Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Again, thanks to my green-thumbed friend, I was able to steal get two butternut squashes from her garden this year.  They are so pretty, and when cooked, so sweet and delicious!

The first thing I can think of is to make soup.  I used a recipe from (of course) Simply Recipes and loved it.  The soup was thick and sweet from the squash and apples, but were balanced out with the onions, celery and carrot.  It's perfect with a slice of toasted sourdough bread.  Don't be afraid to pass by this daunting looking vegetable while in the market!

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

from Simply Recipes, click here for recipe

Tools
- iron cast pot
- peeler

A few tips...
...butternut squash is really really hard to peel.   I've experienced too many close calls with a knife and this vegetable.  After some research online, I found out that there are easier ways to deal with this vegetable (gosh, why didn't I think about googling this a long time ago...).  The easiest way I found was to boil the entire squash in hot water for about 20 minutes.  Although this is an extra step in the cooking process, you can guarantee to walk away with all of your 10 fingers attached at the end of the day.  I think that's a pretty good deal, don't you?  To boil the whole squash, you do have to cut off the ends first (stem and bottom).  Take a big sharp knife to do this part, but this is the only "hard" part you will have to deal with!  After boiling, the skin will be easy to peel off, and also easy to chop into pieces.
...remember to spoon out the seeds from the squash.  The seeds are typically located towards the bottom end of the squash.  Clean it good!
...an entire squash can make A LOT of soup.  You can just use half of the squash to make this soup, and use the remaining squash for something else (butternut squash bake, or any other lovely sides with this ingredient).

A Special Post: Happy Birthday Hubby!!

Today is the hubby's birthday.  Since we spent soooo much money these last couple of months, we decided that the responsible thing for people with mortgages and dreams of a fantastic top of the line kitchen (hrmmm, OK, that may just be MY OWN dream...) is not to spend any more money on gifts, but keep it in the bank and see it grow (although slowly).  Therefore, I've decided to dedicate a special post to hubby's birthday, and share a quick walk down memory lane on the one delicious item that he liked for each of the year that we were together.  Enjoy Hubs.

2005 // Za Zang Mien

2006 // Endless Buffets!  Eastern Caribbeans Cruise 

(our first vacation together... oh those long 2 weeks, hahaa)

2007 // Belgian Waffles, Japan 

2008 //  Lasagna from Mona Lisa, North Beach, SF

 2009 // Tuna and Onion Pizza, Venice, Italy

2010 // Oak Grilled Baby Octopus, Monterey's Fish House, Monterey, CA