On the go, off the radar

Hi Again!

So sorry for the late entry.  I left last Wednesday, boarded a plane to Iowa and things have been non stop since then...

I had an absolute BLAST back in Cedar Rapids with my sisters!  Thursday morning, I went to Kirkwood Community College to check out my sister, Danielle's office in Career Services.  She is the CS Coordinator and I was SO uber impressed with what she has done for the program there.  It seriously made me want to move back to Iowa and go back to school!!  They have several state of the art kitchens for the culinary program, and a fabulous new hotel for hospitality students.  We had lunch at Class Act.  I had the pumpkin gnocchi, Dannie had the Vegetable Panini.  Both were DELISH!  Of course we had to try the pumpkin bread pudding with cranberry sauce for dessert...and it tasted like fall.  Soooo good!!

I spent the afternoon shopping at Von Maur, impressing my sister Erin with my skills.  That evening, my sisters hosted a Thirty-One party, one of the many jobs I have recently added to my resume :-)  After everyone left, I was coaxed into the basement to watch the latest installment of Jersey Shore. 

 OMG, I hate that show! 

Friday went way too quickly.  I just hung out with my sisters, my adorable little nephew, and had a beer with my BIL when he got home from work...then back to Colorado I flew...

On a plane of course!  No, not my broom Dad... :-)

Saturday was Liam's last soccer game.  I love watching him play...when he actually goes after the ball, and when he's not chasing his teammates, roaring at them like he's a cheetah (their team name...)  Trey, my extremely patient husband, says that he is now hanging up his coaching shoes!  I am just now thinking of how badly I wish I had video footage of one of our "games" to share...

Saturday afternoon, we decorated our house for Halloween.  Trying to make it as "spooky" as possible.  I will take some photos tomorrow and get them posted.

I did a lot of cooking Saturday.  I roasted some butternut squash...

Oven at 375 degrees for 25 minutes, tossing once half way through. 

 Drizzle with EVOO, coarse sea salt, and fresh cracked pepper.

After roasting, I used half for a pasta dish.  Mixing the squash with diced chicken pepper sausage, over a bed of tubular pasta, and served with a light drizzle of EVOO,  a handful of toasted pecans, 

and a dollop of ricotta cheese.  

The second half I refrigerated and served tonight.  I heated it through and just added 3 fresh leaves of sage and a bit more salt, yummy!

Martha Stewart's website has some amazing recipes for butternut squash right now...

As usually, my sweet little Leilei was busy painting while I was in the kitchen. 

 I am so happy I cleaned out one of our cabinets and made the kids their own "art station"!

Anything to make life a little bit easier...

Lastly, I made these amazingly easy, homemade butterfingers!  Wowza!  I got the recipe from new favorite, Pinterest...check these out...

1 lb. candy corn
16oz jar peanut butter (I used organic costco peanut butter)
16oz pkg. chocolate candy (I used Ghirardelli milk chocolate)

I halved my recipe because I DID NOT want a bunch of these yummy delights sitting around my house!

Put candy corn in a glass bowl and melt in microwave on high 1 minute. Stir and continue cooking in 15-second intervals until melted, stirring after each interval.  Stir in peanut butter. 

At this point, the magic happens...it starts to harden into that crazy good butterfinger texture :-)

Spread mixture in an 8x8 pan lined with parchment. Let cool while you melt your chocolate. I put mine in a measuring cup in the microwave.  Again, microwave in increments until chocolate is melted.  Spread melted chocolate on top.  Let cool completely.  Lift parchment paper out of pan and cut into squares.  

Lay on waxed paper to set. 

 ENJOY!