Honey Roasted Butternut Squash

***This has been modified since it's original posting. I can't believe I left out the kosher salt! The salt gives it that salty/sweet thing that is SO good! Sorry about that folks!***

We have been trying to shed a few holiday pounds at my house, and consequently, have been eating lots of veggies. I finally bought some pre-chopped butternut squash at Costco after eying it for quite some time, and then I decided to roast it.

There was a recipe on the package that inspired this simple one. I have made it a few times since, and let me tell you, if you love it as much as we do, we just might have to set up a Honey Roasted Butternut Squash addicts anonymous group. I'm tellin' ya, it's good!

Honey Roasted Butternut Squash

1 lb chopped, cubed butternut squash pieces

1 Tablespoon melted butter

1 1/2 Tablespoons Honey
Kosher Salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Melt butter for a few seconds in a small bowl in the microwave, and then add the honey. Stir until combined. Place squash cubes on a large shallow baking pan or cookie sheet and drizzle with honey butter mixture. Lightly sprinkle with kosher salt (to taste). Dig in with your hands and gently toss squash until all pieces are coated. Roast in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until squash is golden brown. Serve hot!

Yummy Yummy Yams

Since I can remember, my mom would make the Thanksgiving day yams from real, baked, yams. I think that they taste so much better than the canned yams that lots of people use. Yams are easy to bake and really don't take that much more time than the canned variety. My husband is a sucker for toasted marshmallows on top (and really, who isn't?), but of course, you can make these without the extra little clouds of sugar on top!

The great thing about this dish is that you can make it a day or two in advance and then bake it and add the marshmallows just before dinner.

Yummy Yummy Yams

2 large Sweet Potatoes/Yams (about 2 lbs)

¼ C + 1 Tbs. Brown Sugar

2 oz (1/4 C) chopped pecans (optional)

1 apple, finely chopped

¼ C Butter (1/2 stick)

Mini Marshmallows (optional)

Line a large baking pan or cookie sheet with aluminum foil. If the yams are very large, cut them into big chunks so that they will roast evenly. Bake yams at 350 until softened, 1 1/2 -2 hours. Remove yams from the oven and let them sit until slightly cooled. Remove skins and put the yams into a large bowl. Mash cooked yams with the butter and brown sugar. Then, stir in the pecans and apple. Mix well and pour into a greased 8x8 baking dish. (At this point, the yams may be stored in the refrigerator up to 2 days.) Bake yams at 350 for 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. If desired, just before serving, top the yams with mini marshmallows and place under the broiler until the marshmallows are toasted. Don’t leave marshmallows unattended! Serve immediately. Makes 8 side dish servings.

Broccoli

One of my favorite shows to watch is a local show called "Good Things Utah". They always have a cooking segment, which is my favorite part. A few weeks ago, one of the hosts talked about how she fixes broccoli, and how her kids gobble it up. Well, my kids have never touched broccoli, so I decided to try it. It was so easy, and my little girl begs for more every time I make this. Try it! It's different and so good, and I can't explain why, but we're addicted!

1-2 heads of Broccoli (depending on how many you're serving, I do one large head for 2 adults, 2 kids)
Olive Oil
Kosher Salt

Preheat the broiler on your oven. Chop broccoli into small, bite-sized pieces. Place them on a cookie sheet and drizzle with oil. You don't need a lot of oil, just enough to make sure that each piece of broccoli has a little on it. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Start with less. This is to taste, but YOU really have to figure out how much you like! Mix it all up, right there on the cookie sheet. I just use my hands. Place under the broiler, but make sure that your top rack is pretty close to the broiler. Broil for 2-3 minutes and then get it out and stir it well. Place the broccoli back under the broiler for another 2-3 minutes. You want there to be little pieces of brown on the broccoli, not lots, just barely starting to brown. That is what gives it the yummy flavor. Serve hot, right out of the oven!

Curried Butternut Apple Soup

I woke up to snow this morning. Snow on the ground equals soup in my house. This is a simple and yummy squash soup. It is good as a main dish, or would be great as an appetizer/side dish as well.

Last year, I made this soup and chopped up two medium sized butternut squash (which is a pain, by the way). I then washed my hands and realized that the skin was peeling off of my fingers, and they were all itchy. I had a bad reaction to the squash. Who would have guessed? So, this year, I baked the squash and scooped it out of it's shell. If you haven't done this, it's so easy. Just cut the top stem off of your squash, and then cut it in half. Scoop out the seeds. Line a cookie sheet with foil (do this please...squash leaves a yucky film on things when you bake it) and place your squash cut-side down. Pour about a cup of water in the pan, and bake it at 350 for about an hour or until it's soft. You can scoop the squash out and use it in this soup, or just as a side dish with some butter, salt and pepper. Easy. OR...you can buy a bag of pre-chopped, skinned and cleaned butternut squash at Costco. Easiest!

