It's been an interesting week!

We've been busy!  Exciting things like Friday night dates to Home Depot, Saturday work-work, and Sunday yard work.  And we decided to cut down some trees!  Two were already dead, and one turned our backyard into a hard hat zone starting sometime in August.  We didn't know until after we decided to cut it down that it's a somewhat prized Black Walnut... but I don't want to hear your whining because it's already been chopped down.  It tried to kill us!  Throwing down heavy tennis balls at our heads, and then trying to trip us with them, not cool.  They allegedly taste good, but a little research showed a huge amount of work, permanent stains, and potentially moldy nuts.  AND, it turns out this tree is toxic to lots of other plants! (So no composting the leaves or using them as mulch for your garden).  We decided that it had to go.  But... it didn't go easily!  Here's what we came home to on Wednesday:

This picture is deceiving.  The pile was like 3 times bigger than it looks!  It was as tall as me, and twice as long as it was wide!  There was definitely more than our 3 trees in there... I know for a fact that we did not cut down a cedar, but we sure shoveled a lot of it... at least it smelled good :)

But you're still missing information:  The forecast for Thursday was torrential rain.  And maybe ice.  Sooo... this giant pile blocking our driveway was about to weight 10 times more!  We scrambled, and came up with a wheelbarrow with a flat tire, broken tarp, and an empty garbage can... but we got the job done!  Only took us 7 hours... we're well warmed up for winter!  Here's what it looks like now:

It rained a little while we were clearing, so you can see the footprint

We wanted the mulch for back here, since one of the previous owners decided it was a good idea to put lots of glass in the way-back yard.  We tried picking it out, but it was impossible.  Now there's a layer of protection!

And it's a good thing we didn't wait, a giant snow storm is coming tomorrow! While I'm waiting out the snow, I might eat all of the halloween candy before the trick or treaters come. If they slip on the icy walkway to my front door while trick or treating, can they sue me?  Do you think I can pay them off with candy?  Maybe I'd better buy some more...  Or maybe I'll just give them black walnuts.

Fall is REALLY here!

How do I know it's fall? Because I made butternut squash soup!  And I was going to write a post about it, and then I realized that I posted almost the same exact recipe last year! I did a few things differently this year:

• No beer (still trying to do gluten free)
• 2 small apples (was the perfect apple ratio)
• No tortellini (again, trying to be gluten free... i used brown rice noodles)
• I kept the sausage in the whole time, and even blended it in with the blender
• For spices I used a bit of oregano, cinnamon, black pepper, and a dash of nutmeg and cloves.

And again, it was delicious!

I also spent some time this weekend scouring the web for an easy gluten free AND low sodium/sodium free dessert ideas, since I was having dinner with my parents and my dad is on a new low sodium diet.  The year-of-slowcooking-lady has been a really great resource for gluten free recipe's, and I found this easy (crockpot, always easy) recipe for cinnamon sugar almonds.  Beat an egg white with 1tsp vanilla, stir in as many almonds as you want (I used 4 cups).  Then mix with a whole bunch of cinnamon, sugar, and salt  (I think I used the recommended 3 tbsp cinnamon with 1.5 cups of sugar, with half the recommended salt), place in a greased/sprayed crock pot, and cover and cook on high for 2 hours, stirring every 20-30 minutes.  Let cool.  Voila!

Dad loved them, and so did husband :)  I will DEFINITELY make them again! 

October Starts Tomorrow!

When you buy a house, you suddenly get a whole bunch of catalogs that you've never heard of, that mostly contain items you can't afford... but you  look through them compulsively every month anyway.  Yesterday, we got a new catalog from Plow & Hearth, which mostly sells expensive things for the outdoor living room room no one in the northeast has.  BUT, it also had these, and I think they're AWESOME!  I might actually buy them! $17 for both isn't so bad... if only they came with the pumpkins!  Not sure about the name though... what's so spooky about being cross-eyed?

Spooky Spider Pumpkin Holders

Yaaay Fall!

