Okay, I'm a Slacker

So, it has been 10 days since I posted last.
Wow, is this a Catholic confession or what? I am not even Catholic!

What has been going on, WOW, what hasn't.
We sent our first mailer out for Spire Restoration and Construction, Tim's new company.It went out on Saturday and we have had 2 calls already. That is good news.
The job that we had to move up here with starts excavation tomorrow, so that is now moving forward.I have started looking for something for me as well...will keep you posted on that one.

Tim went fishing on Saturday and came home not feeling well. Has been battling that since then. Thought I was doing well, but am starting to feel achy and feverish now. So, don't mind me if I ramble and have incoherent thoughts. Figured you deserved some sort of update by now. (Hi Gram!)

In order to compensate, I am going to give you photos from our apple and raspberry picking from this weekend and some super yummy recipes that we tried out. Figured that since our "About Us" talks about cooking we might as well try to make you believe that we actually do that occassionally.

Here is Amy (formally Lucey, now Cantinucci, for those of you who don't know, this is Tim's cousin) with her daugher Payson.

Here is an image of a beautiful upstate New York Sunday afternoon in the fields.


And here is our Tim, the champion raspberry finder. It was sort of late in season so the bushes had been pretty picked over, but, if there were berries there, he found them!

After this we headed to the Tommell's for Kyrek's 8th birthday. HOLY SCAMOLLY!! How in the heck did he get to be 8 years old???
Here he with is many desserts...

And, what good is only half the sweetness...here is Kiegan.


Now, onto the stuff I know you are all waiting for...the recipes:

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup with Pancetta (whatever, use bacon, it is easy to come by, less expensive and tastes just as good.)
1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 lb. bacon
2 med. onions, thinly sliced
3 lbs. butternut squash
1/2 tsp. salt, to taste
1/8 tsp. black pepper
2 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme or 2 tsp. dried
2 tart apples, granny smith, cored, peeled and cut into chunks
4 cups veg or chicken broth
1 1/2 cups water

Okay, here are the instructions with my spin:
Cook bacon and set aside. Shew Tim away from eating it.
Heat some oil and cook the onions until translucent. Some oil, I don't know how much, till it looks right. Open bottle of wine.
Add squash, salt, pepper and thyme to pot. Did I say this should be a largish pot? Cook stirring for 5 mins. Pour wine into glass.
Add apples, broth and water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, 15 to 20 minutes or until squash and apples are tender.
Remove from heat and cool slightly.
Refill wine glass. What do you mean it isn't empty. I didn't think I had to tell you to DRINK the wine.
Working in batches, puree the soup until smooth in a blender. (Hold the top of the blender. This is very important unless you WANT to clean all the facing of your cupboards!) Add the soup back to the pot and stir in half of the bacon. Oh wait, crumble the bacon before adding, don't just go throwing the full strips in!
Reheat all of this and serve with rest of bacon as a garnish on top.

*the above recipe was totally stolen from a Hannaford's recipe flyer, Sept. Oct. 2006

Crumb topped Apple Raspberry Pie
For Pie:
1/2-2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 cups thinly sliced peeled cooking apples (about 2 pounds)
Pastry for Single-Crust Pie
2 cups fresh or loose-pack frozen red raspberries
For Topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

RECIPE METHOD

FOR PIE: In a large mixing bowl stir together sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Add apples, tossing to coat. Set aside. Prepare and roll out pastry as directed. Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry. Trim and crimp edge of pastry. Transfer half of the apple mixture to pastry shell. Sprinkle with raspberries; add remaining apple mixture.

FOR TOPPING: In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cut in margarine or butter till crumbly. Stir in pecans or walnuts. Sprinkle topping over pie. To prevent overbrowning, cover edge of pie with foil. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 20-25 minutes more (30-35 minutes if using frozen berries), or till top is golden and edges are bubbly. Cool on a rack.

*Ummm, yah, completely stolen from the Cooking.com site.
** I don't bake, ever. I made this and it was YUMMY. AND, I didn't screw it up, so, you won't either.
Here is the photo...no of theirs, mine has pieces missing now!


So, lots of other things going on in life.
Some of them I am just not prepared to talk about right now.
Others, my face is just too hot to continue.
SO, go try these and let me know your results.
And, HAY! Don't think this is a free for all. If you find a good one, I would like to know about it!