Gal Two's November; NOT a flop

I want to say before I start this post, my results were skewed because my blender/food processor machine is apparently broken! Attachments weren't fitting, liquids were leaking, and I was one mad cook. Guess what this gal needs for Christmas! Anyway, here goes: my November menu.

I decided to go for the butternut squash soup. It got better reviews, and after chatting with the menus creator I eliminated the pumpkin soup. Here are the beautiful veggies ready for roasting.

 Roasting away. It smelled really good!

 My final product. I started off by making a half batch, but after the various and sundry mishaps with my equipment I think I had about a 1/4 left. Sigh! Please note the interesting texture ... my fault! It actually tasted really good!

 The beginnings of the soda bread.

 Strangest bread recipe I've ever tried, but very easy!

 Final product. It smelled great, but beware, it needs baked a good 10+ minutes more than the recipe states.

Pound cake; I agree with gal Three, it's not difficult to find or expensive ingredients, it's just a TON of them.

 Can you believe this is the batter? It was almost white, very fluffy ... quite odd, but also neat.

 It becomes chocolate. Yummy (It also smells insanely amazing while baking!)

 Final product, which doesn't look nearly as nice as Gal Three's. I burned mine a tiny bit and wasn't patient enough with my glaze so it was a little lumpy.

 But pile on some vanilla and strawberry ice cream and it tasted divine! This was our favorite part!!

November Menu: Simply a Flop

Well this month's menu, although appearing to be simple and homey and comforting, brought no such comfort to this Gal's house. Mr. #3 was not impressed at all by the main dishes and thought the bread just ok. The dessert however, that was a huge hit and eaten without complaint. As for the Gal that chose the menu, I was disappointed. I love soups and trying new recipes, and although I thought the soups were good, it isn't enjoyable when you're the only one eating it. The first soup I made was the pumpkin cumin soup and it was good, but not awesome. It was lacking in some depth of flavor. The other soup with pear and butternut was bigger on flavor, not so great on texture. The other items were good, and the chocolate cake is definitely one to make for parties.

So here follows the pictures of our simple November...

The butternut soup...was an interesting twist on a soup and I enjoyed it. The Pumpkin soup was so disliked by Mr. #3 it didn't make the final picture cut.

 Here is the beginning of the cake!

 Right out of the oven! I used Pam instead of butter and flour in the pan and it just slid right out.

 The most delicious cake. Looks beautiful and needs to be pictured in a Food Magazine. Yummy and fun to eat, thinking of substituting small chocolate chips in it next time instead of the bittersweet chocolate.

Mr. #3 is helping me with the bread making :0)

 We had the soup with our scrabble game, very relaxed and the point of this month's menu.

 The bread in its final stage. Although cutting into the bread it was not baked all the way through, needs longer in the oven.

 This is the biggest downfall of the menu...cake ingredients. Although the cake was delicious, the ingredients were many and expensive. This is definitely a "make only for extreme special occasions" cake because of the amount of ingredients required.

Overall a more disappointing November for us. With Mr. #3 not touching the main courses and the cost of ingredients and such we are giving this menu an overall 5 out of 10. Come on gals, what did you think?

Real Simple: November Issue

While the weather turns cooler (for some of us) and as we end a summer and early Fall full of delicious and rich dishes I thought about going simplistic and back to the season. November, all about Thanksgiving. Well not this menu. This is something you can put together when you are sick of turkey and just want something light and fast for dinner. All except dessert. Dessert is something special but can be made ahead, even by a few days. This meal is going to make most of us happy, but for Gal # 2 and Mr. Gal #2 this might mean stretching (or fibbing about ingredients) out of your comfort zone. So there are two choices for your main dish and you can choose which one you feel up to. The dessert I recommend making the cake at least a day ahead and the sauce before serving. Make it yours, make it simple and bon appetite! 

Soda Bread
Click Here 

Roasted Pear-Butternut Soup

Click Here 

Cumin Pumpkin Soup

Click Here

Chocolate Pound Cake with Glaze

Click Here

*p.s. I even made finding the recipes super simple. =D*