Soup for Studying!

The fall semester is coming to a close, and I too have been doing what Cara called "survival" cooking most nights.  I wanted to make sure I had plenty to eat while I was cranking out those final papers so last night I made a simple, yet delicious savory butternut squash soup.  This easy soup was done in less than an hour.

ingredients:
1 1.5 pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into small cubes
16 oz. of vegetable broth
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. curry powder
1/3 C light coconut milk
olive oil
salt and pepper

heat olive oil in a large soup pot.
add onions, salt and pepper and cook until onions are soft and fragrant.
add squash and cook for a few minutes before adding seasoning and broth.
reduce heat to medium/low and cover, simmering for about 20 minutes until squash is soft.

carefully transfer your soup to a blender (the real deal, this is not a job for your immersion blender... I found it to be way easier in the real blender after I tried mashing the whole pot of squash with my immersion blender) and puree until it reaches the desired consistency.  Add coconut milk and stir or blend.

This made 3 16 oz. ball jars full of soup to stock in the fridge!  Re-heat for about two minutes in the microwave and voila!  Lunch!!

Here's what it really looked like on my desk, next to my computer, as I ate lunch.  

Sauce: 1, Squash: 0

I haven't been making things from scratch as often as I used to/want to... That's when handy prepared items, like the many tasty items that can be found at Trader Joe's are quite convenient.

I picked up a container of "fresh" (aka not dried and in the refrigerated section) butternut squash ravioli that was in triangle shapes making it a triangoli!  Wow!  I love butternut squash so was very excited to try this product.  Though I didn't know what sauce to use...  when I Googled, I found that most of the time butternut squash ravioli is served with brown butter sage sauce.  While that sounded delicious I wanted something a little less... buttery/creamy.  So I searched for a vegan recipe knowing that would be without both of those items and I could modify however I wanted.  I came across a great, simple recipe for mushroom and walnut broth from theveganversion.com .

It was an amazing broth, and I added butter instead of vegan butter, making a really nice sauce.  In fact, the brothy sauce was the best part. I didn't read the whole ingredient list on the butternut squash until after I started eating.  The butternut squash ravioli, which usually tend to be a little sweet due to the sweetness of the squash, was way too sweet.  They tasted like a Dutch letter.   Which was weird, especially with the awesome savory mushroom broth.  When I checked the ingredients I found that they included some sort of amaretti cookies in the squash filling.  Here is a product review from Trader Joe's fan and blogger What's Good at Trader Joe's.com  for more information.

All in all, it was an ok meal, but I definitely would not get the ravioli again.  I would love to try this broth again with a savory pasta because it was perfectly delicious without being too heavy. I'm glad I now know how to make such a quick and easy, savory, non cream sauce for pasta.  The sauce was the winner in this dinner.

The Squash Soup Experiment Continues!

Shout out to my Mom for bringing me a nice butternut squash!

This is Butternut with a butternut.  Do you know how hard it is to pose your cat with a vegetable?!

Here is another, very slightly different (mainly different in technique with a few more details than the previous) recipe, for squash soup.
1 Butternut squash, halved, peeled and seasoned with olive oil and about 2 T garam masala and roasted at 425 for about 30-45 minutes.

1 large clove garlic, roasted (leave it in its skin and place on roasting pan with squash for about 20 minutes).

1 carrot
1 onion
1 potato
carrot, onion and potato diced (carrots and onions unpeeled).

1 T olive oil
1 T butter

1 T curry powder
1 t cayenne
1 t cardamom
1 t ginger powder

4-6 cups veggie broth

roast the squash.
with about 15 minutes left on the squash, cook onions, potato, carrot in butter and oil over medium high  in a big soup pot, cook until onions are soft.  this smells SO GOOD!
remove the squash from the oven and cut it into chunks.  add to pot with seasonings, roasted garlic and about 1 C of the veggie broth.

Let sit covered for 5 minutes on medium heat.

Add more broth and let simmer, covered for 15 minutes.

Blend with immersion blender.  Remember, blend and add more or less broth depending on your preference to how thick or soupy you like.

P.S. I know not everyone (including me!) has 2 hours to spend making soup.  But, when I need to do something that isn't school related, and need some "me" time in the kitchen, this is what I do.  Roast the squash the day prior to save time, or just cook the squash in the soup pot to save time.  Whatever you do, if you do make this recipe, make it your own!  That's my favorite part of cooking.  Thanks for reading.

Weekly Menu December 19-23

With Christmas looming and lots of last minute preparations taking place, dinners this week have a common thread.  Simple dishes I can make without much recipe consultation.

