Easy Butternut Squash Soup

I'd say I'm a soup person, but I've kind of taken it to the next level recently. Soup for dinner, soup for lunch, soup out to eat, making soup, buying soup, pinning soup recipes, give me ALL THE SOUP! Sausage Tortellini soup-duh, I just tried Trader Joe's veggie chili-highly recommend, and today I give you this butternut squash soup. 

I've made butternut squash soup before and I highly recommend the recipe. I called it velvet soup in my post, because it was just that. But this new recipe is the easiest darn thing to make and has about 4 main ingredients in it. It's also Whole30, vegan and dairy free for those who take note of those things. 

The most important part of the recipe in my opinion is the fresh rosemary. There are so few ingredients, I urge you to spring for the fresh rosemary. I roast the squash with it and garnish the finish product too. It give it serous flavor. Keep reading to get the recipe for this gem of a soup.

Pour yourself a bowl and top it with a hefty sprinkle of savory granola. The best accoutrement!! 

Butternut Squash Soup
yields about 4 cups, adapted from Emily Eats Real Food

Ingredients:
1 large butternut squash
2-2½ cups unsweetened almond milk
*½ cup coconut cream (the thick stuff from the top of the coconut milk can-do not shake!)
fresh rosemary, chopped
salt & pepper
olive oil
Savory Granola, optional

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 450ºF. *Refrigerate your coconut cream while your prep the squash. Peel your butternut squash and slice in half. Place on a roasting sheet. Generously drizzle with olive oil, season with lots of salt, pepper and chopped rosemary. Roast for 1 hour. 

Let the squash cool until you can handle it. Scoop out the seeds if you haven't already then cube into big chunks. Carefully add the cooked squash, almond milk and coconut cream to a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth and creamy. 

Into a large soup pot add the blended mixture and heat over medium heat. If you have an immersion blender you can skip the previous step and add the squash and creams straight to the pot and blend over the heat. Salt and pepper to taste, don't be shy!

Serve with chopped rosemary, a drizzle of olive oil and a garnish of savory granola!

*Grocery stores sell "coconut cream," DON'T buy that. Buy regular coconut milk. Do not shake the can of coconut milk. Open with a can opener and scoop out the thick cream from the top. Discard the rest. 

Annie

Bites of My Life

Happy halloween! Are your tricking and treating yourself? I sure did over the past week. Delicious bites, new recipes, handfuls of candy, matcha lattes, loads of junk food and all the proper halloween snacks were indulged in over the past few days. I do believe the holiday season of eating is here!

Last week was quick and fun and this week is shaping up to be the same, but I'm wishing it away with the anticipation of our family trip to see Claire this weekend. We have an itinerary set and I have a list of to-dos, but please send any NYC musts my way!

-BOOM! Easiest butternut squash soup coming this week!
-Ombre pumpkin sugar cookies to get in the spirit!
-I found another matcha to add to my list! Take my word and go try the one at Okay Yeah! 
-The yummiest modern mexican joint opens it's doors tomorrow! I was lucky to sneak a bite early.
-Happiest wedding day for my dear Lexy! 
-Try it --> savory oatmeal seasoned with s&p, turmeric and a poached egg.
-My cookie loving instincts helped channeled my halloween costume this year.
-Got to go behind the mic & be featured on the local food podcast, OKC Over Easy! Listen to my episode on Soundcloud or iTunes.
-Love celebrating this mom on her birthday and everyday!

Annie

P.S. Don't miss last week's recipes including Gingersnap Cookie Pizza and Savory Granola!

Savory Granola

Granola, my favorite snack. If you know me well or have ever read this blog you know this about me. I've posted a handful of granola recipes over the years, but this one takes the cake. 

Kathleen is the one who really got me on the homemade granola bandwagon and it's her recipe that helped me finally perfect it. Last spring or so, one of our friends said she had used Kathleen's recipe to make savory granola. Baaaack up, savory granola? Yes, please, and thank you. 

You take a lot of the same components, but add fun things like Worcestershire sauce and chili powder. This savory recipe really taps into the snacking part of granola. Skeptical? Let me give you some uses.

Currently between the handfuls going straight to my mouth, I'm topping creamy butternut squash soup (coming next week) with this mix. It's great sprinkled in plain or honey yogurt. I think it could be an amazing addition to a salad or even subbed in for the cornbread croutons in my Fall Panzanella Salad. But simply, I love packing a snack bag to take to work.

Savory Granola

Ingredients:
2½ cups old fashioned oats
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
½ cup pecans, roughly chopped
½ cup almonds, roughly chopped

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Line a roasting sheet with parchment paper (for easy clean up), and set aside. 

