Cooking & Baking Day!

This weekend while I was not on a run, I was in a cooking and baking of Autumn goodness mood.

I went to Oliver’s Produce and came across this ginormous leak which was perfect for my soup! I chopped this gigantic leak up after soaking it for quite some time and the flavor undertone in my soup was marvelous because of this delicacy.

All these beautiful squash are also from Oliver’s Produce. In my soup I used everything in this picture, but the pumpkin that was for my pie…

  • carnival squash

  • 2 butternut squash

  • 1 ginormous leak

  • 1 XL White Onion

  • 1 Sweet Pepper

  • Large carrots and celery (not depicted below)

So basically, I threw all these ingredients on parchment paper face down in my oven on 400, until i could stick a fork through all the squash. Then, I went apple picking at Navarino Orchard for my favorite Empire apples. I love the Empire apple because, they are so tiny and crispy flavorful deliciousness. Upon arriving home after glorious apple picking, I brewed my vegetable stock in my stainless steel pot. My stock was all celery, celery leaves, garlic, onion, and my ginormous leak with twelve cups of water. Once the stock was cooking and good looking, I skinned my roasted squash and carrots before throwing them into my brew. An hour or so later, after sim sim simmering, I took my puree gadget and pureed my soup. I separated a mason jar of the soup. Then, proceeded to pour two cups of heavy cream and a stick of butter into the remaining soup in the stainless steel pot. All in all, my soup was fabulous and no one in my family complained about the favor!

 
 
 

While cooking the soup, I roasted my pie pumpkin in the oven. After roasting this to perfection, and skinning the pumpkin, I added condensed milk with eggs + butter+ and sugar. My crust was a stick of lard, a stick of butter with two and a half cups of flour mixed together in the Kitchen Aide. I love adding cut outs on top of pies, and chose a little ghost for the spooky season.

 
 
 

My favorite dessert of all this weekend were my poppin popcorn balls. I cooked the caramel on the stove, and popped two cups of popcorn. Then, I mix mix mixed the caramel and popcorn together, rubbed my hand with butter and formed these perfect balls! I love popcorn balls, this will not be the last time I throw some together this fall.