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Tag: winter squash

soup queries

Ever since I had a cold last week that had me with almost no appetite, I’ve been having trouble getting back to normal.

I drank about 6 liters of water yesterday, and I still feel dehydrated.

And I keep being ravenously hungry and then getting full on small portions – and then being ravenously hungry again.

This is relevant because I was going to make soup yesterday, but I only got as far as deciding that I’d try roasting again and putting the sweet potatoes, garlic, and apples in the oven before I gave up and made myself an omlet.

So here’s the thing. I shall be making sweet potato and apple soup tonight. To eat tonight and tomorrow, but with no other leftovers. And then next week, I shall be making pumpkin soup. I want this soup and the pumpkin soup to be very different soups.

So I have three roasted sweet potatoes, a roasted pod of garlic, 3 small roasted apples, and a whole bunch of not roasted apples.

First question is whether I put them in a stock base or a cream sauce base.

Cumin or not to cumin?

I think the pumpkin soup next week should have lentils in it. And maybe tamarind. That’ll make it different. I’ll have to buy lentils.

Comments suggested:

You could make next week’s soup a thai mulligatawny, with thai green curry paste, a cinnamon stick, lemongrass, minced ginger and garlic, red lentils, and then, added at the very end, some coconut milk and lemon or lime juice and fresh cilantro.

1 part lentils to 3 parts pumpkin

Best Day in a Long Time – Roasted Butternut Squash Soup of Amazingness

I had a good massage
I have tried several times since I moved to find a good massage therapist without much success. So I found out this was spa week, when spas offer a variety of enticing packages for $50, and decided to try again.

I decided to try the Total Serenity Day Spa because they were close and easy to find and because their website wasn’t too woo-woo.

The reception are was fairly busy, and I spent a while sitting on a comfy chair (which I had not expected to swivel!) waiting to check in. Then I was shown to a restroom with elegant lockers for my stuff and a robe and flip flops I was supposed to change into. Every other massage place I have been has just had me disrobe in the room, so I was a bit dubious… but the XL robe fit with room to spare. I was quite comfy. The shoes, however, were too big and made a funny noise.

Once in the robe, I was shown to a different waiting room with plush couches, a fountain, and barely any lighting.

Then my massage therapist showed up. Lana. Oh, man. I have never before had a therapist who could work on my lower back without making walking incredibly dubious, but she was good. And she scritched my scalp with her strong little fingers. MMMMmmmm… Really a very good massage. The only part that was a bit iffy was that when I was on my back, she put the single folded towel that had been under my ankles to support my knees, and I really wanted more of an angle.

The sad part was that she then spent the massage asking me about my job and asking for advice on changing her profession. Apparently, when she emigrated from Russia some 20-25 years ago, she had been a nurse but was unable to pass any of the competency exams here because she did not put much effort into learning English – especially since much of her time was taken up with rearing three young children. So she ended up in massage. But it is hard work, and she is on her feet much of the day, and the leaning over hurts her back.

So I asked whether the other massage therapists at the spa would give each other massages – and she said no! They did not. Instead, once a month or so she’ll go to the Hyatt on Broad street for a spinal Sunday and pay for her own massages.

I went for a walk
When I left the spa, the weather was all mild sunshine and raw winds. I walked over two blocks to check on [redacted] and then walked with her to Rittenhouse Square. It was so hard not to stop somewhere for a decadent lunch, so I had to keep reminding myself that I had soup on the stove and a loaf of bread that I had started in the bread machine before I left for the spa.

After we parted ways, I hopped on a bus to go home.

I had an amazing lunch
And waiting for the soup was the best plan ever! It was amazing soup!

So I’d had a brilliant idea that I could make a creamy chowder-ish/bisque-ish soup and then put roasted butternut squash in it. Seriously – brilliant plan!

So I had grilled onions in a bunch of butter, added flour, added some milk, and then added some chicken stock. Then I scooped the butternut squash out of its skin and cut it into chunks.

Then I added a whole pod of roasted garlic.

