NO SOUP FOR YOU! :)

Acorn Squash Soup

3 acorn squash
1 tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 T honey
¼ c heavy whipping cream
1 onion
¼ c red wine
1 whole garlic bulb
3 T Olive Oil
6-7 fresh basil leaves

Cut raw acorn squash into quarters. Remove seeds, leave skin for now. Put in stock pot with around 4 c of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 15 minutes or until soft but not too mushy. Let cool well because you’ll need to remove the skins, some of it will just peel off and some needs to be cut. Keep 2 c of the boiling water.

While cooking squash, have a whole garlic bulb wrapped in foil, roasting in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Make sure to toss the bulb in the oil and pour the remaining oil on the foil. It is easier to deal with the roasted garlic if you cut off the top to expose all the cloves a wee bit.

Also, slice onion into small slices and start caramelizing. Keep cooking on low heat until brown, clear and soft. Then add the red wine to a high heat and cook of a bit of it and create sort of “gravy” or a reduction if you’re fancy. This too can take about 20 minutes or so. It’s important for the texture to not burn the onions but caramelize them completely.

Allow all ingredients to cool a bit after cooking. After removing skin from squash, cut into 1” size chunks or so and blend until smooth; at this time, include the honey. You will want to use some of the left over cooking water to create the consistency of your liking. I made it equivalent to infant baby food. :)
Place blended squash into cooking pot and add spice mixture. Put on low heat as you prepare the other items to add. Blend reduced onions, roasted garlic, and basil leaves together until nice and smooth. You can use some more of the squash cooking water if necessary. After blended nicely, mix in with squash and mix well and start heating slowly. When thoroughly heated, stir in whipping cream to create a nice smooth texture. You can serve with some fresh basil and I also served some raisin toast sans butter for dipping into the soup.


Dis some good shit main....................
Enjoy...........
J

Holla if you're hungry!

Last night I got in a cooking mood. Well, I actually already pre-cooked some squash to make squash soup on Sunday and didn’t get around to it so it was either now or never with those poor squash. But I knew I wanted a creamy smooth style soup. I’m actually not much for “chunky” soups. I like my soup smooth and easy, just like my girl, just kidding…about her not my soup preference. So one thing I love with acorn squash is honey. Oh man a baked acorn squash with butter and honey is divine! So I’m rambling around in my pantry and come up with what I think will make a good soup. I’ve learned over the years to be creative since I’ve lived in situations where funds were limited or the ability to just take a quick jaunt to the store was out of the question. I decided to go with the whole fall season theme which usually means a bit of nutmeg and honey, throw in some cumin, salt, and black pepper and there’s the spice mix. I caramelized onions and made a red wine reduction sauce, then finished off my ingredients list by roasting some garlic and adding in some fresh basil. It turned out better than I anticipated. I blended everything together nice and smooth and put in a stock pot to heat. At the last minute, I add a wee bit of whipping creme. It was so good. Sometimes I surprise myself with my cooking ability. I do love to cook but to do it right takes time. With getting older, I try to think about exactly what I want my next career to be. And sometimes chef comes up. But I watch these chef shows and see exactly how stressful it is. Plus I have a good friend who’s a chef and it’s been a bit hard on him to find good employment in our area. So, I think that’s just one of those pipe dreams that if you could choose everything about your dream, every detail….then I would choose to be a chef. But, I do love to just cook a good meal at home and watch my girls eyes light up when she takes her first bite. She particularly like the soup last night. Which I paired with cinnamon raisin toast. Sounds weird but it was good!
Speaking of cooking, I need to bring back my Sunday brunches. When I was single, I used to invite friends over to Sunday brunch after we partied Saturday night. It then took off and other friends were hosting it. It was fun and a nice ending to the weekend. I don’t know exactly why we haven’t done it in a while, well…yes I do…we’ve been super stressed and super poor. But I’m thinking that’s just what we all need. Some of my famous homemade biscuits and shitake gravy….damn, I’m so hungry.
So, tonight I will be making chili, crock-pot chili. I love making things in my giant crock-pot. Mainly because I’m kind of neurotic when I cook (imagine that) and I will watch a pot to death. But for some reason, crock-pots do the cooking for me so I can relax about it. Thank god chili weather is here! Ha, get it, “Chilly” weather? Mmm, ok enough about food. It’s almost lunch time and I think I have a date with some soup! Later…………………
P.S. If anyone wants the soup recipe, comment your request and I'll try to put it in recipe form for ya.

It's a juggling act...and I'm not such a great juggler!

So these past several weeks have just been quite turbulent, my emotions have run from frighteningly angry to a strange despair to quiet acceptance and back again. To start off the ride, I hurt my back. Now I do physical work so I’m used to a sore back occasionally after work. But I’ve never really hurt my back to the point which I stop what I’m doing, try not to drop to my knees, and take deep breaths to evaluate the seriousness of the injury. And when I couldn't’ twist my body to the left without taking my breath away I figured I had fucked some shit up! So, I kind of stood in the garden for a moment, quite unsure of the next step. Then realized I needed to go into the administrative office and tell HR. Well, they were thrown off a bit I think because I’ve worked at my company for 10 years not with no Work Comp complaints so I think they weren’t sure I was serious at first. But, I was serious. Basically I ended up at a chiropractor which wasn't a big deal. He helped and I recovered, thank god because then my girl ended up in the hospital and had to have surgery. I'll let her write about that though. Thankfully she's better and our lives are possibly back on track. We are almost there with the house, finances, and ourselves...almost. :)
My goal for right now is to get my body back under control. When is so freaking hot outside, the last thing I want to do is work out or any physical labor for that matter, unless I'm getting paid to do it.
(I wrote part of this blog a while back so I hope it isn't too disjointed...well, at least more than normal!)
Things are going ok as far as my job. I've basically accepted the changes of the guard here and am just trying to make it work. No use fighting something I have no control over. The rumor is my department will go back to where it was and I won't work for such a c*nt anymore. (btw, I hate that word normally, I only use it in extreme circumstances to prove my true disdain for someone.)
I also applied for a similar position elsewhere and was called in for an interview but the guy never called me back to let me know the exact time. With my low self esteem professionally, I was mildly upset. But I know someone at that company who called their HR department and apparently they haven't filled the position and are notoriously slow at hiring. I really just want this job for my back pocket in case all hell breaks loose here even though it would be a significant pay cut. Which if you're a regular reader, you might have noticed I'm not the best with the funds I have now....let alone a large pay cut...I'd be screwed. Ha.
The great thing is that I seem to now have a sense of pride about who I am now. It's not as hard for me to tell people to call me by my boy name. Or to just come out and let people in on what's going on with me. And if I were to get that job, that's just what I would do. I think now that I look the part these days, it's actually easier and more simple to request my boy name and pronouns even in professional situations where my legal name is a dead give away. It just makes more sense to call me Jack.
Man, I feel like it's been so long since I've written a blog which it has. And I have so much to say but not so much time to tell it. Grrrr, that's another small issue at home....we are currently without Internet. But thinking that shall change soon if all goes well.
Like I said above...it's a juggling act...some days it's with tennis balls, some days it's with knives......just when you think it's safe with the tennis balls, one hits you in the eye! Be safe ya'll...and I promise to not have such a random, nonsensical post next time....just needed to check in and let you know we aren't dead!
Later!
J