Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

2 Butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 Onion, diced
6 c. Chicken broth, low sodium
2 Bay leaves
2 Cinnamon sticks (~ 3-4 in. long)
1-2 pkg Cream cheese, light

Place all the ingredients, except for the cream cheese, into the slowcooker.  Ensure the broth is covering the squash but do not fill it up too high because you will need to save room for the cream cheese.

Cook for 10 hours.

Discard the Bay leaves and cinnamon sticks.

Puree the soup and the cream cheese together using a blender or food processor.  You can add 1-2 packages of cream cheese, depending on how creamy you want your soup to be.

Transfer the soup back into the slowcooker to keep warm.  Do not boil.  (Alternatively, you can warm up the soup on the stovetop.)

---

My comment:

I've made the Brandy-laced Squash Soup several times and I love it but I am ready to try a different squash soup recipe this year.  I found a really easy squash soup recipe with great reviews and thought I'd run with it for our Christmas dinner...except for 2 small problems:  1) I don't have all the ingredients at home on Christmas Eve when I started the preparation and 2) I was feeling really lazy.

First off - Laziness was my main motivation to change my squash soup recipe because I really didn't feel like roasting my squash for an hour.  So there was no way I was going to cook my soup on the stove and have to feel like I need to slave over it for hours.  Also, I have no time to cook soup on Christmas Day, not with everything else going on, so I needed to improvise.  Thank goodness for the slowcooker because it was a beautiful solution to my problem.

As for the lack of ingredients, well, that was my own fault for not checking the cupboards before heading to the grocery store.  I could've sworn that I have both marjoram and cayenne peppers at home but I didn't.  So I resorted to flavouring this squash soup with ingredients from the old recipe and turned this into a beautiful, delicious holiday soup. Everyone loved the soup...my father-in-law even asked me for the recipe and he told me he doesn't normally like squash. 

The thing I've always found with squash soup is that it always tastes better the next day.  However, our fridge was so full this year that I couldn't possibly prepare the soup the day before and store it overnight.  This is where the slowcooker came in: I put the soup on for 10 hours the night before, then puree the next day and keep the soup warm in the slowcooker.  :)  My only complain about this soup was that I added too much creamcheese (2 packages); next time, I'll cut it down to 1 package and that should be plenty rich. 

Chicken Lentil Curry

2 c. Green lentils
1/2 c. Chickpeas, soaked overnight
1 large Onion, diced
6 pc. Chicken thighs
3 c. Chicken broth, low sodium
1 c. Water
1 tbsp Curry powder
1 tsp Ground tumeric
1 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Ground coriander
1 tbsp Chinese garlic chili sauce (or chilli pepper flakes)
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp White sugar
1 tbsp Ginger root, minced
4 cloves Garlic, minced
1 pkg Curry paste
1 can Diced tomatoes
Plain yogurt (optional)

[Vegetarian option: Omit the chicken thighs and substitute in a vegetable stock.]

Put everything, except for the chicken, in the slowcooker.  Stir to mix.

Place the chicken thighs on top and baste them with a little bit of liquid.  Add more water if necessary.

Cook for 4-8 hours.

When the curry is done, de-bone the chicken thighs and stir the meat back into the curry.

Serve with basmati rice and a dollop of plain yogurt.

---

My comments:

I have always been hesitant in making curry from scratch for two simple reasons:

1. I was told that it's difficult to make all the spices work together if you don't know what you are doing (which I don't).  It takes a seasoned Indian cook to do it right (a.k.a. a friend's mother or grandmother).

2. I have tried making my own before and it tasted like crap.  We ended up throwing out 1/2 of it and needless to say, we never attempted to make our own curry from scratch again.

We are huge fans of store-bought curry sauce.  Cut up all the ingredients (anything you want), throw in a bottle or two of premade curry sauce (my fav: President's Choice Blue Menu Butter Chicken sauce) and 30 min, you have a delicious Indian curry meal.  This was our staple easy curry...that is, until now...

I knocked this delicious curry recipe off A Year of Slow Cooking and made a few minor changes to accommodate for my sense of adventure in the kitchen and more importantly, my limited selections of ingredients available at hand.  :P  My version of this lentil curry was super, uber yummy!  So good that my husband asked for it again the following week...the week after...and the week after that!  This is a very healthy meal: no added oil, low sodium, lots of veggies and not to mention, lentils and chickpeas are very nutritious.  Both lentils and chickpeas are excellent sources of protein, dietary fiber and folate.  Lentils are also high in vitamin B1 and iron while chickpeas are a good source of zinc and low in fat.  Because the lentils and chickpeas are so nutritious, you can easily omit the chicken and turn it into a healthy vegetarian curry!

