Cheesy Butternut Squash Soup With Hot Peppers

I am not a big squash person and I am ALSO not big on this mindset that the only way to make squash is with some kind of sweetish brown sugar/pumpkin pie spice situation. I like savory food! LET US NOT LIMIT OUR AUTUMNAL GARDEN VEGETABLES IN THIS WAY.  So here is a cheesy spicy soup with butternut squash.

Makes around 4 big bowls.

You will need:
A very big pot
Food processor or blender (...or potato masher if you're feeling really badass DIY?)
1 butternut squash
8 oz shredded cheddar*
Half a red onion, chopped finely
Half an orange pepper 
1 medium size hot chili pepper*, chopped finely
1-2 scallions, chopped
1 lemon or equivalent juice
4 oz half and half*
A bunch of tap water
2 big bullion cubes (I use knorr vegetarian vegetable)
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (leave out if you're not into spicy)
Some oil or butter to cook with
small bunch of fresh thyme or half a tsp dried thyme

*leave out the cheese & substitute water for the half and half if you want this to be vegan. 
**I used the longish twisty kind that go from green to orange. feel free to leave out if you're not into spicy or substitute with something more intense if you prefer

First, peel your squash and chop it into small cubes. This takes a while. Discard the pulp/seeds. Put all your squash in the pot, & just cover with water. Add your 2 bullion cubes & bunch of thyme and put on high. Bring to a boil, you will be letting it boil about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, chop up your orange pepper and add the pieces when there are about 3 minutes left. It's a shame to overcook peppers.You'll be blending all this so don't worry too much about chopping nicely or finely.

Remove from heat. Put your half and half and about a cup of cold water into your food processor/blender. Using a slotted spoon or strainer, transfer your squash & peppers into the food processor. If you used fresh thyme you can discard it now, we don't need to eat twigs and it has done its work. Don't discard the broth!!! Blend to a consistency you like with no big chunks. Then slowly pour back into the broth, stirring as you go. I unthinkingly dropped my food processor blade into my pot and had to rescue it with tongs, so really don't feel bad if you're not too graceful about this. Mix in your other spices (turmeric and cayenne pepper, if desired), put back on medium heat & cover.

Now. Cook your chopped pepper & onions in a small frying pan with some oil or butter. I used avocado oil which some wonderful benefactor got me as a wedding gift. Just cook until the onions are softer but not translucent. Then add this into your squash/broth situation and mix in.

Now you are going to add your cheese. I recommend adding it slowly and whisking as you go so it melts evenly and does not get clumpy. When it's nicely mixed in, whisk in your lemon juice in the same way, slowly stirring so it does not cause any seperation.

You're done! You can leave on low heat with a cover while you prepare anything else for your meal. Soup only gets better the longer it cooks. Garnish with chopped scallion & serve!

Cheap Burgundy Pesto With Mozzarella

(A "What's In the Fridge?" Adventure Pasta!)

Ingredients:
Pasta
1 cup of cheap wine
4 cloves garlic
olive oil
A bunch of basil, fresh or dried
Any other green herbs you have lying around that you think will work, fresh or dried
Cayenne pepper (optional)
Mozzarella
Grated romano or parmesan cheese.

Cook your pasta.
During this time, chop up garlic and put in a skillet with olive oil and wine, on medium heat. Add cayenne pepper if you're into that, as well as a ton of basil and other green herbs according to what you have and your whims. I had dried basil and a random container of dried "italian herbs" I inherited from a roommate.
Keep the heat on your wine-oil-herb situation to medium low. It can bubble but don't let it go crazy. But it's OK to reduce it somewhat.

When your pasta is ALMOST BUT NOT QUITE DONE, drain it and transfer into the wine-oil-herb situation to finish it. You can turn the heat up a bit. Let it cook a few more minutes.

Chop your mozzarella into small cubes and toss it in, mixing carefully to distribute it well.  Add a small ton of grated romano or parmesan (use your own judgment of what "a small ton" is) and mix well.

