Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash, cubed (about 3 cups)

2 medium potatoes, cubed

2 medium onions, diced

4 stalks celery, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

8 Tbsp butter*

6 cups vegetable stock

white pepper

nutmeg

cayenne pepper

cinnamon

curry powder

green onions, sliced

*I used vegan buttery spread

Instructions:

1. In a large pot, melt 4 Tbsp butter. Add onions and sauté for 5 minutes.

2. Add remaining butter, potatoes, squash, celery, and carrots to pot and sprinkle with white pepper. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add stock to the pot, covering all vegetables (about 6 cups). Sprinkle with cayenne pepper, curry powder, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir.

4. Bring to a boil, then lower heat, cover, and let simmer for 35 minutes.

5. When vegetables are tender, remove from heat. Transfer in batches to a food processor and blend until smooth.

6. Optionally, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chopped green onions to serve.

This is another wonderful fall recipe! I took a recipe from a friend of mine and combined it with a recipe from a cookbook I own to create this recipe. It's so delicious, and really just warms you up. I can't wait to go eat the leftovers tonight after my bike ride home from class in the cold!

Garlic Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups lentils

2 onions, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 carrots, diced

2 Tbsp olive oil

3 bay leaves

large pinch of oregano

3 1/2 cups vegetable stock

salt and pepper

chopped cilantro, to garnish

Instructions:

1. Put all of the ingredients except for salt, pepper, and cilantro in large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat.

2. Lower the heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent lentils from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

3. Remove the bay leaves.

4. Salt and pepper to taste, garnish with cilantro to serve.

This was an incredibly easy recipe. I would recommend having some extra stock handy though, because I feel like this ended up not being very soup-like. I think more stock should be added periodically throughout the cooking process perhaps. But overall, it had a very nice flavor, so I recommend this recipe to all of you people out there who claim to not know how to cook. This recipe will convince you that making good food is actually pretty easy.

Pumpkin Seeds

It's almost Halloween, which means a lot of you probably are itching to start carving up some jack o' lanterns! Make sure you save the seeds from your pumpkin to make an easy and delicious snack!

I saved the seeds from my pumpkin carrot risotto to make my pumpkin seeds!

Instructions:

1. Separate the seeds from the pumpkin membrane. Rinse any excess membrane off with water.

2. Put the seeds on a paper towel and allow to dry for several minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray and distribute pumpkin seeds evenly over the cookie sheet. If desired, sprinkle with salt.

5. Bake in the oven for 10-20 minutes or until golden brown. Turn over once halfway through.

I'd never made pumpkin seeds before tonight! I almost burned them because I forgot about them, but Roommate #2 happened to ask me what I had in the oven and crisis was averted!

Pumpkin Carrot Risotto

Ingredients:

8 Tbsp butter (or margarine)*

1 onion, finely diced

9 oz pumpkin, diced**

3 medium carrots, diced

8 cups vegetable stock

2 cups arborio rice

romano or Parmesan cheese

nutmeg

black pepper

sliced green onion

*I used vegan buttery spread so that roommate #1 could eat this

**This is what the recipe calls for, but in actuality I have NO IDEA how much pumpkin I used

Instructions:

1. Cup up your vegetables. When you cut your pumpkin, remove the seeds, inner membrane mushy stuff, and outer skin, but save the seeds to bake yummy pumpkin seeds!

2. Heat 4 Tbsp butter in a large heavy saucepan. Add onion and fry for 2 minutes or until soft.

3. Add the pumpkin and carrot and cook for 10 minutes or until tender.

4. In a separate saucepan, warm your stock and keep it at the simmering point.

5. When the pumpkin is tender, mash the mixture slightly with a potato masher.

6. Add the rice to the vegetable mixture and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

7. Add one ladle-full of stock to the vegetable mixture and stir evenly.

8. Continue stirring constantly for 25 minutes, adding one ladle-full of stock at a time. (You may not end up needing to use all of your stock, or you may run out and need to add water. I personally had about a cup and a half of stock left at the end.)

9. When the rice is tender and creamy, remove from heat. Add remaining 4 Tbsp butter, and nutmeg and black pepper as desired. Stir, then cover and let sit for 5 minutes.

10. Top with grated Parmesan and green onion to serve.

This is an amazing and wonderful seasonal dish! Roommate #2 actually told me that this is the best thing I've made so far. I of course am a huge fan of nutmeg, so I loved the nutmeg flavor of this, along with the pumpkin.

In case anyone is wondering, I used a pumpkin called a Sugar Pumpkin. It was wonderfully flavorful!

I'm living in a place now that has actual seasons, so it really feels like fall, and having a nice fall dish for dinner tonight felt really... nice. This meal was quite a bit a work; it was more effort than I typically am willing to put out on a school night, but it was definitely worthwhile. It was really warming and comforting on a chilly day like today.

Grilled Caprese Sandwich

Ingredients:

olive oil

2 slices rye bread

mozzarella cheese, sliced

tomatoes, sliced

fresh basil leaves, whole

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil in small frying pan.

2. Arrange desired amounts of cheese, tomato, and basil leaves between slices of bread. Place in frying pan.

3. After one side is nicely grilled and cheese has begun to melt, remove from pan.

4. Add more olive oil to pan and place sandwich back on pan, ungrilled side down.

5. When both sides are evenly grilled, remove from pan and serve.

This is probably my all-time favorite sandwich. I make them all the time for a quick meal, or to have with soup. Olive oil makes a wonderful grilled sandwich, much better than butter in my opinion. I like the olive oil flavor. This isn't the kind of thing that really needs a recipe of course because it's so simple, but it's just something I thought I'd share for anyone who's tired of eating plain old grilled cheese sandwiches with American cheese (bleh!) and butter.

Curried Celery Soup

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped

1 leek, white part only, sliced

5 cups celery, sliced

2 tsp olive oil

1 Tbsp curry powder

1 1/2 cups potatoes, washed, unpeeled, diced

3 3/4 vegetable broth

bay leaves

dried rosemary

dried thyme

fresh chopped herbs (e.g., basil and cilanto)

celery seed

Instructions:

1. Heat the oil in a large pot. Add celery, leek, and onion and cover. Allow to cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add curry powder and continue to cook uncovered for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add potatoes, vegetable stock, a couple of bay leaves, thyme and rosemary.

4. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes, until all vegetables are tender.

5. Remove bay leaves.

6. Transfer soup to a blender or food processor and process in batches until smooth.

7. Add the mixed herbs (I used fresh basil and cilantro) and salt and pepper to taste.

8. Garnish with celery seed to serve.

This is another wonderful cold day meal. Blended soups are a favorite of mine; they somehow feel heartier and more filling. This soup is great with a yummy grilled cheese sandwich!