Butternut Squash Soup

This is one of my husband and I's FAVORITE soup recipes. If you like butternut squash you will LOVE THIS!! I typically serve it with cubed french or sourdough bread for dipping. The sweetness of the cream and squash with a little bit of a spicy "kick" really makes this soup unbelievable! :)

NOTE: I would recommend adjusting the amount of cream according to your taste (I like a velvety texture) as well as the jalapeno pepper depending on whether or not you like it hot! Re-season with S&P before serving to your taste...

Ingredients

1 Butternut squash, about 2 pounds

2 tablespoons peanut oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped garlic

1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot

1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon finely minced jalapeno pepper

2 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup heavy cream

Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Directions

Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Peel the squash and cut into 1 inch pieces. In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until they begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the carrot, cumin, salt, and pepper. Cook for 1 minute, and then add squash, jalapeno pepper, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15- 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Remove from the heat and puree the soup using an immersion blender, or transfer to a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Return to the heat, add the cream and adjust the seasonings.

Pie In A Jar

I have to start with saying that I'm a huge pie fan. I don't really like cake but I never say no to pies or fruit tarts. So when I saw this blog feature about pie in a jar I just about flipped. After reading the post myself and several friends bought the mini mason jars so we could do this ourselves. Its been a while and the mini mason jars have been hanging out in my room for months but this past weekend I finally made pie in a jar!!

My mom helped me and we used her apple pie recipe but you can use just about any pie recipe you want, fruit, pumpkin, chocolate, whatever. For the pie crust we have always taken the easy route and bought the pie crust mix you just add water to. You could probably buy the frozen kind to make it even easier. What is nice is that you do not have to roll out the dough. Just take little chunks and press them into the jars. You will only have to roll the dough if you want to put a top layer of crust on.

We decided to do half with a crust on top and the other half with streusel. The streusel ones ended up being my favorite because I loved that little bit of crunch.We baked one of each and I was in heaven!

After you assembled the pies you can freeze them and use as needed. Just put the lids on tight! They make a great hostess gift, party favor, Valentine's treat or emotional breakdown intervention.

When you are ready to cook them preheat oven to 375 degrees. I haven't cooked them frozen but you can put them in the oven while its preheating to defrost them a bit. Bake them for 50-60 minutes until the crust is slightly browned or the fruit pie is bubbling.

Hope you enjoyed!

Thank you to ourbestbites.com for sharing this great idea!

The full feature is found here:

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/09/single-serving-pie-in-jar.html

Here is the link to buy the jars:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000BYD0F