Roasted Vegetable Soup

Roasted vegetables... yummy... Soup... yummy...

I'm also hoping this will get Natty to eat some veggies. It's not green and he can use his new found spoon skills, so I have my fingers crossed.

Roasted Vegetable Soup
1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
1 yellow onion, peeled and quartered
1 kohlrabi, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 quart chicken stock (or vegetable stock if you want to go totally vegetarian)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cumin
Plain yogurt or sour cream
Prepare vegetables, coat with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast in 400 degree oven. Veggies are done when you they slide easily off of a fork. Transfer veggies to soup pot and add chicken stock. Bring stock to a simmer and then puree vegetables with a stick blender. Add cumin to taste. Bring to boil. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Serve topped with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream.

If you don't like cumin, leave it out. The soup was delicious before I added it, but I couldn't stop feeling like cumin would give it a really nice taste, so I threw it in.

If you don't have a stick blender, I would put the veggies in a food processor or blender before adding the chicken stock. Or if you want it to stay chunkier, you could just use a potato masher to chunk it up.

Crock Pot Chicken

I've had a crock pot for over a year and never once turned it on, so I actually had to look up a recipe in the owner's manual. Pathetic. I know. So, while I was surprised to find out you can cook a whole chicken in a crock pot, it turns out if you cook the hell out of a chicken for 11 hours while you're at work, the whole thing falls apart. Really, when I tried to take the chicken out of the crock pot, the entire breast came off. But it still got positive results from the boys, which is all that matters.

Crock Pot Chicken
1 3-4 lb chicken
3-4 medium potatoes (I used a mix of white sweet potatoes and russets) cut into large chunks
1 yellow onion cut into large chunks
6-7 cloves garlic
olive oil
salt and pepper
Put chicken, potatoes, onion, and garlic in crock pot. Coat with olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste. Cook on low all day.

Brown Sugar Ice Cream

After a week of no ice cream, I took a stab at a new recipe. It didn't come out as brown sugar-y as I would have liked. I'm not sure what to do about that without putting a ton of sugar in it... Or omitting the vanilla... Anyway, it was delicious!

Brown Sugar Ice Cream
1 cup whole milk
2/3 cup half and half
1/3 cup whipping sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Combine all ingredients and beat with a wire whisk until sugar dissolves. Make according to ice cream maker instructions.

Pizza

Nothing better than homemade pizza! I toyed with the dough recipe included in my bread machine to bump up the amount of whole wheat allowing me to pretend that pizza is healthy. It worked, but the dough was too wet and needed extra flour when rolling out.

Pizza Dough
2/3 cup water
1/2 tsp honey
1 tsp salt
1 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
I'm not sure how to translate the recipe to be made without a bread machine, but the machine kneads for 25 minutes and then rises for an hour.

Pizza Sauce
1 14.5 oz can diced tomato
2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tblsp sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
dash onion powder
dash crushed red pepper
pinch salt
Combine all ingredients in saucepan. Bring to simmer then reduce to low. Cook 20-30 minutes to reduce. Use stick blender to puree. Let sauce cool in refrigerator before topping pizza.

Stewed Apples... kinda

Have you ever tried to recreate something that you last had when you were five? No? That makes you waaaay smarter than me! I've been trying to recreate my great-grandmother's stewed apples for years. Failure after failure plagues me. Luckily, when you fail on stewed apples, you end up with applesauce, which is also awesomely tasty!

Chunky Applesauce (version 982)
5 stayman winesap apples, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch chunks
1 cup apple cider
2 tblsp brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
Add all ingredients to a medium saucepan and cook over medium low heat. Stir gently every couple of minutes. Cook approximately 30 minutes or until the sauce thickens.

Risotto

It's rainy and cold. It's been rainy and cold for days. Risotto has become one of my favorite comfort foods and it is perfect for cold, rainy days. I don't think risotto is as difficult as some people would like to make it sound, but it's also not the kind of thing you should make if you don't have time to be in the kitchen for a good 45 minutes to an hour. Also, once you have the method down, you can use any combo of additions you like. Leftover veggies are great to use - just add them at the end (where I added peas).

Mushroom and Leek Risotto
2 tblsp olive oil
2 leeks sliced
4 cloves garlic chopped
2 portobella mushrooms sliced
1 pt button mushrooms sliced
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper
1 cup arborio rice
1 cup white wine
4-6 cups chicken broth
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 cup parmesan cheese
Heat chicken broth over low heat. Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add leeks and cook until tender. Add garlic, mushrooms, and thyme. Cook until mushrooms are tender. Salt and pepper. Add arborio rice and cook until coated with the liquid from the mushrooms. Add white wine and stir until wine is absorbed. Add broth one cup at a time, stirring after each addition. Stir periodically until broth is absorbed. The rice will develop a creamy texture as it cooks. Stirring is important to developing the texture, but it is not necessary to stir non-stop. Once the rice is cooked through, add the peas. Turn off the heat and stir in the parmesan. Serve immediately.

Cheap Mushroom

I had a craving for mushrooms and the mushroom lady was selling her "old" mushrooms for cheap. She gave me twice the amount I asked for at half the price. Who am I to complain? I figured I would wing it and try a cream sauce.

Mushroom Cream Sauce
1 tblsp butter
1 pint mushrooms sliced
salt and pepper
1 tblsp flour
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup half & half
2 oz fontina cheese
Melt butter over medium heat. Add mushrooms and cook until tender. Salt and pepper to taste. Add flour and stir to coat mushrooms. Add milk and half and half. Heat slowly until sauce thickens. Add cheese and heat until it melts. Remove from heat.

I used my sauce in a casserole, but I think it would have been delicious over chicken. I just wasn't able to make anything right away, so casserole seemed the best option.

For Kevin

I'm posting this for Kevin, who once made fun of his uncle for not being able to remember "/ethan" but can't remember this simple recipe.

Chipotle Mayo
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
3/4 cup mayonnaise

Blend until smooth.

Stuffed Squash

This week was apparently new squash week at the farmer's market - even the farmers had not tried all of them! I asked about the different kinds and one was supposed to be good for stuffing. I've never stuffed a squash or, to the best of my knowledge, eaten a stuffed squash, but I figured it couldn't be too much different than stuffing a pepper and since I had leftover white rice from Chinese food the night before, I took the chance.

Stuffed Squash
1 black fuji squash (it looks like an acorn squash, which are also apparently good for stuffing)
1/2 lb. ground turkey
1 sliced onion
3 cloves garlic
14.5 oz can diced tomato
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup cooked rice
2 tsp dried basil
crushed red pepper
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Cut squash in half, brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Once oven is preheated, put squash in while the stuffing is cooking. Over medium heat, cook turkey, sliced onion, and garlic until turkey is cooked and onion is soft. Add diced tomato. At this point, I realized that I would end up with enough stuffing for at least two squash (four halves). Whoops! Add peas, cooked rice, and basil. Add salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste. Remove sqash from oven and stuff with generous portions of stuffing. Return squash to oven and cook until squash is tender, approximately 30 minutes.