When I made this, I added too much of the Chinese garlic chilli sauce and the curry was way too spicey for me.  So I stole some of my baby's plain yogurt and mixed it with my curry to dumb down the heat.  It was delicious; the plain yogurt complimented the spicey curry perfectly.  I highly recommend using a Mediterranian style yogurt (brand: Liberté Méditerranée) because it's delectably thick and creamy.  I confess that we loved this yogurt so much that we ended up using more than just one little dollop.  I felt guilty eating high fat yogurt (I did buy this for a little toddler, afterall, who needs the fat but I certainly don't), so I went out and bought a low fat plain yogurt (same brand) to serve with the rest of our leftovers.  It just wasn't the same.  :P  But since this recipe is so healthy to begin with, I think it's ok to indulge a little bit with our high fat yogurt next time.

Sundried-Tomato and Basil Pesto

2-3 sprigs of fresh basil, leaves picked
4-5 halves of sun-dried tomatoes (in oil), drained
2 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
1 c. Parmesan cheese
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Salt & Pepper

Coarsely chop the basil leaves, sun-dried tomatoes and garlic.  Pulse in a food processor until the ingredients are minced.  If the ingredients stick to the side of the food processor, add a little bit of olive oil, stir it up and pulse again.

Turn the minced ingredients into a bowl.  Add half of the Parmesan cheese and stir.

Add olive oil to bind the ingredients together.  The oil in your pesto should ooze a little bit.

Do a taste test here.  Add more cheese and olive oil until you get the flavour right.  You can also add salt and pepper to taste.

Finally, squeeze a little bit of fresh lemon juice into the pesto and stir.

---

My comments:

Mmmmm...this was one delicious pesto!! Easy to make but with amazing result. The thing about this recipe is that it is only a guideline. You can add more or less of any one of the ingredients to suit your tastebuds.

Usage: I made a delicious pasta salad by tossing together a little bit of pesto with cooked spicy Italian sausage and macaroni. This yummy dish made my coworkers drooled at our lunch table. It was that good!! You can omit the sausages and substitute your favourite vegetable to turn this into a vegetarian meal. Although I haven't tried, I'm sure this pesto will be tastey on a pizza or bruschetta.

One caution note - 2 cloves of garlic is STRONG! You can probably ward off vampires with your after-lunch-breath. I suggest you start off with only 1 clove, do a taste test before throwing in the second clove. And remember to brush your teeth, use mouthwash and eat strong mints after your pesto meal.

Strawberry Cream Angel Cake

Vanilla Cream
1/4 c. Sugar
4 tsp Cornstarch
1/8 tsp Salt
1 c. Light cream
1 tsp Pure vanilla extract (or 1 vanilla bean)
2 Egg yolks, beaten

In a saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt together. Slowly stir in the light cream. (If using, split the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrap out the seed into the mixture and then add the whole vanilla bean.)

Cook the cream mixture over medium heat, whisking often until thickened and bubbly. Cook for 1 more minute.

Gradually whisk approximately half of the cream mixture into the egg yolk. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook for 2 more minutes, whisking constantly.

Remove the cream from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. (Or discard the vanilla bean.)

Place the bowl of cream in ice water and chill for approximately 5 minutes, stirring often to allow the cream to chill evenly. Cover the cream with plastic wrap and continue to chill in the fridge until cold.


Strawberry Sauce
1.5 c. Strawberries, chopped
1/8 c. Sugar
1 tbsp Fresh lemon juice

Stir the ingredients together in a saucepan over medium heat and bring the mixture to a slow boil.

Reduce heat and simmer until the strawberries are soft. (Do a taste test here to see if the sauce is sweet enough. Add more sugar as desired.)

Chill the sauce until cold.



Cake Assembly

4 Mini angel food cakes
Whipped cream (optional)
Fresh strawberries

Prepare the vanilla cream and strawberry sauce the night before.

Using a large bread knife, gently holding down the cake and slice the mini angel food cakes horizontally into 3 layers.

Spread the vanilla cream and the chunky strawberry sauce between the cake layers.

