Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut Milk

Smooth and silky vegan butternut squash soup with coconut milk.

Halloween is creeping toward us, minute by soon-to-be-an-hour-saved minute. Soft and slow but deft on black cat paws. I wake to the dry scratch clatter of leaves spinning down the sidewalk from Santa Monica Boulevard, riding the wind downhill like a gaggle of flattened tumbleweeds. I yawn awake dreaming of soup, imagining my favorite wooden spoon stirring the humble beginnings of some jewel toned potage as the French like to call it. Or so I'm told.

I don't speak French.

I'm craving soup like a mad woman, you see. Like some Shakespearean witch in the wild woods of West Hollywood, I long to stir a little seasonal magic into a pot of silky, orange hued soul food. So this week I conjured cooked up a curried fall classic. Every October I make batches of this gorgeous, comforting soup. That just so happens to be gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan.

The secret is- use ripe flavorful squash. Choose a butternut squash with firm golden-tan skin. The squash should make a hollow ring when thumped.

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Macaron Fail

For the past couple of months, I have been a bad MacTweet-er. I have missed not one but two challenges in a row - not because I've wanted to, but because hubby and I have been busy putting in some new flooring and putting a fresh coat of paint on a few rooms. The downstairs portion of our house is looking pretty great now, and Molly and Riley are quickly learning they can't quite corner as fast

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Onion Bread

My mother-in-law first made this bread and oh.my.goodness. It is incredible. It is sooo soft from the cottage cheese that is in it and the combonation of the onion and dill makes for one awesome loaf of bread. It is perfect with just some butter spread on it, or you can use it for a sandwich, or with some soup. However you eat it, it is so tasty.

Onion Bread

1 pkg. yeast (about 1 Tbsp.)

1/4 c. warm water (about 120 degrees)

1 c. lukewarm cottage cheese (just heat it on the stove til warm)

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 Tbsp. dried minced onion

1 Tbsp. butter

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 unbeaten egg

2 tsp. dill weed

2 1/4 to 2 1/2 c. flour

Put the yeast in large mixing bowl and add the water. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Add warm cottage cheese, sugar, onion, butter, dill weed, salt, baking soda, and egg. Mix to combine. Add flour until it makes a stiff dough. Cover and let rise until doubled. Stir it down and put into a greased loaf pan. Let it rise until doubled. Bake at 350 degrees 40-50 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately brush the top with butter.

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I linked this to This Chick Cooks, 

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In the words of Homer Simpson...

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm....doughnuts.



Homemade Vanilla Bean Glazed Doughnuts

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious. Thankfully, I no longer have a fear of frying, so I was pretty excited about this

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Chocolate Filled Croissants

How I never thought of these is beyond me. So simple and so amazing. Again, I cannot ever eat only one. Especially when they are warm out of the oven. My mom made these when I was visiting her one day and I am so glad she did. I think.

Chocolate Filled Croissants

1 tube of refrigerated crossaints

1 or 2 Hershey's chocolate bar

Whipped topping (optional)

Chocolate topping (optional)

Open the crossaints and seperate into triangles. Place one piece of chocolate at the top and roll once. Add another piece of chocolate and roll all the way up.

Place on a greased baking sheet and bake according to the directions on the dough tube.

It looks so unassuming...

Until you break it open...

Maybe add some chocolate topping...

And whipped topping...

But I think I prefer mine straight out of the oven, with nothing but the chocolate inside. Amen.

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Greek Souvlaki aka Pork Shish-Kabobs

These sound fancier and harder to make than they are. It's basically marinated pork on a stick. Not too scary. I wanted to share these before it gets too cold to use your BBQ grill. You could also cook these in your oven. They are delicious with lemon juice squeezed over them before serving.

Greek Souvlaki

2 lbs. pork roast cut into bite sized chunks

Accent or Season Salt

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder

1 1/2 tsp. garlic salt

 olive oil

whatever veggies you want to add

Mix all seasonings together. Place pork in a container and sprinkle seasoning over it. Toss to coat. Pour in enough olive oil to cover the pork. Cover and marinate over night. Put onto skewers with veggies (peppers, mushrooms, onions etc), wrap in foil, and cook slowly on the grill. About 20 minutes or until done. Before serving, remove foil and sprinkle with lemon juice.

It is so tender and delicious. You will want more than one skewer, if you're like me. Makes great leftovers.

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I linked this to Gooseberry Patch

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Happy Turkey Day! (in Canada at least)

Fall is very officially here, no question about it. We didn't get the nice, long Indian Summer I was hoping for... not quite, anyway. Yes, we're back to warm, sunny days, but it took less than a week for all the leaves to turn colour and drop this year. Who can blame them? Summer ended very abruptly this year - sunny and 28C one day, cold, drizzly and 13C the next... and then it stayed that

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Hand Pies

To go along with last week's post are these delicious hand pies. I will bet you will want more than one. You use the same pie dough and add your favorite pie filling instead of the meat mixture of the previous post. So easy and so good. I chose to make these with raspberry pie filling, since my husband likes rasperries. You could use lemon, blueberry, or make your own such as strawberry-rhubarb. Any filling you would use in a traditional pie can be used here. No plates or forks needed.

Hand Pies

Pie crust dough of your choice, homemade or store bought

pie filling of your choice

1 egg

a bit of sugar

Prepare pie crust and roll out onto a lightly floured surface. Use a large round cookie cutter or cup to cut out circles. You will need two circles of dough per pie.

Dollop in some filling, leaving space around the edges to seal.

Top with another piece of dough and seal the edges with a fork. Brush the top with egg wash. Sprinkle on a little sugar and place onto greased baking sheet.

Don't worry if they are perfect. As you can see, neither are mine! Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. Check to see if they are golden brown. If not, continue baking until done.

Look how flaky and yummy these are! I used the recipe from Our Best Bites for the pie dough and it's heavenly. Seriously. Let me know if you ate just one. I bet you don't.

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