Avocado Smoothies

The weather here is starting to have hints of warmness, so I've been celebrating by making fruit smoothies.

Avocado Smoothie
1 avocado
2 scoops vanilla ice cream (or yogurt)
enough milk so it will blend
~2-3 T sugar (to taste)

Blend until smooth. Serves 2.


strawberry banana variation:
Add 1/2 a banana and 2 handfuls of strawberries.

The Secret Ingredient to Mac'n'cheese

So, my usual method for making home-made mac'n'cheese is to not measure anything (just like my grandma taught me). After the noodles are cooked I just add in butter, flour, milk, cheese, and sometimes *gasp* green vegetables (tonight it was spinach, I totally did not go for anything vegetable wise in my mac'n'cheese until my sophomore year of college), and stir until all the cheese is melted. At any rate, it usually turns out pretty good.

My Handsome was making the mac'n'cheese tonight and wanted more exact measurements. So I got out the cookbook, but the two recipes were for baked mac'n'cheese (people make baked mac'n'cheese for stuff other than potlucks?). But, both recipes had nutmeg in them. So I ended up teaching Handsome how to make mac'n'cheese my way and just added a couple of dashes of nutmeg at the end. It was delicious! It added just a hint of sweetness to the cheese sauce, and made the flavor more interesting and complex. Definitely doing it again.

By the way, the type of cheese we used tonight was a colby and monterrey jack blend, although the recipes in the cookbook used cheddar and parmesan.

Delicious Potatoes

The folks over at BCC have posted a few delicious looking recipes in the pre-Thanksgiving excitement:

The Devil's Mashed Potatoes
Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Carmelized Apples

I made a variation of The Devil's Mashed Potatoes the other night and they were AMAZING!

Savory Squash

I’m not a vegetarian, but I love the beautiful variety of fresh fruits and veggies available at just about any grocery store. I am an adventurous cook and like to learn to use produce that I’ve never bought before. So parsnips and rhubarb are commonly found in our refrigerator, bok choy and fresh ginger will be on the grocery list again, and I sure wish that those greenish/yellow plums we enjoyed this summer were still in season. In all this adventuring the only thing I have disliked is turnips (so if you love turnips, you should post your favorite way to eat them and maybe I’ll try them again).

It’s coming in to winter and that means an abundance of apples, a plethora of pears, sumptuous citrus, and savory squash. Squash is one of those vegetables that have lots of varieties to appreciate, or at least say you tasted. So far, my favorite types are delicata and gold nugget, but this recipe works just fine with more commonly found varieties like acorn and butternut.


1 small (2-4 servings) winter squash
1 small onion, finely chopped
2-4 saltine crackers, crumbled
1T butter or margarine
1t brown sugar
1/8t curry powder
salt and pepper to taste (but don't leave them out altogether, they help bring out the natural sweetness of the squash!)

Cook the squash until it is mostly soft, but not all the way done (until it needs about 5 more minutes of microwaving). To cook squash in the microwave: cut it in half and scoop out the seeds and slime. Microwave it for 7-20 minutes depending on the size of the squash. Or you can follow any cooking directions on the label of the squash.

Meanwhile mix the onion, crackers, butter, brown sugar, curry, salt, and pepper together in a small bowl. When the squash is almost done, spoon the mixture into the hollow part of the squash and continue cooking until all of the squash is soft and easily pierced with a fork. Serve in the shell, or scoop it out and mash it up.