In a large bowl combine all ingredients stirring well until everything is evenly coated. Spread out on your rimmed roasting sheet. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Stir after the first 20 minutes. Bake for 15 more minutes, check on it to see if it needs to go longer, being careful not to burn it. The mixture may still seem a bit wet and soft, but once you let it sit it will harden up. Let cool then break into chunks. Store in an airtight container or mason jar. 

A few months ago I picked up these wasabi sesame seeds from the local Asian market. I love spicy and I love wasabi. I've been using them as a topping on salads or sprinkled over fried rice. I tossed some in my jar of granola and love the little kick it gave the granola. 

Are you a savory or sweet granola person? Give this recipe a try then tell me!

Annie

Gingersnap Cookie Pizza with Cookie Butter Glaze

You knew it was only a matter of time after our Oklahoma City Trader Joe's opened that I post a recipe with cookie butter. Cookie butter isn't new to me, but now it's at arms reach (DANGEROUS). See here and here where I've used cookie butter before!

Cookie butter is great. There is nothing not to love about cookies ground up into a sweet spreadable delicacy. My everyday use for this stuff is spreading it on graham crackers for a nighttime snack, but I really try to limit my intake because it's a deep black hole once you have one bite. It pulls you down this rabbit hole where one taste turns into four or five or more spoonfuls. I've found that baking it off into sweet treats is the best way to make the jar disappear.

I'm on a cookie pizza kick! After making my sugar cookie with strawberry icing and chocolate chip M&M cookie pizza, I had been plotting what my next cookie pizza would be. 

This combo is perfection. I took my mom's ginger cookie recipe and adapted it to turn into a cookie pizza. Cookie butter already has a gingerbread taste to it, so it only makes since to turn it into a glaze and lather it all over the top! 

One big soft ginger cookie smothered in cookie butter. All the heart eye emojis!! 

Gingersnap Cookie Pizza with Cookie Butter Glaze

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
3 Tbsp. molasses
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
extra sugar

Cookie Butter Glaze:
1/4 cup cookie butter or biscoff spread
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
3 Tbsp. milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a large mixing bowl or round object, about 10 inches in diameter, trace a circle on the parchment paper. Flip the parchment paper over so you don't get any pencil or pen marks when you spread out the dough.

Cream butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and molasses and mix on low. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure the molasses is evenly distributed. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and ginger and mix on low until the dough comes together.

With clean hands spread the dough out on the parchment lined baking sheet. Spread the dough out, filling the circle shape you drew. Sprinkle the top with extra sugar. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Start on the low end. The key to yumminess in this cookie pizza is for it to be slightly underdone! I found 11 minutes to be perfect, but that is according to my oven. Let it cool completely.

Once the pizza is cool, make your glaze. In the electric mixer with the whisk attachment or using a handheld mixer, whisk powdered sugar, cookie butter and milk until fully mixed. It should be the consistency of thick glue. Using a spatula, spread the icing over the cookie pizza leaving about a half inch border around the edges. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon.

Cut with a pizza cutter and enjoy!

All hail Trader Joe's being in Oklahoma and all hail cookie butter! Huzzah! 

Annie

Bites of My Life

Lots of fall cooking and recipes and an uninvited kitchen injury to pair. Last week was busy yet passed by slow. With this being the last week of the month I have an inkling it will buzz by. Here's to hoping so, yet also holding on to time as the best time of the year arrives. 

-Love my days when I work from home. I get my space all set up with work materials, drink essentials (TJ's matcha mix), and visual inspiration like The Scout Guide that just made it's launch in OKC.
-It's pumpkin bread season and I shared my family's recipe last week.
-Also shared this family favorite of Sausage Tortellini Soup which I happily enjoyed all week!
-Fig jam, prosciutto, parmesan and apple open face sammy. Unfortunately this lunch turned into this...
-One swipe of the apple on the mandoline, led to a swipe of my thumb on the mandoline. It was a bloody Thursday to say the least. 
-Picked this seasoning up on a whim and I'm putting it on everything!
-My dad and I have been going to a local chili cook-off together for the past 3 years. It's one of my favorite events of the fall. We decided next year is the year I enter!
-Cheers to brandy ices and being the youngest at the bar by 40 years.
-Dressed like a pig and ran (walked) a 5K. Just your average Saturday.
-Sunday got off to a lazy start while staying in bed then enjoying a pumpkin green smoothie bowl for a late breakfast. 
-Sunday prep for this week's dinner. Keeping on my soup game with this butternut squash soup. 
-When dad smokes ribs, I (and Gabe) come running. 

Annie