Apple-Butternut Squash soup with lemon zest

TWO recipes in less than THREE days.  That's just craziness.  Can you guys take it? And this one is also gluten-free, since it's pretty much just made with vegetables and a little bit of dairy.

It's been kind of foggy and cold here the last few days so a soup sounded good.

I have made another acorn squash soup in the past, and also a roasted eggplant soup which borrows some of the same principles of oven-roasting the main vegetables first before making the soup.  If you read the acorn squash soup recipe, you'll see that I stole the whole-squash roasting technique from The Pioneer Woman, Rhee Drummond, who instructed her readers that a squash or gourd does not need to be cut up or peeled prior to roasting and that it in fact is much easier to do it after the fact.  Not only that, but the result is caramelized and savory and sweet, and far more pleasantly textured than a steamy, water-logged squash might be.  Now where *she* got that method from, I have no idea, but at least it saves me from any future trips to the emergency room because I can't think of very many kitchen-related tasks that are more dangerous than trying to cut open a squash or water melon.

Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie

First of all, these photos are a little dark and uninspired, but as is usually the case, I do most of my cooking late at night, and it's currently 11 p.m. Pacific Time.  So I'm a little sleepy, and it's very dark and very rainy out.  In fact, I believe we got nearly 2 inches of rain today.  Now then, I made the promise to try to do my chili-themed blogs this month, but I will admit that I overlooked how fast this month would fly by, and how side-tracked I would be by holiday-related crafting and other projects.  So ... it's still on deck for me to finish up the chili-recipes, and I think I'll get a chance to do so in December, but for now, let me do a last minute Thanksgiving appropriate dessert, which is really yummy.

The recipe came via my mother-in-law, as it was apparently one of my husband's favorite Thanksgiving desserts.  I've modified the spices a little bit, but other than that it's the same as the one she gave me.  It's a very fast, easy and tasty pie; and totally All-American. I mean, it has Jell-O brand vanilla pudding, and you can't get much more All-American than by putting Jell-O brand pudding into a recipe! (Which reminds me of how much I miss Jell-O Pudding Pops, and those ads by Bill Cosby.)  Oh... and HAPPY THANKSGIVING.  May we all find something in our lives we are profoundly thankful for.  If you are reading this, I can already remind you have a computer or smart-phone, electricity and a roof over your head. And that's more than what much of the world has.  We are blessed.


INGREDIENTS:

1 cup canned pumpkin
2 cups vanilla ice cream (softened a bit)
1 3.4 ounce package of Jell-O vanilla instant pudding
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ginger
1 dash nutmeg
1 dash all-spice

1 pie crust (I like the graham cracker no-bake crusts, as a great contrast to the pumpkin ice cream, but you could also do a regular pie crust, and bake it first according to directions or make your own from scratch.)

Optional:
Cover top of pie with whipped cream, after it is set up.

Blend all ingredients in a large bowl with electric mixer until fluffy, and fill into the pie-crust.  Chill, at least overnight (you can also freeze it and let it thaw a half hour prior to serving, if you want it more ice-cream like.  Otherwise, it serves up nicely, like a 'cream pie.' And you will clearly not be able to refrain from licking the beaters or possibly licking out the bowl with your tongue.  It can't be done.

A Note About Spices and Seasonings

I wanted to take this opportunity to mention that knowing the proper balance in seasoning your dishes is the difference between simply following a recipe versus cooking with a gut instinct (ha ha!) for a true "off the cuff" cooking experience.  Some recipes you should probably not mess around with too much (for instance, due to the scientific nature of baking, cookies, pastries and breads are left best unaltered.)  But with herbs, spices and seasonings, there is an acquired learning curve that will eventually take a novice chef up to a more instinctual level.  So I'm going to give a few points here to ponder if you are just learning to cook.   It took me a while to master some of these myself, so don't be discouraged if you have to approach these suggestions with some trepidation.