Even though winter seems to be over and the weather this past Sunday was beautiful, I was still in the mood for some soup. There was one oddball vegetable, or maybe officially a gourd, as one of the ingredients—acorn squash. This was only the second time I’ve ever had this type of squash. The first time was at my friend Jerry’s.
He was always a great cook and knew how to mix up the flavors. At the time, when he brought it out, I have to admit to having mixed feelings about eating it. But whatever he had done to it, the taste was very flavorful. What he didn’t say was how tough it is to peel the thing. It took me as long to get the skin off and the seeds out as it did to cook the whole soup! After an hour of simmering, the meat was very tender and the squash was just the right texture without being mushy. Papa Rob even said it was one of the best soups he’s ever had! Who am I to argue with his fine assessment?
The soup was followed by a slice of brown sugar pound cake. If you’ve ever had a pound cake, it has gotten its name the honest way. It is a very dense cake, but just the right amount of sweetness. Having some homemade whipped cream and blueberries as a bonus helped a lot too with the sweet taste.
Earlier this week I posted a teaser picture of this next dish. I was just struck by the vibrancy of the multiple colored peppers and the onions as I started to put it all together. The end color wasn’t quite the same after adding some tomatoes, some Alfredo sauce, and a little pesto. Thank goodness the dulled down color didn’t affect the end taste.
This evening right after work, I went ahead and made an Italian pot pie. Thursday is euchre night, so I made it ahead of time for my son to have dinner, then left to see how the cards were going to treat me. Meaning, I’m not sure yet how it truly tastes. The quick sample taste right after it came out of the oven was promising. I’m just not sure how the spinach substitute using arugula will be in the end. I never fell for the spinach propaganda as much as I enjoyed watching Popeye. I’ll let you know next week how it turned out.
Just because I’ve been wanting something different for breakfast, I threw a couple of things together over last weekend. The first was just a plain old sausage, egg, and cheese on an English muffin. The second was a sausage and green onion muffin. I actually made it as a mini loaf instead to give it a little extra flair. Both are freezer friendly and are hot enough to eat after 90 seconds in the microwave. Just enough time to grab my backpack and head off to the office.
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 