Butternut Squash Soup

V8 makes a wonderful butternut squash soup. Not only is it two servings of vegetables per serving, it's super tasty. I love this soup, but the cost per person is a little high. I decided to re-create this recipe. Once again, it's kid tested and approved too!

Ingredients

• 1 onion, sliced thin
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 2 butternut squash, cut in half
• (2) 14 ounce cans of vegetable broth
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• kosher salt to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. In a large saucepan, saute onions in butter until tender. Set aside.
3. In a small mixing bowl, combine olive oil, minced garlic,and kosher salt to taste. Brush the tops of the butternut squash with olive oil mixture. Bake on a cookie sheet for 45 minutes to an hour.
4. Scoop baked squash from skins and add to sauce pan with onions. Add the vegetable broth, marjoram, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Bring to rolling boil then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Puree squash in a blender or food processor in batches until smooth. Serve immediately. Add salt and pepper to taste. This also freezes well for single serve portions.

I'm sure that this soup, once the onions are sauteed and the squash is baked, would simmer on low in a crock pot very well too!

Enchilada Sauce

Because my beautiful sister in-law requested the recipe! :)

Ingredients

• 1 TBS vegetable oil
• 1 c. diced onion
• 3 TBS chopped garlic
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 TBS all-purpose flour
• 5 TBS hot chili powder
• 4 1/2 c. chicken broth
• 1/2 (1 oz.) square semisweet chocolate

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high high heat. Saute onion until tender. Stir in garlic, oregano, cumin and cinnamon; saute for a few minutes.
2. Stir in flour and chili powder, stirring until sauce thickens. Slowly whisk in chicken broth; reduce until sauce reaches desired consistency. Stir in chocolate until melted and well blended.

Onion Ring Dipping Sauce

This one is amazingly like one you'll find at your local Down Under Steak House. We love it on our onion rings !

Ingredients

• 1/2 c mayonnaise
• 1 TBS ketchup
• 2 TBS cream style horseradish sauce
• 1/3 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp dried salt
• 1/8 tsp oregano
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 1/3 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, ketchup, horseradish, 1/3 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp oregano, a dash pepper, and cayenne pepper; mix well. Keep sauce covered in refrigerator until needed.

Old Fashioned Onion Rings

My family finds these onion rings to be particularly delicious!

Ingredients

• 1 large onion, cut into 1/4 inch slices
• 1 1/4 c flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1 c milk
• 3/4 c dry bread crumbs
• seasoned salt to taste
• 1 qt. vegetable or canola oil

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a deep fryer to 365 degrees
2. Separate the oil into rings and set aside. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Dip the onion into the flour mixture until the are all coated; set aside. Whisk the egg and milk into the flour mixture using a fork. Dip the floured rings into the batter to coat, then place on a wire rack to drain until the batter stops dripping. The wire rack may be placed over a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil for easier clean up. Spread the bread crumbs out on a plate or shallow pan. Place the rings, one at a time, into the crumbs, and scoop the crumbs up over the ring to coat. The coating should cling. Coat all rings.
4. Deep fry the rings a few at a time for 2-3 minutes, or until golden. Remove and drain on paper towels. Season with seasoning salt and serve.

Pumpkin Scone

Since I'm officially back online, I've decided to share a scone recipe with you today. This is my all time favorite scone recipe!! And since I really like scones, that's saying a lot!



Ingredients

• 2 c. all purpose flour
• 7 TBS granulated sugar
• 1 TBS baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 c canned pumpkin
• 3 TBS whipping cream
• 1 large egg
• 6 TBS cold butter, cubed

Plain Glaze

• 1 c plus 1 TBS powdered sugar
• 2 TBS milk

Spiced Icing

• 1 c plus 3 TBS powdered sugar
• 2 TBS milk
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• pinch of ground ginger
• pinch of ground cloves

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp cloves, and 1/4 tsp ginger in a large bowl.
3. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin, whipping cream, and egg.
4. Add cubed butter into dry ingredients. Use a fork to combine butter with dry ingredients. Continue mixing until no chunks of butter are visible (food processors works great for this!) The mix should look like cornmeal.
5. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients and form a dough; roll the dough into a ball. Gently roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle 9 inches long and 3 inches wide. Using a large knife, slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal portions. Cut those three slices diagonally so that you have 6 triangular slices of dough.
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake scones for 12-14 minutes or until light brown.
7. Cool scones on wire rack. While scones are cooling, mix the plain glaze. Mix until smooth.
8. When the scones are cool, use a brush to paint a coat of glaze on each scone.
9. While the glaze sets up on the scones, prepare the spiced icing. Drizzle the spiced icing (which will be thicker) over each scone and allow the icing to dry before serving - about 1 hour.

Makes 6 scones