November Thus Far

So far this month I have helped with a few activities for or church. I had the opportunity to act as sous chef to our Relief Society president while she presented how to cook a turkey and and other Thanksgiving fixins'. It was so much fun and I learned a lot. Here are some pictures of the favors I made:

Cornucopias made out of waffle cones. All you do is boil water in a tea kettle until the spout is steaming. Place the cone point in the spout hole (make sure the water isn't too high. you don't want a soggy cone) and leave it there for about a minute until the cone is pliable. Curl the softened point around a pencil and let is cool for about 20 seconds, then remove the pencil. Let the cones set for a couple of hours then fill with candy, nuts, etc. You can either place plastic wrap, as I did above, and set with a ribbon, or you can have the candy cascading out of the opening on a plate.  Be careful not to get steam burns!

Turkey napkins!

We made chickens instead of a big turkey so that they would cook faster for our demonstration.  This one was cooked breast down so the juices would flow to the white meat. I had to carve the chicken for our demonstration. It was my first time ever, but it turned out alright. I just watched tutorials on youtube. Pretty much let the turkey rest for 20 minutes after cooking, then follow the joints for cutting.

The other activity I helped with was baking cookies for the young men at our church. There is a group of the "wiser" (over 60) women of our church who get together and do service projects. I acted as the runner and pan-puller-outer. They just needed some young bones to run around :) In return they fed me lunch and sent me home with the flowers from the center pieces.

Pedro came home with some Halloween candy that one of his professors had left over. If I were still a kid I would go trick-or-treating at his place!

Pedro asks for me to make mac n' cheese quite often. He loves it and apparently it loves him too. It looked more like a heart in person :)

I have discovered a couple of new favorite snacks and dinners for Pedro. The snack that he is loving right now is edamame (soy beans). I get them at costco for $7 and it comes in a pack of 3 large bags.

The dinners he likes are butternut squash pasta and buttered noodles.. They are soooooo good!

For the buttered noodles I just melt 1 1/2 sticks of butter with 3 cloves of finely minced fresh garlic, salt & pepper to taste, a splash of lemon juice (about 1 T), and 1 tsp of dried basil. Just combine with cooked spaghetti noodles.

For the butternut squash pasta:

Pasta with Butternut Parmesan Sauce Recipe

• Prep time: 30 minutes
• Cook time: 1 hour

This sauce will work with any pasta, but I love it with hollow noodles so that the sauce creeps into every crevice!

Ingredients

• 1 butternut squash weighing about 2 1/2 pounds
• 1 pound pasta
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 a yellow onion
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Water or milk as needed to thin the sauce, about 1 cup (I usually don't add that much because I like it thick)

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 350F. Cut the butternut squash lengthwise in half* and scoop out the guts and seeds and discard them. Pour 1/4 cup of water into a pyrex or ceramic baking dish and place the butternut squash halves cut side down. Bake for 40 minutes or until a fork easily pierces the squash. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Scoop out the squash flesh from the skins and put into a blender. Discard the skins.

2 Saute the onion in the olive oil over medium-high heat in a small skillet until just beginning to brown, about 3-4 minutes. Add the onions to the blender. Add water or milk, salt and nutmeg and puree. If you need a little more water, add it. Pour the sauce into a small pot set over low heat. Mix in the sour cream and warm it through. Do not let the sauce boil.

3 cook pasta then combine with sauce. Sprinkle with cheese

*Be careful when you cut the squash, winter squash are hard! The best way to do it safely is to slice a bit off of both ends so that you can stand the squash upright without it rolling. Then cut down the middle.

Yield: Serves 4-6.


If you can't tell, I love cooking! It is so much fun and I get a kick out of mixing flavors and discovering something spectacular! Maybe one day I will go to culinary arts school and become the next Julia Child or... because it would be a shame not to say it... Rachael Ray :)

(I really need to blog more often. I always think "This would be great to blog about," but then I put it off and forget what it was)