Spread vanilla cream on the top layer, drizzle a little bit of strawberry sauce on the cream and garnish with strawberries or whipped cream.

---

My comments:

This cake was so good that Hubby and I had it for dinner. We couldn't wait until after dinner. And of course, after eating the cake, mini as they were, we didn't feel like real food anymore. Ah well...it's Saturday night, we are allowed to indulge, aren't we? ;)

I swiped the vanilla cream recipe from Leslie and she wasn't lying when she said you have to make her strawberries and cream tart NOW. The cream went perfectly well with the strawberries, so creamy, so heavenly...and super easy to make. I didn't have any vanilla bean at home so I doubled the amount of vanilla extract. However, I have every intention of making this again and next time, I will track down a vanilla bean because I do agree it would make a big difference in taste.

The strawberry sauce wasn't difficult to do either, very similar to the raspberry coulis I've made before. I wanted to use store-bought angel food cake rather than making my own. So I added enough sugar to give the sauce a hint of sweetness instead of turning the sauce into a strawberry syrup. This worked out well for me. However, if you want to make your own cake, you can play around with the sugar content in the cake as well as the strawberry sauce to satisfy your sweet tooth. Try experimenting the sauce with different types of berries!!

This cake is perfect for a dinner party. It looks fantastic and it tastes fabulous. The fillings can be prepared the day before and it's quick to assemble right before serving. Your guests will be totally wowed because they'll think you've spent hours slaving over this dessert.

Creamy Potato Salad

6 Potatoes, medium size
4 Eggs
1/2 c. Red onions, chopped
1/2 c. Sweet pickle relish
2 cloves Garlic, minced
2 tsp Celery seeds
1 tbsp Prepared mustard
1/2 c. Light mayonnaise (Hellmann's)
Ground black pepper and salt to taste

In a large pot, boil the potatoes until tender but firm, approximately 15 min. Drain, cool and cut into cubes. (If you are using large potatoes, halve them before boiling them. Otherwise, it will not cook evenly and you will end up with half mushy and half raw crunchy potatoes.)

To cook the eggs, place the eggs in a pot of cold water and bring water to a boil. Then reduce the heat and continue to cook the eggs for another 10-12 min, covered. When the eggs are done, cool the eggs in cold water and peel.

In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients and add salt and pepper to taste. Chill before serving.

---

My comments:

I must admit, I thought adding relish to the potato salad was a bit weird. But the original recipe had really good ratings and I was looking to try something different. I was amazed how good this recipe was. The relish tasted surprisingly good; in fact, it was the relish that really made this recipe shine. It was the best potato salad I have ever had. I will most definitely make this again, and again...and again.

Oven Roasted Vegetables

Dressing
1/4 c. Olive oil
2 Tbsp Balsamic vinegarette
1/2 tsp Thyme, dried
1/2 tsp Rosemary, dried
1 tsp Basil, dried
4-5 cloves Garlic, minced
Salt & Pepper to taste

Vegetables
4 Potatoes, cubed with skin on
1/2 Onion, sliced
2 Sweet bell peppers, cubed
1 Zucchini, cut into bite-size
8-10 White mushrooms
Handful of snowpeas

Preheat the oven to 450˚F.

Combine the dressing ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Mix together the pepper, zucchini, mushrooms and snowpeas. Toss them in the dressing until coated. Transfer the vegetables to another bowl and set aside.


Toss the potatoes an onions with the remaining dressing.

Spray the bottle of a roasting pan with oil.

Spread the potatoes and onions evenly on the roasting pan.



Bake for 10 min and flip them potatoes.

Add the rest of the vegetables. Toss to mix.

Bake for 10 min and flip the veggies once. Bake again for another 10 min.

---

My comment:

Summer is a great time to include fresh vegetables to your diet. You can get delicious vegetables at your local grocery store for really decent price. For this reason, sometimes I go overboard with buying the vegetables but I don't actually eat them fast enough. I always have these great ideas on how I want to prepare the vegetables and never actually execute the ideas. Thus I always end up with loads of veggies on the verge of rotting in my fridge.

What is wonderful about this recipe is its versatility and it is so easy to do. I got the idea from All Recipes and then did my own thing based on what I have available at home. The dressing turned out absolutely delicious and the vegetables were cooked perfectly.

