Creamy Butternut Squash Bisque

Recipes,

Creamy Butternut Squash Bisque

So, my friend Durenda was here for Thanksgiving with her family.

See?

That's what friends are for

This is me watching her cook dinner in my kitchen. 😉 (Yep. I’m that kind of friend.)

Anyway.

There are a lot of things I love about her—but one is that she knows how to cook! I have always wondered how to make butternut squash soup—and she shared her recipe with me. I now feel like I can do it myself. This soup has a wonderful, creamy texture and the flavor is out of this world. In fact, it was so good, we made it two weeks later for the Tyndale team when they came out for a few days of meetings. There may or may not be bisque in the book now. 🙂

You’ll love this more if you have an immersion blender. The one Durenda is using above didn’t survive our initial foray … so I bought this one. Yep—this one is better: Kitchen Aid immersion blender has a larger blade and two speeds. It’s amazing.

Don’t forget to top it with more cheese. Cheese makes everything better.

Thanks, Durenda!

This recipe serves eight. I have doubled it both times we made it — so if you’re serving a crowd, be sure to double it!

Enjoy xoxo
Heidi

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Creamy Butternut Squash Bisque

Serves 8

Creamy Butternut Squash Bisque

Creamy, delicious and a great way to feed a crowd! Perfect for a cold winter night.

Ingredients

  • 1 2 1/2 pound butternut squash (or 1 pkg from Costco of cubed winter squash)
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 large carrots, coarsely chopped
  • 2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 large Braeburn or Gala apples, peeled, cored and chopped
  • 5 cups chicken broth
  • 2 cups apple juice
  • 2 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, coarsely chopped
  • 3/4 cup sour cream
  • 6 oz smoked Gouda or smoked cheddar, finely shredded
  • {optional} toppings - crumbled bacon, smoked paprika

Instructions

  1. Peel, seed and cube butternut squash
  2. In 6-qt Dutch oven, melt butter over med-high heat.
  3. Add squash, onion, carrot, celery and garlic
  4. Cook, stirring frequently, until veggies are tender
  5. Add apples, broth, cider and peppers
  6. Bring to a boil; reduce heat
  7. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until veggies and apples are tender
  8. Allow to cool slightly
  9. Using an immersion blender, puree while in pot. You can also puree in a blender, in smaller batches.
  10. Blend in sour cream
  11. Blend in smoked Gouda
http://heidistjohn.com/blog/recipes/creamy-butternut-squash-bisque

For my fellow visual learners — here are a few pictures from our bisquey adventure:

 

This is my faithful friend showing me that I don't have to be afraid of butternut squash. Veggie Tales may or may not have affected my ability to cut up butternut squash. Turns out... once you peel it and seed it, it's not that hard. :)
This is my faithful friend showing me that I don’t have to be afraid of butternut squash. Veggie Tales may or may not have affected my ability to cut up butternut squash. Turns out… once you peel it and seed it, it’s not that hard. 🙂
Saute veggies in butter until they are tender
Saute veggies in butter until they are tender; add apples

 

Cover with broth and apple cider. Let it cook for about 25 minutes. It's okay if your mouth starts watering.
Cover with broth and apple cider. Let it cook for about 25 minutes. It’s okay if your mouth starts watering. The chipotle peppers give it a wonderful smoky flavor and  a little kick, too!

 

Using an immersion blender, puree mixuture. Add sour cream when bisque is smooth.
Using an immersion blender, puree mixture. Add sour cream when bisque is smooth.

 

Add a bunch of smoked Gouda. Mmmmmm. You won't be sorry if you add more.
Add a bunch of smoked Gouda. Mmmmmm. You won’t be sorry if you add more.

 

Got this at Costco. I may or may not have had extra. :)
Got this at Costco. I may or may not have had extra. 🙂

 

Enjoy!

