Tortellini with Butternut Squash

The Real Simple magazine recipe for tortellini with butternut squash and mushrooms turned out fantastic!

Mushrooms prior to roasting.

Butternut squash prior to roasting.

The finished dish.

Instead of shredded fontina, we added grated parmesan on top since we had some in the fridge.

In the end, this dish was definitely worth making - we recommend giving it a try.  However, I have a couple of recommendations:

1. The sage leaves have an overpoweringly bitter taste, so you'll want to pick them out either after roasting or before eating.
2. The butternut squash is quite challenging to peel.  Maybe our peeler is just dull, but I ended up peeling with a knife.  It's time consuming, but seemed to eventually work.

Fruits and Veggies Galore

I'm really excited about redeeming the Groupon we bought to South Mountain Veggies!  Our order will be delivered next Thursday, and we had a great selection to choose from.  We got the medium family share bag which includes 12 items.  Here's what we'll be getting:

Yum!  I see some delicious meals in our future.

Eating Acorn

Trader Joe's has some beautiful pumpkins and squash right now.  And thanks to the latest Real Simple magazine, I actually know what to do with them.

Acorn squash.

Tonight with dinner we had parmesan-roasted acorn squash.  I substituted dried sweet basil for thyme (since we had some in the cabinet).  It turned out delicious!

Before baking.

After baking.

We paired it with lemony olive oil pasta, substituting chicken for tuna.

The next recipe we have planned is tortellini with butternut squash.  I have high hopes for it since the other recipes from this month's issue have been excellent.

Cornbread and Chili

Now that fall and its heavenly temperatures have arrived, I decided it was time to have cornbread and chili for dinner.

The cornbread was made with cornmeal from Mount Vernon, using a Nelly Custis recipe that was included.

It turned out being delicious!

This month's Real Simple magazine has some great looking recipes.  I used a chili recipe to go with the cornbread and have two more recipes planned for later this week.  The chili recipe is Chipotle Beef and Beer Chili.

Since I couldn't find chopped chipotles in adobo sauce anywhere around here (this is when I particularly miss the Cuban cuisine influences in Florida), I substituted home-grown jalapenos from my friend Colleen's herb and vegetable garden.  I'm definitely not a spicy food person, but with the seeds and ribs removed from the jalapenos they were pretty mild... and tasty.

I predict we'll be using this recipe again during fall and winter.

United States Botanic Garden

We met my high school friend Bill at the United States Botanic Garden today.  It was an interesting garden, with both indoor and outdoor areas to explore.

A view of the main building from a garden/fountain area across the street.

With Bill inside the "jungle" greenhouse.
It has a second story walkway around the perimeter of the building.

Courtyard near the entrance of the building.

We couldn't resist getting a photo of Capitol while walking through the National Mall.

J is a local in his Washington Nationals shirt.
And like every trip into the city, we got a "Go Gators!" for J's hat.
More proof that the Gator Nation is everywhere!

It was a nice visit with a long-lost friend and a trip down memory lane talking about our hometown.

Money, money, money, money... MONEY!

I went to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing today with Colleen, Jessica, and their adorable boys.

We went on the official tour which shows the entire process of bill production.  It's amazing how much money is printed each and every day, both in the DC location as well as the Forth Worth location.

As industrial engineers, Colleen and I were horrified when we heard on the tour that 4% of the bills produced are destroyed due to quality control issues.  In our expert* opinions, we recommend a process redesign.

The coolest part of the tour was viewing the new $100 bill that will be in circulation soon.

After the tour, we had a picnic at the National Mall.  The weather has been beautiful, and it's so nice in the city now that the summer tourist season has ended.

*By expert, I mean two engineers who spent 45 minutes touring the facility and have no previous printing experience.

They Say It's My Birthday!

I had an awesome birthday this year!

It all started yesterday when we had dinner with our good friends Chris and Colleen.  They made an amazing Italian feast.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

For dessert we had a cookie cake made by J along with Chris' homemade malt ball ice cream and toasted marshmallow hot fudge.  I'm pretty convinced it's the dessert served in Heaven.

REAL kitchens have creme brulee torches to light candles.

That's right, I blew them all out in one breath.  Boo yeah!

Not only did we have fantastic food, we also had the absolute cutest "nephew" to play with.

Reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Today, J brought me birthday flowers on his way home from work.

A nice summer to fall transitional bouquet.

He also got me a pair of winter boots so my feet won't freeze.

It was either these boots or electrically heated socks.
I think J made the right decision.

And tonight we went mini golfing.

I have no comment regarding who won.

Thanks to everyone who sent cards, emailed messages, and called today - I feel so loved!

Talking on the phone with my parents while opening the gifts they sent.

A Day at George and Martha's

Our final venture over the long weekend was to Mount Vernon.  We were amazed by how much there was to see and do on the property.  After touring the property for most of a day, there were still areas of the property and exhibits we weren't able to explore.  But fear not, because we now have annual passes so we can go back whenever we want!

Here are the areas we toured, in photos:

The Mansion.
No photos were allowed inside, but there is a virtual tour here if you're interested.

View of the Potomac River from the porch.

Garden house and pleasure garden with flowers and trees.

Produce garden - included some more exotic veggies such as artichokes and asparagus.

Blacksmith shop - there was a real,
actual blacksmith there working on a fireplace log holder.

Outside the gristmill.

Top of the gristmill.

Bottom of the gristmill.

Exterior of the distillery.

Interior of the distillery.

We have a bag of stone ground cornmeal produced in the gristmill to use, so look for a cornmeal post sometime soon!  No whiskey from the distillery, though - apparently the whiskey produced on-site is only released once a year and sells out within hours.

A Different Kind of Presidential Race

On Saturday we went with J's parents to see the Washington Nationals play the New York Mets.  It was the first Nats game we had attended and it was a lot of fun.  The ballpark is located right by the Navy Yard Metro Station.  It's easy to figure out which Metro line goes by the park because everyone on it is wearing red.

There was a good turnout at the game.  Attendees included us,

Thomas Jefferson,

and a crazy guy who likes to shout and dance.

The highlight of the game was the Racing Presidents.

Tom pulled out the victory over Teddy, George, and Abe.

And the Nationals beat New York!

This post approved by LT Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell

Over the Labor Day weekend, J's parents came to visit us.  We started the weekend with a visit to the Udvar-Hazy Center, which is the National Air and Space Museum annex.  It's a HUGE hangar full of planes and spacecraft.

Overlooking the WWII planes.

Space Shuttle Enterprise.

The prettiest satellite I've seen.

Is this the entire Star Wars universe?

SR-71 Blackbird

Observation deck overlooking Dulles Airport.

Next post: Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln in a footrace.