Sometimes I write about cooking! Mainly because I’m really proud of myself and the iPhone pictures actually come out looking tasty and I must share.

Butternut Squash Beer Cheese Soup (with homemade croutons)

So warm and cheesy! You can find the original recipe here, but I customized it a bit. We didn’t have pumpkin, so I use a whole fresh butternut squash, cut lengthwise with the seeds scooped out and nuked in the microwave until tender. Even though we increased the amount of squash by a cup and decreased the amount of cheese by a cup, it was still way too much cheese – practically fondue! So I’d recommend 3 cups butternut squash or pumpkin puree and 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese.

The croutons were amazing. We also topped the soup with chopped fresh chives, fresh heirloom tomatoes, and crumbled bacon. The Boy wants to add a dollop of sour cream next time as well.

Goat Cheese Cheesecake (with homemade chocolate leaves)

This was the Boy’s birthday cake, and it came out wonderfully. The cheesecake recipe is here. I added more goat cheese and less cream cheese, but it still wasn’t quite goaty enough – I’d recommend 20 oz of goat cheese to 8 oz of cream cheese, if you can swing it (goat cheese is expensive!). I got mine from Sam’s Club – cheapest delicious goat cheese around.

The chocolate leaves are super easy to do and look so fancy!  I melted semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave and used my finger to coat the back side of the leaves. Try different types of leaves to see what works – on some the chocolate came off beautifully and on some it stuck and was unusable.

That’s it for now. I feel like I should pick a theme and stick with it – writing or cooking or life stories, but I’m too lazy for that. Here, take everything in one messy (yet hopefully charming) pile.