Rainy day in my kitchen....

These past few weeks have been really rough for my family and I.

We've endured some hardship... the really rough kind.. But we all stand hand in hand knowing that God is in control of every situation in our lives and when we live to honor Him we have peace and trust that everything is going to be ok.

With that said... tonight was a "stay at home" kind of night.  It was rainy outside and my soul and body were in much need of some "comfort" food.  So...I picked up my handy dandy cookbook  {it's funny how you start collecting those... i think people just give you them as wedding gifts because they assume you can't "stand the heat"}  I found the best recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash Soup and I got to work. I also had some fresh walnut pesto from a couple days ago and threw that on some fresh baked crusty bread.... yum! {Annie... you can find the recipe below... i added that one just for you!!}

I hope this warms up your body and soul when you're having a gloomy day like i did today.... Enjoy! 


{p.s. please say a prayer for Liam... he's really sick}

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup


Ingredients

2 lb butternut squash

3 tbs olive oil {i used more}
fresh sage leaves

3 garlic cloves whole {i used more}

1 large red onion

4 cups vegetable stock

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 cup heavy cream

Salt and pepper

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Clean the seeds off the squash and cut into pieces. Coat the surfaces with olive oil, salt and pepper and arrange on a roasting pan or a baking sheet {I covered my baking sheet with foil to avoid the oily clean-up}Arrange the garlic around the squash pieces as well as the sage leaves.  Roast the squash in the oven until the flesh is tender to the touch (40-50 minutes).  Remove the pan from the oven and let cool a bit. 

While the squash is cooling, coat the bottom of a soup pot with olive oil and cook the onions until they're translucent (about 15 minutes).  Peel off the skin of the squash and add to the cooked onions as well as the roasted garlic, cloves, stock and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk until the soup is blended and simmer in low heat for 20 minutes.  

Remove from heat and let it cool slightly.  When manageable, ladle the soup and add the cream to a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.  Serve warm.




Here's the Walnut Pesto for the bread...

Ingredients
2 cups fresh flat leaf parsley
3 tbs capers
3 crushed garlic cloves
3/4 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup gratted parmesan cheese




Directions
Mix everything in food processor for two minutes and store in an air tight conatiner over night.
You can have it the day of but oh my what a difference a night makes!!! 
-Reese