Curry soup

I opened my fridge yesterday and noticed a drawer full of produce that was on the edge of being too ripe. Sarah had been talking about making soup on Saturday, so I thought why not? My problem though was my produce wasn't exactly soup friendly. I had in my possession: small acorn squash, yellow squash, handful baby carrots, two very small yellow potatoes, 1 green pepper, 1 yellow pepper and 1 orange pepper.

Oy.

So first I cut up (except the peppers), sprayed them with cooking spray, sprinkle of salt, and roasted them until they were all soft. Once they finished, I added them to my dutch oven that had 4 cups of vegetable stock simmering. The green pepper never made it because when I opened it up, I found a grub type worm baked inside. Soooo gross.

Anyways, I let all this simmer away on med-low with the lid on, occasionally mashing them. I decided I wanted to have this thick base which, if I had an immersion blender, would have been easy. Once everything was happily mushed, I decided on a curry soup because I had those things on hand. I added a can of coconut milk + 1/2 can water, 1 can organic pumpkin puree, 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes and about a cup of dry brown rice. I seasoned liberally with curry powder then added a little salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic and cayenne pepper. Let it all simmer on low with the lid on for about an hour, just until the rice had softened.

It turned out well. I wish I had lentils instead of the rice but still pretty good. At work I found a red pepper that was about to go, so I chopped that up and added it to the top. Made a huge pot, so at least I'll have lunches all week.

Stats: makes 8, per serving: 224 cal, 28 gm carbs, 11 gm fat, 4 gm protein

Day 1, pumpkin pudding

So far so good! Better be though, it's only 10am. Anyways, I started my day juicing kale, a grapefruit, some ginger and half a cucumber. Then I made my current favorite breakfast.

I've mentioned over and over and over about my love of pumpkin. When I saw the recipe for this, I jumped on it and as a breakfast, it's pretty good. It has enough fiber and protein that I don't get hungry. Plus, it's fairly cheap.

Just doesn't look pretty. Anyways, it also opened my eyes to the wonderful world of chia seeds. These little things are a super food and in my eyes, better for you than my trusty flax seeds. Rich in omega-3 fatty acids, they are also full of antioxidants (so much that they don't go rancid quickly), fiber, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron and zinc. You can eat them raw, but I think the best way to eat them is to soak them in some water or whatever liquid you are cooking with and when you do, they expand 10 times their size in the water they are retaining.

For this recipe, I soaked about a tablespoon, maybe a little more, of chia seeds in about 1/2c vanilla coconut milk for 10-15 min. Really I just soaked them while I juiced then cleaned up. After, I mixed the gelatinous mixture with half a can of pumpkin, a little cinnamon and two sugar in the raw packets. For added protein, I melted 1tbs of organic crunchy peanut butter with a touch of hot water and mixed that in.

There you go! A healthy, raw breakfast.

Pumpkin hummus

Please excuse the ugly picture, I've already dug into this quite a few times. It's no secret my love for pumpkin. I think more posts in this blog are about pumpkin than any other food. Anyways, I like to roast pumpkins but there was sale at my store on organic pumpkin puree, so I stocked up on a few cans. I made pumpkin soup last week and want to make pumpkin curry soon, so I needed something else to make with my pumpkin. I was making my weekly batch of hummus and thought that's it, pumpkin hummus!

This recipe needs some tuning but it's pretty good. The pumpkin flavor is really just a hint that shines with cinnamon without being sweet. I've been putting it on my salads and it's not overpowering. Add an apple to the salad and it's the perfect fall meal. Let me know if you try it and put in anything different!

Pumpkin hummus

2 c chickpeas (I rehydrate a cup of dried beans by soaking them over night and boiling them the next morning for 30-45 min. Test 5 to make sure they are soft, boarderline mushy so they blend easier)

1-3 tbs leftover water from cooking chickpeas or from the can

1/2 can pumpkin puree

2 tbs tahini

1 tbs olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

salt to taste

cinnamon to taste

Puree all the ingredients in a blender or food processor except the water. I start with the chickpeas, then add the pumpkin, tahini, oil, lemon juice and salt. Add the starchy water until you get the consistency that you want. Transfer to a container, sprinkle with cinnamon and refrigerate. The flavors will really shine and come together if you let it sit for a half hour or so before serving. Enjoy!

