Butternut Squash Soup

There are many days when I feel like I'm not the best mom around.
-the kids have watched more than one Disney flick.
-lunch is only one colour and it came from a box.
-we are all wearing our pj's for said lunch.
-kinda yelled when boys dumped their food all over table then start rubbing plates on their heads.
-my child is the only one flayling around on the floor and whailing at nursery school pick-up.

And then there are days that are so long and so hard but I'm doing it and doing it well. Like today. Makes the other days slip away and gives me the confidence to keep putting my best forward. Reasons why today rocked;
-alone with all 3 kids for whole day
-kept my patience while dealing with all three kids fighting over momma for most of day. (by fighting I mean clinging to me crying and pushing other children that are crying and trying to cling.
-we all had a healthy breakfast
-we were washed and out of pj's by 9am
-healthy, homemade lunch with homemade bread
-while boys napped, Deja and I sat quietly on couch talking about alphabet and she concentrated for half an hour.
-made a succesful, delicious soup without aid of recipe books (hence title of post)
-fun trip to Lowes where I purchased enough light bulbs (18) to replace all the hologen lights that have burnt out months ago. Nagging husband didn't work.
-tucked all children into bed, happy, tummies full by 7pm, dishes done by 8.

Butternut Squash Soup (origional recipe by moi)


1 red onion
2 tblspn butter
glug olive oil
4 apples
1 lrg butternut squash
1 teaspoon ground cumin
5 cups veggi or chicken stock

Caralmize the chopped onions in the butter and olive oil. (saute onions stirring often over medium heat. When they start to turn brown (after about 15 minutes) stir every minute or so. When they are dark brown they are done. the whole thing takes about 20 minutes.) Add chopped up cored apple, don't worry about peeling. Saute for about 5 minutes. Add peeled and chunks of butternut and cumin. Pour in about 4-5 cups of organic chicken or veg stock. Bring to a simmer then clap on the lid- at this point it was in the afternoon and we had to go out so I put my "le cruset" in the oven that was on at 225. I let it roast for about 4 hours. If your not going to do that you could let it simmer with lid half on for at least 45 minutes. Closer to dinner I let the soup cool a little and blended it in blender (you could use a hand blender too.) Heat it back up if you have to and season it too your liking!

I also toasted the seeds from the quash and used as a garnish and convinced Deja they were just like chips- a little sea salt goes along way. Now- feeding soup to toddlers can be pretty annoying so what I usually do is tear up large chunks of bread and put in shallow bowl of soup. Crackers they can dip are also good. Regardless, it was a bit of a mess but they do have to learn sometime.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

THe first part made me laugh (because I can so identify), the second part made me envious (you mean you actually have days like this?!) and the third part made me salivate....tasty!

D'Andrea said...

umm.. I don't usually have days like that and so that's why I thought I'd write about it :) My journal is full of 'ugh, today sucked' and 'omg I'm so tired' so thought I'd mark the day that rocked!