Praise be the soup!

That stone soup friday was pretty good, so think how great soup can be if you use organic ingredients instead of stones? It doesn't have to be hard either. Today's Sunday. Time to visit friends, time to indulge our spiritual yearnings, ( I said yearnings, I said it. Just because I'm an agnostic doesn't I don't want to believe in a higher power. It just means I don't want the higher power to be some creepy omnipotent kid like from Twilight Zone or Star Trek. Creepy kids are as believable as all our other myths.) and time to go to Al's Diner and get a rocking breakfast. Mmmmm... Al's. Steak and cheese omelet, beans and jumbo english muffin please. Oh yeah, hold the creepy kid...

If we're talking omnipotent beings we should take a more traditional approach. Now get up, clap your hands and embrace the fantasy. Hey, you never know! (Agnostics, having it both ways for 2000 years!)


It's a party for Jesus! Throw in a steak and cheese omelet and you can feel the spirit take you. You can also feel your Sunday slipping away as you try to shoehorn all the stuff you didn't do during the week into one day.(Didn't we used to have 2 day weekends?) Breakfast was the big score today so dinner is going to be simple and easy.



That's why the creepy kid from the Twilight Zone created squash.

It's winter. You could use the pretend fresh vegetables in the supermarket. These only  took 3 to 5 days from harvest in California or Mexico to arrive here. I say we can use squash which nature already packaged to last. We're going to use that packaging to keep things easy.

1. First pick grab 2 of them. Lift. Pretty tough right? No peeling nessicary. Just grab a chefs knife or a cleaver and split them in half. Careful, hard round things make sharp things slip, especially if they are not sharp. Cutting off fingers is a bad idea.
2. Scoop out the seeds then score the surface of the meat. I like crosshatching patterns.
3. Smear on some butter, Mmmm butter!
4. We are going to roast these bad boys in a 350 degree oven so it is time to add flavor here. Salt, check. Pepper, check. Now get creative, add a couple cloves of garlic to the bowl you scooped the seeds from, check, chopped sage leaves sprinkled on top, check. Yeah I think that will do. Sticking to the classics, keeping it simple.
5. Jelly roll pan, squash face up, cover with foil for the first 45 minutes so they steam, uncover until they caramelize and get soft.
6. Meanwhile heat a couple quarts of liquid ( milk? chicken broth? cream? water? combinations of each? it's your mouth go with pepsi if you want to get funky. Me? I'm going with broth+cream. Broth 1st, cream to finish.)
7. *side note* Water will work but it brings no flavor to the party. Peel a large onion and cut it in half, 2 stalks celery, 2 carrots, salt and pepper. start it simmering when the squash hits the oven and you will have a flavorful broth when the squash comes out.
8. Pull the squash out, cover with foil again so they steam some more. When they cool enough to handle scoop the flesh from the shell and add it to the pot. 
9. Now just hit the whole mess with a stick blender. Let it cool if you have to use a regular blender. Burned human flesh is a horrible way to end a Sunday.
10. Once it's in a bowl a little nutmeg on top would be nice. Add a salad and some good bread( It is always a good idea to spring for good bread. If you can't get good bread skip the bread completely.)
11. Variations : Skip the sage then add a little dry mustard or a little curry while you are blending. Either, not both.
12. Don't do that Pepsi thing I was just making fun.