Spicy Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

I have been pretty sick this week with my throat being so sore soup is/was all I could swallow. Luckily I had some homemade soups - broccoli and potato leek in the freezer. However, when those ran out I went to the store and bought some sort of vegetable and rice soup, as I had no energy to even consider making anything. I was quickly reminded that these soups are tasteless and infused with so much sodium I could feel my blood pressure rising. Today I found out I have strep throat and have been put on antibiotics...however I do have a bit more energy so I was determined to make more homemade soup. I posted this on Two For Tuesdays Blog Hop, check out the link and post your own recipes.

While sick I have had the opportunity to browse some of my favourite blogs and stumbled upon an event I have been meaning to participate in No Croutons Required hosted by Holler of Tinned Tomatoes. This months event is Hearty Vegetarian Soups. With all the soups I have been making and eating lately I felt like this event was made for me. It was also good timing that on Thanksgiving I was fortunate to have my dad give me a butternut squash and a jalapeno from his lavish garden, both perfect vegetables for soup. The squash certainly looked better than my poor pumpkin, which the squirrels have slowly carved into a Jack-O-Lantern. Verdict on the soup is that it turned out to be silky smooth in texture with spicy warm flavors, exactly what my throat needed.


Spicy Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

1 large butternut squash (about 3 cups of 1" cubed pieces)
1 T butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne
2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped
2 carrots peeled and sliced
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup whipping cream 35%
1/3 cup parsley for garnish
pepper to taste

Prepare all vegetable first by peeling and chopping them.

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, jalapeno, cumin, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cayenne. Cook until onions are soft.

Add apples, carrots, squash and 3 cups of chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, until vegetables are soft.

Transfer in batches to a blender and puree mixture. Once pureed return to pot and place on stove on low to med heat. Add cream and pepper. Adjust taste as desired.

Serve in bowls and top with parsley.

Try these great soups:

Curried Butternut Squash Soup
Broccoli and Cheddar Soup
Potato Leek Soup
Roasted Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup

Foodbuzz Publisher Community Launches

I am excited to spread the news about “the official launch of the Foodbuzz Publisher Community, which is comprised of more than 1,000 global food bloggers, known as “Featured Publishers.” On October 13, 2008 the Foodbuzz team posted this blog announcing their official launch:

“At launch, the Foodbuzz community successfully broke into the top ten rankings of internet destinations for food and dining, according to Quantcast, a global internet rating service.

In addition, the inaugural 24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs event—which aims to showcase 24 Featured Publisher blog posts around the globe in a 24-hour period—kicked off on Sept. 20 and successfully displayed to online food enthusiasts an international, virtual street festival of food and diversity.”’24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs’ captures the quality and unique local perspective of our food bloggers and shares it with the world,” said Ryan Stern, Director of the Foodbuzz Publisher Community. “It illustrates exactly what the future of food publishing is all about—real food, experienced by real people, shared real-time.”

Foodbuzz is proud to be the only online community with content created by food bloggers and rated by foodies, offering over 20,000 pieces of new food and dining content weekly. Members can vote for their favorite pieces of content (recipes, photos, blog posts, videos, restaurant reviews) by “buzzing” them up to the top of the daily menu of submissions. “Food bloggers are at the forefront of reality publishing and the dramatic growth of new media has redefined how food enthusiasts access tasty content,” said Doug Collister, Executive Vice President of Foodbuzz, Inc.Foodbuzz

While the site is logging over 14 million monthly page views and over three million unique monthly visits, the Foodbuzz blogger community is concurrently growing at a rate of 40 percent per month, driven by strong growth in existing partner blogs.

“Our goal is to be the number-one online source of quality food and dining content by promoting the talent, enthusiasm, and knowledge of food bloggers around the globe,” said Ben Dehan, founder and CEO of Foodbuzz, Inc. “Foodbuzz is like the stock of a great soup, allowing bloggers to contribute content and subsequently interact in a rapidly growing, online niche-specific community.”

I have been a member of Foodbuzz since May 2008 with almost 100 posts. During this time I have become acquainted with foodies from all over the world. This international community has inspired both my love of international cuisine as well as put me in touch with foodies who share similar ethics about locally grown food and sustainability. I have learned so much about food, cooking, culture and perhaps as or more important is what I have learned about people. Foodbuzz has also played a pivotal role in the growth of my blog. They even sent me these cute mini business cards advertising my blog and Foodbuzz. I absolutely love them!

Thank you Foodbuzz and congratulations on your launch.

Grilled Rack of Lamb & Ginger-Garlic Carrots

It is nice to see so many bloggers enjoying fall as much as I am. I have seen some beautiful soups, gratins, and desserts. I think the cooler weather makes us all enjoy cozy harvest foods. Being in a harvest mood myself I bought some market fresh baby carrots which I thought would compliment a rack of lamb and some roasted potatoes. I have never eaten a french cut rack of lamb and was excited to try this with either a marinade or red wine reduction. Although the red wine reduction sounded delicious, I was a bit of a lush and kept the wine for my own self indulgence and went with a grainy mustard and thyme marinade. It turned out very nice providing savoury flavors to this grill rack of lamb.

As for the carrots I wanted to do something a bit unique with more flavor. Thinking back to my green beans with lemon and garlic. I decided to go with garlic and ginger flavored carrots. For even more flavor I had herb seasoned potatoes. Overall a very tender and palate pleasing dinner which was served with a 2 year old wine which I have been waiting to open since my wedding. It was full bodied and a perfect match with the gamey lamb.

Lamb Marinade
2 french cut racks of lamb (1lbs)
1/8 cup olive oil
1 garlic clove
1/2 T grainy dijon mustard
1/2 T thyme
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp rosemary

Mix all the ingredients together and rub on the lamb. Let sit for 4 hours in the fridge.

Preheat grill to med high and grill for 10 min per side for medium. Let rest for 10 minutes under foil so juices settle.

Carrots

1 bunch of baby carrots with tops on, peeled
2 cloves garlic minced
1 T butter
1 T minced fresh ginger
1 T fresh cilantro
1/2 tsp fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp salt

Steam carrots in steamer for 10 mins. Heat the butter in a large non stick pan over med heat. Add garlic, ginger and cook 1 min. Remove from heat. Add carrots, cilantro and remaining ingredients. Serve immediately with lamb.

Potatoes

Take 10-12 baby potatoes, and cut into wedges. Place them in a bowl and toss with 1 T of olive oil and season with pepper, herbs (rosemary, thyme), chili powder and a pinch of cayenne and paprika. Bake in the oven for 25 min at 375F.

Mojitos

You do not have to be in Cuba or Mexico to enjoy this nice tropical beverage (although I wouldn't mind relaxing by sitting on a beach anytime soon). In fact after a long day working around the house or hiking/biking, or just after a long hard week at work it is nice to retire to the deck and sip on this refreshing drink. I am not one to try many drinks, I like wine and beer and love to try endless types of both, but when it comes to alcohol I do not really drink it with the odd exceptions - like this again refreshing mojitos.

Unfortunately this past weekend was the last of my holidays before going back to work. However, on the bright side it is now Friday and I can now enjoy another one of these delicioius drinks as I relax on my now leaf infested patio. As much as I love fall it is nice to have a reminder of summer once and a while and with the temp at 20C I think this drink can be resurrected before the real frost sets in.