Foolproof butternut squash soup

Seriously though, this soup is amazeballs and smells like Autumn.  I love it.  I love soups like this, equal parts creamy, rich, filling, and HEALTHY!  Yay!  Plus, pureed soups just scream out to have some nice fresh crusty bread dunked into them.  *Mouth watering now*.

You can't really mess up this soup, plus it can be ready in an hour (most of that time is roasting in hte oven).  Easy peasy.  Plus, it really doesn't require that many ingredients.  In fact, I first made this soup on one of those nights where I just tossed in whatever I had on hand and hoped it would turn out well.  Experimental soups always turn out yummy.  So far anyway.


Foolproof Butternut Squash Soup
serves 6
total time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 2 shallots, peeled
• 6 garlic cloves
• 4 yukon gold potatoes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons thyme
• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 1 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Roast the squash, shallots, garlic, and potatoes with the olive oil, salt, and pepper sprinkled on top on a parchment lined baking sheet for 40 minutes.
2. Remove the pan from the oven and scoop the contents into a large pot.  Add the broth, chili powder, and thyme and turn on to medium heat.  Stir occasionally for 5-10 minutes.
3. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup thoroughly.  Slowly stir in the white wine.  Remove from heat and slowly stir in the milk.  Serve immediately

Note:  This reheats in the microwave really well after being refrigerated up to a week.

Butternut Squash Risotto

This risotto was sooo good!  I was just playing around with new ways to use butternut squash.  I love it, but I don't always want to use it in the same old recipes every time.  I love figuring out new recipes that taste good, are healthy, and that the whole family loves.  Yay!

Jeff hates white rice (too sticky and mushy) so I used brown rice.  I liked the way the risotto turned out with it.  Not complete mush, but still soft.  Healthier with brown rice too.  If you're a purist you could use the traditional arborio rice,

This dish was great for the to eat.  Liam loves rice and squash, so he had no problems eating it (although he DID freak out for a while after he dropped his plate on the way to the table), and Jack is going through a MASSIVE independent phase where he refuses help eating.  The risotto is sticky enough to stay on a spoon pretty well, but not so sticky the the kids hands were a mess.  Jack ate about half his bowl full with his spoon, then gave up and tried to drink the rest.  :)

Bonus of making risotto?  I can see the TV from my stove, and I got to binge on Netflix while making dinner.  :)  This dish really didn't need a lot of close attention, just absent mindedly stirring, so I didn't have to worry so much about messing it up.

Butternut Squash Risotto
serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 48 oz chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups brown rice
• 1 medium butternut squash, small cubes
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
• salt
• black pepper
• 2 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 spoonful of sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Cover a baking pan with a piece of parchment paper and lay the cubed squash in an even layer on top.  Drizzle with 2 tsp of olive oil, and a light sprinkle of salt and pepper.  Bake for about 45 minutes, until squash is soft with lightly golden edges.
2. Dice the onion and garlic and saute on medium heat in a large pot with the remaining olive oil, and a light sprinkle of salt and pepper.  Stir occasionally for about 5 minutes, until fragrant and soft.
3. Add the rice and broth to the pot.  Leave the pot alone for about 20 minutes or so.  When the rice has absorbed most of the broth start stirring.  You'll be doing this pretty often from this point on.  Either stirring or watching the pot to see if it needs to be stirred.  When the squash is ready dump it into the pot.  Add the thyme and cayenne and stir everything together.  Taste and add more seasonings if needed.  When the rice is soft enough and the broth has been absorbed, the risotto is ready to remove from heat.  Serve immediately. 

note: some squash is sweeter than others.  If your squash isn't very sweet you might want to add a spoonful of sugar to your risotto.  Just stir it right in.

Autumn vegetable soup

Have I mentioned before how much I love soup?  It's the best.  Soup can easily be both healthy and delicious, this recipe is both.  This recipe in particular is great because you can make it from fresh produce, cans, or frozen.  Or a combination.  It honestly doesn't even matter.  It will still be delicious.

Start by dicing two shallots in some olive oil.

Sorry about you having to look at the horribly awful pot by the way.

These are your main ingredients.  Notice I'm using a mixture of fresh produce (pumpkin and potatoes), prepackaged (thyme and chicken broth), and frozen (parsnip grated and frozen from earlier).  Obviously the wine is prepackaged too.  Me making wine would no doubt be really gross.

Canned pumpkin works just fine, but if you want to use fresh pumpkin use an entire small pumpkin.  These will about equal a can of pumpkin puree.  Use a vegetable peeler to peel the skin off, quarter, and scoop out the goop with an ice cream scoop.  This is actually quick, easy work.

When the pumpkin is prepped, cut up into chunks and toss into the pot with the shallots, which should be very fragrant.

Toss in the parsnips and potato chunks and stir to combine.

Stir in the thyme, white wine, and chicken broth.  Stir occasionally.  Keep the soup on medium heat until the vegetables are very fork tender.  Use an immersion blender to puree.

Add in salt, pepper, and brown sugar.  Adjust to taste.  When the soup has thickened a little more, take it off heat and mix in the milk.  Serve immediately.

