Sarah's Caramel Corn and Michelle's Curry Butternut Squash Soup

A strange combo, I know, but I wanted to get both recipes on here before I forgot.

My college roomie (and fellow social work major and one time co-worker) Sarah sent me the recipe for her DELICIOUS caramel corn. Seriously, it was so good. One of my favorite things about it was that there were hardly any husks because she used popcorn that her parents grew. So fun.

Caramel Corn

1/2 cup light-colored corn syrup
1 tablespoon light molasses
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
12 cups popped popcorn (plain, not buttered or salted)

*Preheat oven to 250.
*Coat large jelly roll pan with cooking spray.
*Combine sugar, corn syrup, butter and molasses in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat.
*Cook 5 minutes, stirring once. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla, baking soda, and salt.
*Place popcorn in a large bowl; pour sugar mixture over popcorn in a steady stream, stirring to coat.
*Spread popcorn into prepared pan. Bake at 250 for 1 hours, stirring every 15 minutes.
*Remove from oven; stir to break up any large clumps. Cool 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Curry Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp. butter or oil
1 tsp. curry powder
2 c. chicken broth
4 c. water
1/3 cup evaporated milk (optional, but I think it adds a
nice creamy texture)
Salt and pepper

This step can be done ahead of time and refrigerated:
Cut squash in half, removeseeds and place face down
in a 9x13 pan, put about 1/2 inch of water in pan so
edges of squash are all covered. Put in 425 oven for
30-60 minutes (depends on size of squash - the skin
will get browned and bubbly and the squash is done when
you can easily press it in from the outside - check the
thickest part up at the top to know for sure). Let cool
slightly and scoop out all the squash, being careful not
to get the skin (beware your fingers will turn orange).

In Dutch oven (or whatever pan you'll cook the soup in)
saute onion in butter for 5 minutes, until translucent.
Put squash, onion and curry through blender/food
processor and puree. Put back on stove and add rest of
ingredients. Simmer until heated through and blended all together. 

I just made a batch of this soup today. I plan on eating it for lunch, so I froze it in little butter tubs. The perfect size for 1 person! I used 2 squash on Michelle's recommendation and unless your squash is like monster sized, you should do the same. I used homemade turkey stock with an extra bullion cube thrown in for good measure and only 2 cups of water. I already had a small bowl and thought it was quite delicious. No one else in my family will like it, which is perfect because I wasn't planning on sharing with them anyways!