Butternut Squash Soup with Chicken Sausage

I made some butternut squash soup for dinner.  Well, I made it twice on the same day actually.  You see, I learned a valuable lesson the first time that I made the soup.  It wasn't related to the butternut squash, the onions, carrots, or any other ingredients.  No, it was the method.  I shall share the disastrous story with you so that you will not make the same mistake.

You might notice that the tag line on my blog is "adventures in my kitchen", which would imply sometimes there are success stories and sometimes not.  Today had both.

I saw this recipe for butternut squash soup on Two Peas and Their Pod that you make in the crock pot.  It looked delicious, and I love crock pots, simply because you dump in the ingredients and let it do its magic.  So, this recipe calls for the use of an immersion blender.  I've never used an immersion blender, and I've never used a crock pot liner (plastic bag).  This is a bad combo.  This is a particularly bad combo when you have a tired CPA and tax attorney trying to cook on a Thursday night.  We thought it would be fine to use the liner and then just blend the soup with the blender in the bag.  Not. A. Good. Idea.

I really should have thought of it when I came home from work and started blending it.  But, it's Friday night, and I was more tired than I thought.  I'm sure I don't need to explain what happened next.  Really, I know it was a bad idea.  Complete epic fail.

So, I mentioned I made it twice in one night.  So, back to the grocery store I ran for more ingredients since my friends and I needed something for dinner.  And here is what I came up with.  It was so, so good.  In the words of my roommate, it's fall in a bowl. 

Butternut Squash Soup with Chicken Sausage

Inspired/adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

6 cups chopped butternut squash*
1 medium onion, diced
4 carrots, sliced
1 green apple, peeled and chopped
chicken or vegetable broth base
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 chicken sausages, sliced (I used the Johnsonville brand flavored with apple)
salt and pepper to taste
sour cream for garnish

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and add the broth base, butternut squash, onion, carrots, and apple.  Cook for 20 minutes or until all the veggies are soft.  Once cooked, scoop out the veggies and measure out 28 ounces of the cooking liquid.  Recombine the veggies and liquid together and blend together with an immersion blender.  (If you don't have an immersion blender, you can blend it in batches in a blender).  Once the soup is fully blended, heat on low heat and add the cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, salt & pepper, and sausage.  Heat the soup until the sausage is warmed completely through.  Serve with a garnish of sour cream, if desired. 


* If you have never peeled and chopped a butternut squash, do not be afraid.  I did it a few times this week, and it's not as hard as you might think it would be.  Here's a great tutorial.

Chocolate Covered "Pumpkin" Pretzels

I don't know about you, but I love chocolate covered pretzels.  I love chocolate covered anything for the most part (who doesn't?).  They fall into the "snack" foods category, and I am such a snacker.  I have to keep it in check or it'll get me in trouble.  I think I come by it honestly as there are other snackers in my family.  Whenever I go to my grandparent's house and look in the pantry, my grandmother has the best snack items in there for my grandfather.  And she usually always has chocolate covered pretzels.

I few weeks ago, when I was on Pinterest, I came across these pretzels, and knew I had to make them.  It wasn't a question of if, but when I would make them.  I love festive foods, too.  So, these were right up my ally!

Now, I will say these can be a bit labor intensive (at least it might seem that way if you start the project at 9:15 pm).  But, they are totally worth it!  If you have never gone to the kitchen to cook something up at 9:15 pm, you should go make these. :)

Here's the recipe.  I made a slight alteration to use the candy bark instead of the white chocolate.  It may not be as "real", but it's definitely simpler.

Chocolate Covered "Pumpkin" Pretzels

Pretzel twists
Green M&M's
White almond bark
Orange or red and yellow food coloring

Melt the almond bark according to the package directions.  Once it is melted, add the food coloring until you reach the color of orange you would like.  If you use red and yellow, use the ratio of two drops of yellow for every drop of red.  I used eight drops of yellow and four drops of the red.  Then, dip each pretzel in the almond bark and then place it on wax paper.  Immediately add the green M&M at the top.  Let the pretzels set completely before storing them.  You can cover them and place them in the fridge overnight to set, and they'll be perfect.

Fresh Pear Cake

Well, (this might sound like I'm starting an entry into my journal, or at least how I would start an entry if I actually journaled) this week started off with a whirlwind.  Yesterday was October 15.  What's so special about this day?  It's the day that I have been working towards for the last month and much more than that.  It's the day that all the extended 401(k) tax filings are due, and with that filing, a set of audited financial statements must be attached.  That's where I come in.  I've been auditing 401(k) plans.  I'll grant that they aren't my favorite.  I could go on with stories, but I'll spare you, because they might only be funny to a really tired CPA.

It's also the day that all extended gift tax returns are due.  But, wait, the government is still shut down.  What are they going to do with all these returns?  They will probably just set them aside and look at them later.  Meanwhile they'll take the any taxes that are remitted with the returns and use them to fund the government.  And, if they owe you a refund, they are planning to hang on to that for a while, too.  As I read today in a tax newsletter, the IRS's middle name is "Revenue".  But, that's not why I'm in the picture.  In order to file the gift tax returns, you have to know the value to of the gift being given.  Again, this is where we end up in the picture.  I promise there is a point to this story...

I was pretty much done with all my 401(k) audits Friday (several days early), but was asked to help out with the valuations for the gift tax returns.  I think what I helped with barely scratched the surface of what had to be done before today.  My tax attorney roommate was in charge of a number of the gift tax returns being filed at her firm.  And due to all the changes in the estate laws at the end of 2012, there were a ton to be done.  So, Monday night, we had a work party (if you can call it that; it was a nerd fest) at home until late.  The effects of a late night are still showing their signs. Here was the living room with our files spread out.

Over the weekend, I had thought about making this cake to take to work, but then decided not to.  But, when I walked into the office on Monday morning and it looked like a warzone (there were folks that had pretty much worked all weekend long and would continue to work late into the day and all night), I knew that a cake would be a nice thing to bring to work with me on Tuesday. 

So, here is the cake that I baked up Monday night while the roommate and I worked.  It's technically a Fresh Apple Cake, but you can easily interchange the apples for pears.  It's such a great fall dessert.

 

Here's the recipe.  Be a hero and make it for your next fall event.  You'll get an A+ from your tax lady coworker like I did or comments like, "it was so good, I had two pieces!"

Fresh Apple (or Pear) Cake

1 1/2 cup oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups chopped apples
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped

Cream together the oil and sugar in a large mixing bowl until well combined.  Next, add the eggs one at a time.  Sift together the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda and add to the creamed mixture.  Add in the vanilla.  Alternate adding the apples and chopped nuts.  Pour into a greased Bundt pan and bake at 290 for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Let cool before removing and placing on a plate.

Serve with cool whip.  OR if you don't have cool whip (like me), you can top it with a simple vanilla glaze made with some powdered sugar, milk, and a bit of vanilla extract.  Also, you can easily omit the pecans or walnuts, if you don't have those on hand (like me, again :) ).  Lastly, it saves super well.  Just cover it well and place it in the fridge.