Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Thursday's Dinner


I want to rewind to last Thursday so I can share our yummy family dinner with you. Last week I was trying to use things I already had in the house and not go shopping - a little cleaning out. I was surprised by some of the things I managed to pull off, but Thursday's nights dinner definitely topped them all. We had Kelly's Chicken Noodle Soup with her grandma's egg noodles and butternut squash pizza. It was a fabulous combination - yummy!

This was my first time making egg noodles - I must admit they turned out a bit chewy. I'm assuming I didn't let them dry long enough (I didn't realize I should have made them ahead of time and we were all getting grumbly tummies so they only got dried for 10 minutes)- can anyone shed some light on this? I have absolutely no talent when it comes to making anything from any sort of dough that involves mainly flour and water, yet I keep trying.
Add yeast and we complicate things a thousand-fold. It is just not something I have a knack for, but I keep banging my head against the wall with it because I love eating anything made from a dough that is mainly flour and water.

The butternut squash pizza is one of the few recipes that I have made more than just a couple of times. I like to try new recipes and this sometimes means that ones we have tried that we like don't get made again simply because we are trying new recipes. So, if we've eaten a particular recipe time after time, it's really good in our book! This pizza is fairly easy to put together too. Just chop up an onion and a small butternut squash, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast at 425 until tender (usually about 15 minutes). Get your pizza dough rolled into your favorite shape (you could use ready made or homemade) while the squash and onions are cooking. Drizzle the dough with a little olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan or asiago cheese. Then add the onions and squash and sprinkle on a little more cheese. Put it back in the 425 oven to bake for another 10-15 minutes (until crust is golden and crispy - this really is best on a thin crispy crust). Then enjoy!

11 comments:

Windybrook Spinner said...

That pizza sounds heavenly. I love butternut squash! I have no idea about the noodles. The only "noodles" I've ever made are Austrian and you boil the fresh dough without doing any drying. Good luck.

Unknown said...

mmm that does sound yummy. makes me wish we were having that... although we are having a fam fav that one sound great

Anonymous said...

That looks so yummy! No help on the noodles; I've never made fresh before.

LeeAnn said...

Oh my gosh! Pizza and soup sounds like an excellent dinner. I'm making that combo this week.

I made some butternut squash soup last week. Made with apple cider, carmelized onions,squash and a little bit of thyme. So simple. So good!

Natasha said...

I will have to give that pizza a try. I love pizza, any way it comes!

kelly said...

what a dinner! sounds yummy! as for the noodles.... you can make them super thin, or let them dry longer (obviously), but they never quite harden up like noodles you buy in the store. there always going to be "squishy" but you'll start to love it. to be honest, i don't really dry them at all. i cut them & dump them straight into the pot. if you cook them for an hour+ that may help a bit.

Anonymous said...

Hey Jessi ... you need to talk to Grandma about the noodles. She makes the same ones the Grandma Coates made and I don't think there was any yeast involved so they went from being rolled out to the boiling water ... and they were yummy ... They chewiness might have been from handling the dough too much ... that's what I've been told. But the soup and the pizza looks delicious ... too bad I live too far away for a dinner invitation! Love you, Mom

Phoebe said...

I can't wait to try it!
I'll admit, I have never made noodles either. We'll see how it turns out.

Melissa said...

That looks so good! I've never fed my kids butternut squash. I wonder if they'd eat it.

Emily said...

Can you come over to my house and cook me dinner?:) Last night we had quesadilla's for dinner... the joy of pack meeting night.

Laurie said...

Homemade noodles cook in a very short time. No need to dry them at all. I use a noodle machine and roll them out to the next to thinnist thickness. Slice them, lay them out until they are all ready and drop them in the boiling water. They cook in about 2-3 minutes. I figure it takes as much time to make fresh noodles and cook them as it does to cook dry noodles. We love them.