Busy in the Kitchen

I've been a cooking fiend lately.  I think the pregnancy "nesting" phenomenon is manifesting in me as an uncontrollable drive to cook.  Then again, maybe it's this great cooking site I recently discovered.  My new favorite pastime is reading through the recipe archives and printing out my favorites to try.  Today I made homemade salsa (most of the ingredients come from a can!  and it's so good!), chocolate-chip oatmeal cookies, and this obscenely decadent, buttery yellow cake.  As if that wasn't ridiculous enough, I am currently in the process of making creamy carrot soup. 

*Insert groan of food-induced ecstasy here*

What is it about carrots/squash/other root vegetables that just makes me want to make soup?  I'm tellin' ya, the carrots boiling on my stove right now smell heavenly.  I also make a mean butternut squash soup in the fall and winter.  Haven't made it yet this year, but in a few weeks it'll be darn cold in South Dakota, and a bowl of that soup will sound pretty good. 

It's the simplest recipe ever - peel & cube your butternut squash, plop it in a big soup pot, and pour vegetable stock over it till it's covered by a half-inch or so.  Then bring to a boil; reduce heat & simmer till the squash is tender, and use a blender or immersion blender to puree it smooth.  (Yes, I know "puree" should have that little French symbol over the first 'e', but I don't know how to type it that way.)  Then add a dash of salt and plenty of ground white pepper.  Yes, I said white pepper.  Trust me on this. 

If you've never made soup from squash before, you won't believe how creamy it is!  It tastes like you added a whole bunch of fattening dairy products to it, but that's just the natural quality of the squash itself.  Your husband/wife/dinner guests will think you're really spoiling them.  Don't worry; it'll be our little secret.

I wasn't feeling emotionally "up" to telling the rest of my son R.'s story or talking about my flat affect today, so I prattled on about recipes for a while.  I know you won't judge me, because we're all friends here.  In the meantime, go look up the term "flat affect," and I'll be really impressed next time. 

Lotsa love,
Jessica