The Busy Mom’s Favorite Christmas Books 2016

Heidi's Favorite Things, MomStrong Parenting, , ,

It’s here! The most wonderful time of the year … to read!  Reading together is a favorite activity in our family, and over the years, reading aloud has become a cherished part of our family’s Christmas tradition.  I’ve spent years scoping out books at yard sales and thrift stores looking for hidden treasures to read to the kids. I won’t lie to you—I’ve also purchased some books that were total losers, and they ended right back where I found them.  Ain’t nobody got time for that.

I had a great response to the list of favorite Thanksgiving books last month, so I’ve compiled a few of our favorite Christmas books too, in case you needed some inspiration as you start or continue to build your own family library.
Remember, these books can be found at the library, thrift stores, eBay and a host of other places. If you’re like me, and you want to build a family library, make some room in your budget to purchase at least one or two every year. Those books will create their own special memories for you and your kids in the years to come.

ChristmasBookFavorites

 

Coupla’ things before you see the list: I think moms need to be sneaky if they’re gonna teach their children to love to read. Sneaky moms put books everywhere.

Would you like your children to read more? You can put your Christmas books into a basket and simply put them in a cozy spot, complete with couch pillows and throw blankets. Don’t be surprised when you find the kids going back to those baskets over and over again.

Some ideas:
You could wrap each one, then pull out one each day to unwrap as you count down the days.  You could pick a few favorites that lend themselves to great crafts and make a special day out of each one—or— you could grab a few that specifically teach about some of the traditions in your home.  Keep it simple, busy mom!  (Remember: Your kids won’t miss what you don’t create an expectation for.)

And for the record:
I don’t do most of that stuff I just suggested. (sorry.)  I just put books in cozy places all over the house and when the opportunity arises, we read. Voila! Take the pressure off and enjoy this literature-rich season with your children— toddlers, tweens and even teens.  Here are just a few of our family faves. Merry Christmas! Continue reading The Busy Mom’s Favorite Christmas Books 2016 →

Northwest Seafood Chowder

Recipes,

It’s that time of year again—time to snuggle in your favorite snuggling spot with a bowl of piping hot chowder and binge-watch your favorite Christmas movies. (It’s a Wonderful Life wins for me.) This is also the time of year for having kids come home and hopefully, bring a guest or two with them. You know me, I love a houseful, and this meal is a crowd-pleaser.

Northwest Seafood Chowder

We are pacific northwest people—and as such–we like all things salmon – okay – and shrimp. Okay. We like it all.

I discovered that my favorite chicken provider (hail, Zaycon!) also contracts with local fishermen for NW salmon so I decided to give it a try. It came vacuum sealed and it’s wonderful! After we knew we loved the salmon, I decided to try Zaycon cod and eventually, wild Argentine red shrimp (yum!). All this seafood comes frozen and ready to use from Zaycon. Check it out—and have wonderful seafood in your freezer all year!

Give it a try and let me know what you think! My hunch is that you’re going to love it.

From one busy mom to another,
heidi

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Northwest Seafood Chowder

1 hour

Cook Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

2 hours

serves 15

1.5 cup

Northwest Seafood Chowder

Ingredients

  • 1 cup celery
  • 1 cup red pepper
  • 1 cup onion
  • 2 cloves garlic (or from a jar is fine)
  • 30 oz chicken broth (about 3 cans)
  • 2 cups peeled, diced potatoes (can mix red and russet)
  • 2 cups shredded carrots (hello, food processor!)
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 2 cans creamed corn
  • 1 can sweet corn
  • 4 cups half-and-half
  • 5 sprigs fresh dill, stems removed (dried will work too)
  • 4 cups fully cooked salmon
  • 1 cup cod
  • 2 cups frozen shrimp, tail off
  • 1/4 cup flour in chicken broth for thickener

Instructions

  1. In a large pot, saute celery, onion, red pepper and garlic in butter until the vegetables are tender.
  2. Add broth, potatoes, carrots, salt, pepper and de-stemmed dill
  3. Bring to a boil
  4. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 40 minutes or until the vegetables are nearly tender.
  5. AT THE END:
  6. Stir in the corn, cream, salmon, cod and shrimp.
  7. To thicken - whip flour with 1/2 cup chicken broth and add to hot soup, stirring slowly
  8. Simmer for 15 minutes or until heated through.
  9. Add whatever dill is left and stir gently
http://heidistjohn.com/blog/recipes/northwest-seafood-chowder

ZayconFresh

Does Prayer Really Change Things?