I cooked these veggies slightly different from the method I stated above. We made oven-baked porkchops for dinner tonight and we didn't have enough room to fit everything. So I cooked the potatoes and onions first, removed them from the oven and set aside. When the porkchops were almost done, I roasted the rest of the veggies for 10 min and then added the cooked potatoes to the roasting pan for the last 10 min to reheat the potatoes. This worked out really well and we had a wonderfully delicious dinner.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Pie

1 pkg (8 oz. ; 250 g) Cream cheese (light), softened to room temperature
1 container (1 L) Whipped topping (light), thawed in fridge
1/2 c. Sugar
1/2 pint Fresh raspberries
1 1/4 c. Oreo baking crumbs
1/4 c. Butter, melted

Alternative: Instead of fresh raspberries, use 1 can (400 mL) crushed pineapple and press the pineapples into the strainer to squeeze out as much juice as possible.

Combine the oreo crumbs with the butter. Press it onto the bottom of a 9" pie plate.

In a large bowl, mix together the cream cheese and the sugar until smooth using a electric mixer.

Blend in the whipped topping until smooth.

Mash the raspberries with a fork and fold into the cream cheese mixture.

Pour the mixture onto the oreo pie crust and refrigerate until set.



My comment:

This was a super easy no-bake cheesecake recipe with super tasting results. The cream cheese filling is smooth and creamy. It is lightly sweetened and the fresh fruity taste of the raspberries complimented the cream cheese perfectly. The raspberries juice gave the pie a beautiful pink colour. And of course, the oreo pie crust was just the best!!

I must be honest and tell you that I did not come up with this recipe all by myself. I had a slice of pineapple cream cheese pie at a BBQ and it was so good that I couldn't stop thinking about it when I got home. I adapted this Cream Cheese Pineapple Pie recipe with fresh raspberries because Hubby doesn't like pineapple and I also used oreo crumbs instead of graham cracker crumbs.

When I whipped up the cream cheese mixture the first time, I realized I had way too much of it and I couldn't possibly fit it all into my pie plate. So I divided the cream cheese mixture in half, used half of it for the raspberries and the other half for the pineapple. My pineapple cream cheese pie was awesome awesome awesome!! Just as good as the one I had at the BBQ. :)

I made one little mistake with this recipe: I didn't pre-thaw the whipped topping because I didn't read the instructions on the container. But I was impatient and I blended it into the creamcheese while it was still mostly frozen. It took a bit more time to do but it worked alright.

If you want to impress your friends at a potluck party, this recipe is a Must! It doesn't take long to do and it tastes superb. You can make them into mini-pies for dinner parties using little ramekins instead of a big pie plate.

Vegetable Couscous

1 c. Israeli couscous
1 c. Chicken stock, low sodium
1 c. Water
4 c. Vegetables, chopped
1 clove Garlic, chopped

1 tsp Basil, dried
2 tbsp Olive oil
Sesame oil
Salt & Pepper to taste


Rinse the couscous with water.

Bring the chicken stock and water to a boil in a sauce pan. Stir in the couscous. Reduce to low heat and simmer for about 10 min, covered.

When the couscous are soft, fluff with a fork. You may drain the excess liquid with a strainer.

Prepare approximately 4 cups of vegetables, chopped the way you like. I used mushrooms, asparagus, green onion, white onion and sweet peppers.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Add garlic and white onions and cook for about 1 minute until fragrant.

Stir in the basil and the rest of the vegetables (except for the green onion) and cook until they begin to soften. (Cooking time depends on whether you like your veggies soft or crunchy.)

If you are using green onion, add them to the rest of the vegetables and cook for a few more minutes.

Stir in the cooked couscous and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle a little bit of sesame oil before serving.


My comments:

I fell in love with Israeli couscous the first time I had it as a side dish at a fancy local restaurant. It was prepared with veal juice and oh boy, I'm drooling just thinking about it. I don't have any veal juice at home but I did have tons of vegetables that were going to go bad if I didn't do something about it. So I whipped up this simple vegetable couscous recipe and it was delicious, not to mention very healthy.

Israeli couscous actually tastes more like a pasta than the regular couscous. The package instruction said to "fluff" with a fork once the liquid is absorbed but it doesn't really "fluff". I found it helps to have a bit of oil (olive or sesame) to keep the couscous from sticking together too much. One important thing to remember when preparing couscous (regular or Israeli) is to use low sodium chicken stock. Once the stock is reduced and absorbed, the salt concentration increases and you end up with a very salty dish. So it is wise to start with a low sodium stock and add more salt as needed.