Roasted Butternut Squash

I'm roasting butternut squash right now in a 400 degree oven. Peeled, cubed and tossed in canola oil, salt and pepper. After a half hour it's not caramelized yet, just leaking juices and the thick pieces are not tender. I let it in another 20 minutes to see what happens. I plan on ricing it with my hand ricer when it cools and then freezing it.

Vegetable Soup

I have a pot of Vegetable Soup cooling on the stove right now. It has the Merepoix base- (onions, celery and carrots) in 4 cans of chicken broth...then I added a cup of white potato cubes, a cup of frozen green beans and about 2 cups of Yams or Sweet Potatoes. I plan on pureeing the soup once it's cool. I know I am going crazy about the pureed soups but it really does help my digestion. If I were to add chicken to it, I would NOT puree it. I'd add it last and let the chicken pieces float in the puree.

Roasted Sweet Potatos for Thanksgiving

Peel a sweet potato or two and cut into 3/4 -1 inch cubes. Toss with 3 TB Canola or Olive oil, salt and pepper and bake on a jelly roll pan at 425 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and flip the potatoes over and bake another 15-20 minutes to help caramelize the potatoes.

This is a favorite IBS menu item.. it's full of antioxidants and soluble fiber.

Pumpkin Bars

4 Eggs

1 and 2/3 Cups Sugar

1 Cup Veg. Oil

2 Cups Pumpkin

2 Cups Flour

1 tsp B. Soda

1 tsp b. Powder

1 and 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Ginger

1/8 tsp Cloves

1 tsp Lemon Juice

1/4 tsp Salt

Combine eggs, lemon juice, sugar, oil, and pumpkin until light and fluffy.

Mix flour, b. soda and spices. Stir into wet ingredients. Bake in 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. Or 25 minutes approx. for cupcakes.

NOTE: Cream cheese icing is a great on this. I usually leave baking powder out of a recipe and use baking soda and an acid such as vinegar or lemon juice instead.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

8 OZ Cream Cheese

1 stick Butter

2 tsp Vanilla

3 Cups 10X Sugar

What is VOSK?

When my mother was a young girl her mother made a salad dressing and they called it VOSK which stood for equal parts of Vinegar* Oil* Sugar* Ketchup. My son had some at my parents and liked it so I made up a bottle of my own (which has yet to be used). You see it's VERY sweet. It would taste much better with balsamic vinegar to give it some depth and with only half the sugar and even then it's still going to be sweet.

Friday Pizza

We usually have pizza on Fridays. Since we are budgeting I make it myself. I'm not too sure this saves us any money you know? So anyway after work today I'll come home and make the pizza dough and brown the sausage. Since my husband is on a badly needed diet I won't be making sausage pizza anymore. Even my son says his jeans are getting tight around the waist. I'm the only one in the family who lost weight recently. I'm down 3 pounds. I weigh 180 pounds naked, on a good day. That's much better than the 195 I weighed over a year and a half ago when diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

So I can start making less goodies. Less cakes and cupcakes and brownies for the guys to snack on. Yes I eat them too but much smaller pieces and less often. Of course I'm gonna be making Thanksgiving pies next week. I'll have to thaw out my pumpkin puree.

My birthday is Black Friday this year! Will you catch me shopping? NO WAY! I won't go downtown for the next month unless my son is driving me.

A Treasure in the Fridge?

I was cleaning out my fridge a little today.. you know to make room for the grocery order tomorrow?.. Well... what I thought was an old bowl of New England clam chowder was really a small bowl of Sausage gravy I made Saturday! I plan on having it over English muffins for breakfast tomorrow and Friday! Happy, happy , joy, joy!