Serve!

Potato Garlic Halftime Soup

If, like me, you are ever watching a football game and then see a commercial for some sort of delicious creamy soup and you're like OH NO how can I eat something like that right now...
This soup is for you. Easy to prepare during halftime/commercial breaks.

Ingredients:
3-5 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons whipped butter
1/2 sprig of rosemary if available*
a few shakes of dried thyme
1 cup broth
1 cup milk
1 cup potato flakes (this makes it pretty thick, use less or more depending on desired thickness)
2 oz grated cheddar cheese
1 tsp lemon juice

*dried stuff is OK too; a sprig is just nicer because then you can pull it out after and not be left with branchy stuff in your soup.

Serves 1-2 people.

Chop garlic and start it simmering in butter with the rosemary sprig on very low heat. This way you can leave it until the next commercial.
On the next commercial, add your broth (or bullion and water if that's your fancy.)
On the following commercial, add flakes and then milk. Stir well. Adjust your thickness here with your flake to milk ratio if desired. Then add the grated cheese.
Let simmer, partially covered, until the next commercial break.
Add lemon juice & stir well/quickly so it doesn't interact badly with the milk.
Serve!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

I have long had a love affair with broccoli cheese soup and interestingly never made it.

Years ago, a friend's dad earned my cook-y respect in a major way by serving me his homemade broccoli soup that he made in a crock pot with cream cheese, frozen broccoli and cream (or milk? I can't remember).

More recently I had to break up with Panera's broccoli cheese soup when I learned it was not vegetarian. (Yeah, I guess the fact that there was no little "V" should have tipped me off earlier but what can I say... I was a woman in love.)  It was a rough breakup.

Anyway, here's my recipe from the other night. It came out really tasty. I didn't have any onions in the house, but if I had I would have added those too.

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1-2 tablespoons butter

1 cup water 

1 extra large knorr vegetarian vegetable bullion cube

1 cup milk

2 oz shredded cheddar.

8 oz whipped cream cheese

2 fresh broccoli heads, chopped up into very small pieces. You can get a little stem in there too.

Start off your garlic with your butter simmering in the pan. You want the garlic to get a little brown but not burnt. When that's accomplished, add your water and your bullion cube and stir. You can raise the heat. Add your broccoli too. Let your bullion do its bullion thing.

Now you're going to add your dairy stuff.

First add the cream cheese and STIR LIKE THE DICKENS. You want it to melt in. Stir a lot, keep the heat on the low side because if it boils it can separate (which doesn't really affect the flavor but looks pretty ugly).  When the cream cheese is incorporated fully into the soup, add your shredded cheddar and again, stir like the dickens until it is fully melted in. Add your cup of milk, still stirring.

When your milk, cheese and broth are well mixed and soup is hot enough to eat, it's done!

Serves 3-4.

SOUP-A-THON 2012: Cheesy Spinach & Tomato Soup

This took me under 30 minutes to make and tastes friggin' awesome.

Ingrdients:
1/2 a pound of fresh spinach
1 tomato, diced
2 cups of bullion (I used Knorr's Vegetarian Vegetable)
1/4 of a red onion, diced
3 oz finely shredded cheddar
1 cup finely shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup of fat free milk
Garlic, pepper, thyme
1-3 tablespoons of lemon juice (to taste)

Get your broth/bullion in a medium pot, on medium-low on a burner so it will be ready to go.
Wash and chop your spinach into smallish pieces. Also dice your onion.
Add spinach and onion to pot.
Add cheese to pot, stirring quite a bit so it doesn't glob up.
Add lemon juice to pot.
Add spices.
Add milk to pot, again stirring quite a bit.

Let simmer until cheese is all melted in. Your broth should be a nice buttery yellow color.

Add your diced tomato at the end.  Mix in.

Serve!

Makes about 4 servings and each serving is 195 calories. Booyah!