DOUBLE POST

So long time, no post! Life has been crazy busy between work and school, so I've not cooked much. Lunch and dinner has been either peanut butter and jelly or a hodge podge of spinach, green beans and mushrooms. Yesterday though, after 4 grueling hours of econ homework, I came home and decided to make two recipes that would feed me through the week. These last few pounds before goal weight number 1 have been slow and stubborn to come off, so I decided to cook asparagus and chickpea casserole and mexican pumpkin soup from fatfreevegan. I modified them a little but overall, pretty fantastic.

Asparagus and Chickpea Casserole
(from blog.fatfreevegan.com) Serves 4-6
1 onion chopped
2-3 cloves garlic chopped
1 lb asparagus chopped into bite size pieces
1 pkg mushrooms chopped
2 big handfuls of fresh spinach
1 can rinsed chickpeas
1 cup plus 2 tbs vegetable broth
2 tbs flour
1 1/2 tbs nutritional yeast
3/4 c almond milk
salt, pepper, basil to taste
2 c frozen hash browns

Saute the onions and garlic over med heat until soft. Add mushrooms until they also begin to soften, then reduce heat to low, add 2 tbs vegetable broth and the asparagus and spinach, then cover and let cook for 3-4 min. Meanwhile, whisk together the remaining broth, flour, nutritional yeast and milk. Pour this mixture over the vegetables and when it begins to bubble, add the chickpeas and seasonings. When the sauce begins to thicken, put it in a casserole dish, cover the top with the hashbrowns and bake at 400 until the tops begin to brown and crisp, roughly 30 min. I think I had to turn the broiler on for mine for an additional 5 min.

Turned out really well! I love the idea of having hasbrowns as a topping versus breadcrumbs or crackers, and much better for you than cheese!

The mexican pumpkin soup is a little like a chili. I loved it. While making it, my roommate said "wow, you really do love pumpkin." I can't get enough. I'm sad that it's starting to get warmer out because that means this is probably the last pot of soup I'll make. That's okay though, just means gazpacho and avocado time is right around the corner.

Mexican Pumpkin Soup
(also from blog.fatfreevegan.com) Makes 4-5 servings
1 onion chopped
3 garlic cloves chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
5 med red potatoes chopped into bite sized pieces
1 can pumpkin puree (ugh, not the same as pumpkin roasted, but can't find that now)
4 c vegetable broth
1 can kidney beans
3 big handfuls of spinach
Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, dried herbs, all to taste

Saute your onion and garlic in a dutch oven on med heat. Reduce to low and add the remaining ingredients, then cover and let simmer for 30 min or until the potatoes are tender. I think she added 1/3 c soy or almond milk but honestly, I think it was awesome without and why add more calories?

Pumpkin

So a friend of mine likes to bake. I like to cook. We live about 15 min apart and decided the only logical thing to do is have a cooking party where we cook and bake themed meals. It's so much fun. Normally I don't like cooking with other people, but this woman fancies herself Julia Child, so I knew it'd be okay. The cool thing is, we decided the best thing to do is exchange recipe cards when we're making our meals. Fabulous, right?

So this week it was pumpkin. She definitely did more than me but it was fun. We had pumpkin soup (recipe below), spicy green salad with pumpkin vinaigrette, pumpkin cornbread and pumpkin cookies. We learned that smoked gouda goes wonderfully with a pumpkin vinaigrette. It was fun. Plus, we ate and had enough leftovers for us and our SOs to have dinner again tonight. I wonder what next week will be!

Pumpkin Soup
1 lb sausage (like the breakfast kind that you can make patties out of, make sure it's the kind you cook though)
1 onion
3 tbs butter
1 and 1/2 lbs pumpkin puree (so 1 16 oz can and one 8oz)
1 tsp dried thyme (little more if you have fresh)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup (not that fake syrup but maple. go without if you don't have it)
7 cups chicken stock
3/4 c cream (i used table cream because andrew isn't allergic to it, any cream would work really)
salt and pepper to taste

cook the sausage in 2 tbs butter on medium heat. once it is almost done, add the chopped onion and cook until it's soft, then reduce heat to medium low. Add the pumpkin puree and thyme and cook 5-7min. Add the chicken stock, brown sugar and syrup, mix well, sprinkle salt and cover. Reduce heat to low and cook for 45 min, stirring occasionally. Turn heat off and transfer small batches into the blender and puree the soup (don't add too much at a time, fill 3/4 of the way or it'll explode). Return the pureed soup back to the pot, stir in the 1tbs of butter and the cream. It should still be hot, so no need to turn the heat back on. If you do, heat the soup but do not let it reach a boil. Salt and pepper to taste.

This was really excellent with shredded smoked gouda on top. Otherwise, serve with a hunk of crusty bread. Very satisfying.