So, my Mother is in town. This is THE MOST exciting thing for me. I love that woman and am so excited for her to see where I live and to introduce her to my favorite places. Her boyfriend (of around a decade) is just a salt-of-the-earth FANTASTIC guy. He gets along with Patrick so well!! And Patrick's Mom will be out tomorrow, so they should have plenty of time to chit chat and become friends before the wedding. So of course, Patrick and I made a bet...how long will it take me before I absolutely want to kill her?? I LOVE her. But I know that time will come. It inevitably does. SO, I attempt to push it off by keeping myself busy in the kitchen; stirring food with one hand and drinking wine with the other. This way, I am so focused on the food that I can't become too invested in the stories she is telling me that would generally make me want to kill her. I say again, I love this woman. She is the BEST. But, you know, family!! Night #1 - Butternut squash "pizza" You need.... A Trader Joe's garlic & herb pizza dough ball bag (I know, I know, I should make my own pizza dough. It's so EASY. Well, I'm not bothering. So get a TJs dough ball and shut the hell up about it) A small butternut squash, peeled and sliced REAL thin-like A bunch of kale - whatever kind 2-3 cloves of garlic. I like it GARLICKY. An onion, peeled and thinly sliced. Some ricotta cheese (half of a small container-ish?) Some blue cheese (as much as you feel like) Some mozzarella (as much as you damn well please) S&P, maybe a smidge of nutmeg and cayenne olive oil, obviously To Do: First off, preheat your oven to whatever that TJs bag says. 425 or something? I don't remember. Look at the bag. Add some oil to a large pan on LOW and caramelize those onions. You don't have to go crazy. You just want them tasty. Low & slow. Grab a large bowl and toss in the butternut squash slices. Add some olive oil, some salt, some pepper, toss 'em around, dump them on a baking sheet and shut them in your pre-heating oven. Keep an eye on these. You want them to cook a little, but NOT to get brown and definitely not black. Take them out whenever they seem ready. Probably 10 minutes, but don't quote me on that. Don't worry. This isn't the last they'll see of the oven. Get another pan, oil that and eventually (when it's hot) add the kale & garlic and sautee that stuff til it goes WAY down in size. I would add some S&P and maybe your dash o' nutmeg & cayenne here. Smoooosh out your pizza dough onto whatever you plan to cook it on. If you want a fun, crispy crust, do a spritz or light sprinkle of olive oil over the crust. Not a requirement. Then cover that dough in a thin layer of ricotta. Add the caramelized onions on top of that and the kale on top of that and the squash on top of that. Then sprinkle on your blue cheese and top with mozzarella. Bake that beast for 10-15 minutes depending on thickness of crust - you want it just barely brown. Serve with salad. Everyone eats, no one talks except to tell you that they love you. It's great.