Roasted Veggie and Butternut Squash Soup

I seriously considered naming this post "True Life: I'm Addicted to Soup." Once September hits and there is even the slightest breeze in the air I want basically every meal to be in soup form. This addiction lasts until about April when it starts to get a little too warm in South Carolina to pretend the addiction is justified.

Some soup can be great for you...these are not the soups I like. Give me cheesy. Give me creamy. Give me all things gluttonous. #noregrets Until my pants start fitting a little tighter. #alittleregret Then instead of foregoing Christmas cookies and festive coffee I look for ways to cut calories from the things I want to eat anyway. This roasted vegetable soup in the best of all worlds! It's so creamy and savory but FULL of good things. As an added unanticipated bonus, it's vegan, so you can feel better about your choices all around ;)

Roasted Veggie and Butternut Squash Soup

1 Medium Zucchini, cubed
2 Medium Sweet Potatoes, cubed
1 Small Sweet Onion, diced
4 Cloves fresh Garlic
1 Medium Butternut Squash, cubed
3 Cups Almond Milk
2 Tsp Thyme
1 Tsp Curry Powder
1/2 Tsp Cumin
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Brush a cookie sheet lightly with olive oil and spread your butternut squash cubes over it. Lightly brush olive oil over the cubes and season with salt and pepper before baking at 350 for 45-60 min. Prep another cookie sheet for your Zucchini, sweet potatoes, garlic, and onion. Brush lightly with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and 1 tsp of thyme before putting them in the oven at the same time as the squash for only 30 minutes. The fact that both can be cooking at the same time makes it a pretty easy set up.

Once roasted, remove from the oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes. Transfer squash and veggies to a large pot on the stove top set on low. Make sure they are tender enough to mash slightly with a wooden spoon. Add 1 cup of almond milk. Use God's gift to soup lovers (aka an immersion blender) to start pureeing the veggies in with the almond milk. Add more milk as you blend until the creamy texture you're looking for is reached. Add in the rest of the thyme, curry powder, and cumin, and salt and pepper to taste. Once the soup is heated up to the proper temp you're ready for practically guilt free creamy indulgence!

I wish I had carrots on hand to through in. I think that would be a delicious addition. Anything you would add? Do you also need a support group for soup addicts? I'd love to know!

Sheila

Snowflake Crust Apple Pie

It stands to reason that I should use a cookie cutter at least every now and then, right?



I made an apple pie the other night and decided at the last minute to do something a little different with the crust. I love this apple pie recipe because it's so simple but I like to make a few adjustments. For starters, I'm a big cheater and use pre-made crust dough (the kind that come in the refrigerated section and rolls out). Also, I used what I had which ended up being granny smith apples. Bobby Flay's recipe turned into this:

1 box of pre-made pie crust
4 granny smith apples
3/4 cup fine sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon of nutmeg



Preheat oven to 350. Slice up the apples, throw everything in a bowl except the crust (obv) and stir it up. It's going to look a little dry but it will be fine. Promise. Set it aside while you work on your crust.

Roll out one piece of dough for the bottom crust. Run a rolling pin over it to fix any cracks or inconsistencies. Place in buttered pie pan and pinch the edges. Toss in the filling. Roll out the next piece and use a snowflake cookie cutter to cut out as many pieces as possible.The snowflakes were a much easier alternative to time-consuming lattice crust and worked just as well.A cookie cutter and about 10 minutes was all it took. As you can see, these snowflakes landed all over the place without much pattern. I should have sprinkled brown sugar over the top but didn't think about it until after it was baked.

Bake your pie for at least 30-40 minutes. Keep an eye on it though: mine browned very quickly and had to be turned occasionally to prevent burning.

What is your favorite Thanksgiving dessert? More importantly, what's your favorite kind of pie!? I'd love to know.

Sheila

Do you write down recipes anymore?

How long has it been since you've written down a recipe, instead of just bookmarking or 'pinning' it?



Every few months I pull out this recipe book and add in my favorites. Not just anything that looks interesting, but a recipe that's been tested and enjoyed multiple times. If it makes it into the recipe book, there is something special about it that deserves to be recorded the old-fashioned way.



This book in particular is special because my Mother gave it to me. My parents celebrated their wedding anniversary this past week, which made me a little nostalgic and sentimental. Mom gave this recipe book to me with a few of our family favorites written in already so anything added has to live up to the standard. Most recently, this recipe for personal-sized baked oatmeal lived up to the bar (I write this as I eat one right now. No joke.)



I also love recipe cards. For some reason, they seem perfect for cookies and baking recipes. There are few simple pleasures I enjoy more than giving someone a recipe written on a cute little card, instead of emailing a boring ol' link.

Do you write down recipes? Do they have a certain standard to live up to before you record them? I'd love to know!

Sheila

Smells like Fall!

