Soup to Dutts

I'm not a vegan by any stretch of the imagination, but Tom and I have been trying to eat a lot more veggies and a lot less "bad" stuff lately. So tonight I made up a butternut squash soup based on some familiar flavors, and it's--you guessed it--totally vegan. And also totally delicious. Ugh, I am kicking myself for not taking pictures of the whole cooking process. I'm also kicking myself for taking a picture of the finished product with my phone instead of my camera. Just by looking at this, would you believe that this soup is actually a pretty shade of orange...? *sigh* You're just going to have to make it and see for yourself. Butternut Squash Soup Yield: 4-6 servings 1 tablespoon canola oil 1-1/3 cup chopped onion 2 medium-sized apples - cored and cut into chunks 2 pounds butternut squash - peeled, seeded, and cubed 2 teaspoons ground sage 1 carton (32 oz.) vegetable broth Kosher salt Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add apple,...

Our friends James and Lyndie invited us over for dinner this evening, and we brought dessert. I was pretty excited about it, since dessert seems to be my forte lately...or so I thought. We had some bananas that were getting extremely ripe, so I thought I'd make some banana bread. I poked around online, but the only recipe I saw that called for the number of bananas we had was a banana pound cake. It received hundreds of great reviews, so I thought I'd give it a try. And looking back now, I can honestly say... I WILL NEVER MAKE THIS AGAIN. Preparation went smoothly enough: I used the new stand mixer I got for my birthday(!), and the batter looked great. The problem was that there was just too much of it for my bundt pan (which is what the recipe recommended using). I poured in as much batter as I could without overloading the pan and slid it into the oven. After five minutes or so, I opened the door to check on it, and there was batter everywhere, including on the burner,...