First off, thank you to a veterans in the US and those that have served to protect the citizens of the world from those that would try and do harm. I come from a family with deep ties to the military and so appreciative of their service May those serving now stay safe. One sad thing about Covid is I have not been out and about and I don't even know if they are outside stores this year, but I didn't get a poppy for my coat. This will have to do this year.
Today being Wednesday, I'm sharing a sort of recipe I made recently and one I found on-line I plan to make. On my last Trader Joe's shop, a rarity now that I am not venturing out much, I found the fresh cheese tortellini (fresh being a relative term as in not frozen). Back when my mom was still mobile and our youngest was a baby and toddler, I would take her on Friday errands and then we would go for lunch at a coffee house downtown. One of our favorites was to get egg salad sandwiches and their chicken tortellini soup. My mom and daughter, being little of course, didn't have big appetites so we'd each get a cup of soup and share a sandwich, my mom sharing her soup with my daughter. I did my best after we didn't get out so much to recreate the soup for my mom, always a little bit different, but with the fresh tortellini it came close. It's still a favorite of my daughters and I have a couple portions froze for her when she is home on break. Here's the version I made Saturday.
Chicken Tortellini Soup
Sautee 1/2 onion, a cup diced carrots (approx.) and two stocks celery with 1 tsp pepper and a pat or two of butter until the onions are translucent. Add three cups of water and four bullion cubes, simmer until carrots are soft. Add one large diced baking potato, cover and simmer again until potato is soft. Add two cups shredded chicken (I had made earlier) preferably with the juices from the cooked chicken. I did that, plus had added a little water and scraped all the good flavor from the chicken roasting pan.
I let the soup sit for a couple hours, as I think soup tastes better when it cools and the flavors all merge together better. I reheated it and served along with a take and bake baguette. It made quite a bit of soup. DH had two and I had one large bowl with leftovers for a large bowl on Monday for my lunch, and we froze a good three cups worth. Silly me, I have no pictures!
Herb Roasted Acorn Squash
Do you remember this beauty I bought at my last farmers market stop several week s ago? I still hadn't prepared but with today technically a day off, I thought some good comfort food was in order. I always laugh when people look up recipes, then comment on how a recipe was really good, but they did this and that, and another thing differently. Well, I'm going to disclose that while my inspiration is based on this recipe for Herb Roasted Acorn Squash I will be changing it up to use the seasoning I already have on hand. I'm also hoping my daughter will join us for supper if it works for her schedule, so will omit any animal dairy products. DH and I can just add parmesan if we want to ours separately. I normally make acorn squash more sweet, not savory, so this will be a good trial run to another side for Thanksgiving.
I guess this was sort of a lazy post-nor real pictures, a non recipe for soup, and a link to someone else's recipe. I'm in a lazy sort of mode today. Last night I was looking for something sweet to go with a cup of tea and there was nothing but candy. Today may be a baking day-I have 1/2 a can of frozen pumpkin and all the ingredients on hand to make a vegan version. Is anyone else off work today and doing any cooking or baking projects? Do you enjoy squash and if so, is your vote for sweet or savory?
Lots of veterans in my family and now my 20 year old nephew enlisted in the navy instead of college- he's been in about 18 months. I wish i liked squash better but I'm trying- the last couple of weeks, I've had acorn roasted with just butter, butternut, delicata, and still have a spaghetti squash to use. Definitely not my favorites but I hate to waste food and these all were in the weekly produce delivery. I also steamed some red beets and had a kale salad.
ReplyDeleteI did not like squash as a child, but grew into it as an adult. Again, I think it might have been how it was prepared whenever I did have it-badly. When I was pregnant with my third child, I had intense squash cravings. It was weird, but since then, I have been a huge squash lover, particularly acorn squash.
DeleteAnd thank you to your nephew! I hope his experience is positive and it is a good launch in his life.
DeleteLots of veterans in my family, including my DH. But, as like so many of them, they don't talk about their service.
ReplyDeleteSquash...oh, my word. I cannot abide by squash, unless it's zucchini squash in either the form of relish or bread. I can also enjoy pumpkin, but only in sweet dishes, not savory. I don't know why I have such an aversion to the stuff, but there it is. DH LOVES acorn squash roasted with butter, brown sugar and nutmeg. I will fix that several times/year for him. It certainly makes the house smell lovely!
I enjoyed this post, so there!
It's funny how people can have such vastly different testbeds, but I figure why force yourself to eat something you don't enjoy. Nice that you will make for your DH. My dad never talked about his service-I rarely hear my brother say a peep either, but then both also were in war time service. Thank you to your husband. We can appreciate them even if the are humble.
DeleteI love the produce at our local farmers market. So much fresher and tastier than some of veg in the supermarket. I need to try some of the different squashes but would need to look up recipes as I am not familiar with cooking them
ReplyDeleteIF the acorn squash is as good as the butternut one was, I will be happy. Most likely I've gotten the last of the local squash.
DeleteA big thank you to those in your family who have served our country! I love tortellini soup too, and acorn squash is my favorite kind of squash. I like it any way it's prepared. Enjoy your day off :)
ReplyDeleteI usually go towards slightly sweet, with the fall spices, but I want to try this version. Th squash on our pizza the other week was savory.
DeleteYellow, summer squash I only prefer savory. Orange squashes in fall seem to want to be sweet. However, I just add cinnamon, so there is no added sugar.
ReplyDeleteI do a light dusting of brown sugar to help with the caramelizing. Yum.
DeleteI hadn't realized it was Veterans' Day either (we call it either Remembrance Day or Armistice Day) as I usually wear my poppy starting 1 November. I guess they're weird times we're living in! And I know what you mean about "changing up a recipe". Years ago, when my friend turned 40, she had a little drink in the office and had made a quiche also. I asked her for the recipe as it was really good and basically she'd changed everything but the salt!!! I hope you're feeling better now!
ReplyDeleteThank you-feeling better, but still have little fits of coughing. I'm glad the sore throat seems to have moved on. We use Armistice Day as well here-remembering WWI, but I think it just got broadened as an appropriate day to honor all veterans. We have memorial day 4th Monday in May. Is that only a US thing?
DeleteYum! Take care!
ReplyDeleteThe soup sounded kind of Kim tome-with all the cooking you do for others, it was easy and hearty.
DeleteI am not a big fan of winter squash, but prefer it savory instead of sweet when I do eat it.
ReplyDeleteThe tortellini soup sounds delicious. It is something TheHub would really love.
I doubt it meets keto in any imagination with all th e pasta, and served with bread. I've not made a successful squash soup, but might give that a go soon.
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