Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Two posts in a row about food.
Hmmmm
but this soup is so amazing I wanted to share it with anyone looking for something new to try.  Last night was the second time we made it and it turned out just as good so this is a keeper!

Curried Butternut Squash Soup
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
3 Tbsp. butter
3 tsp. red curry powder or curry powder (we used hot curry powder)
3 tsp. grated fresh ginger (we used ground ginger powder)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 can (14oz) reduced sodium chicken broth (we also mixed our own with chicken bullion cubes once)
1 1/4 cups water
1 1/2 lbs butternut squash (about 4 cups) peeled and cut into 1" cubes
1 can (14oz) unsweetened coconut milk (Imperial Dragon is a great brand)
1/2 cup of half-and-half or light cream (we used our coffeemate coffee creamer last night)
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro (we used frozen cilantro from our garden last year)
Optional:
Skott added some smoked paprika and minced garlic as well.

In a large saucepan, cook onion in butter over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until tender.  Stir in curry poweder, ginger, and salt.  Cook 30 seconds more.
Stir in chicken broth and water, bring to a boil.
Add squash (we pre-steamed our squash so it cooks faster).  Return to boiling, then reduce heat and let simmer (recipe says for 40 minutes, but that is if your squash isn't pre-steamed).
When squash is tender, let soup cool slightly.  Transfer half of the cooled soup to a blender or food processor.  Blend until smooth.  Combine back into saucepan.  Stir in coconut milk, creamer, and cilantro.  Heat.

Now, here is a question for you:
Does anyone have a good method for recipe keeping?  We get a lot of recipes online and print them off, therefore, we have lots of various sized print-outs of recipes.  We hate recipe boxes.  We like to be able to write our modifications on the recipe, notes, etc.  We currently have a drawer full of recipes.  Some of the really good ones I have put in plastic sleeves but they are still an unorganized mess. 
How do YOU store, organize, etc your recipes?  Any suggestions? 
I don't really have the time or desire to hand-type all of them so they are uniform, plus I like pictures :)
And how do you handle recipes you see and clip from a magazine?  You want to try them, but what if they are crap?  What do you do with them before trying them? 
Help :)

3 comments:

The McIntire Family said...

My mom made an awesome Family Recipe Binder. She typed up all the recipes, printed them off, placed in plastic covers, and placed in a binder. She color coded the sections as well: Red-dinners Yellow: breads Green: desserts etc. We will continue to share recipes and she prints them off and sends them to us for us to place in the binder. This has been AWESOME!!!!

Franson Funny Farm said...

I put them in a photo album. The ones that hold like 2 photos per page (kind of skinny binders). If a recipe is too long or has pictures then it is usually the right size for the top picture and the recipe fits on the bottom. If I am lazy I can just trim the recipe to the right size & slide it in or if I get super ambitious (not usually) I glue it to colored paper or cardstock to slide in. That way I can color code the different selections to make it a little easier to spot.

Ryan n Heidi said...

I would share my awesome secret to oragnizing recipes but alas...I find that I am allergic to the kitchen!! Actually, thanks for asking because we (meaning, Ryan) was looking for a way to keep recipes organized!
Love ya!