Fall Photo Gallery 2017
Category Archives: Squash
Acorn Squash Coconut Curry Soup
The weather is changing, the maple leaves are beginning to turn that means it is squash season. You can use many varieties of winter squash for this recipe, pumpkin and carnival squash are easy to find alternatives.
Ingredients:
3 acorn squash, cut in half and de-seeded
1/2 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons avocado oil
1 tablespoon curry powder
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
salt & pepper
Instructions:
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Bake acorn squash until tender, About 40 minutes.
Meanwhile Add oil to pot, saute onion and curry powder until onion is soft, add vegetable stock and simmer until squash is baked.
Scoop flesh from the squash with a spoon and add it to the broth, simmer together to reduce for about 20 minutes. Transfer to a food processor in portions and blend until smooth.
Return to pan and add coconut milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Return to simmer for another 20 minutes before removing from heat and serving.
August Cooking Projects
My goal has been to be more diverse in my cooking, and learn more vegetarian recipes. I’m doing pretty good so far here are some of my successes. I had a failure also with black bean falafel.
Americanized Asian Food
Really I just need to not give Chinese fast food places my money soo… I have taught myself how to make Honey Walnut Shrimp and Orange Chicken this week. They were both a success (and I made a really big mess in my kitchen!). Now if I can find the right recipe for Cashew Chicken I will be set!
Seafood
Salt Block Shrimp with Balsamic Portabella. Balsamic vinegar is a bit of a pain scrubbing off of a salt block I must say. Cedar Plank Salmon, unfortunately I still don’t like Salmon but I did try to like it(again).
Vegetarian
Grilled Zucchini and Purple Carrots with Falafel and Dill Sauce. Om nom nom! I could eat this every day but I had a terrible, horrible, very bad, not good experience with black bean falafel a few days later so I am taking a short falafel break.
Summertime Kitchen
Recent Cooking Projects
While I was seeing if the pans were going to come falling down on me(new hooks) I made my first batch of Black Bean Soup. I didn’t find a whole lot of variation in the basic recipes that are out there.
Blackbean Soup
2 cups of dried Blackbeans
4 cups low sodium Vegetable or low sodium Chicken broth
4 pieces bacon(optional)
1 bellpepper
3 cloves garlic
1 small onion
1 tsp cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
salt to taste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce(optional)
fresh cilantro
avocado
lime
sour cream
I started with 2 cups of dried beans, soaked them and rinsed them, then added 4 cups of broth and brought that to a boil then reduced it to simmer for about 1 1/2 hours. Then while the beans are coming to a boil, in a separate pan I cooked 4 pieces of chopped bacon. Add bacon to beans and then use the bacon fat to sauteed 1 bellpepper, 3 cloves worth of minced garlic and 1 small onion. After 1 1/2 hours add cumin, chili powder, salt, and Worcestershire. Continue to simmer another 1 1/2 – 2 hours.
Use the cilantro, lime, sour cream and diced avocado as a topper.
Grilled Yellow Squash
Leave it to me to never run out of things to do with squash. I used olive oil, ‘everyday seasoning’ from Trader Joe’s and garlic for the squash. For the falafel I am giving some frozen store bought ones a try, I saturated them in some olive oil before grilling. Made a sauce with sour cream.
Rice Pudding
Easy way to use left over plain rice from dinner. Add a ratio of 1 cup rice rice 1 1/2 cups soy milk, 1 cinnamon stick, a splash of vanilla, a handful of raisins, and a handful of brown sugar. Bring to boil and cook about 20 minutes, remove cinnamon stick.
Also this week has been full of coffee ice cubes, best thing ever in the summer time. Make sure you’ve got a good coffee. There’s too much good coffee out there to drink bad coffee.
Iced Coffee
1/2 cup of cow, soy or almond milk
6-8 coffee iced cubes
1/2 cup cold coffee (brewed strong)
1 tablespoon(or more!) condensed sweet milk
Ambercup Squash with Garlic and Thyme
Ingredients
1 small or medium sized ambercup squash
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2-3 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
Directions
Cut one small to medium sized ambercup squash in half and deseed. Place face down on a baking dish and bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
After removed from oven flip over and allow to cool to a temperature you can handle before scooping the flesh away from the skin with a large spoon, discard skin.
In a medium frying pan heat coconut oil, mince and saute garlic until it becomes fragrant and begins to brown slightly. Add squash, thyme, salt and pepper to the pan. Reduce heat to medium low and stir with a fork to mash the squash with until it becomes like mashed potatoes, cook for several minutes more to let the flavors mingle. Serve warm.
Spicy Yuchiki Kuri Soup
Spicy Yuchiki Kuri Soup
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 Onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic
2 jalapenos chopped with seeds
1 teaspoons cumin
1 heaping tablespoon Oregano
1 pinch ground roasted ghost pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 can white beans, drained
30 oz pureed yuchiki kuri squash
1 quart vegetable stock
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
Directions:
Cut 1 yuchiki kuri squash in half and deseed. Roast, face down at 350 degrees until soft, about 30-40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool, remove skin and puree the soft flesh, set aside.
In a soup pot over medium high heat add oil, onions, garlic and jalapenos, saute about 5 minutes. Add cumin, oregano, salt and ghost pepper, saute about 2 more minutes.
Add white beans, pureed yuchiki kuri and vegetable stock, simmer for 20 minutes, uncovered. Add red wine vinegar and honey then cook for several minutes more. Remove from heat and blend with stick blender until smooth.
Golden Acorn and Delicata Squash
I’m not one to celebrate holidays but the closest I come to doing so is in the fall. Each year I usually pick one or two themes and go with those. This year so far there is a definite interest in squash, so I am trying a different squash recipe with each kind of small squash I am finding in stores. I have to skip over the larger stuff because I’m just cooking for one.
Here is golden acorn squash, halved and deseeded then roasted with honey and sage.
Stuffed Delicata Squash
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cut and deseed the squash, roast face down in the oven on a baking sheet.
Meanwhile, dice maple breakfast sausage into chunks, add chopped onion and the portabella mushrooms all into the pan in equal amounts, about 1/2 cup of each and saute until cooked. Remove Squash from oven, flip over and fill with saute, dividing evenly between halves. Add grated Parmesan, and a fresh rosemary sprig dipped in olive oil over the top. Place in oven until the squash is tender, throughout when pierced with a fork. 30-40 minutes.
When done remove rosemary sprig and discard, then add more Parmesan.
