Daily Archives: November 23, 2011

Thanksgiving Eve

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Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

Hope your week has “ended” well (on the work front). Now the fun part begins!

And by fun part I mean family, friends, food (clearly), turkey trotting, wine, and football.

(As of about 2 weeks ago I’ve started to enjoy watching the NFL games with boyfriend – if you know me, you know this is a big deal – I am not a football kind of girl. Give me basketball or baseball any day.) Two weeks ago I napped through the entire game. Last weekend I watched the first quarter then napped through the rest.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to at least pay attention to half the game. Maybe.

Since I know you can’t be sick of hearing about it yet, I did my LAST long run of marathon training! EVER! 8 miles. Done. 6 days of running for 45 minutes or less at a time are all that now stand between me and 26.2 miles.

In other running news, I used both bribery (I’ll pay your registration fee!) and rationalizing (great exercise before we eat!) to get my brother to run a 5K Turkey Trot with me tomorrow and I’m pretty sure I was about 1000 times more excited than he was to pick up our numbers and shirts this afternoon.

It’s his first ever race and I’m so excited he agreed finally said yes so that I would shut up about it and decided to run! No matter what we’re going to run the entire thing together and finish together. Pace is not going to be a word in my vocabulary tomorrow. Just fun.

Tonight is consisting of homemade pizzas, a glass of vino, homemade pie making (I usually “supervise” since it takes me about 5 minutes to chop an apple), and curling up to read InStyle/Vanity Fair on the couch in front of the fireplace.

I’ll probably also bug my brother every 12 minutes to find out his excitement level in waking up at 7am and running 3.2 miles with me. I bet it’s getting pretty high at this point.

I cannot WAIT for Thanksgiving tomorrow, and have so, so much to be thankful for.

Hope you have a great evening! :)

Sweet Butternut Squash Soup

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Just in case I haven’t voiced this enough – it’s gotten incredibly cold outside. Gone is the Indian Summer I thought would last until at least December (wishful thinking), and HELLO FALL. (Also hello MARATHON. That is now 12 days away. In case I haven’t mentioned it enough either.)

I’ve taken the pea coats, boots, beloved boot socks, cashmere, scarves, tights and even a slouchy beanie or two out of the closet and they’ve started to make their way into the regular rotation.

Our warm-weather dinners just weren’t cutting it anymore either. Cold weather outside, calls for cold-weather meals inside. And lots and lots of faux fur blankets.

I’m also hoping one of these bad boys makes it into my stocking this year.

When I was at my parents house last week, my mom re-heated some of her homemade Butternut Squash soup and I instantly fell in love. (Keep in mine I’ve never gone within 5 feet of a Butternut Squash before, much less actually eaten one… to say I’m picky would be an understatement.)

I knew that with some toasted sourdough, goat cheese, and a sliced up chicken breast, boyfriend and I would have an easy, delicious and seriously comfort-foody fall dinner on our hands.

And beyond all of that it’s E-A-S-Y… even for someone who was scared to set foot in the kitchen 6 months ago. (Me.)

Sweet Butternut Squash Soup

Makes 6-10 Servings

1 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Butternut Squash peeled, seeded and cut into 2 inch chunks (approx 7 cups)

3 Medium Leeks (white and light green part only), coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)

4 cups of Chicken Broth

2 cloves garlic, chopped (I omitted this)

1 Can Organic Corn (or frozen – thawed)

1/2 t nutmeg

1/2 t cumin

1/2 t salt

3 tablespoons whipping cream (optional, I didn’t add)

Pepper to taste

1. Heat cooking oil in a 3-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add leeks and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are tender.
2. Add the squash, chicken stock, the nutmeg, cumin, salt and pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 25 minutes or until squash is very soft.
3. Blend with an Immersion Blender (or transfer to a blender/food processor) until smooth, adding a little cooking liquid if needed to make the mixture a very smooth puree. I just stuck the Immersion Blender right in the saucepan.
4. Add the corn and if desired, 3 T of cream and stir until combined. If necessary, stir in enough of the remaining stock to make a medium-thick consistency. Adjust the seasonings and heat through. Serve hot garnished with some whipping cream and chives, if you like.
Enjoy!
So healthy, and SO EASY. The corn really gives it a nice sweetness, and the nutmeg and ginger make your entire house smell like fall. :) Slice up some freshly baked sourdough bread, slather on some goat cheese and you have a perfect soup dipper :)