(Fake) Sausage and Mushroom Pasta

Ingredients: 

Tri-Color Rotini - 3 oz dry (1/3 of a 12 oz package)
Whole Wheat Rotini - 2 oz dry (it would be like 1/8 of a 16 oz package)
Gimme Lean Fake Ground Sausage  - 1/4 of a tube
Garlic - 2-4 cloves
Onion - a few slices, diced (optional)
White button mushrooms - 3-4
White Wine - 1/4 cup
Olive Oil - 1 tablespoon
Breakstone's Whipped Unsalted Butter - 1 tablespoon
Biazzo - Whole Milk Mozzarella Cheese - 4 oz
Sage (to taste)
Salt & Pepper (to taste)
Cayenne pepper (to taste, optional)

Cook your pasta according to package instructions or your whims.

Chop up your garlic and start it off in the butter and olive oil. Break/roll your fake sausage into small bite size bits and add them. Here you can add your chopped onion if you choose, or you can wait and add it raw at the end, which is my preference. Add some cayenne pepper here if you want this spicy.  And add your chopped mushrooms too.
When the sausage has browned, add the white wine, sage, salt and pepper and any other spices that appeal to you. Cover and let simmer until mushrooms and sausage are fully cooked.

Toss with pasta and serve!

Total Calories: 1202
Calories per serving: 401
(Calculated with the MyFitnessPal.com recipe calculator)

Apple-Cheddar-Potato-Parsnip Soup

I realize my soup names are not always the most creative, but no one can accuse them of being inaccurate!

I made a huge batch of this.  Halve or quarter this recipe at will, but as far as spices go it should always be to taste, so don't get too hung up on math!

Serves: 6 - 8 (around a 12 oz serving)

Ingredients:
Shredded cheddar - 8 oz
Red Potatoes - 5 medium
Parsnips - 2 medium
Gala apple - 3 medium
Lemon Juice - 2-3 table spoons
Knorr Vegetarian Vegetable Bullion - 2 extra large cubes
Water - 4-5 cups (less for thicker soup, more for thinner soup or unexpected company!)
Dried Sage - to taste
Nutmeg - a dash
Salt - a teaspoon or so, to taste

Peel your parsnips. Chop your potatoes and parsnips up into smallish pieces and cook in boiling, salted water until soft (10-20 minutes).  In the meantime, get 2 cups of water into a large pot with both bullion cubes and your spices. Place on lowish heat and cover.

Chop up your apples into smallish pieces.

Are your potatoes and parsnips ready? Good. Drain them.

Now you'll want to blend your potatoes, parsnips, apples and remaining water in a blender or food processor. You might have to do this in several batches! Use enough water to allow your blender/food processor to work without difficulty but not so much that you really thin out the soup. 2-3 cups total should be more than enough.

Add your blended potato-parsnip-apple goodness to your broth. It should be quite thick and you might have to guide it out with a spatula or wooden spoon. Mix well.

Add shredded cheddar, stirring as you do.

Stir occasionally and let this soup simmer for a while -- long enough so the cheese melts in. (For a rule of thumb try 10-15 minutes at least; more is always OK).

Then... serve!

Here are approximate nutrition facts, courtesy of the myfitnesspal.com recipe calculator. Serving size is around 12 ounces.

Microwaved Baked Potato Pizza With Tarragon

So, I don't have a stove! I can't really say what's wrong with it but it won't turn on and it's a really old gas stove so I'm leaving it to a questionable expert (my super) to examine it rather than risk burning my new apartment down.

I'm someone who really enjoys cooking awesome food despite unexpected limitations, so today I decided I would have toaster oven bagel pizza for dinner. But! My bagels went unexpectedly stale (too stale even for toasty resurrection).  And thus was born...

