The temperature here has plummeted from from the high sixties to the low thirties. After getting out for a quick Target run I needed winter food and nothing says winter like soup and sandwiches.
I've been dying to try butternut squash soup but have been putting off purchasing an immersion blender. Luckily for me my roommate also loves to cook and got a food processor for Christmas (!!!!!) so last night I made soup. I looked at a few recipes online, but decided to just go with what I had in the kitchen at the time.
I ended up using:
1 butternut squash roasted in the oven for about 30 minutes and skinned
1-2 cups of carrot
2 cups of chicken broth
1 onion, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced (I use the stalks with the leaves on them)
3 cloves or garlic
3 tablespoons of butter
1 cup of heavy cream
1/4 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1) Melt butter in a large pan then add onion, garlic, celery, and carrot. When the onions and celery are tender add the butternut squash and chicken broth* (I added the broth as needed to make sure it didn't get too runny, I wanted a thick soup). Add bay leaf and cook until carrots are tender.
2) Place everything from step one into a food processor and puree. I had to add more chicken broth here to get it to the consistency I wanted. (Make sure you take the bay leaf out too, I was picking out bits of bay leaf from my soup because I forgot). Pour back into the pan.
3) Add cream, yogurt or sour cream, cheese and season with pepper. I didn't need to add any extra salt because of the cheese. I also added a little bit of cayenne for a bit of warmth.
* I usually keep vegetable broth on hand, but my grocery store doesn't seem to carry it any longer. So if you have veggie broth, go with that.
Because no soup is completely without a sandwich, I also made an avocado, bacon, and chicken salad sandwich with turned out just lovely. I adapted one of my guacamole recipes for this one after seeing an avocado chicken salad on Pinterest.
1 chicken breast, chopped into bite sized pieces (recipe for chicken below)
2 avocados (one chopped into bite size pieces)
2 tablespoons of sour cream
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
1 table spoon of lemon juice
4 slices of bacon cooked crispy and chopped
1) In a food processor or blender, mix one avocado, sour cream, mayonnaise, and lemon juice.
2) In another bowl mix chicken, bacon, and chopped avocado.
3) Add the sour cream mix to the chicken mixture and stir until the chicken is evenly covered with the mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve on your bread of choice.
Lemon Garlic Baked Chicken
2 bone in chicken breasts
4 table spoons of unsalted butter
2 cloves of garlic
zest of one lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
1) Prepare chicken by cleaning under cool water and drying completely, with your fingers loosen the skin from the meat, but do not remove the skin.
2) In a small bowl mix butter, 2 cloves of garlic that is either grated or minced (a Microplane really is the best tool here), and lemon zest. Mix thoroughly either with hands or a fork.
3) Stuff equal amounts of butter mixture under neath the skin of the chicken breast and press it evenly. Season with salt and pepper.
4) Bake on 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.
I'm extremely cautious of over cooking chicken breasts so I check mine after 25 minutes and every 10 after that. It's usually done by 35.
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