Vegetarian

Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

December 3, 2012 by Erica

I think it’s safe to say that I’m not the only one on the internet with a soup recipe today.

From what I hear, it’s been raining on the West Coast for the past week, and every California food blogger I follow has spent the whole time making soup. Who can blame them? Even here in Utah, where it’s not raining, it’s been cold and gray and just DARK all the time, so of course I’ve made my fair share. And it’s all culminating in one big soup throwdown in the blogosphere today.

So here is my submission: A yummy spiced butternut squash soup with apples, carrots, and onions from the archives of the lovely blog Daily Garnish. I have to say, if you were considering making the Mexican Squash Soup I posted a few weeks ago, make this one instead. Then make that one next week! This soup, with the apples and spices, is so warm and fragrant… it’s perfect for when it’s midnight-dark at dinnertime and you need something to cheer you up. It’s actually what I was making when I took the picture that’s now my blog header. See?

Apples, carrots, and squash, oh my!

Seeing that squash on my cutting board reminds me that something exciting happened this past Friday: a Trader Joe’s opened in Salt Lake!! I drove by on Saturday and the crowds looked INSANE – I am definitely staying away until after the holidays. I already have about 5 grocery stores too many in my regular rotation, but I’m excited to have Trader Joe’s around for things like pre-chopped butternut squash. (Now you see where this tangent came from.) Sadly, no wine at this new TJ’s because we’re in Utah… sigh… but I’ll take it!

Anyway, I love soups like this because the only dishes you get dirty are a peeler, a cutting board and knife, and a soup pot and a ladle. Unless you’re like me and splatter soup all over the kitchen as you’re cooking, there’s very little clean-up involved. Enjoy!

Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

Recipe from Daily Garnish

Time: about 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, chopped
1 medium-sized butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped into about 1/2-inch chunks
2 apples, cored and chopped but peels left on (I used Gala)
2 carrots, chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup almond milk (or your choice of milk)

Instructions:

In a soup pot or large dutch oven, saute the onion with a bit of olive oil over medium heat until until softened and starting to brown. Add squash, apples, carrots, broth, and spices (everything except the almond milk). Stir, cover and bring to a boil.

Simmer over medium-low heat until vegetables are soft and even starting to look a bit mushy. This will depend on how small you’ve cubed up your veggies, but generally takes me around 45 minutes.

With an immersion blender, blend until smooth. (You could also transfer the soup in batches to a regular blender and then to a bowl.)

Remove from heat and stir in the almond milk.

Serve hot!

Vegan Pizza with Mushrooms, Roasted Red Peppers & Caramelized Onions

November 30, 2012 by Erica

It's Friday, and that means Pizza Night! Whenever I ask Nate what he wants for dinner this week, he says pizza. You'd think by now I'd get the hint and just make a pizza every week... but for some reason I keep asking. Maybe this time he'll request my favorite tahini kale rice bowl? No dice. Well, making a pizza every once in a while seems like the least I can do for the man who's forced to be my Vegan Guinea Pig the rest of the time. (I am still trying to dig my way out of the hole that a certain Hippie Bowl got me into a few months back.)

vegan pizza with mushrooms, roasted red peppers, and caramelized onions

So here is a pizza for Nate. If you're not vegan, by all means add some parmesan or goat cheese. (I put goat cheese on Nate's half, and a little bit just miiiiiight have rolled onto a few of my slices.) Even with no cheese, this pizza has great flavor! Use my whole grain pizza dough or your favorite crust. You could even use pesto and this mushroom mixture on pasta or a sandwich. It's hard to go wrong!

P.S. I'm kinda wimping out with the pesto here. I have a favorite vegan pesto that I make... but it deserves so much more than an out-of-season mention in a post that's really about pizza and features nighttime iPhone photos. I plan on featuring it in the spring! In the meantime, you can use your favorite pesto recipe, or (because I know many people who read this blog aren't vegan) use some store bought stuff.

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

5.0 from 2 reviews

Vegan Pizza with Mushrooms, Roasted Red Peppers & Caramelized Onions

Hands-on time

5 mins

Cook time

55 mins

Total time

1 hour

Yields 2 10-inch pizzas or 1 extra-large pizza

Author: Coffee & Quinoa

Yields: 6

Ingredients

1 recipe of my multi-grain pizza dough (link above) or 2 store-bought pizza doughs
olive oil
1 sweet onion, quartered and sliced
20 oz. sliced baby bella mushrooms (I used 2 10-oz. pre-sliced bags)
2 red bell peppers
1 1/2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
cornmeal
1/3 cup pesto (homemade or store bought)
parmesan or goat cheese (optional)