Microwaved Baked Potato Pizza With Tarragon


Serves: 1
Calories: 400 (this may vary depending on potato size and cheese saturation level)
Ingredients:
1 potato
Handful of Grape Tomatoes
Handful of Shredded Cheese (I used Sargento's Artisan Blend of Mozzarella and Smoked Provolone)
Small (a little goes a long way!) bunch of fresh tarragon
1 tbsp Butter
Lemon Juice
1 clove garlic

Start by microwaving your potato. Wash it and POKE HOLES IN IT FIRST! to avoid disappointing results like in-microwave explosion. Use a fork and poke deeply. Different potatoes take different amounts of time to bake in a microwave; if you feel uncertain start with 4 minutes and go from there.

While your potato is microwaving, chop up your garlic and tarragon very finely. Put them into a mug. Add lemon juice--just enough to sort of generously coat/cover your garlic and tarragon. Add a dollop of butter. Set aside.

Slice or chop up your grape tomatoes as you see fit.

When your potato is done, microwave your mug of butter, lemon juice, garlic and tarragon for 30 seconds or until butter is melted.

Cut your potato into quarters and fluff it a bit. Pour half the butter mixture over it. Then dump your tomatoes on top of it and then your cheese. Pour the rest of the butter mixture over it. Microwave this for 20-30 seconds.

Ta-da! Microwaved amazingness.

I ate this with a glass of cheap Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, which I feel goes fabulously with anything even vaguely Italian.

Tomato Cheddar Soup

Serves 3-6 depending on portion size. This is easy, fresh and delicious. If you have never had tomato soup made with fresh tomatoes, MAKE THIS RIGHT NOW.

Ingredients:

5 medium ripe tomatoes (I like roma tomatoes or fresh-on-the-vine)

half a head of garlic

6 leaves fresh basil

6 oz cheddar cheese

3 cups vegetable broth (I'm a big fan of Knorr's vegetarian vegetable)

olive oil

Salt, pepper, a little cayenne pepper if you're feeling it

Large splash of lemon juice

The best recipes are simple.

Get your broth going first. Heat in a small saucepan until bullion is dissolved or, if it's ready made broth, just until it's hot.

Slice your garlic up finely. Put it, and some olive oil, and your 6 basil leaves, ripped up, into a small saucepan on medium. Cover with a spatterguard OR with a cover that's not on all the way so steam can get out. When some of the garlic is golden brown, you're good to go. Add it to your broth.

Your tomatoes should be cut into medium-small chunks. Dump the tomato chunks into your blender and add maybe a cup of the broth--this just makes the blending easier.

Blend until liquefied. Add this to the rest of your broth in a pot. Add spices, lemon juice. At this point, by the way, you have an awesome base for ANY kind of soup if you like tomato-based soups.

Add your cheese, diced up into small pieces or grated. Cook on medium, stirring frequently and keeping loosely covered (some air should be able to escape so it doesn't boil over). Cook until the cheese is melted throughout the soup.

Ready to serve! Mmmmmmmmm.

Another Awesome Black Bean Recipe

Serves 2, or perhaps 4 if it's an appetizer.

Ingredients:

1 can of black beans (15.5 oz)

1 avocado (the smaller ones that look like reptile eggs, not the big bright ones)

4-5 cloves of garlic

Small bunch fresh cilantro (leaves from 2-4 stalks is good)*

Half a cup of cranberry wine**

Big handful of Queso Blanco, cubed***

Olive Oil

Black Pepper

Cayenne Pepper

Paprika

*Cilantro has a lot of personality so if you don't like it, leave it out or go for parsley instead.

**I just happened to see and buy cranberry wine last week, for the first time ever. You can substitute cranberry juice, but it needs to be the real deal--all cranberry juice, no added sugar or corn syrup.

***Or feel free to substitute with a cheese you like better. Firm and mild is good.

Chop up your garlic finely, and put it in some oil in a medium sized pot, over a medium sized flame. You want to let it bubble and brown but not get too burnt. You may want to put a spatterguard or cover it partially to avoid spitting oil.

When your garlic is brown, add your can of beans (don't drain) and your cranberry wine or juice. Add your cayenne pepper, paprika, pepper. I just used a few shakes of each. Turn on high for now to get it nice and hot, but once it starts really bubbling you will want to reduce the heat until it just simmers.

