Squash night!

shards

This Friday night was squash night. I'm not even sure how we came upon the idea, but Ellen and I both love squash/pumpkin soup. So we decided, hey, let's make some! Besides Creamy Pumpkin Soup, we had several other squash related dishes, as well as a few non-squash dishes: Cranberry Apple Acorn Squash, Steamed Asparagus with Walnuts and Browned Butter Sauce, Pumpkin with Peas, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Bars, Hot Spiced Cider, and Fresh Hot Rolls. I usually cook by the recipe, at least the first time that I make something, and it was pretty much the first time for all of these. Keri, on the other hand, the creator of the pumpkin and peas, pretty much just threw some ingredients together and created a new dish (no recipe available). I told Keri, I normally don't get into a cooking mood, but when I do, I like to go all out. So I tried to. I think most things turned out all right, thanks to all the help I had in the kitchen. Although, I forgot to salt and pepper the acorn squash before I baked it, so the apple cranberry filling was good, but the squash left a little bit to be desired. Oops. Apparently I started to look a little stressed as we got closer to supper time and things (namely the pumpkin for the pumkin soup) weren't ready yet. But, appearances can be deceiving, since I wasn't technically stressed out, just trying to think about 6 things at a time. Anyways, the only slightly stressful moment was when the pumpkin soup flowed out of the pot and onto the stove. But we still had plenty of soup left to eat. Overall, I think it turned out well. Maybe I should get in these moods more often . . .