Change of Plans

Yesterday, we received another CSA delivery, and I was so excited to share it with my mom. My mom grows her own organic fruits and vegetables, and I knew she would really appreciate all the fresh produce.



Here is what we got:

• Apples
• Oranges
• Pears
• 1 mango
• Avocados
• 1 butternut squash
• Collard greens
• Red leaf lettuce
• 1 cucumber
• Onions
• Red potatoes
• Red radishes

I made a big pot of butternut squash soup last week, and we all liked it so much that I decided to make another pot yesterday for dinner. My mom was hanging out with me in the kitchen when I made the soup. I sautéed a huge onion, four cloves of garlic, five celery stalks, and five carrots. Then I cut into the butternut squash. Right away, something didn’t seem right. Cutting the squash was way too easy, and I realized that it was all mushy.

Here is what it looked like:



We were so disappointed. However, I decided we were still going to have soup for dinner. Instead of the butternut squash, I added some of the red potatoes to the veggies that were already sautéing. I seasoned the veggies with salt, pepper and some organic ketchup. Then I added about 8 cups of water and simmered everything for 30 minutes. Toward the end, I added about 15 basil leaves. I pureed everything with my handheld mixer.

Here is the end result; different than what I had intended to make but very good.




I called the CSA right away to tell them about the butternut squash (and an avocado that was missing from the box), and they said they’d comp me next time.

Lesson learned: It’s always good to be flexible. After an initial disappointment, dinner turned out delicious nonetheless. This is so true when it comes to cooking (I have switched gears many, many times when things went “wrong,”) as well as in life in general…

Question: Did you have any unexpected changes of plans recently? If so, how did they turn out? Were you flexible? What are your weekend plans?

 
You have until 9:00 p.m. PST tonight (Saturday) to enter my giveaway of the book The Body Fat Solution by Tom Venuto.

Happy Saturday!

Be well,
Andrea