Instructions

First, roast your red peppers (or buy roasted red peppers in a jar and skip this step). Cut each pepper into 2-4 pieces and remove the stem, seeds and membrane. Place them, skin up, on a baking sheet and broil until skin is black and charred all over. This will take 6-10 minutes. Keep a close eye on them after the first few minutes, and rotate the baking sheet partway through if your broiler has hot spots. Once the skins are charred all over, remove them from the oven, place them in a plastic bag, seal it, and let them steam for at least 20 minutes. Then remove from plastic bag and peel the skin off each piece with your fingers. It's OK to leave some charred bits. Cut into bite-sized pieces.
Preheat oven to 425.
Next, caramelize onions. Add a little bit of olive oil to a pan over medium heat. Saute the onions for about 25 minutes. They should have some good color to them. At this point, add the sliced mushrooms. Continue sauteing another 5-7 minutes, until mushrooms are softening. Add balsamic vinegar and peppers and stir. Remove from heat.
Sprinkle cornmeal on 2 pizza pans or an 11x17 baking sheet. Roll your pizza dough out to fit whichever pan you've chosen.
If your pesto is not oily, brush a bit of olive oil over the crust. Then spread pesto out evenly. Top with mushroom mixture. Add cheese if you desire.
Put pizzas in the oven for 12 minutes, until crust is done and cheese, if using, is melted.
Slice and enjoy!

Citrus Beet Salad with Rosemary Vinaigrette

November 27, 2012 by Erica

How about a salad?

I don’t know about you, but after a weekend of bingeing on Thanksgiving leftovers, that’s just what I need.

This salad makes me happy because it’s fresh and colorful, while still being made with winter produce. You may not be able to tell from my 8:00 am iPhone photos here, but between the beets and the citrus, the colors are beautiful.

I’ve been mildly obsessed with beets lately, starting with the roasted beet hummus I made for Thanksgiving. They’re just so pretty! If you’ve been scared of roasting beets, like I was before last week, don’t be. You stick them in the oven and forget about them, then easily push the skin off with a knife once they’re cool. Easy as pie! No… way easier than pie.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Citrus Beet Salad with Rosemary Vinaigrette

Hands-on time

20 mins

Cook time

60 mins

Total time

1 hour 20 mins

The beets can be roasted ahead of time and stored in the fridge either before or after peeling.

Author: Coffee & Quinoa

Yields: 6

Ingredients

FOR THE SALAD:
1 medium beet (or 2 small beets)
1 grapefruit, peeled and segmented
2 oranges, peeled and segmented
1 avocado, chopped
5 oz. baby spinach
several handfuls pine nuts, toasted
FOR THE DRESSING:
juice of 1 orange
1 tsp finely chopped rosemary
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

To roast the beet(s), preheat oven to 400. Trim stems and scrub off dirt. Loosely wrap in foil. Roast for 60 minutes or until a fork slides easily to the center of the beet. Remove from oven, unwrap and set aside until cool enough to handle.
Once beet has cooled, slide the skin off using the back of a knife. Slice off top and bottom and chop into small cubes.
To make dressing, whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl.
To assemble, layer salad ingredients and top with dressing.

Mexican Butternut Squash Soup

November 21, 2012 by Erica

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Do you know what you’re eating?

Not for dinner, silly. What kind of question is that? If you’re like me, you’ve been dreaming about Thanksgiving dinner for the past two weeks. I have lists made, not only of the dishes I’m making and the groceries that I (still – eek!) have to buy, but of when I should prepare what. Organization is kind of my thing.

Anyway, no, I’m not asking if you’ve given any thought to your Thanksgiving dinner, because I’m sure you have. I’m talking about lunch, the oft-forgotten Thanksgiving meal. If you’re eating dinner around noon, you can obviously forego lunch. But if you eat Thanksgiving dinner around 3:00 or 4:00, as my family typically does, you might find yourself in the kitchen come 1:00, trying to put together a sandwich or salad out of scraps from the fridge. It’s kind of weird to realize that in the frenzy of dinner planning, you’ve totally forgotten to plan a lunch… especially if you have holiday house guests. You don’t want anyone going hungry!

Luckily, my mom is always prepared (in this situation, as well as most others). Her solution is soup.

Soup for Thanksgiving lunch – it’s perfect! It’s autumnal and comforting, but not too filling, so you’ll still be able to stuff yourself in a few hours. Mom likes to serve her lunchtime soup in big mugs, although you can feel free to use a bowl.

This soup has a butternut squash base and uses chipotle chiles in adobo sauce for a nice little Mexican kick. Top with cilantro and a squeeze of lime, and you have the perfect light but satisfying lunch.

