Weekending

Monday, December 21st, 2009

Posting continues to be light as we adjust to being a family of four people and one Pinot.

I guess every family has a year like this, where the ornaments start four feet up the tree. We’ll probably have a few.

My parents and sister were kind to decorate the tree with non-breakable ornaments while I was in the throes of labor.

Life with two under two being what it is, I don’t think I noticed they’d done all that work until I’d been home for five days. Slowly, we’ve had to remove ornaments until we’re up to the high water mark we’re at today. The toddler just gets so intensely focused on one, and can’t help herself until it’s in her hands for complete destructr–er– exploration.

We also were struck down with a virus this weekend, causing the newborn to have a runny nose. That’s a sad sound there, the congested 12 day old infant. Oh, to be thrust into this world from that comfortable uterus, I sympathize.

One of the fun things to do with that lasagna meat sauce from last week is to add a little water and use it for a meaty pasta sauce. That’s exactly what we had for lunch on Sunday.

Holly Burns was kind enough to invite me to her Wii Party last week (AND she said I was almost criminally good looking. Can I put that in my About page?).

The Wine Sisterhood sent along a few wines that were fun to share and I got out of the house.
I’ve been on what feels like house arrest the last few months and it was so nice to see some friends.

That’s an understatement.
I HAD to see friends or I would have gone more mad.
If I hadn’t seen those ladies, I may have imploded.
Jordan and Evany and Mai and Leah and my gal Maggeh and new friends and all of it is thanks to a video gaming system that’s improving my marriage.

(Seriously, bowling dates with my husband instead of zoning out over old episodes of Lost?  Huzzah!)

So let’s share a weekend recipe! Better yet, a postpartum recipe!
Ugh, that word, postpartum.
It’s just clinicnasty enough to encompass all the glorious bloated and poochy and leakyness of me.
I need something smooth, and comforting and low in calories and high in nutrition.
(Plus, we got two butternut squash in last week’s veggie box)

Postpartum Butternut Squash Soup Recipe.

Ingredients
2 large butternut squashes worth of squash that’s been de-seeded and cut into half.
1 tablespoon olive oil for oiling the squash
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon pepper
3 cups chicken stock
4 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Season the squash with the salt and pepper.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Lay the squash flesh side up on a large pan.
Roast for about 30 to 35 minutes or until the squashflesh is soft.

Scoop the flesh from the skin into a soup stockpot.
Add the chicken stock, honey, and ginger.

Turn the heat to high, bring the mixture to a boil and then turn down to low to simmer.

Puree soup either using an immersion blender or a blender or a food processor.

Put the soup back in the stockpot and stir in the cream.  Return the soup to a low simmer.

Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste.  If you want to get fancy, serve with deep fried sage leaves.
Nourish, yo!

Tags: butternut squash soup recipe, postpartum soup, weekend update
Posted in food, fun, updates | 1 Comment »