Faith,
I’ve been taking so many things to the Lord in prayer lately.
 
Dreams of a homeschool resource center near our home.
 
Concerns over the future of our country. Elections that will determine the course of a nation for generations. 
 

A desire to see my children “walking in the Truth.”Lord, help me live in such a way that my children learn to trust You!

Maybe it’s the fact that I have a five-year old and two grandsons, but the way the culture is heading has me concerned for their futures, too.  The obvious spiritual decline in our churches and moral decay of the culture have become a point of regular conversation between me and God in recent months. More prayer.

By the way, it’s worth noting that my prayers are not always so high-minded. I routinely ask God to help me with the laundry, too. It’s easy to lose sight of the eternal significance that is found in the oh-so-daily tasks of life when bigger things that are totally out of my control feel, somehow, more pressing.

Dishes, laundry, clean up, prepare meals, repeat. Pray again. Begin again. Perhaps you know what I mean.
 
This morning, I had a chance to steal a rare moment of quiet in our busy household. I took it—opening up my bedroom windows to better appreciate the sound of the rain as it hit the roof and cascaded into the gutters. 
Listening to the first real rain of the season is soul-watering for this native Oregonian. As the cool air filled my room, I noticed an old paperback by C.S. Lewis was sitting almost half-off of the bookshelf by my desk. After thumbing through “The Grand Miracle and Other Selected Essays…” I was drawn to an essay titled “Work and Prayer.” Lewis opens his short piece with this statement:
Even if I grant your point and admit that answers to prayer are theoretically possible, I shall still think they are infinitely improbable. I don’t think it at all likely that God requires the ill-informed (and contradictory) advice of us humans as to how to run the world. If He is all-wise, as you say He is, doesn’t He know already what is best? And if He is all-good, won’t He do it whether we pray or not?

The argument Lewis makes in his essay is powerful. He asserts that while God could predetermine every aspect of our lives, and while He certainly does not need our help … He chooses to let us have access to Him through prayer. Praying to our Creator offers “small creatures” like myself the dignity of being able to contribute to the course of events around us.

In other words: through prayer, we are able to modify the course of history.
 

Imagine it! The One who made the rain is, by His own decision, willing to let us bring our concerns to Him. He listens, as if to say, “let’s talk about it in My study.”

We can sway the course of events around us through our prayers.

He bends down to listen

Isn’t it amazing? We are heard by the One who made us every time we call His name. If we’re concerned enough to bring it to Him, the Bible says He bends down to listen.
 
Do you want to change the course of human history? Do you want to see revival and healing and miracles … and run your laundry through with a smile?

Take C.S. Lewis’ advice and meet Him in His study. Take it to the Lord in prayer.

And then—we’ll see.

Prayer Changes Things

Are You Desperate for Discernment in Your Mothering?

MomStrong Parenting,

So what is discernment and how do we help our children be discerning? Spurgeon once said that

“Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between right and wrong; rather it is the difference between right and almost right.”

spurgeon-discernment-heidistjohn

Part of being discerning is asking God for wisdom when it comes to choosing the battles we engage in. So how can we know the difference between a battle and a war? What’s worth fighting over? How do you choose your battles carefully?

I wish I had a formula that I could write here for you. Honestly? It would sell more books! We would rather be told how to do something exactly right than take the time to listen for that “still small voice” most of the time. The truth is a lot harder than that. The truth is that the only way to know is walk in humble relationship with God.