Actually, it smells like rain outside but I would never complain about that! In my apartment this weekend the scent of cinnamon, nutmeg, and fresh baked cookies filled the air. It was pretty fantastic.



These happened. These amazing Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies. The recipe is here. The only difference between their's and mine is that I didn't include raisins (because they are the ultimate cookie fake out amIright?), and I replaced 1 cup of white flour with whole wheat flour. Now, they're healthy right? With the grated carrots they're basically a vegetable.

I skipped out on the cream cheese because they were so good on their own. Just make them and thank me later :)

Have you started any fall baking? It's my favorite way to make the apartment cozy. Are there any scents that seen quintessentially autumnal to you? I'd love to know!

Sheila

PS. If you follow me on Instagram you already saw this picture. If you don't... then let's be friends! @beyondcookiecutter

Small Batch Apple Butter

On a scale from "I could explode" to "I'm a robot and have no feelings," how excited are you for Fall to be here?



I'm pretty darn excited, but I'm not quite ready to jump on the pumpkinize everything bandwagon. That will come soon I'm sure. In the mean time, this small batch of apple butter was just the taste of Fall I was looking for. Since I live alone and don't know many people in the area, I didn't want to make a whole ton. Plus I mostly just wanted to use up a few apples that were getting past their prime. Ready to make your own? (I adapted this recipe from Sweet Style CA)



You Will Need:

-5 small/medium apples, I used Gala
-3/4 cup brown sugar
-2 tbsp cinnamon
-1/4 tsp cloves
-1/4 tsp nutmeg
-1/4 tsp grated ginger
-a little lemon juice, if you're fancy



Put sauce pot on low heat while you are peeling and chopping the apples into small chunks. Add the apples to your pot as you chop them and stir occasionally as you go. I found it helpful to keep the lid on the pot when I wasn't adding apples so they steam could help tenderize.



After all the apples are added, stir well and add brown sugar and spices. Let simmer on low for about 15 minutes while you try to figure out how to work the immersion (stick) blender. Or real blender. Or potato masher. Whatever you've got.

Once the apples where good and soft, which is easy to tell if you taste one, pour the contents of the pot into a bowl or blender and mix until a smooth texture is reached. This is the first time I've used my immersion blender and it's a pretty stinkin' awesome little gadget, if you're thinking about getting one.



Next, put the apples back in the pot for just a few more minutes (about 10) on low heat with the lid off this time to help it thicken up. I forgot to add any lemon juice to mine like the original recipe calls for and so far it hasn't been a problem. I have a feeling that's meant as a preservative though so it might a good idea to put in a squeeze or two from a lemon and add more cinnamon to cover the taste.



It's all ready to slather on some toast and enjoy! Or just eat it from the jar. Let's be honest here.

Hope you enjoy this little taste of Fall. I have a feeling Greenville will be beautiful when all the leaves change colors so I'm excited to see it. What are you looking forward to most? Any traditions to help welcome the new season? I'd love to know!

Sheila

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

There are few things more delicious than cookies made for no reason at all. 

Last week, a friend from work asked if I could use up an almost full tub of almond butter in one weekend since the expiration date was that Monday. Um, challenge accepted. 

My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe is one my Mom clipped out of a newspaper forever and a day ago.I have no idea what it's called or who actually came up with it. Sorry. The best part about it is that it calls for 1 cup of peanut butter. Having regular chocolate chip cookies with no peanut better tastes weird to me now. I've been spoiled! Substituting the peanut butter with almond butter seemed like a delicious alternative, and somehow made the cookies seem more grown up. To match the adult(ish) switch to almond butter, I decided to use dark chocolate instead of the usual semi-sweet (so basically they're healthy now) and toffee bits (shhh... just let me believe they're healthy). 

You will need:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups all purpose flour 

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup almond butter

2 eggs

1 cup soft butter 

2 cups mix-in of choice (used here are dark chocolate and toffee bits)

Preheat oven to 350. Cream together sugars, butter, and almond butter. Mix in eggs. Add combined flour and baking soda. 

Use a spoon to combine the mix-ins. It seemed like fun to experiment: the far left is just dark chocolate, the center is dark chocolate and toffee, the right is just toffee. Really, there was no way to loose.

Make fun of your friend a little for the large size of her cookie balls. Roll your own in 1 inch balls and place about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. 14-15 minutes for those more enthusiastically sized.

Leave them on the sheet a few minutes to firm up. If you move them while they are too hot they will fall apart, which is part of what makes them so delicious. Put them on a wire rack or paper towels to finish cooling.

Eat too many, force your friend to take some home, then bring them to work the next day because you don't need a massive plate of delicious cookies all by yourself.

Is there anything different about your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe? What other mix-ins would you want to try? I'd love to know.

Sheila

P.S. The one with both chocolate and toffee was my favorite, in case you're wondering. Although all 3 options were enjoyed.