Harvest Soup

Another fun and delicious fall soup!
Ingredients:

1 tbls olive oil
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 lbs butternut squash, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes (about3 1/2 cups)
2 medium apples, cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 cups chicken broth (I used my left-over veggie broth)

Directions:
in a big pot, heat oil on medium. Add carrots, celery, and onions. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until tender and brown.  Add squash, apples, and broth. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until squash is tender. Cool slightly

Puree soup in blender or food processor, and in a couple batches if needed. Add pepper and croutons (we skipped the croutons)

Recipe from: some parenting magazine....I forget which one

Winter Squash (pumpkin) Bars

I brought these into work today and they were gone before lunch. They make a VERY moist crumb. Absolutely delicious and a good way to use of leftover canned pumpkin which is exactly what I used it for! This is from the "Fall" section of my new cookbook, Simply In Season. I made a half recipe, but I will post the full.

As the title is Winter SQUASH Bars, I am very interested in trying to make it with a different kind of squash, I wonder if the flavor will change at all. Has anyone every done that? Have you used a butternut or acorn squash in place of pumpkin for a dessert recipe?

Winter Squash Bars
Yields 24 "bars" when cut in bar form. I just left it in the pan and scooped it out.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

2 cups winter squash or pumpkin
3/4 cup oil
1 1/2 cups sugar (WOA, that's a lot of sugar, I cut it down a bit..)
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
Beat together in a mixing bowl all of the above ingredients

1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Sift all of the above into a separate bowl. Mix the wet in with the drive. Don't overmix. Pour into a lightly greased 11x17 inch jelly roll pan (or whatever fits/is the equivalent that you have). Bake in preheated over for 25-30 mins.

Mine baked for about 15 mins longer at least.

Spaghetti Squash

This has got to be the coolest thing EVER! I was reading through my mom's Moosewood Cookbook (the original version) and they had a spaghetti squash casserole recipe. I had never heard of that before and if you havn't either, well now's the time to check this thing OUT! It's a squash, but when you cook it, the inside s become really stringy, the same texture (although not quite as chewy) as spaghetti noodles. You just run your fork through it and it comes apart in strands. Here's how I ate mine:

-Cut squash in half (careful, it's hard to do)

-Scrap out the seeds

-Put in microwave safe dish with a bit of water in the bottom and put the squash facedown.

-Microwave until soft enough to easily prick with a knife. Mine took a good 10 mins or so. You could also bake it in the oven for 10-15 mins at 350. (Oil the baking sheet with EVOO).

-Put squash on a plate and smoother with home-made tomato sauce and sliced Asiago (mmmm) I put the cheese slices under the sauce so they melted right away.

This half of a squash was a fair size and I ate the WHOLE half! The best part was that since it is squash, it's not starchy like pasta, so I did not feel super full or stuffed. I saved the other half for another dinner.

Fall Food

I like this recipe. It's relatively simple and something new to do with extra winter squash. I got this recipe from my mother in law and altered it to suit our needs. So I will post the recipe as I made it with the other options below.
It doesn't really photograph that well, but it taste good.

Squash Puff
3 cups cooked winter squash (I used acorn)
1/4 c rice milk
2 T flour
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 T orange zest
2 beaten eggs
2 T oil
2 T brown sugar + extra for topping

Mix together the milk, eggs, oil, and orange zest. Then add flour salt, pepper, and brown sugar. Mix again. Finally mix in the squash. Dump it all into a buttered 1 quart casserole dish and place dish inside another pan that has 1/2 inch or so of hot water (see my two pans). Sprinkle additional brown sugar on top, if so inclined. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes or until firm in the center.

Options:
*Use evaporated milk or light cream or regular milk in place of the rice milk. Apparently any sort of milkish product will do!
*Use melted butter instead of oil.
*You may want to use less pepper. This was a lot for this dish, but I can't decide if I like it or not. It definitely gives an added kick, so you'll just have to use your own judgement.

To cook squash easily: Pierce squash through with knife a couple of times, then microwave for about 5 minutes. When it is soft enough, cut in half and scoop out the seeds. Place skin side up, squash side down on a plate and microwave for an additional 6-8 minutes, until easily pierced with a fork. Then scoop out the squash and leave the skin behind!

Acorn Squash Quesadillas

Here's a unique way to use a fall vegetable.
I'm linking this directly from Deb at smittenkitchen.com. I made it and used a squash that was probably too large, so i saved 1/3 of it for another meal. I didn't have jalapenos so I just added some crushed red pepper instead. Also I added spinach and used Muenster cheese like she suggests. I put avocado/sour cream and some sliced red onion on it and just smeared it all together. it was quite good. :)

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/10/acorn-squash-quesadillas-tomatillo-salsa/

Farmer's Market Pizza

Hello, again!