When it comes to our children, mothers need to be tight with the Lord. Every day, we need nothing short of divine wisdom to help us navigate the rough waters of the culture. We need wisdom to discern a foolish action of a child from a rebellious one. One is childish, the other is sinful. One is a skirmish, the other leads to war.

Wise moms recognize their need for discernment, and they know where to find it. Discernment is not something we have apart from God; it is something we acquire as we walk closely with Him. If you’re in a struggle with one of your children, it’s time to get on your knees and ask God for wisdom and perspective for that child. God knows exactly what’s going on. He can give you the wisdom you need.

Instead of facing all the challenges and changes of motherhood on our own, we have the Creator Himself walking alongside us. Want to know what battles are worth fighting? Ask Him.

The Day I Had to Redefine My Weakness

MomStrong Parenting,

Twenty-five years ago today, I was getting ready to have my first baby.

For two weeks, I’d been walking around Portland, 80% effaced and 4cm. No one seemed bothered by my 5’7 frame, waddling around the mall, trying to kickstart labor. No one seemed worried that I was a ticking pregnant time bomb, about to embark on a journey I felt utterly unprepared to take.

After all, everyone in my family knew I could not keep houseplants alive—and here I was, about to be responsible for another living human being.

My anxiety reached a boiling point when I was in my 38th week of pregnancy. Jay and I had just finished our last childbirth education class. You know—the one where they tell you that if you breathe right it won’t hurt. That one.

Our last class was over. We were as ready as we were going to be.

Bring it.

One by one, the women got up to leave, passing Nola on the way to the door. Nola was our childbirth educator. She hugged the sweet mamas and kissed their tummies as they left. She high-fived the dads and walked them to the door of her home. We liked Nola. We knew her from church, and the past few weeks had given me confidence that she was someone I could be real with. I waited until there was no one left in the room before I made eye contact with her.

When she sat down next to me, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I began to cry as I stared at my ridiculously oversized belly. “I’m afraid! I can’t do this!” I sobbed. Nola’s eyes were soft and comforting. “You are going to be fine,” she said quietly. “Your body was made for this.” Of course, she had no idea that the process of childbirth was not what I was afraid of.

My fears were much farther reaching. They threatened our future as a family and robbed me of peace. My father’s profound disappointment in who I was had shaped how I saw myself: destined to fail.

I felt weak. I feared I could not be the kind of mom I wanted to be. I feared I was destined to give my child the same upbringing I had. I feared I would lose my temper, even to the point of injuring this precious one I carried in me. I feared my baby would grow to fear me as I feared my father. I was almost desperate for someone else to be this baby’s mom.

The words just kept coming. I could not stop sobbing. There it was. My weakness was exposed, out there for everyone to see. Out in front of the curtain. And then—it happened.

God met me. There, in my weakness, He met me.

Nola laid her hands on my belly and looked softly at me. Her heart seemed to ache with mine.

“Oh Heidi!” she said. “Don’t you know who you are? You are NEW! God has made you new! You are a new creation and your baby is the beginning of the healing that is coming if you will let God in to the deep places in your heart. Do you trust Him? Do you believe it?”

I wanted to believe it. I was desperate for God. I cried out to Him, aware that something inside of me was beginning to break free. In that moment, when I let just one other person see the woman behind the curtain, God began a healing in my life that still continues today. Many years have passed since that moment, but I know my life took a turn that evening. I didn’t understand what Nola meant then but I knew I needed to cling to Jesus. If I was going to be strong, I needed to accept my weakness as opportunity to find God’s strength. I needed that strength to invade my heart, to comfort and heal me.

Are you there?  Desperate to name your weakness so God can meet you in it? He’s waiting. weakness-heidistjohn

Dear Homeschool Mom Who Isn’t Ready to Go Back to School

Homeschooling,
Dear Homeschoo Mom Who Isn't Ready to Go Back to SchoolDear homeschool mom who isn’t ready—or can’t bring herself to think about school: In other words, a letter to myself.
 
