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!

Spicy Chickpea Soup with Roasted Peppers

Ingredients!

5 cloves garlic, chopped
Oil and/or butter (this is vegan if you skip the butter)
1 can chickpeas
Splash of lemon juice.
About 1 cup worth of chopped tomatoes 
1 red and 1 green bell pepper
Dry spices: thyme, garlic, onion powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper
1 and a half cups of broth or water

Steps:

First thing: start your peppers roasting. Do this using whatever method appeals to you or follow the instructions here.

Then start 4 of your garlic cloves in some oil and/or butter. Lately I have been reserving 1 clove and chop it much more finely to throw in raw at the end - when raw, garlic is a prebiotic (i.e. feeds the helpful bacteria) and also has antifungal/antibacterial properties.

While simmering, add spices and lemon juice. For the spices: I added a large amount of paprika because I want that red pepper flavor, and a couple shakes of everything else. Let your nose be your guide. FYI for cayenne & cinnamon, a little goes a long way.

When your garlic is tender add your chickpeas and water or broth. Bring back up to a simmer.

Then smash up your chickpeas somewhat. You can use an immersion blender or, if you're like me and don't have fancy cookware, just use a potato masher! It doesn't have to be a puree, just smaller chunks.

Let this simmer until your peppers are roasted. Peel your roasted peppers (let them cool first, dude, don't get burned!), chop them into bite size pieces and stir them in.

Add your chopped tomatoes and raw garlic and you're good to go!

This is way yummy for dipping bread in or just eating on its own.

Chickpea & Red Bell Pepper Soup

I'm trying to get a little more protein because I'm recovering from a muscle/tendon injury. Then I learned from Google that a cup of chickpeas has 39 GRAMS (!!!) of protein and so...

Ingredients:

1 cup water
Bullion cube (I use Knorr's vegetarian vegetable)
1 can of chickpeas
Quarter of a vidalia onion
1-2 cloves garlic
Butter
1 small red bell pepper
5 sundried tomatoes
Paprika, Garlic Powder, Turmeric, Cumin, Salt, Nutmeg (to taste)
Splash of lemon juice.
Potato flakes to thicken as desired

Chop up a few cloves of garlic and your onion and start them off in some butter. Chop up red pepper (doesn't have too be too small) and add that too. Add your spices. After they are a bit more cooked, add  your can of chickpeas (don't drain it).

Let these things simmer a bit and then use a slotted spoon to transfer your chickpeas and red pepper into a blender.
Keep the heat on and add half a cup of water, and your bullion cube, to the pot. Dice up sundried tomatoes pretty finely and add them too. Cover.
Now, add the other half cup of water to the blender and blend until it is a thick liquid. Add back to pot.

If you like it a little thicker (which I do) you can add a couple of spoonfuls of potato flakes which are my preferred soup thickener because they're hassle free and a bit more nutritious than plain white flour. Or you can whisk in some flour if you're good at that (I'm not!)

Stir. Add a splash of lemon juice. Stir more. Simmer for a few more minutes and 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!

Vegetarian Sausuage and Peppers Soup

This is really hearty, really filling, really good for you.

Serves two, or double it for more. I only had a little fake sausage left and so made a small amount.

Ingredients:

Gimme Lean Ground Sausage - 1/4 tube

2 Green Peppers, roasted

1 roma tomato

1/3 of a large spanish onion, diced

1 teaspoon olive oil

.5 tablespoon whipped butter

5 cloves garlic

Knorr Vegetarian Vegetable Bouillon

1-2 cups water

Cayenne pepper (optional)

First you will roast your peppers. Poke some holes/slits in with a knife so there is no risk of explodey peppers. Stick them in the oven on about 425 on a baking sheet or foil. Turn them every 10 minutes or so. When they are mostly black and splotchy (and/or start to look dangerously collapsey) take them out, and put them in a bowl covered with Saran wrap for 10 minutes or so. This lets the skin detach a little better. When cool enough you can peel them and remove the stem.

One of these peppers is going into the blender. The other one, chop up into small pieces.

Start off some garlic in your butter and oil in a medium pot. Add in small pieces of the ground sausage bit by bit. Then add your diced onions. When your sausage starts to brown and the onion looks a little translucent, add your chopped roasted green pepper too. If you want this a little spicey add some cayenne pepper here, too.  Cover, let simmer. Keep this on low and stir occasionally so nothing gets burnt or sticky. 

Chop your tomato into big pieces and stick that in the blender with your first roasted pepper. Add a little water. Blend until soupy, a few chunks are OK.

Add your blended veggies, one cube of bullion, and the rest of your water to the pot. Let this simmer for 10-20 minutes (longer is fine) so the bullion cube dissolves and the flavors get all nice and mixy. 

