Butternut Squash Soup

Very good! Martha Stewart's recipe, except I made the following changes:

-4 pieces of bacon
-omitted the thyme
-added 3 cloves minced garlic & some red pepper flakes to the onions
-added a few splashes of cream at the end

Makes a huge batch, plenty left over to freeze

INGREDIENTS

6 slices bacon, cut in half crosswise
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 large onion coarsely chopped (about 3 cups)
2 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, halved, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 6 cups)
3 sprigs thyme
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1 3/4 cups water

DIRECTIONS

Cook bacon in a large pot over medium heat, flipping once, until brown and crisp, about 15 minutes. Drain on paper towels; discard fat from pot but do not wipe clean.
Melt butter in pot over medium heat. Cook onion, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden, about 15 minutes. Add squash, thyme, 1 tablespoon salt, broth, and water; increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until squash is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Discard thyme.
Working in batches, puree soup in a blender until very smooth. Return soup to pot and season with salt and pepper; cover to keep warm or reheat if necessary. Divide among heatproof glasses and garnish each glass with bacon. Bacon and soup can be made up to 3 days ahead, cooled completely, and stored in refrigerator in separate containers. Recrisp bacon on a baking sheet in a preheated 300 degrees oven, about 10 minutes, while reheating soup over low heat.

One Pot Tomato Basil Pasta

This is what I am trying next.  It is a combination of a Martha Stewart recipe, and my additions.

Ingredients:
-One onion sliced thin + 1-2 tbspn butter
-1 packet Italian Seasonings (the kind you make the dressing with)
-4 cloved minced garlic
-12 oz linguine noodles
-1 15 oz can stewed tomatoes & liquid or 12 oz grape tomatoes, sliced in half (not sure which route I will go with the tomatoes)
-2 sprigs fresh basil
-2 tbspn olive oil
-4 cups veg stock
-1/4 cup heavy cream**optional
-parmesan cheese

Sautee the onion with butter in a large deep skillet. Add the italian seasonings and garlic, stir.

Add the noodles, tomatoes, basil, olive oil, and stock.

Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer and cook 10-15 minutes (stirring frequently) until noodles are cooked and liquid has evaporated.

Add cream and top with parmesan cheese**

Last time I made this recipe with cream, but I probably will leave it out next time.

Chicken Pot Pie from scratch

This is a recipe for chicken pot pie, made from scratch.  I combined my recipe with The Pioneer Woman's recipe, and this is it.  

The filling makes enough for 1 large pot pie or 2  small/medium ones.  Depends on the size of your dish. After everything has cooled, divide the mixture in half and freeze one portion for next time if you want to make a smaller portion.

I have used the classic pie crust recipe using Crisco (shortening), but sometimes I buy premade crusts and use puff pastry sheets for the top.

For the filling:

-4 tbspn butter

-1 onion

-2 carrots

-2 stalks celery

-seasonings (season all, pepper, and ranch powder)

-1/2 cup frozen peas

-1/2 cup frozen corn

-1/2 cup frozen green beans

-4 cloves minced garlic

-The meat from one store bought rotisserie chicken, cubed

-1/4 cup flour

-3 cups veg stock

-1/4 cup cream

Sautee onion, celery, and carrot with butter over medium heat for at least 10 minutes, until everything is soft.  Add all of your seasonings, I eyeball everything so I don't know the measurements.

Stir in the garlic, and then stir in all of the frozen vegetables, mixing until combined.  

Next add the chicken, stir, and combine.

When everything is combined and frozen vegetables are thawed, sprinkle the flour over the top, stir, combine, and let cook for a couple minutes

Next add the broth, and bring to a boil

Reduce heat to medium/medium high and cook uncovered until mixture thickens up (I actually had to remove some liquid eventually)

Stir in heavy cream, remove from heat, and cool (I put mine in the freezer for a few minutes, I didn't want to put the hot mixture in on the cold pie crust).

Make 2 crusts, press one into the bottom of a buttered glass baking dish

Add the filling, and top with the other crust or puffed pastry sheets.

Bake at 400 for 30-45 min