I’m 187 years old in homeschooling this fall, I think. Maybe not. I’ve lost track. Truth be told, I haven’t thought much about what I’m doing for school this year. There’s a stack of books on my dining room table with a piece of paper on top that says, “TO REVIEW.” I need to place my usual online order for math. Reality?  I don’t even want to look at it.

I did catch the sale at Walmart on spiral notebooks. Got a whole box of those bad boys! Felt like a small victory.

Hey, I know you’re wondering what’s going on with me. I mean, I speak to thousands of homeschoolers every season. It’s my job to pump you guys up—but honestly, I’m a little depleted right now.  You should see the piles of books that I still have to sort through. Normally by this time of year I’m pretty well ahead of the game. Try not to think too much less of me.

Like I said, 187 years. That’s a long time. I’m tired.  I know, I know. “You chose this,” you say. Just like we chose to have a big family. I know, I know.

There was a time when comments like “Well you chose this” would have really hurt. I’m over it now, because I’m too busy being hard on myself. Your criticisms can’t compete with the voices in my head. Believe me.
Our kids are going to be in 1st, 6th, 8th and 10th grade this fall. Somehow, the three we graduated seem to be doing fine. I say it over and over.
Earlier today, the five and eleven year olds were “catching” slugs. You know, for the “habitats” they made out of my two best clear storage containers. They’re not my best containers anymore. They’re full of dirt—and slugs. One has a praying mantis in it. They were feeding it moths and spiders yesterday. Seems they’ve discovered what the word “carnivorous” means in the process.

“Hey, this is unschooling!” I laughed out loud. Fifteen years ago I would not have counted that. That was before I knew the value of letting my kids be bored.

They’ve been bored a lot this summer, because I’ve been writing a book… for a year. Today, I turned in the final manuscript. After I emailed it to my publisher and agent, I went downstairs to see how the kids were faring. Our thirteen year old was making her first ever batch of gluten-free pretzels. They were good—warm and salty and pull-apart soft.  I suggested she hide them—you know—from me. She’s getting really good at this baking thing.

“Maybe I’m not failing,”  I thought. “Looks like someone is figuring out ratios’n stuff.”

My son, now going into his junior year, is finishing up Biology after ditching it for my speaking season. Poor kid. Instead of finishing Biology with his class, he was with our family, lugging books around the country and helping us sell books while taking in cities like Dallas, New York, Chattanooga, Nashville, Orlando, Topeka and Denver.

“This is American History/Geography/Consumer Math/Psychology,” I mused. “I’m pretty sure I’ve read articles about unschoolers getting into Harvard.”

“Maybe I’m overthinking this again,” I thought.

Because in all my years of homeschooling, for every year of changing schedules, curriculum and stress levels, one thing has remained the same: the equipping grace of God. Really, it’s all Him. Even if I don’t start school for two more weeks (and we probably won’t, because sane mom is better than stressed mom) His grace is there.  I don’t have to do papier-mâchĂŠ globes and salt-maps of the State of Washington by mid-October to find the grace I need.

Maybe, just maybe, God is reminding me that if I’ll do my part—He’ll do His.

So, if this is you tonight (and if it’s not, that’s okay too) I thought maybe, just maybe, you could use the same reminder that the Spirit spoke to my heart tonight.

 
It’s going to be okay.
 
Breathe.
 
You don’t have to start next week. (really!)
 

Don’t make it harder than it needs to be. <3

Pray. Ask God for His specific instructions. His yoke is easy.

Make a {simple} list.

Make a {simple} menu. Cereal can be a meal. You’re welcome.

Remember God’s faithfulness. God will finish what He has started.

Enjoy the kids. Enjoy them. Take walks. Take field trips.

You don’t have to be ready right now. You just have to be listening.
xoxo
heidi