I love having this soup simmering on the stove on cold days.  The veggies and milk make it filling, it smells like Autumn, it pairs well with crusty bread and (more) wine, and c'mon, who doesn't love a soup that is sweet, savory, creamy, and healthy all in one bowl?

Autumn Vegetable Soup
serves 4

ingredients:
2 shallots, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp thyme
2 small yukon gold potatoes
1 parsnip
1 small pumpkin
6 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup white wine
salt and pepper
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1 cup milk

directions:
1.  Dice the shallots and saute in a medium pot with the olive oil on medium heat.
2.  Cut the pumpkin, potatoes, and parsnip into chunks and toss them into the pot.  Stir a bit and let them soften for a few minutes.
3.  Add the thyme, white wine, and chicken broth.  Stir occasionally.  When vegetables are very fork tender use an immersion blender until smooth.
4.  Add salt and pepper to taste, and the brown sugar.  Soup should begin to thicken a bit more.  Take soup off heat and mix the milk in well.

basic spaghetti squash with marinara

I wasn't very familiar with spaghetti squash until recently.  I had seen the occasional recipe using it on Pinterest, but that was about it.  Last week we got one in our produce box and I was pretty excited to try it.
Random tangent: We get a produce box delivered to us every other week and it is my favorite thing ever!  It is fresh, local, and has a good mix of basics (carrots and celery) and new or more exciting items (spaghetti squash and pomegranates).  I'd been wanting to try spaghetti squash in particular for a while, but I probably would have taken longer to remember to get one if one wasn't literally dropped at my doorstep.

First step is to cut the spaghetti squash in half long wise and scrap out in seeds and gunk in the middle.  Season lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Pop them in the oven at 350 degrees  F for 45 minutes.  For ease of cleanup place them on a lipped baking pan lined with parchment paper.

Remove from the oven when the squash is fork tender.

Note:  I only used half of the squash for this recipe because it was a huge one.  A single half still ended up being enough for four large servings.  I roasted and scraped both halves, but put half in a freezer bag in the freezer (duh) for later use.

In the meantime start the marinara.  Frankly, if you are in a rush or short on ingredients you can use store bought marinara, but I like this version better.  I wanted marinara that was loaded with garlic, something that wouldn't be too thick and chunky to overpower the squash.

Dice the garlic and saute it in a bit of olive oil for a few minutes.  Add 3 cups (fresh or canned) of diced tomato, and season to taste with basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and a dash of chili powder.  Cook on medium heat until the tomato juice has cooked down a bit and thickened.  If the sauce is done before the squash has finished cooking take it off heat and set it to the side.

When the squash is done take it out and let it cool to the touch.   Then grab a fork and gently scrape out the squash.  It should be very easy.  All that should be left is the hard outer edge.  Add the squash into the sauce and heat until warm.  Mix well to incorporate the sauce.

Sprinkle with parmesan cheese if desired.  I recommend having some crusty bread with this too.  Use it to soak up sauce.  So good!

As much as I love this recipe I would never lie and say that this tastes EXACTLY like pasta.  It is totally different but still amazing.  I feel like I had to say that because of my experience with tofu.  I might have liked tofu but I was told it tasted JUST like vanilla ice cream, so of course I took a huge bite of it and have hated it ever since.  So here it is again.  Spaghetti squash does not taste or feel like pasta, but still goes well with marinara and is delicious.

This dish also reheats really well.  You'd never know it was reheated in the microwave by the taste.

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basic spaghetti squash with marinara

by Liesl October-27-2014

like spaghetti but with way less calories

Ingredients

• 1/2 large spaghetti squash (or 1 whole small squash)
• 1 tbsp olive oil, divided
• pinch salt and pepper to taste
• 4 cloves garlic, diced
• 3 cups tomatoes, diced (canned or fresh)
• 2 tsp basil
• 1 tsp oregano
• pinch chili powder
• 1 tsp sugar (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut squash in half length wise. Drizzle each half with 1 tsp olive oil, and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Place on parchment paper on a lipped baking pan. Roast for 45 minutes or until fork tender.
2. While the squash is roasting start the sauce. Heat the diced garlic in a pan with the remaining 1 tsp olive oil. Cook on medium heat for several minutes until fragrant. Add the diced tomatoes and seasonings. If the sauce needs it, add the optional 1 tsp of sugar. Keep on medium heat, stirring occasionally until the liquid begins to evaporate and the sauce thickens. If the sauce is ready before the squash take it off heat and set to the side.
3. When the squash is done take it out of the oven and let it sit for a few minutes until it is cool enough to touch. If the squash is small use the whole thing, if it is large, set half aside to use later. Using a fork scrape the inside of the squash until all that is left is the hard outer part. The scraped squash should resemble spaghetti. Add this part in with the sauce and mix together well. When this is mixed well and heated to your liking, remove from heat and serve. Pairs well with parmesan and crusty bread. 
4. If you are only using half the squash for the recipe scrape the other half into a freezer bag and store in the freezer to use later.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins 
Cook time: 45 mins 
Total time: 1 hour 
Yield: 4 large servings