Serve!

Friggin amazing on its own or with added mozzarella, romano cheese, croutons or garlic bread.  

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!

SOUP-A-THON 2012: Avocado and Tomato Soup

How have I never made avocado soup before this day? I don't know what my problem is.

Serves 1-2.

Ingredients:
1 avocado
2 cups of broth (I used Knorr's Vegetarian Vegetable bullion)
1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice
half a long hot pepper (or 1 jalapeno, or whatever you feel is right), chopped finely
1 tomato, diced
1/3 of a medium red onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
Black pepper & garlic powder and/or any other spices you may wish to use
Olive oil

Coat the bottom of a medium pot in olive oil.  Chop your garlic finely and start it simmering. The goal is to let it get just a little brown, then turn the heat down or remove it from heat so it doesn't burn.

Add your hot pepper and onions. Let them cook a little bit. If you don't want this spicey nix the pepper. The more the hot pepper simmers in the oil the hotter it will be, so allow that to guide when you add it and how long you let the simmering go.  Add your spices in here.

Remove from heat when you feel your onions and pepper are cooked enough (I like my onions a little raw but I realize not everybody does).

Peel your avocado and remove the pit, and put the avocado into a blender with your lemon juice and broth. Note: if you just made the broth, you should wait until it is warm not hot.  Blend until these things are nicely pureed, then pour this mixture into your pot with the onions, pepper, garlic and oil.  Also, add your chopped tomato.

While stirring, heat until hot but don't let the soup boil. Apparently avocado can separate and get not good.  So don't do that.  Just heat until it is eating temperature.

Serve!

Possible awesome garnishes: cilantro, sour cream, some kind of nice latin american cheese...

SOUP-A-THON 2012: Tea & (Fake) Sausage Soup

Ingredients:
Gimme Lean Ground Sausage - 1/4 of a tube
3 tea bags
3 cups water 
1 red potato, diced
6-8 baby carrots, chopped
1/4 of a large onion, diced
Ground sage - generous dash
Onion powder - generous dash
Black pepper - to taste
3 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 tsp Soy Sauce
1 extra large cube Knorr Vegetarian Vegetable Bouillon

Here is my confession: This was an experimental soup-a-thon soup and I thought at first that I had failed.  I originally made this without the last three ingredients, poured myself a small cup to taste, and found the broth pretty underwhelming. Then I went into Emergency Flavor Enhancement Mode and added the lemon juice, soy sauce, and bullion cube and let it simmer for a while and ... viola! it was really tasty!

So, here is how I would make this if I were going to make it properly from the start:

Start off hot water with three tea bags in a medium pot. What I did here was tie the tea bags to the pot handle. If this makes you nervous or you don't have tea bags with strings, you could just make 3 cups of tea first.
Chop your garlic, onions, potato, and carrots and add them in as they're chopped. They should be bite sized or smaller. Add your bullion cube too.
Make your sausage into bite sized chunks or balls and add that right to the pot.
Now, add your spices and also your lemon juice and soy sauce.
Let simmer for quite a while until your sausage is cooked and everything has blended. 20 minutes should be enough. Longer is OK too.

Serve!
If you're not vegan and feeling it, I bet some grated romano cheese would be awesome on this.

Serves 2 in big bowls or 4 people as a side.


Nutrition information: 
Total: 303 calories
Per serving if serving 2: 151.5 calories
Based on MyFitnessPal.com's nutrition 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.

SOUP-A-THON 2012

What's that you say? Soup-a-thon?

It's kind of like NaNoWriMo but it's for soup.  One soup per week, every week until my freezer is full or I just flake out on it too much to recover from. 

Pictured in that photo, by the way, is black bean soup and tomato-cheddar-pepper soup side by side in the same bowl. No, it is not Photoshopped, just carefully ladled. People call out Photoshop way too often these days. Sometimes stuff just really does look cool!  But I digress.

SOUP-A-THON 2012

The -thon is upon us. Every week I will post a new soup experience with photos and a recipe. I'm making big huge amounts so that I can freeze some and give some to friends and generally spread the yummy winter soup love. Halving or quartering these recipes should be fine, but I would advise you to use spice and bullion to taste, rather than doing math on my already guestimated amounts.

WEEK ONE: Apple-cheddar-potato-parsnip
WEEK TWO: Tea & Fake Sausage
WEEK THREE: Avocado & Tomato
WEEK FOUR: Cheesy Spinach & Tomato
WEEK FIVE: Broccoli Cheese
WEEK SIX: Vegetarian Sausage and Peppers

Beany Shroomy Love Soup

This is another "you should write this down" soup that my roommate likes. It's sort of vaguely asian tasting.

