One of the better vacations is a ski vacation. My brother just recently moved to Denver and we decided that Winter Park would be the best location for Thanksgiving. Although there hasn't been much snow and the few runs that were open were crowded, it is always fun to be with family and have a good Thanksgiving. Of course, the best part of Thanksgiving is the food. And for our family food is a big part of the whole week. For me, there is nothing better after skiing than good soup. In this case, squash soup.

My squash soup is a combination of a bunch of recipes that I have seen over the years ranging from my mother's to the recipe at this restaurant I worked at in college. I probably over did with all the stuff I put in it, but oh well.

Ingredients:
1-2 Butternut Squash
1 Sweet Potato
1 Carrot
1 Pear
1 Granny Smith Apple
1 Big Ass Onion
4 Cloves of Garlic
1 TBSP Fresh Ginger
1 TBSP Fresh Thyme
1 stick of Butter
0.5 TBSP Nutmeg
0.5 TBSP Salt
0.5 TBSP Pepper
0.5 TBSP Corriander
0.5 TBSP Cinnamon
0.5 TBSP Paprika
6-8 Cups Chicken Broth
2 8 ounce Cans of Condensed Skim Milk
1 Cup Dry Nonfat Milk
1/2 Cup Sherry

Serve with:
Parsley or Green Onion
Sour Cream
Oyster Crackers

First, cut the squash in half and scoop out the insides. Than roast the squash and the sweet potato at 425 for 1 hour to 1.5 hours. It is ready when they are soft but not totally mushy.

While those are roasting, dice the onion, chop the apple and pear into small cubes, slice the carrot, mince the garlic and ginger. Fry this all up at low heat in a large sauce pan. Add all the spices and thyme while these are simmering. These should become very soft.

When the potato and squash are done, peel off the skin and chop into small cubes. Then add these to the pot. Let all this simmer for about 20 minutes. Than put everything from the pan into a blender or food processor and blend it all until it is a nice puree. Add it back to the pan, add in the rest of the chicken broth, the condensed milk, the non-fat dry milk, and the sherry. If the consistency is too thick add more chicken broth.

Serve with the green onion or parsley, sour cream and oyster crackers and you've got soup. Most likely, you will have some leftover for when you get off the hills for the rest of the trip.

Enjoy.

SALSA

I actually posted this to another blog awhile ago, so I thought I would move it here. Sorry, the picture on this is not of my salsa but some generic picture. I needed to add something to liven up the page.

I just made some kick-ass salsa. So good, that I felt I had to share it with someone. You readers are my someone:

Start by putting the following in a food processor:
- Roasted Tomatoes: broil them and peel off the burnt skin
- Roast a Jalepeno and 3-5 Garlic Cloves: Put them in a frying pan toast them. Peel of the burnt skin of that
- Cilantro
- Squeeze a lime

After processing it add the following:
- Grilled corn (courtesy of my condo's maintenance guy's garden)
- Chopped Red Onion

I also made some baked tortilla chips.

Cut up some corn tortillas
Generously salt them
Spray them with Canola Oil
Cook at 375 degrees for about 10-15 minutes until golden brown

Damn good stuff.

It has been awhile since I posted to a blog, especially this one. I started this over a year ago and put a couple posts on it based on some stuff I cooked that I thought was good. Well, I cooked a good turkey burger today and thought I had to share it. So here I am again. Hopefully, this time for good. My goal is to post at least once a week about some sort of food experience I have had.

Why did I name this "Free Food"? It is not based on food that costs me nothing, but I really just didn't want to restrict what I write about or recipe's that I post. I have no official training on food and like to try a lot of new things that probably are not recommended by any chefs you see on TV or own nice restaurants. The results are that some things I cook end up tasting crappy, but most are pretty good. Free Food is like Free Jazz, Food without boundaries. I think the Pollock picture describes it pretty well.

