maiden soupage, or a gleaming, golden bowl of Positivity

we broke in the Cuisinart with a tasty butternut squash soup!

the ingredients:

1 big butternut squash, and about a half of a medium-sized one (because it was older, and I was concerned the end of it was going a teensy bit soft)
olive oil, for drizzling
2 med white potatoes, peeled and diced
half an onion, diced
3 tbsp butter
3 local carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
vegetable stock
half & half
salt & pepper (we like kosher salt)
green curry paste

I halved and baked the squash (drizzled with olive oil) on a baking sheet at 400 degrees for about 50 minutes. then I let them cool, and M scooped out the seeds and then the flesh. in a big saute pan, I cooked the potato, onion, carrot, celery, and a pinch of salt in the butter until the onions were translucent, and then added about 16oz of vegetable stock. most of the recipes I read called for chicken stock, but we'd just bought a concentrated vegetable stock so that's what went in. *note, I know many people believe that you need to make the stock from scratch for it to really be good, and I won't dispute that the real stuff has tons of flavor, but sometimes you need to cheat and that's where we are.* I added the squash to the pan too, mixed everything together, covered and cooked it for about 40 minutes (until everything was soft), then turned off the burner and went to the movies to see Avatar.

good movie. I cried. see it in 3-D if you can.

I came home and set about spooning my veggie concoction, which had soaked up most of the liquid, into the gleaming, gorgeous food processor:



note for a moment how crowded our countertop is. dear, tiny little kitchen. husband said earlier today that one of his heartfelt wishes is that we don't have to use every spare bit of counterspace as storage in the house on Woodfin. here I am preparing to hit 'GO!':

here are some of the ingredients we used... the half & half somehow missed the picture:

after it was all pureed, which happened in two batches, I ended up adding about 2.5-3 cups of vegetable broth and about 3/4 to a cup of half & half to get it to the consistency I wanted. I added pepper, another good pinch of salt, and about 2 tbsp of the curry paste, for a smidgeon of heat and, um, curry flavor (because I love it). here's what it all looked like in the soup pot... delish, I tell you! and good for your soul!

I had mine in a cup, for I needed to down it quickly and head to my meeting (which was great... it was all about having hope and courage tonight, and being with my family there felt so good):

here I am enjoying the soup I made immensely:

husband added sriracha, goat cheese, and parsley to his bowl, and toasted some bread.

he had seconds, too.

mission accomplished! welcome to the family, Cuisinart food processor, you can stay! I have no idea where we're going to store you.

in other news, we gave our tenants notice today, so the countdown has begun to Woodfin! our renters have been so great, but I'm excited and looking forward to being back in the house and preparing it to be home to our family.

here's a song I love from the latest Mountain Goats record, The Life of the World to Come... M and I have both taken to this album, and J. Darnielle is a fascinating dude. (for a live recording of the song and a glimpse of J.D. in action. click here):