Pumpkin Puree for Coconut-Pumpkin Soup

I may not be able to make a convincing case for this, but -- this is not exclusively a blog about winter squashes.

It maybe be about pumpkin today, but not forever. Eventually we will have to break down and start eating other kinds of foods (preferably squashes).

With the previously mentioned haul of garden goodness from my parents came along a "Winter Luxury" pumpkin, a fancy netted pie pumpkin with sweet, tender flesh and the coolest of all the pumpkin varietal names.

Liz found this recipe for coconut pumpkin soup, and I thought: yes. That is a good idea.

The recipe itself is pretty easy, so here's the scoop (LOL because of the seeds I am so clever) on making your own puree:

Start with your whole pumpkin. Give it a rinse and a dry, and cut it in half with a heavy knife.

Clean out the seeds and strings, maybe you will need a spoon, maybe you will need some scissors and a lot of patience. Anyway.

Roast this, face up, on a baking sheet at 450 degrees for like an hour. I just checked every 10-15 minutes, and when you could slide a knife in, I took it out to cool.

When it's all-the-way cool, scoop out the flesh and puree in a food processor. If you have a big "for realsies" food processor, one pie pumpkin is gonna be like one batch, but if you have only a MiniPrep, it will take like 2.3 batches.

That's it! It's creamy, and sweet, and delicate, and super-pumpkin-y. We took out most of this for delicious soup:

But we saved a little bit to swirl into our morning oatmeal with some cinnamon and maple syrup. This, too, was delicious.

Black Bean Pineapple Soup-Stew-Chili

One of my favorite blogs is the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.  Susan's recipes are full of flavor and very WW-friendly.  And her pictures are gorgeous, making the site a delight to read!

So when I saw the recipe for Black Bean Pineapple Soup-Stew-Chili, I decided I had to try it.

Not quite a pretty as the pictures on the site, but you get the idea.

This is definitely on my list of foods to make again.  It was spicy, filling, and easy - all at about 210 calories a serving!  There is only one thing I'd do differently - instead of using crushed pineapple, next time I make this, I'll probably use chunks of pineapple.  The crushed pineapple added sweetness to the stew, but it would have been really satisfying to be able to bite into a big piece of sweet pineapple while eating this.

Vegetable Noodle Soup, or, Liz learns to make stock

Those of you that know us know that Matt is the cook in this family.  If left to my own devices, my diet would like consist of noodles and canned sauces, frozen dinners, and other meals that consisted of 3 or less ingredients and a microwave.

So with Matt and I both down and out with a bad head cold, my first thought was to open a can of soup.  But Matt convinced me that there is a better, tastier way to get the soup that I wanted: make it myself.  From scratch.

Roasted Vegetable Stock

Pre-heat oven to 350.

3 carrots

2 golden beets

1 small onion

Coat with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Roast for about 30 minutes.

After roasting, combine:

Roasted vegetables

3 stalks of celery

6 stems of fresh flat leaf parsley

3 dried bay leaves

1 tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp fennel seeds

1/2 tsp allspice berries

Put all ingredients in a pressure cooker, add water, bring to a boil, and then cook for 30 minutes at pressure.  Strain, and you have your stock!  I used a gold coffee filter to strain - it has a very fine mesh, and can handle hot liquids.  

A couple notes on the stock: you don't have to roast the vegetables.  We roasted them because we knew the stock was for a brothy soup, and roasted vegetable stock has a deeper, roasted flavor.  If you are in a hurry, though, you can put the vegetables in the pressure cooker unroasted.  If you are really in a hurry, you can make the soup below with store-bough vegetable stock.

Vegetable and Noodle Soup

Once you have the stock, it's time to turn that into a meal.  I was trying to get something close to the Chicken Noodle Soup of my childhood, but, obviously, without the chicken.  Or the heaping serving of sodium that comes from normal canned soups.

1/2 lb. white button mushrooms

1 small onion

3 stalks celery

2 small carrots

8 cups vegetable stock

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 oz. vermouth

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1cup dried bowtie pasta

3 bay leaves

1 Tbsp oregano

2 tsp thyme

1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger

Salt and Pepper to taste

Cut up mushrooms, onion, celery, and carrots into bite sized pieces.  Saute mushrooms in oil.  Combine vegetables, herbs, and ginger in a stock pot with stock.  Bring to a boil, then simmer until vegetables are soft.  Add vermouth, bring back to a boil.  Add soy sauce and nutritional yeast.  Add noodles, and bring back to a boil until noodles are cooked.  Serve and enjoy!

For my first batch of stock, it turned out great!  The mushrooms add a texture that is missing from a lot of vegetable soups, and it hit the spot.  It's going to earn a place in my recipe book alongside camomile tea and cold medicine for the common cold.

Bean Soup

Bean soup is one of our go-to recipes - simple, filling, and cheap.  Doesn't always look pretty, but it's delicious.  This recipe is also a good way to combine any leftover beans and vegetables.  This is what we had tonight, but really, any combination of beans and aromatics will do the trick.

Makes 6 servings.

1/4 pound dried adzuki beans

1/4 pound dried canellini beans

1/4 pound dried roman beans

1 small onion

3 stalks celery

1 carrot

4 cloves of garlic

1 yellow bell pepper

2 T olive oil

2 T salt

2 T pepper

2 T oregano

2 bayleaves

1 oz. vermouth

1. Soak beans

2. Combine the aromatics (everything that isn't a bean or a spice or vermouth) in a pan and cook over medium heat until soft

3. Add beans, spices, and water to the consistency you want

4. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 hours

5. Add vermouth and garnish with parmesan cheese and Frank's Red Hot Sauce

PP+ Value: 6 (not including cheese)

Note: You can add nutritional yeast instead of cheese to veganize.