter Vegetables, recipe follows
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper


Directions
In a large saucepan, heat 3 cups of chicken stock. In 2 batches, coarsely puree the roasted vegetables and the chicken stock in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pour the soup back into the pot and season, to taste. Thin with more chicken stock and reheat. The soup should be thick but not like a vegetable puree, so add more chicken stock and/or water until it's the consistency you like.

Roasted Winter Vegetables:
1 pound carrots, peeled
1 pound parsnips, peeled
1 large sweet potato, peeled
1 small butternut squash (about 2 pounds), peeled and seeded
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Cut the carrots, parsnips, sweet potato, and butternut squash in 1- to 1 1/4-inch cubes. All the vegetables will shrink while baking, so don't cut them too small.
Place all the cut vegetables in a single layer on 2 sheet pans. Drizzle them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss well. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until all the vegetables are tender, turning once with a metal spatula.

Yield: 8 servings

Copyright 2002, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, All Rights Reserved


There were a few changes I made to the recipe. I used a good store bought chicken stock then added about 1/2 cup of half & half, a little nutmeg and cinnamon. Then I topped with some creme fraiche. If you want to make this vegetarian use vegetable stock or the water.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Completed Project

Everytime I'm hired to sew or make ribbon boards I have every intention of taking pictures and then I never do. So one of many resolutions this year was making sure I document the projects I do.
This ribbon board was for my Aunt. She supplied the fabric and upholstery tacks. I use a thin layer of batting over Homosote fiberboard, which I think is the best material for making a board. It's very sturdy but not so dense that you can't attach the tacks.


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I'm not sure if I'm really digging this. I want to have a transitional look for the winter then I want to fill this with flowers for the spring and summer.


I bought this small wreath to hang on my kitchen window.

Weekly Kitty Collage!

I decided every Monday I will create a collage of the weeks kitty pics!

(*I know this was posted Tuesday, but it was ready on Monday.)


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Tuesday, January 20, 2009

What a Great Day to be an American!

This was my favorite shot of the day.











Sunday, January 18, 2009

Bad Blogger!

It's been a little while since my very short and last post. My stomach flu lasted forever and I'm just feeling back to normal. And my house is a mess!

But I did add a new feature and I hope you like my playlist. It's just a few of my favorite songs, enjoy!

Monday, January 5, 2009

Happy 2009!

My new year so far has been less then spectacular. I got the stomach flu on the 2nd and today is the first time I feel semi-human. My tree is still up and only half of my decorations are put away. This is all for now.