I'm diving right into this cold weather! This past weekend i made not one, but 2 delicious and hearty soups/stews. (in other words, i've been procrastinating with my studying).

I'm a big supporter of "one pot" cooking. So i make lots of soupy stewy type meals, intended to be eaten in a bowl, because I'm also a big fan of spooning. I should also mention that i make up recipes as i go, so sometimes they could use improvement.

Saturday, we had:
Butternut Squash, Apple, Sausage, and Tortellini Soup

Chopping list:

• 2 lbs butternut squash, 1/2 inch to 1 inch pieces (i used the pre-cut kind, it was actually cheaper!)
• 1 or 2 apples, diced ( i used 3, too many i think.)
• 1 small potato, peeled and diced (i used red, but shouldn't matter much)
• 1 medium onion, diced

Other:

• 3 links sweet italian sausage, casings removed
• 1 package frozen cheese tortellini
  
• 1/2 tsp herbs de provence ( i have this one with a built in grinder and i love it... i definitely bought it at a regular grocery store, but i don't know which one)
• 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 carton (4 cups?) chicken broth
• water... enough to cover what chicken broth can't
• a little butter? (i didn't use, but would have been a good flavor addition)

Optional:

• 1 beer for enjoying while cooking
• music (optional) for singing and dancing while cooking (I used a combination of Ella Fitzgerald and "Rhythms del Mundo: Cuba)
  
• Blender (I looooove my kithen aid immersion blender)

Instructions:

• Open beer
• Cue music (Que? Queue?)
  
• In large pot, brown and crumble sausage. Anyone know a good way of doing this? I end up with giant chunks, but it doesn't really matter, since they're still delicious.
• Sip beer. Start nodding your head to the music.
  
• When fully cooked, remove sausage, put in a bowl, and set aside.
• In same large pot, now greased with sausage juices, add onions and spices and saute until onions begin to turn translucent. I bit of butter would be good to add here for increased flavor, but I didn't think of it at the time.
• Sing into your beer bottle microphone.
  
• Add remaining vegetables. Stir well.
• Add broth and enough water to cover vegetables. Dance a bit while it comes to a boil, then some more after reducing to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are fork tender.
• If you want a creamy soup, remove from heat and submerge immersion blender, or blend small amounts at a time in a traditional blender.
• Place back on medium heat, add in sausage and 1 bag of frozen cheese tortellini. Cook until tortellini is warmed through. Dance and finish beer to speed along the process.
  
• Salt and pepper to taste, and serve!
• Yum!

Sunday, we had:
Mustard and Beer Beef Stew

Chopping list:

• 1 small potato, skin on, chopped
  
• 1 medium onion, diced
• few carrots, peeled and chopped
• few stalks of celery, chopped

Other:

• Stew meat, doesn't really matter how much... i use a package. 1.5 pounds maybe?
• Beer (darker is better), not for drinking this time.
• Mustard of choice, ~2 tsps (i used a combo of "cuban mojo" and brown mustard)
• 1 carton (4 cups) beef broth or stock
• 1 Bay leaf (i forgot, would have been good)
• 1/2 tsp of herbs de provence or oregano, or maybe sage?
  
• bit of olive oil

Optional:

• half a kielbasa or smoked sausage, chopped

Instructions

• In large pot, add a bit of oil, and brown stew meat. Cut up into bite size cubes as is easiest for you... i use tongs and kitchen shears while they're browning to save time.
  
• when done browning, add mustard of choice, stir well.
• Add sausage, if including.
  
• Add half the beer, stir well. Cook a bit over medium low heat.
• Add onions, stir well, let cook a bit.
• Add a little bit of herbs de provence
  
• Add remaining vegetables, stir well, cook until onions are translucent.
• Add broth and bay leaf
• Cook for a while... until the potatoes start to fall apart
• Make sure beef is fully cooked
• Remove bay leaf
• Salt and pepper to taste
  
• Serve! With remaining half beer perhaps?
  

Smelled funny while cooking (due to the weird mustard i used) but turned out well. Even more tasty a day later!