Battening Down the Hatches and Squash Soup

Food Mood:Squash Soup with Fun Add Ons

Reno Ridiculouso: Waiting on some doors and Battening the Hatches for Winter

So.  It appears that we’re not going to be opening our house back up fully anytime soon.  In fact, it seems like it might snow before we get doors and windows on the back half.  Ok then.  Whatever, fates, screw you, we’re just going on with our thing….

The Hubby gets out some bat insulation and we insulate the temporary wall between the new part and the old.  And we cover the holes were doors and windows should be with some plywood.  And we hover on the precipice of despair, our tiny little toes curling over the edge… but we pull back.  So that’s good!

And winter is definitely coming soon so we close up the outdoor kitchen.  This whole time (six months if ya haven’t been counting) we’ve been doing our dishes in the backyard in our old sink and countertop which the Hubby set out there on some sawhorses.  But it’s too cold now so we set the sink out on the street edge (Toronto recycling) for someone to take and throw out the countertop and move inside.  To where I will be doing dishes in a notably small bathroom sink for the next, oh, who knows how long, really?

Oh, and the bathroom in question is now the only source of running water in the whole. Damn.house.  For three people.  First world problems, I know.  But part of this reno is for the purposes of giving us a mainfloor powder room.  And the notably old and wrecked basement bathroom is now completely inaccessible unless you go out the front door, around the house, in the back non-door (remember, no doors? Yep) and downstairs.  Which we all do on occasion, because for heavens sake it is really too much to expect one badly ventilated (no fan) bathroom to do all the showers, and the dishes and the everything for everyone.  

The am where I find the Hubby shaving, the Kiddo brushing her teeth and me doing our dishes, all at 8:20am with a deadline to leave by 8:30, I start to go a wee bit squirelly.

Squirelly Squash Soup

Grab a squash, stab it a bunch of times ( Oooh, that was a little forceful.  Anything wrong?  Oh.  Right. Yes, of course.  Stab Away, my friend, stab away!), microwave until it’s squishy when you stab it with a fork (note, stab it a lot times before microwaving or it will explode and put it in a bowl or something when you microwave it)

Let it cool, cut it open, scoop out the guts and discard, scoop out the rest and throw it in the crock pot

LAZY ASS INSTRUCTIONS: skip all of above, buy pre cut and peeled butternut squash from grocery store.

Add 1 tsp or so of ground sage (or one quarter tsp of chipotle chili powder if you like things spicy!)

One box of veggie stock

One apple (preferably macintosh or courtland) , peeled and diced

One onion, diced but not too precisely

One cup of water

Cook for the requisite eight hours

Use your immersion blender or put it in a blender if you have one and puree until smooth ish

ADD ONS, READERS CHOICE!  WOOOOOO HOOO
put some cream in it and blend in

Or put some some sour cream on top

Or, if you like it a little more tangy, put crumbled feta on top

Or, add on those awesomely good fried crispy onions that you get in a package at the grocery store.