recipe-a-week #2: curried butternut squash soup & "cookings"

When we were visiting one set of grandparents at Christmas, out came an old-school Fisher Price cooking set that my husband and his brother played with as kids. Phillip LOVED it, especially putting "salt pepper" (no "and") on everything, including Nanoo's slippers.
So how excited was I to find this great little Ikea cooking set at Frenchy's last week? Very much so! And so was Phillip. He calls the whole process "cookings".
"Mama, cookings!"
The set, for $3, was in a big bag with a bunch of other play kitchen things, including a little wooden rolling pin, pastry brush, and a plastic fried egg.

This morning, he was holding the frying pan, lid on and egg inside.
P, taking off lid: "Ta-daaaaa!"
(P takes "pa-tu-laaaah" (spatula) and pokes at the egg.)
P, looking at Mama: "Ah-most done."
These were taken at Christmas with the 30 year old set at the grandparent's house. The salt and pepper, which sit on the upper right part of the stove, almost disappeared forever over the holiday. Phillip was in charge of putting all of the garbage in a box, and he decided to put the salt and pepper in there, too. A few days later when he was asking for them, and after searching the rest of the house, I realized where they likely were. And there they were, snuggled in amongst the wrapping paper and packaging, ready to go to the curb.

And speaking of "cookings", we had a lot of fun last night, with oodles of yummy food. One thing I made was a squash soup, from The Food You Crave. I decided to make another new recipe from one of my cookbooks, as explained in this post, although it is very similar to my usual one. Equally delicious. Easy and filling, and a perfect winter soup. And I love that it's creamy and filling without having cream in it. I made it while P was sleeping, and kept it warm in the crockpot until everyone arrived. Naturally, I didn't follow the recipe terribly closely, so I'll give you how I made it:

Curried Butternut (well, -cup, in this case) Squash Soup

1 giant buttercup squash (because there were no butternuts to be had), wrestled into submission, peeled, seeded and chopped into 1 inch cubes
1 tbsp olive oil (because we don't use canola, as called for in the recipe)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carton (900 mL) low sodium organic chicken broth (because the veg broth has way more sodium in it than the store-brand organic chicken)
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp + 2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp honey
low-fat sour cream for garnish

Saute onions and garlic in oil for about 5 minutes in a large soup pot. Add squash, broth, curry powder, and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the squash is tender, about 15 minutes (I left it for longer, while I was doing other things). Remove from heat, stir in the honey, and puree until smooth. (I used a stick blender - my food one, not my soap one - but you could pour it in batches into a regular blender.) To serve, garnish with sour cream or yogurt.

Cute Things Falling Asleep. Self-explanatory. Thanks for the heads up, Trudi!

One last thing: it's snowing like mad today, and we're expected to get 20cm. The only letdown is that it's supposed to end early this evening, making a snow day tomorrow less likely. But my fingers are crossed, and I'll definitely be posting if we're snowed in! Hope you're having a restful weekend.