But first, a quick re-cap of last week's menu:

slow cooker sweet potato and lentil soup: did not live up to my expectations, the picture looked more delicious than it was. With a lot of good ingredients, this is a recipe that could use some tinkering... 
black bean burritos with salad:  This was a winner.  See my previous post about how great it was.
Bombay sloppy joes: hits the spot every time. Try this, it calls for turkey instead of beef (which you could easily swap, or use lentils!) and you can adjust the spices for more or less heat!
Pasta with arugula/spinach, white beans and walnuts: I didn't make it... so it's rolling over to this week's menu.
spicy turkey and bacon stirfry also from Everyday Food December '11: this was not good. I thought it was kind of boring and weird.  I may have had some recipe mishaps, I forgot halfway through that I was making a half portion and made a whole portion of sauce which made it way too salty. But, overall, the photo was deceivingly delicious the dish was not.
carrot ginger soup:  Again, see my previous post. I hope to try this again next week with coconut milk.

On to this week:
roasted butternut squash and quinoa with salad
This is easy to put together, delicious and filling. I can multi-task while the squash is roasting.

Pasta with arugula/spinach, white beans and walnuts 
We still have quite a bit of spinach!

veggie lasagna
I am planing for leftovers!

frittata with potatoes and leeks and rosemary
Have you made a frittata yet?

maybe carrot and ginger soup attempt #2
we'll see if I get to this

Whew! It's going to be a bit hectic, between work and preparing for Christmas weekend.  But, more on that later.  Have a great week!
Allison

Weekly Menu: Finals Week! And Green Bean Update

Here we are again, another Monday weekly menu post.  Thanks to all who have commented either here in person or otherwise. It's nice to know that you are reading our little blog.  We sure enjoy sharing the kitchen table with you.

This week's menu is a little more extensive.  I have some lunches planned because I'll be around the house more, studying and writing final exams (I'm a grad student!).

But first let's revisit the green bean hints I asked about...   I went the rosemary and garlic route.  I had bought some rosemary for that frittata (rosemary, garlic, potatoes, spinach!!!) and had plenty left over.  I love the smell of fresh rosemary!  I steamed the beans for about 5 minutes then threw a couple minced garlic cloves and rosemary in a pan with olive oil. Next went in the green beans for a few minutes. Delicious and easy.

Weekly Menu, December 12-18

slow cooker sweet potato and lentil soup  from Food Network Mag Dec. '11
with homemade flatbread or naan

black bean burritos with salad
I usually just wing this one, adding homemade seasoning to black beans and whatever veggies I have around. They may not actually be burritos proper, but that's what I call them.

Bombay sloppy joes ... another good one from Food Network Magazine I have made over and over again, this one is good enough to be in "the book"( more on that later!)
 with Indian spiced rice with veggies

Pasta with arugula/spinach, white beans and walnuts from Everyday Food June '09  (spinach was on sale in a giant container and will sub just fine, though will have to try this in the summer with arugula!)
with frozen peas

spicy turkey and bacon stirfry also from Everyday Food December '11

Lunch:
carrot ginger soup ... most recipes online have been similar and pretty straightforward. I'm most likely going to do a non-dairy one and am looking forward to experimenting with this in between studying.

roasted butternut squash with  quinoa

Here is a photo of the menu board I keep on my fridge with a handy little magnetic file holder to hold recipes and cooking magazines.  It's not very fancy but does the job.  

Oh, and yes, that is an Ira Glass finger puppet. :)

Have a great week!

Yours truly,
Allison

Post Thanksgiving Butternut Squash Soup

We are all out of Thanksgiving leftovers here! They didn't last long, there wasn't much of it, and after all of the celebrating and indulging I am thankful to get back to a more reasonable dining routine. I love celebrating, but if I do it everyday I start to feel like the stuffed turkey!

Your weekly menu reminded me of this delicious, simple, sweet & savoury butternut squash soup I like to whip up and keep in a big bowl in the fridge for easy winter meals. I roast the squash ahead of time (great on a winter Sunday afternoon, pop it in the oven around 3 or 4 and the kitchen is toasty warm AND its ready for soup making at dinner). I also use ghee instead of oil because of its wide ranging health benefits. Its easy to make (I'll blog on it later!) but if you don't keep a jar handy in your kitchen, you can use oil for this recipe.

Butternut Squash & Apple Soup

1 butternut squash, roasted
2 tbsp ghee or oil
2 large sweet potatoes
2 medium apples
1 inch knob of fresh ginger, chopped
5 cups veg broth
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 cup coconut milk
salt & pepper to taste

Prepare the squash in advance: Roast whole by piercing the top with a knife in several places, set upright in a baking dish, and keep it in a 375 degree oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Or cut into pieces, place in a dish with 1/4 inch of water, cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.

Peel and cut sweet potatoes and apples into 1 inch pieces. Melt ghee or oil in a soup pot and add sweet potatoes, apples and ginger. Saute until everything starts to turn a bit golden (7-8 minutes). Add the broth, bring to the boil, and simmer for 15 minutes or until sweet potatoes soften.

Meanwhile, cut the roasted squash in half, scoop out the seeds, peel and cut into large pieces. Add squash, spices and salt and pepper to the pot. When heated through, remove from heat. Add 1 cup coconut milk and blend with a handstick blender.

This soup is great out of the pot, but even better a day or two later!

Enjoy your week,

Cara