MPM--I have no clever title this week

So, how's your new year going? I felt like I had to ask, because after this week, people look at you funny if you talk about the new year. Our week didn't quite go as planned but it was still good overall.

This week, there were some good meat sales, so I have some fun stuff planned:

Monday: cranberry brisket (new-to-me recipe), crack broccoli (going for a cb theme here...creamed beef? nah, gilding a lily...creme brulee? now we're talking...)

Tuesday: tacos...we'll see if we can do soft ones.

Wednesday: Armagnac chicken, salad

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: Sweet Potato Stew, rice or quinoa

I'll also be making some Smitten Kitchen brisket this week since brisket is on an awesome sale. And I'm very tempted by this borscht or this cauliflower soup.  I'm especially psyched to try these because one of the unexpected gifts from Christmas was from my niece: the Food52 Cookbook, and it reminded me how much I like that website. (My niece interned at an NPR station and inherited their copy and passed it along. I'm so lucky to have such a kind and thoughtful niece! She said she felt guilty even wrapping it since it was a freebie. Ah, the charm of the young.)

One of our kids had pink eye last week, so I didn't get the chance to do much of what I wanted. But I did take advantage of the time to use one of our butternut squashes and make this soup, though I only had chicken stock and a Gala apple, it still worked). It was not amazing-amazing, but it was so easy and I will make it again.

Vegetarian Butternut Squash

INGREDIENTS

1  2-3 lbs butternut squash, cut into 1" chunks

1 yellow onion, roughly chopped

1 green apple, roughly chopped, skin on

2 carrots, chopped

4 cups vegetable broth

2 Tbs non-salted butter

pinch of nutmeg

2 Tbs heavy cream

S&P to taste

DIRECTIONS

 - Bake squash, onion, carrot and apple in EVOO at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the top prior to baking

 - Add above ingredients to soup pot with butter and vegetable stock

 - Simmer 20 minutes, add heavy cream

 - Puree to desired thickness

 - Add additional cream, if desired

Note - careful while pureeing. The steam can make the blender lid pop off. If you have the time, allow the soup to cool a little before you puree.

ENJOY!

And that's about it for the week. Go see I'm an Organizing Junkie! for lots of amazing meal plans. See you next week!