Okay, now for the turkey burger. As you will see, most of things I cook come from me trying to Macgyver something out my fridge. So, I went to the fridge and just started pulling things out:

ground turkey
cheddar cheese
parmasean cheese
Smart Balance light butter spread
onions
pre-minced garlic
red pepper
wheat bread
balsamic vinegar
some store bought Rub
olive oil
whole wheat hot dog bun
maui onion mustard

The first thing to do is to make the patty. So, I get a bowl and start throwing things in. First thing was about half pound of turkey. After defrosting the turkey, I realized that there was a little too much liquid in the meat. Thus, I soaked half a hot dog bun in water, squeezed the water out of it, and added it the bowl. I then minced some onion and added that, leaving some over to the side for later. Then added the pre-minced garlic (not as good as the real thing, but it works), about a 3 teaspoons of some store bought rub, and then a bunch of shredded parmesean cheese. In fact, I just use kraft parmasean that doesn't come pre-shredded but is in a container that will shred itself. Pretty innovative. Then I mold the patty into the size of the burger that I want, making sure that everything gets mixed in evenly. Don't want to make it too thick, so that it won't take too long to cook and will cook more evenly. Oh yeah, I had started the grill before hand and had it at low heat.

After I put it on the grill, I heated up the rest of the minced onions in some olive oil and put the wheat toast in the toaster. I fry up the onions at a low heat as well, and what until the become brown at the edges. I then cut up the roasted red pepper into thin slices.

After flipping the burger (it took about 5 minutes), I wait about 3 minutes and top the burger with both cheddar cheese and more parm. Wait about a minute for the cheese to melt, and your burger is ready. I spread butter on one piece of toast and spread the mustard on the other side. The maui onion mustard is awesome, spicy and sweet. Put the burger between the toast and top with the fried up onions and sliced red pepper.

And there you go, an awesome and not that unhealthy burger.

mmm . . . Turkey Burger?

Okay, I will post pictures of this meal later too. I have tried this one before with Brie instead of cheddar and topped with a green apple, instead of spinach.

Easy easy easy

The problem with turkey burgers is that they are usually bland and dry. So this is what I do.

Chop about a tablespoon of onions. Get some sort of spice mix. Mine has a couple different types of chili powders, usually including chipotle and ancho. Then add salt, pepper, cayenne, cumin, oregano, garlic powder. I also heard people add mustard powder or onion powder. Whatever, it all works. You can also just pick up some Emeril's Essence or something of the sort.

Then mix a generous amount of rub and the onions with the turkey burger patting it all together. Then form a sphere. Now is the time to add the cheese. Cheddar in this case. I just stuff the burger with the cheese by making a little hole in the sphere and burrying the cheese in it. Then I make a patty out of it and grill it. The cheese soaks into the burger and with the mix makes it flavorful and it isn't dry. Unless you over cook it. I am going to serve the burger on toasted whole grain bread topped with spinach and of Dave's Hurtin' Habenero Mustard.

I also made some asparagus. Here put the asparagus on some tin foil. I learned something on the food channel yesterday, where you hold the ends of the asparagus and break it. Wherever it breaks is its tender point. Cut the stalks just below that point. Anyway, I sprinkled some chili infused olive oil on the asparagus. Then I sprinkled salt, pepper, garlic powder, tarragon, and some parmasean. I wrapped it in the tin foil and threw it on the grill.

I will let you know how it goes . . .

Yup, damn good.

I am starting this blog because I love Pizza. I am currently making my own pizza. Nothing too complicated. In fact, I am using a Boboli crust. But whatever, the great thing about pizza is that it can be anything you want. Everyone can have their own favorite toppings. Mix and match . . . and it is simple to make or order or eat. Kinda of a life thing too.

So this blog isn't just going to be about pizza, but about food in general, movies, television, music or whatever else I feel like writing about or people feel like commenting on.

So I drank a bit much last night and am feeling like something cheesy. I also am trying to be a bit healthier. So, I tried to keep this one on the healthy side.

I have a whole wheat Boboli crust. I also bought the Boboli brand sauce. Then I cut up some red peppers, onions, garlic, and sweet basil (from my garden), added some fat free feta and parmesean cheese. I usually don't go for the fat free thing, but feeling a little unhealthy so I picked some up. I will let you know how it goes. It was a waste anyway, because I overloaded the pie with real parm. Oh well. The oven is beeping, so I guess it is done. I will BRB . . .

Okay, the Boboli package says 10 minutes at 450. I am going to need to give it a couple more. . .

Okay, it is done and damn good. I feel happy now.

Not so happy anymore, I took some great pictures to go with this and I can't find the cord to upload the pictures. Ahh . . . I will have to add them later.