While it is simmering, slice up your avocado into small manageable slices, and chop up your cilantro very finely. The best way to do this is with a big sharp knife and a lot of small chops. (AND CAUTION, PEOPLE! Kitchen safety please.)

Let it simmer for 10 minutes or so, them remove from heat, add your cilantro and your cheese, and stir immediately so that the cheese does not glob together into a cheeseball of doom. Avocados go on top. Ready to eat!

notyouraverageveggiesoup

So yesterday I was really hungry and I was all "I will make a soup that is both tasty and good for me!" and then I did and it was cool.  And I let my roommate know there was soup and then 20 minutes later there was a general facebook announcement that I was being locked in the basement so that I could make that soup for her every day.

I would like to point out: (1) that we live in an apartment and don't have a basement and (2) that if we did, it probably wouldn't have a kitchen in it.  However, (3) thanks, Lisa.  In honor of her general plan of imprisoning me, I have let her title the soup, and she has: "notyouraverageveggiesoup".  (She possibly didn't mean for me to keep it all one word and lowercase like in her text, but HA HA HA I have anyway.)

Ingredients!!

half a head of garlic, chopped
5 oz mozzarella, diced 
Small amount of onion (maybe a quarter of a small-medium one), diced finely 
1-2 small spicey peppers, chopped finely 
2 nice sized mint leaves 
small bunch lime basil 
lemon juice 
6 medium white mushrooms, sliced 
1 crown broccoli, chopped into small florets 
2 cubes Knorr vegetarian vegetable bullion 
4 cups water 
spices: cumin, garlic powder, black pepper, ginger, thyme. 
olive oil 

Start off your garlic and chopped peppers (I used thai peppers from a friend's garden) simmering in a little olive oil.  You don't need a ton.  While this is going on, rip up your mint leaves and lime basil to release the flavor and add those in.  Then add your spices according to your taste, and finally add a few tablespoons of lemon juice.  I don't have a hard and fast rule about how much of what to add.  Go to your taste.  I tend to be liberal with my spices.  Also, know that a key thing is getting your lemon juice and your cumin into a good balance, and feel free to add additional spices and lemon juice as you're cooking.

Once you feel your garlic is nicely simmered, add 4 cups of water and 2 cubes of Knorr vegetable bullion (or just 4 cups of whatever type of bullion or soup base you choose).  Also toss in your mushrooms and your broccoli.  Cover it.  Leave it on medium and let it get bubbly.  Check it and stir it now and then.

Now is a good time to dice up your cheese and butter your bread, if you desire to have bread with your soup.  I enjoyed this particular soup with onion rye.  Pretty much, it's the best bread ever, after San Francisco sourdough.

Once you feel your soup is nicely cooked (your mushrooms and broccoli should be smaller and cookeder, your bullion should be dissolved, etc) it is ready to serve.  Your diced onions and cheese go as a garnish (that's right, the onions are raw on purpose, which is why we're not using so many of them) sprinkled into each individual bowl.  (Stir carefully when you add your cheese, so you can avoid it turning into a huge CheeseLump.)  

Soup is served!

Cheesy Yucca soup

So the story behind this is that I live in a really latino neighborhood and there are a lot of very exciting roots in my grocery store. Like, there's the produce section, and then there's an equally large "bins of roots" section.

It is a goal of mine to learn what the heck to do with them all. Knowing my friend Michelle knew how to cook yucca, I invited her over to my house to teach me. Which she did; however, this is not the story of HER yucca recipe because that would be stealing. Rather, this is the story of "Why did you buy so much yucca, rorie?" and what I did with the remainder.

(For the record, I bought so much yucca because there were so many different sizes a root could be! She told me to buy two roots, but not knowing what size of a root she was referring to, I bought one small, one medium, and one large and felt pretty good about it. In closing, I still have a lot of yucca lying around.)

