It's Fall Y'all!!!

It's fall and it is time for soup! Seeing as how I've recently been inundated with squash, I figured I'd whip up a pot of super tasty butternut squash soup. This is a pretty straightforward recipe that will make you long for a rainy day and cozy socks. It was 88F here today so I cranked up the AC, pretended that it was 55F out, and chowed down to my heart's content! Grab a bowl and get comfy!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, peeled
5 springs of fresh thyme, leave stripped off stalks
olive oil
salt and pepper
3 1/2 cups chicken broth

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a large cookie sheet with foil. Spray with cooking spray.
2. Dump all the veggies and thyme on the prepared tray. Drizzle generously with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss everything with your hands until evenly coated. Throw it in the oven and roast for 1 hour, or until veggies are fork tender.
3. Let cool. Dump the veggies into your food processor and add 1 cup of the broth. Process until the mixture is smooth as silk.
4. Transfer your veg blend to a large soup pot. Add the remaining 2.5 cups of broth and heat on low until simmering, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add a sprinkle of red pepper flakes if you want to add some heat. Serve with buttermilk biscuits and enjoy!

Serves 4-6

For the love of pumpkin!

I am completely in love with fall!!! I love the smell in the air, the crisp leaves underfoot, the bright orange, yellow and red decorations & the piles of pumpkins spilling out of every shop front! I especially love pumpkin pie...topped off with a good dollop of fresh whipped cream...YUM! I am also a HUGE sucker for anything labeled "Pumpkin Smoothie"! Unfortunately most of the smoothies out there in the world have about ten billion calories and would totally thwart all of my weight loss efforts. Being bitten by the pumpkin bug earlier this week, I played with a few recipes and came up with one that is delicious and pretty darn nutritious! Happy fall!!!!

Pumpkin Smoothie
Serves 1

4-5 ice cubes
1/2 c. nonfat milk
1/3 c. pumpkin puree
1/3 c. nonfat vanilla yogurt
1 whole ripe banana
Several shakes of pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. maple syrup (optional!)

Put everything in your blender and hit the on button. Once it's all blended, dip a spoon in and taste it to make sure you have enough spice going on. Add more spice if you need it. Pour it into your favorite smoothie glass and enjoy!

2-3 Points Plus Values (2 without maple syrup, 3 with)

Apple Brown Betty

I've been sitting on my couch all morning staring at a giant pile of Granny Smith apples in my kitchen, periodically dreaming about the fabulous combination of cinnamon and apples that happens in a Brown Betty! Apples always make me think of fall...and I always miss my time in Maine when I think of fall. One perfectly crisp fall day I even went to an apple orchard and picked baskets and baskets of Empire apples. They were so sweet and crunchy that they made my taste buds sing and we cooked up some delicious treats from the glowing red baskets of apples! Fall in Maine is a dream...and I so miss the cold bite of fall air on my checks as the weather turns. As summer comes to an end I have found myself wishing that it were fall more and more! I lasted until about 11:30am until I fully gave in to my pinings for fall and whipped up some delicious individual dessert treats!

Individual Apple Brown Betty
Serves 8

Topping:
1/2 c. butter, at room temp
1/2 c. dark brown sugar
1/2 c. old fashioned oatmeal
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Filling:
8 small Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored & thinly sliced
1/2 grated nutmeg (as in 1/2 of one of the whole nutmegs!)
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 8 small ramekin with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a small bowl cream together butter, sugar and cinnamon. Stir in oatmeal. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl toss prepared apples, nutmeg, cinnamon and lemon juice.
4. Spoon apples into prepared ramekins. Top each with oatmeal mixture. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until apples are soft and topping is crunchy. Serve with whipped cream if you'd like but I just ate mine as is!

Here's to a little fall...in August!