Mexican Butternut Squash Soup

Hands-on time

15 mins

Cook time

55 mins

Total time

1 hour 10 mins

Author: Coffee & Quinoa

Yields: 6-8

Ingredients

1 medium-sized butternut squash, peeled and chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
5 cups vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (or more if you’d like it spicy!)
2 tsp cumin
½ tsp coriander
½ cup non-dairy milk (I used regular unsweetened almond milk)
cilantro, for serving
lime wedges, for serving

Instructions

First, chop all vegetables. To make the butternut squash easier to peel and chop, consider piercing it several times with a sharp knife and nuking for 2 minutes or so. This softens the skin and makes it just that much less likely that you’ll cut your finger off!
Heat a bit of olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and saute 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and saute another 2-3 minutes, until the onion is softened and beginning to brown.
Add the rest of the vegetables (squash, carrots and celery), vegetable broth, and bay leaf. Simmer until vegetables are tender and starting to get mushy, about 45-50 minutes.
While soup is simmering, chop chiles, cilantro and lime wedges.
Remove bay leaf from the soup. (If you don’t, it’s no big deal. I actually forgot and it turned out fine!) Add chopped chiles and puree until smooth using an immersion blender. (If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can transfer the soup in batches to a blender and then into another pot or a bowl.)
Stir in cumin, coriander, and milk.Taste and adjust seasonings - you can add more chiles if you’d like it spicier!
Serve hot. Garnish with chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice.

Notes

Adapted from http://www.anothermarvelousmeal.com/2011/10/mexican-spiced-butternut-squash-soup.html

Farro Risotto with Butternut Squash and Kale

November 16, 2012 by Erica

Happy Friday! Do you need the weekend as much as I do?

Last weekend, I had a whole list of things to cook and bake. I woke up early on Saturday morning energized to get started, and just kept going all weekend. As much fun as it was to try out a bunch of new dishes, I don’t think this weekend will be like that. I just want to sleep! And ski. Oh yeah… and bake some pies for a Thanksgiving dinner party I’m going to on Saturday night. OK, so maybe it will be a liiiiittle bit like last weekend.

With any luck, I’ll have some pie recipes to share with you next week. For today, I have this risotto, which was part of last weekend’s craziness. Nate says it’s a keeper, and I have to agree with him, seeing as I ate about two servings worth of samples as I stood over the stove.

I was pretty scared of risotto after my last attempt, on Valentine’s Day, left me a hot sweaty mess after stirring the stuff for about an hour longer than the recipe called for. Not very romantic, especially since I was pretty grumpy by the time it was done. It was also a farro risotto… the stuff just would not cook! Nate’s mom pointed out to me that I should use pearled farro, which cooks a lot more quickly. Make sure you use that here to reduce the time you spend stirring! I found a package of it in Whole Foods near the rice (although they didn’t have it in bulk).

I am all about easy cooking (very little patience over here). So if I can make risotto and not be be swearing by the end… trust me, you can, too!

For this risotto, the squash and kale are cooked separately (this could even be done ahead of time) and then added at the end. The farro, onion, and garlic are simmered with white wine and vegetable broth. I tend to favor a “stir once or twice and then just stay in the vicinity” technique rather than constant stirring. That way I don’t go crazy, and I even get some dishes washed while I cook.

There is a fair amount of olive oil and vegan butter going on here. So it’s definitely a treat, but a tasty one worth having once in a while!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Farro Risotto with Butternut Squash and Kale

Hands-on time

15 mins

Cook time

65 mins

Total time

1 hour 20 mins

Author: Coffee & Quinoa

Yields: 4 as an entree

Ingredients

3 Tbsp vegan butter, divided (I used Earth Balance)
1 medium butternut squash, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
large bunch of kale (I used curly), stems removed, leaves torn into 2-inch pieces
3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 1/2 cups pearled farro (can use regular farro but cooking time will double)
1 sweet onion, diced
3 large or 4 small cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dry white wine
4 cups vegetable stock, warmed (you may use slightly more or less depending on cooking time)

Instructions

First, roast the squash. (You can do this step ahead of time and keep roasted squash in the fridge.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a foil-lined baking sheet, toss the cubed butternut squash with 1 Tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast about 35 minutes, until squash is tender, stirring 2-3 times in the process to cook evenly.
Next, toast the farro. Heat remaining olive oil in a large oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. Add farro and toss to coat. Toast the farro about 1-2 minutes in the pan (you will hear it start to sizzle), then transfer to the oven (still at 375) to finish toasting for about 6 more minutes. Stir once after 3 minutes. The farro won't look toasted, but it will start to smell a bit toasted and will be sizzling. Remove the farro to a bowl and wipe out your skillet.
Now we’ll actually cook the risotto. In the same skillet, melt 2 Tbsp vegan butter over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the onion and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook about 2 minutes more. Now add 1/2 cup of the wine and increase heat to high to deglaze the pan. Stir once or twice, reduce heat to medium, and let simmer until the wine is almost evaporated, about 2-3 minutes.
Add farro and about 1/2 cup of vegetable stock to the skillet. Stir and let simmer until almost all liquid is absorbed. Continue doing this, alternating veg stock with the rest of the white wine, until your farro is tender, about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook your kale by sauteing with a small amount of water, tossing continuously, until bright green, about 30 seconds. Run under cold water until cool, then set aside.
Once farro is tender, stir in remaining Tbsp vegan butter, squash, and kale. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot!

Notes

Adapted from Bon Appetit magazine via http://iheartyum.com/main-course/farro-risotto-with-butternut-squash-and-kale/

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