French Onion Soup - Perfect for a cold winter night

French onion soup, winter soups, winter dinners, Patrick Warneka

I made French onion soup a few days ago.    I am not going to post a recipe because while I was searching online, I found that most of the recipes were almost identical.  I'm going to cheat on this one and give the link to the one I used.   I really think that if you know you way around a kitchen, you know what you want to add and subtract from this recipe to make it all yours.
Enjoy.

Butternut squash soup

I bet I could stop my post right there. Butternut squash soup. I bet half of you know how this will end and the other half thinks they know how it will end. In the Northern states, the seasonal change from warm to cold makes you do crazy things. Things like buy that thick Irish cable knit sweater. one that is so warm you could wear it in between water polo matches, if you played in the Arctic league. But when you live in the civilized world with heating in every building, you just want wear it. but every year you get it out thinking " this is the year I wear it." Butternut squash recipes come out of the woodwork in fall. side dishes, main dishes even drinks! Well, I am not immune to this marketing squash tsunami that crashes like waves before my eyes. I decided to make Butternut squash soup, from scratch. I hunted the stores and for what turned out to be the second squash shipment of the day. I felt, what am I missing? they don't replace the milk twice a day. I pureed the squash in the food processor, i chopped the onions, added the chicken stock, spices and cooked it. Sadly to say, I was not impressed. It was orange, which was kinda of different, but so-so tasting. I added some black pepper and salt to find it much better. I had seen photos of it served with sour cream on top. I don't normally cook with it but had some 'lite' sour cream in the fridge. BOOM! that was it! the cream added exactly what was missing. I loved it. By know half of you are shaking your heads, and the other half is still trying to picture squash being served as a soup. trust me, you have to try it at least once. even better then you should make it. It is very simple to make and hit the spot on this cold November day.

Ratatouille

I wanted to try making ratatouille. I found a quick, easy recipe and took a crack at it today. It was fun to make and I think it tasted pretty good. the one problem I found is that once you eat that many vegetables in a dish, you can almost hear your taste buds screaming for something to balance it out, like say..... Ice cream for desert. Here is a photo of the final dish.

A great fall Salad

Grilled Veggies and Chicken Salad

Here is an easy lunch option. I love to make this or some version of it. If you like it, enjoy! if you want to tweak it to your liking please feel free to do so.  This is my Grilled Vegetables and Chicken Salad.

When we grill on a Sunday evening, we throw a few Chicken Breasts and skewered veggies on with that night's dinner.
 On the weekdays following, chop the veggies to as size you want in your salad.
 Don't let it sit overnight because the vegitables are still moist and will sog your crisp salad.
 Take one chicken breast and slice it the long way, then into quarter to half inch pieces. The Chicken can sit with your salad over night if you are taking this to work the next day.
The smokey veggies add a nice flavor and the Chicken helps to fill you so you are not snacking later in the day.  I've  included some photos just not sure which one I like more.  Since I am getting a feel for this, Please comment below as to which photo works better for you.