Salt. Pepper. There was also some rosemary, thyme, and savory.

Then I dumped in a bunch of frozen corn straight from the bag.

Then more roasted things – roasted red pepper and one hot pepper that had been roasted.

And I finished by slicing three or so collard green leaves into small, thin pieces.

So I had that with fresh pumpernickel bread.

It was like an orgasm in my mouth.

So good.

*yawn*
*stretch*

Food lists

So I haven’t had much interest in cooking the past couple days. This is a problem, since I have a lot of lovely produce waiting to be eaten… or go bad. I’m hoping some lists will get me more in the cooking mood.

lists! of food!
Produce
onions
last of the farm grown tomatoes
a couple small turnips
hot peppers
a few tomatillos
red potatoes
collard greens
spinach
2 zucchini (now grilled)
carrots
turnip greens
1/3 butternut squash
grapefruit
most of a can’s worth of refried beans

dairy
greek yogurt!
sour cream
gorgonzola
italian seasoned cheese (open)
mild cheddar (open)
2% milk (shouldn’t last much longer)

meat
cooked chicken (1 meal)
cooked ground beef (1 meal with a extending)
ground beef
chicken stock (about 8 4 cups)
(and chicken breasts are on sale this week, so I’ll buy some of those)

Meals
I want to focus on gravies and cream sauces: a) because they are tasty, and b) because I’m about to pitch about 3lbs worth of store-brand flour because it was cheap and makes nasty bread.

Hee – let’s call this Chicken Florentine:
Creamed spinach – clean and cut all the spinach, cook an onion and some garlic in 2T butter, add 1 heaping Tablespoon flour, make roux, add spinach.
I can add the cooked chicken to that. And a hot pepper.
I could add pasta to that to make a real meal, or I could just eat it with a spoon. I’m thinking spoon.
ETA: Done. Wasn’t as tasty as I had hoped. No idea what went wrong.

Soup:
I’ve been wanting something bisque/chowder-ish with corn. And I have corn in my freezer. So onions, white roux, and then… how about butternut squash chunks? Roasted garlic. The rest of the roasted bell pepper I have in a jar with oil in my fridge. And some collard greens cut into thin ribbons. Sound decent? Does it need anything else? I could roast the turnips and tomatillos for a side dish. This sounds like it needs fresh parsley.
ETA: Started. I have the cream base with squash in it. I have a sprig of rosemary floating in it today. I roasted some hot peppers yesterday, so maybe I shall add them as well.

Hamburger Helper:
Shut up – it makes a great starting point.
Onion, garlic, ground beef. Zucchini. Collard Greens. And shred cheese on top and slices of tomato.

Kenyan Collard Greens:
greens, tomato, rice. (get my 5 spice powder back from my mother’s)

What’s left? Tomatoes, Potatoes, Turnip Greens, Refried beans, chicken stock – and I haven’t made use of the greek yogurt that was so hard to find!

All right – here’s a thing. These are fresh and tasty tomatoes, so I don’t want to cook them. I refuse to use the last tasty tomatoes in a dish where canned would work just as well. I’ll probably just end up eating them while I cook other things… but still.

Ummm… how about open-faces quesadillas – I know those have a name.
Tortilla, topped with a thin layer of refried beans, topped with shredded cheese, topped with tomatoes. With sour cream. Probably I won’t be able to eat enough to use up the refried beans, but maybe put a dent in them.

greens. Ummm… More soup? Turnip greens, diced potato, and carrots in chicken stock. That actually sounds rather dire.

Ummm… I could pickle the rest of the turnip greens and wait until I have leftover roast pork to make more of the excellent soup I made last night. My parents have a roast to make, so that should be soon.

Freeze the chicken stock.

Okay… Moussaka?
Layer a casserole with a mixture of ground beef and eggplant and potato slices, use lots of seasonings, pour a can or two of tomatoes over all, and serve with yogurt on the side?

That should do.

pondering pumpkin bread (plus bonus soup)

I am feeling adventurous – I like cooking, but am kinda amateur at the baking.

