Fallen Souffle

About this time of year comes the question “what do you want for Christmas?” It’s a funny sort of question when you get older. When I was young it was easy, Barbies, new legos, My Little Pony, and maybe a new dance leotard. When I was in high school it was jeans, running shoes, and CD’s. Even the past couple of years it was not too hard…housewares. (Who knew one could get so excited about new pots and a new set of sheets). Now as we are coming close to our one year anniversary in our house and past the 6 month mark of our marriage we are pretty set on household stuff. So this year the question is kinda daunting.

My parents usually get me a nice business suit, but times are changing in the corporate world and no one is dressing up like they used to. I have also determined this “corporate world” is not necessarily my cup of tea. Clothes are always a safe bet, I love sweaters and jackets and can never have enough shoes (size 7.5!). There are a few house things I would like, more out of necessity than anything, a carpet cleaner, a new dutch oven(ok thats a long shot), and maybe a serger.

My list can never touch my sister’s list, she takes pride in the detail and description of her items, down to color pictures and sometimes items locations. It has come to be more of a joke, but she is definatly a girl with a plan!

I am much more into the thoughtful gifts now it seems. One of my favorite gifts from our wedding was a painting my sister did for us. I absolutely love it and everytime I look at it I think about her and our wedding.

Our lives have so much “stuff’ in them that I wonder if we need anymore.

Nonetheless, I am looking forward to Christmas, I will always be that 10 year old kid that wakes everyone up at 6:30am to rip open presents, but I think I get more joy out of seeing others open theirs.

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This is what happens when you adopt a dog, that was raised around cats:

Eight hours of knitting and a pound of yarn that has been completely unwound (well luckily the knitting is still in tact). What is her obession with yarn?

The culprit, our Sasha:

What a mug shot!

But we still love her, she apparently got the urge to jump up and grab the yarn and run out the back door with it like a little fugitive. Evan couldn’t run fast enough after her, I’m just sorry I missed such a sight!

I hope to have the project done in the next two weeks, we will see how it fairs.

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I have been feeling adventurous lately and thought I would try and spice things up with some new ingrediants. Surprisingly enough I have become a bit obsessed with fresh vegetables. Kroger had all types of squash on sale this week so I thought this was the best time as any to experiment with them. I caught a snippet of Martha on the Today show last week making a sort of sauce for pasta with butternut squash, so after a bit of searching on her website(I got a bit sidetracked) I found it! After reading through her recipes I realized two things. 1. She uses 4 different pieces of cookware (a baking sheet, dutch oven, and 2 skillets). She must still be bitter about having dishwashing duties at Alderson, who wants to clean up 4 pieces after dinner! 2. She creates so many unnecessary steps in creating this dinner, probably because she wanted to maximize the number of pans used, see item 1.

So I felt I needed to do what I do best and create a few short cuts. In the end I fell in love with this recipe, it is actually pretty simple to make and has an amazing depth of flavor and uses very little fat so it is super healthy. I love using it over pasta as I sometimes get sick of the same old marinara (shh… pretend you didn’t hear that!)

Spicy Butternut Squash Pasta
(derived from Martha’s Spicy Squash with Pasta

1 2-pound butternut squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 pound of linguine
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon of dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon of dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon of savory
You can use any combination of dried spices you have around- it will taste great anyway!

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper, foil would even work but spray it with Pam. Place cut side up on pan and season squash with salt and pepper. Bake for 10 mins then flip cut side down and bake for 20-30 mins until fork tender. Remove from oven and let cool 10 mins or so before handling. Scoop out all the flesh, discarding skin and set aside.

2. Boil your pound of pasta in a large dutch over filled with salted water. Cook to al dente. Drain pasta and toss with a bit of olive oil if you desire.

3. In the dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and add garlic and herbs. Cook until garlic is golden. Add the reserved squash and heat through. Taste and make sure you like all the seasonings, I added a touch of kosher salt.

4. Spoon squash mixture over pasta and top with a dollop of ricotta cheese if you have some (not necessary, it is so good on its own!) Enjoy!

For kicks, check out the original recipe.

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