It's been awhile since I've posted either here OR on my own cooking space, mostly since I've been in a food-rut: protein, protein, protein!! There's only so much I can do with the protein...plus, any veggies or fruit I've been eating have been pretty much straight from my shopping bag to my tummy, since fresh, organic produce from the Farmer's Market just really doesn't need to be improved on, in my book! :)

HOWEVER. We had a visitor this week, and I wanted her to meet some of my local friends, AND see some of the local color, so we downtown to meet some folks at the Thursday Farmer's Market, where we picked out some fresh veggies, and took them home to put on homemade pizza!

Here are the toppings we came up with:

Zebra-striped eggplant, summer squash, pepperoni and (sauteed) garlic.

Zebra-striped eggplant, mushroom and bell pepper.

Summer squash, banana pepper and pepperoni. (In the words of our houseguest: "It wasn't too hot...more 'tingly' than spicy!")

It was fun to try different combinations of these delicious (and beautiful!) veggies! It's a great way to get everyone involved in the cooking process, and I imagine it would make kids more enthusiastic about eating their vegetables! ;)

Fast and Easy Veggie Skillet

I love summer food, especially the vegetables that are abundant and cheap. This is a little meal that I kind of pulled together at the last minute, but I had gone to the store that day and picked up all the vegetables. It's yummy and easy and you can basically use whatever vegetables you want. If you want you can even skip the pasta and add some grilled chicken or shrimp.

Easy Veggie Skillet

2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion (you can use the whole onion if you want)
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1/2 pint grape tomatoes
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 box penne or rotini pasta
1/2-1 cup Parmesean cheese

Dice up all the vegetables and saute them (all except the tomatoes) in the oil for about 5 minutes until they're soft. Add the tomatoes toward the end of the 5 minutes. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top and stir to coat the vegetables. Meanwhile cook pasta and drain. Preheat oven to 350. In a quart baking dish combine the cooked pasta and vegetables, sprinkle generously with Parmesean cheese (as much as you want) and stick it in the oven for about 20 minutes to warm everything up and melt the cheese.

Twofer

Two recipes for you tonight.

Squash Puff (from my MIL)
3 cups cooked squash
1/4 cup milk (evap, cream, milk, whatever)
2 T flour
1/4 tsp salt and pepper
1 T orange rind, grated
2 beaten eggs
2 T melted butter
1 T brown sugar

Mix all together. Place in buttered 1 qt casserole dish. Place casserole dish inside another pan with hot water. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until firm in center.

I add extra brown sugar because we like things sweet around here. I even put some on top.

Next up, also meat-free:

Herbed Rice Pilaf from Gooseberry Patch: What's For Dinner?
1 T butter
1/2 c long-cooking rice, uncooked
1 T onions, diced or minced
1/4 t salt
pepper to taste
1/8 t each dried tarragon, thyme, basil, parsely
1/2 liquid (broth of some sort)

Melt butter in a small saucepan. Cook and stire rice and onion until onion is translucent. Stir in seasonings and cook for 1-2 additional minutes. Add broth; bring to a boil. Simmer, covered, until rice is tender and liquid absorbed. Serves 2.

I would recommend following the directions on the rice that you're using for the liquid to rice ratio. For example, I used to 1 cup of liquid to 1/2 cup rice. Also the rice directions should give you some idea of how long your rice will simmer. This was my first time making this. It's so simple and really quite tasty.

Get your soup on

Are you feeling vitamin A deficient? Then this is the soup for you:

Butternut Squash Bisque.

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon canola oil
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 diced onion
1 peeled and cubed butternut squash (about 4 cups)
3 cups water

3 bouillion cubes
salt and ground black pepper to taste
ground nutmeg to taste
1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Heat the oil and melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir the onion in the butter and oil under tender.
Mix the squash into the pot. Pour in water and bouillion, and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until vegetables are tender.
In a blender or food processor, puree the soup mixture until smooth. (Don't forget the lid for the blender -- very important. Return to the pot, and stir in the heavy cream. Heat through, but do not boil. Serve warm with a dash of nutmeg.

You can also smack a nice dollop of sour cream on the top.

I made this last week and we still have leftovers. It is not a soup to take lightly, as it is very filling! But it keeps you nice and warm on chilly nights.