Ingredients:

-one can of black beans (16 oz)

-one can of water

-two bullion cubes (I like knorr's vegetarian vegetable)

-two scallions

-some olive oil

-a dash or two of cooking sherry

-four or five garlic cloves

-half a tsp to 1 tsp of smashed up sichuan pepper (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sichuan_pepper)

-a few spoonfuls of lemon juice

-6 fresh mushrooms, sliced.

-some cayenne pepper (to taste)

-optional: cubed mild cheese or firm tofu

Chop your garlic and scallions finely. Put them and some olive oil in a pot and on medium-low and let them get bubbling. Add your smashed up sichuan pepper and some cayenne pepper, if you're feeling it, now. Let this simmer a little bit, but stir it so your spices don't get stuck.

When you've bubbled a little bit, open your can of beans and dump that in (no need to drain it; this is soup we're making here). Add a can of water, and your two bullion cubes, and a few spoonfuls of lemon juice (this is a taste thing; go conservative and you can always add more later) and some sherry. Then add your mushrooms. If you're adding tofu you should add it here, but if you're adding cheese wait so it doesn't turn into a blob of doom. Then cover and let bubble for a while.

Ready! If you're adding cheese, scatter it and stir well so it doesn't turn into a blob. That's it!

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.

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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.

Black Bean Soup

Man: soup is my favorite thing ever.  PS, this soup is totally vegetarian and totally hearty.  The two can coexist happily, and do so all the time in my kitchen.

Ready?

Serves: Two people as a meal, maybe three or four as an appetizer.

Ingredients:

1 can of black beans

Small amount of oil or butter

Garlic

Half an onion

A tomato or two

Red wine (spicy is nice-y)

1 vegetable bullion cube

Some water

Okay so!  This recipe starts like all my recipes: start off some chopped garlic and onions simmering in oil.

Typically I use olive oil but the other day I ran out and used Toasted Sesame oil instead.  Let me tell you: that was a fun substitution!  It makes it a little nutty or something.

When you're satisfied with your garlic and onions (it's great to brown the garlic a little), dump in your can of black beans.  (Note: I often use the verb "dump" when telling you to add ingredients, which, in addition to not sounding totally gourmet, can be hazardous when dealing with oil!  Watch for splatters.)

Add a generous amount of wine.  Do we have to be measurey?  Not a full glass or anything, but certainly add enough for a coupla hearty Italian toasts.

I used Yellowtail Shiraz-Cabernet tonight.  It was pretty good.  Yellowtail: they know what to do about wine and there's a picture of a kangaroo.  Who can complain?

Oh, and toss in your bullion cube, and add in ohhhh let's say a cup of water.  Just to make it, y'know, soupy.

Let it simmer for a while.

Dice up your tomatoes nice and small.  Also nice here is to chop up a bit of raw onion and use it as a garnish.  It complements the beany flavor very nicely.

When you feel your simmering is complete, throw on your tomatoes and onions and serve!  It's all about lots of bread and butter with this soup.

Garlic & Pinto Bean Soup

This serves, I think we can safely say, two or three people as a meal and perhaps more if it's just appetizer soup.

You will need:

-a can of pinto beans

-a bunch of garlic, both fresh and powdered.  (I used half a head!)

-half an onion

-2 cups vegetable broth

-cumin

-thyme

-3-4 tablespoons of lemon juice.

-some olive oil.

Chop up your garlic (make it a little chunky) and dice up your onion.  I usually hold back some of the onion so that I can have a nice raw onion garnish at the end; this is up to you.  Start off your garlic and onion simmering in some olive oil on medium-low.

Shake garlic POWDER onto this--yes, this soup hails from Garlic Town.  Be as copious as you like.  Also shake a generous amount of cumin on there, and a pinch or two of thyme.

Let these things get a little tender and then add your beans, which you needn't bother to drain since we are, after all, making soup.  Also throw in your lemon juice here.  Cover it and stir it and let it simmer for a while.  Feel free to add some more garlic and cumin if the spirit moves you (it always moves me).

Get your broth going now -- whether in the microwave or on the stove.  Personally, I favor Knorr's Vegetarian Vegetable bullion.

When the broth is brothy and ready, pour it in.  Keep uncovered and let the soup simmer/boil a bit more--there is no real science to this, just that soup gets better as it gets simmery.  I take as much time as I need to clean up and butter some bread, and then I usually get impatient and decide soup is served.  Soup's easy: ss long as it's hot, it's ready, but you can't oversimmer either.

There's your story!  I rocked this out with a buttered ciabatta roll today, which was both delicious and unpronounceable.  I recommend it!