Okay, now get your other ingredients ready:

¼ C butter
2 C chopped onion (about 2 medium onions)
1 rib celery, chopped
2 ½ tsp. curry powder
2 medium butternut squash (about 2 1/2 – 3 lbs) peeled, seeded and cubed
3 medium apples, peeled, cored and chopped
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup apple cider or apple juice


In a heavy sauce pan, combine onion, celery, butter and curry powder. Cook over low heat until veggies are tender (10-15 minutes), stirring often. Add squash, apples and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until squash and apples are cooked thoroughly.

You need to strain a little bit of liquid off of the mixture once it's cooked. I do this by getting a big ladle or spoon and just skimming liquid off of the top, while trying to keep most of the ingredients still in the pot. Take off as much liquid as you can. Next, puree the apple-squash mixture with one cup of the strained liquid. You will probably need to do this in 3-4 batches in a blender. Don't over-stuff a blender with hot soup or it will pop the top off of your blender. Don't ask me how I know that. If you have a hand mixer, excellent. Stick that puppy into your pan and just blend. Add cider or juice to reach desired consistency. Garnish with grated apple, or chopped pear, yogurt or sour cream.

This is, of course, excellent in bread bowls. I'll post the bread bowl recipe soon!!

Grilled Potatoes and Onions

My new favorite recipe blog is: ourbestbites.com. (see the link on the right) I tried 3 new recipes from their blog last week and LOVED them all. Unfortunately, this is the only one that I remembered to take a picture of, so here you go... I always have problems coming up with things to go with meat when we're grilling, and this side dish was SO great. The smoked paprika is NOT regular paprika, and is SO delicious! I used Yukon Gold potatoes, just because I had some that needed to be used. These packets were so easy to make...I did it all by myself on the grill!! Make sure to try this before grilling season is over! (or, if you're like us and grill all year around...enjoy them from now on!!)


1 potato per person (any kind of potatoes work)
1/2 small onion per person
1 Tbsp. butter per person, cut into pieces
1/4 tsp. salt per person
Freshly-ground black pepper
Smoked paprika
Aluminum foil

Tear sheets (1 per person) of aluminum foil into about 16" pieces. Fold each in half into a sqaure, and set aside. Preheat grill. Slice potatoes into pieces about 1/4" thick. Slice onions about 1/8" thick. Place 1 potato in the middle of each foil square and dot with butter pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then sprinkle GENEROUSLY with smoked paprika. Remember, paprika is super mild, so it's hard to add too much. Top each pile with onions. Fold edges in and secure tightly. It's important to get a good seal because the moisture will cook the potatoes and onions and you want all those yummy juices, so if it seems like there's not quite enough foil, wrap packet in another layer.Turn heat on grill to low. Place each packet on the grill. Close lid for 15 minutes. Turn and allow to cook for another 15 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully open each packet (or, even better, let each person open their own packet--hey, less work for you, right??)

Grilled Fajitas and Spanish Rice

I love fajitas on the grill. You can use any kind of meat or peppers that you want to use. They are so good and pretty healthy (if you don't load them up with too much stuff!).

Fajitas

Chicken or Steak (a pound or a little more)
Packet of Fajita Seasoning
3-4 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T Oil
3-4 T Water
Onion
1-2 large bell peppers

Combine seasoning packet, Worcestershire sauce, oil and water. Pour half of it over the meat and then the other half over chopped vegetables (in separate containers or plastic bags). Let marinate for ½-1 hour. Grill meat until it reaches your desired doneness. Grill veggies in a grill basket until tender. Cut meat into strips just before serving. Serve with tortillas, sour cream, salsa, lettuce, cheese and guacamole.

This is my husband's aunt's recipe, and it's fabulous! It's kind of tempermental, so don't be surprised if it doesn't always turn out the same way. This is the original recipe that I was given, but I add less water than it calls for (only about 1 1/2 cups of water per cup of rice).

Spanish Rice

4 C White Long Grain Rice (I've also used Jasmine Rice, which is good)
2 T Oil
15 oz tomato sauce
8 C Water

Salt, Pepper, Garlic (I usually use 1-2 cloves of garlic, pressed)
2 big spoonfuls Knorr Caldo con sabor de Pollo (Chicken Bullion, found with other Mexican foods) 1 Onion, cut into small wedges or slices
1 Lime
Chopped Tomato

Fry uncooked rice in oil until amber colored. Combine water, tomato sauce, salt, pepper, garlic and onion. Add water etc. to rice, then cover and cook on low heat for 15-20 minutes or until rice is tender. Add tomato and lime juice. Serve with fresh limes and tortillas or as a side dish. **I usually half this if I am serving it as a side dish for 6 people.