Dinner Last Night

Dinner last night was excellent.
I am very much enjoying cooking on the porch, it is like camping, but with more options. It is fun to be chilly and trying to keep the basil from blowing off the cutting board, while drinking a beer and knowing you get to go to sleep in your own bed at night.
We had gone to the Used Food Store the other day and picked up some super cheap Pacific organic carrot soup and corn soup. The garden out back is also overflowing with basil and squash. I decided to go ahead and make the carrot soup, but to bulk it up a little with some of the squash. I sauteed a large summer squash with about 8 cloves of garlic, lots of pepper and a little salt in a large soup pot on one burner (the hot plate has 2 burners, one large, one smaller. It also has 2 temperatures, On and Off). After the squash cooked down a bit I added about 2 cups of veggie broth and the carrot soup. On the smaller burner I started some butter and garlic, and when it was hot added 2 chicken thighs. I am loving the chicken thighs. I settled into a comfy chair on the porch with my beer, and read while the food cooked.
To serve the soup, in our empty bowls I added about a tablespoon of chevre and a 1/4 cup of chopped fresh basil, and poured the soup over top. I garnished it with the caramelized garlic from the chicken.
It was so delicious, on a chill autumn night, watching the moon with my lover.
I am so glad for the changing season.