Butternut Squash Soup & Roasted Butternut Squash Seeds

I made this for dinner last night and it was delicious. Even my 8 month old son loved it! (Unless you're having a lot of people over for a meal, there will be plenty left over to freeze for a future meal). I actually found this recipe on the Food Network website, but I tweaked it a bit.

1 butternut squash, peeled

nutmeg (I tried it without a preferred it that way, but added it anyway to see if it enhanced the taste. My husband preferred it with the nutmeg though)

2 tablespoons of unsalted margarine

salt and pepper (Again, I liked it without, my husband preferred it with -- either way it's delicious though)

1 onion, chopped

6 cups of veggie stock

Cut squash into one inch chunks. In a large pot melt margarine. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add squash and stock. Bring to a simmer until squash is tender. Remove squash chunks with a slotted spoon and blend it. (Our blender is breaking so there were still plenty of chunks left in. I thought it was actually nice to have the varying textures.) Return blended squash to pot. Stir and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper (if you so please).

I looked up online to see if the seeds in the butternut squash were edible and it turns out they were. I cleaned off the seeds. Dried them as much as possible. Sprayed a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Layed out the seeds evenly and sprinkled with salt. (You can sprinkle it with pretty much anything you think might taste good -- cajun powder, garlic salt, cheese powder, etc). Put it in the oven on 350 for about 30 minutes. (I didn't really time it. Just waited until I could smell it.

Sparkling Minestrone Vegetable Soup

This is cross-posted on me-ander

According to Jewish Law and Lore there are two fast days in the summer, and I love to break my fast on vegetable soup.

Usually, I make a split pea soup, but I didn't have any peas on hand. Instead I found a package of mixed beans, which, as you can see, included:

kidney beans
lima beans
chickpeas

I checked them for bugs and stones and then left them to soak in hot, boiling water. After it cooled, I poured out the water and added more. I've read that beans are digested better if you change the water. Whether it's true or not, I don't know.

Since the beans began to get soft, it was time for stage two of the cooking. I added more boiling water to the beans and began cooking them for real, not just soaking.

In a larger pot, I put sliced onions, carrots and squash and sauteed them in vegetable oil.

Once the vegetables were partially cooked, I poured in the beans, plus the bean liquid and cooked everything together.

Since I'm trying to cut the carbs, I added some tomato paste for extra flavor. That gave me a low carbohydrate Minestrone style vegetable soup. I added whatever seasonings smelled right to me, like salt, pepper, garlic, parsley. These are all standards I keep in my pantry.

It's funny how the soup sparkles. I guess the flash played on the oil. It really tasted good, and my husband even complimented me on it.

The best thing is that it is very easy to make.

Chicken Soup Tips

I've been making chicken soup for a few years now, and have a few tips to making a soup go from good to amazing. Now, everytime I come home I have to make a batch for my mother which she freezes for the next few weeks, until I come home again.

1. Cook it overnight. The bones from the chicken with disintegrate, and between that and the marrow, you will get a superb taste. It will require very little salt as it comes naturally from the marrow.

2. Use the white Vidalia onions. They are naturally sweeter and less pungent. Once again you will not have to add sugar or any other sweetener to the soup. (You may have to depending how sweet it end up being, and I suggest using honey)

3. I don't know why I do it, this is the mesorah I have from a friends mother who makes it better than I do, but cook the onion with the peel on.

3. Dill, parsley, salt, and pepper only. The beauty is in simplicity of taste. (on a side note, the same for spicing a chulent, only simple spices)

Curried Carrot & Bean Soup

While I'm not a big fan of soups, I am a supporter of all things that can be cooked in a crockpot. There's nothing like coming home to a house that smells absolutely delicious and having a fully prepared meal waiting for you after a long day.

This soup is flavorful, vegan and makes a nice hearty but light dinner on a cold day. The recipe calls for a lot of spices - essentially making one's own curry powder - but I left off the traditional curry spice of fenugreek because I'm allergic to it.




Curried Carrot & Bean Soup

1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks [if using baby carrots, cut them in half]
4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
3 cups water
1 15 ounce can chickpeas or other bean of choice, rinsed and drained [or 1 1/2 cups cooked]
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/8 teaspoon each of the following spices: ground cardamom, ground cloves, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, anise seed, sesame seeds and ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon each of the following spices: ground cinnamon, fennel seeds and ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon each of the following spices: ground turmeric, cumin and ground cayenne pepper
4 strands saffron
Chopped parsley for garnish

[1/4 teaspoon of ground fenugreek seeds can be added to the spices if desired or, instead of the spices listed above, you can use 2 - 3 teaspoons of your favorite high-quality curry powder.]

Combine all the ingredients except for the parsley in a 4 to 5 quart crockpot. Stir, cover and cook on low for 10 to 12 hours. Puree the mixture with an immersion blender or - in small batches - in a blender prior to serving. Strain if desired to make an even smoother soup. Serve warm. Garnish each serving with chopped parsley if desired. Make approximately 4 meal-sized servings or 8 appetizer-sized servings depending on the amount of liquid evaporation during the cooking process. The final blended soup should look a little like cooked pumpkin pie filling. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Variations: 1 pound of pumpkin, butternut squash or acorn squash chunks can be used in place of the carrots. No other changes needed.