Butternut Squash and Granny Apple Soup

Ingredients:

•           2 tablespoons butter (or margarine)

•           ½ cup yellow onion, chopped

•           ½ cup red onion, chopped

•           6 green onions, sliced

•           4 cups butternut squash, peeled and cubed

•           1 large granny apple, cored and cubed (leave skin on)

•           1 cup carrots, peeled and sliced

•           2 potatoes, cubed (leave skin on)

•           1 quart chicken broth

•           ¼ tsp cinnamon

•           dash ground ginger

•           dash ground allspice or cloves

•           dash ground nutmeg

•           ½ to 1 t. salt, to taste

•           ½ cup whipping cream (optional)

Directions:

1.                  Melt butter in large soup pot on medium heat. Add onions and cook until tender, about 5 mins.

2.                  Raise heat to medium-high and add remaining vegetables, chicken broth, and spices and stir. Cover, reduce heat to low, and boil gently for 20-30 minutes until carrots and squash are soft enough to easily pierce with fork.

3.                  Puree the soup in batches in blender.

4.                  If adding cream, put now-pureed soup back into pot and add cream and simmer gently on low for another 5 minutes, covered.

About this blog

I hate those blogs where you have to scroll through 3 pages of text about how Granny used to serve this recipe every Sunday before her head was eaten by a dingo and a zillion photos of the food from several angles to get to the actual recipe. I didn't make this blog for any reason other than keeping track of recipes I've tinkered with and hopefully introducing others to some of my genius. Kidding. Also, I came up with the name of the blog in the shower and thought it was funny so... there you have it.

Green Powerball Freezer Smoothies

Get breakfast ready in approximately 2 seconds in the morning. (Prep required. Of course.)

For the Powerball:

2 T. dry oats
1 T. flaxseed
1 T. peanut butter
1 tsp. cocoa powder
1 T. water

In a blender, combine oats and flaxseed and grind to a powder. Combine oats/flax powder with remaining ingredients in a small bowl with a rubber spatula until it can be molded into a ball. Freeze on wax paper while you prep the produce for the rest of the smoothie.

For the Produce:

1/2 banana
1/8 avocado
1/4 cup frozen berries
2 wedges apple
2-3 baby carrots
1/4 cup packed spinach

Chop banana, avocado, apple, and carrots into small pieces. Place in sandwich-sized Ziplock bag. Add powerball. Freeze bag.

For the Smoothie:

In the morning, stumble out of bed. Dump contents of ziplock bag into blender. Add 1/2 cup of whatever milk you drink. Blend. Breakfast's ready.

Approximate Nutrition:
350 calories
40 g carbs
17 g fat (from peanut butter and avocado. healthy fat.)
12 g protein
10 g fiber
16 g sugar (from fruit and milk)


Note: The purpose of the powerball is so the peanut butter doesn't stick to the inside of the bag. Also, it sounds frickin' epic.

Note: If you desire a sweeter smoothie, use 1 T. honey instead of water when making the powerball. Or just dump a bit of sugar up in there. No judging here. I had Reese's for dinner last night.

Note: I like to make about a week's worth of smoothie bags at a time. Takes 3 bananas, 1 avocado, 1 apple, and a few handfuls from bags of baby carrots, spinach, and frozen berries.