Anyway, we boiled two big yucca roots, chopped up, and only ended up frying and eating one of them. So I had all this boiled yucca in my fridge. And thus was born...

Cheesy Yucca Soup

Serves, I'm going to say, 3-6 people depending on your serving size

Ingredients:

1 medium(I guess?!?!) yucca root, boiled for 20-25 minutes*

Half a vidalia onion

Half a head of garlic (look at me showing restraint with garlic)

A few tablespoons of flour

Butter & olive oil (enough for frying & to make a roux)

Cheese of your choosing (I used 4 ounces of cream cheese & 5 slices of American)**

2.5 cups of bullion broth (I use Knorr's vegetarian vegetable & usually put in an extra cube)

half a cup of milk

quarter of a cup of Vermouth (if you don't have it don't sweat it)

A hand blender (that's not an ingredient, but it is something you'll need)

Spices:

A few shakes each of Garlic powder, black pepper, ground oregano,

Cayenne pepper to taste

2 teaspoons Soul Seasoning

*I think the best way to chop and peel a yucca root is to invite your friends over to teach you to make yucca and let them do it while you do other preparatory things. But in essence, the way to do it is to hack all of the waxy root skin off with a knife, then cut it in half lengthwise (pretty difficult), then yank/hack all of the strings in the center out, then chop it into medium-sized chunks that you will boil. DON'T HURT YOURSELF. I'm serious.

If you fear or can't locate yucca, you can always make this with potatoes instead (but that's kind of wussy).

** If you opt for something fancier in the cheese department, I imagine your soup will be that much better. In a perfect world I would have skipped the American and gone for an equal amount of cheddar. That cube cheese with the happy cow on it would probably also be great.

First you're going to make your roux. Have I told you how to make a roux yet? I don't think I have.

Here's How to Make a Roux

OK, so you start off heating up some oil and/or butter in the pot you intend to make your soup in (it should, by the way, be a pretty large pot). Use enough oil/butter to cover the bottom of the pot, and get it reasonably hot but not so it's spitting at you (best done by putting it on high to get it hot, but turning it down to medium-low before it gets too hot). I usually throw in my spices at this point so they are in my soup from the very beginning (you can always adjust later, of course). Get the oil/butter nice & hot and add a heaping tablespoon of flour. You now want to stir/smush around very quickly with one of those flexible spatulas, so it becomes a paste without any lumps. (Some people prefer to wisk. I think they're weird, but you can do that if you want.) Continue with another tablespoon or two of flour. It will get crazy thick. You want it too. Just make sure it's evenly thick, and not lumpy. Then, VERY SLOWLY, add broth and keep stirring/smushing with your spatula or wisk. You need to be very slow, and very stirry, so you don't get lumps. Take your time until you have added all your broth.

-----

Add in your chunks of boiled yucca, and also your onion. Your onion should be diced as small as possible. Stir. Add your milk, and your vermouth, as well, stirring frequently.

Now you're going to let your soup do its thing on medium heat for a while, and you'll stir it here and there. While that's happening, slice up your garlic however you like and get it frying in some more oil. You'll want it to get golden-brown but not burnt. Keep an eye on it.

While your garlic is frying, add your cheese to your soup and stir. Once your garlic is ready, dump that in (oil and all) and stir a little more.

Now you're going to let your soup do its soup thing for another little bit. You can cover it, but make sure the heat isn't too high (medium is plenty) and stir it now and again. When all the cheese seems to be melted evenly, take it off the heat.

Wait for it to stop bubbling before you use your hand blender. Then, um, use your hand blender. Blend it to wherever you like; I like mine thick and a tiny bit chunky. Yucca can be sneaky, so make sure you find all your big chunks. Go slowly and don't start the hand blender until it's in the soup, so it doesn't spatter you.

Then you're done!

A dash of lemon juice is a great garnish to give a serving of this a zing. I would only add it as a garnish, not while you're making the soup. That's how I roll.