So

Pumpkin Bread…

from real pumpkins or canned ones?

discuss.

ETA: I guess I’ll have to wait until I get home to research recipes. Neither allrecipes.com or epicurious.com have an old fashioned pumpkin bread recipe that includes both real butter and brown sugar. Everything is trying to be different – less fat, more fiber, less spice, less pumpkin flavour (!! Why you makin pumpkin bread, then?). Probably my red checked cookbook will have the right recipe.

Why, no, I don’t get to eat lunch for another 40 minutes 10 minutes

~*~

For actual food porn content – I made a lovely soup this week.

I thawed out my remaining cubes of chicken stock (so I can make more soon! because I’ve started to think that an autumn without making stock is wasted).

Added an acorn squash. By which I mean that I washed the outside, cut of the top and tip, split it in half, and stuck it open side down into the stock and let it cook until mushy… and then scooped out the inside with a spoon.

I threw in a frozen pork chop because I figured there should be some meat. After it cooked, I trimmed and diced it.

At this point I realised that 1 squash would not be enough, so I turned off the pot and let it sit overnight.

The next day, I bought a second squash and two sweet potatoes. Rinse. Repeat. First the squash, and then I decided the soup could still be thicker, so I cooked the potatoes in the microwave and then mushed them into the soup.

Meanwhile, I melted some butter and sauteed some onion, cumin, and a winesap apple…. when golden and mushy, I added that to the soup.

In went a bay leaf, a dash of worcestershire sauce, and tiny bit of nutmeg.

Cooking. cooking. cooking. (more like 20 minutes worth)

Then I drained a can of black beans… because apparently I live in a crazy land where I can’t find dried black beans (ghetto mart would have had some before they closed, but it hasn’t reopened yet – harrumph). Beans get dumped in. And the soup cooks for the length of an episode of Spooks.

Then eating… and the realisation that I forgot to add salt and pepper… and that it’d be good with a dollop of sour cream in the middle.

Second (third?) day. Soup! With salt and pepper. And sour cream seasoned with more cumin and a smidgeon of horseradish. Very tasty!

The soup was a bit gloppy and would have benefited from a run through a food processor or blender, but I don’t believe in doing that to the poor soups. And it was quite tasty.

Really. I’ve had two other people eat this soup, and both liked it. Or said they did. But there were second helpings involved. And I’m perfectly willing to eat soup again tonight for dinner. Yum!

Mostly Vegetarian (+butter) – Butternut & Apple Soup, Indian String Beans, Apple & Cabbage

I am having my lovely neighbors over for dinner, and am making vegetarian food. Since I have been planning and thinking about this all day, I am sharing with you.

Butternut & Apple soup (recipe source)
– melt 2 tablespoons butter
– finely chop 1 onion, and throw that in the butter
– cut squash in half, scoop out seeds, remove skin, and cut up (well, this was what my recipe said, but I suspect life would be easier if I had just popped the squash in a pan with some water and pre-cooked it in the oven)
– by now, your onions are lovely and translucent, so add a teaspoon or so of curry powder and cook a bit more, stirring often, but also taking time to dice one apple
– add about 3 cups of stock, squash, apple, and bring to a boil.
– cut up 3-4 sage leaves, add to soup
– reduce heat, cover, simmer for a while
– now here is where I have philosophical differences with cookbooks. The cookbook has you taking the soup and putting it in a blender so everything is smooth. Then it has you cleaning the pot to remove any traces of foam, and slowly reheating the soup. In my world, that’s a big no. I don’t have a blender. If I did, it still wouldn’t be worth the mess, besides — I usually make more then one blender’s worth of soup at a time. In my world, you cook the soup for hours instead of minutes, preferably for more than one day, and the ingredients get mushy enough to become homogeneous all on their own (and anything you don’t want homogeneous, goes in nearer serving time).
– So — cook, cook, cook
– Season to taste with salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and a dash of thyme (the last three were not in the cookbook, but were tasty additions).
– when the liquid got a bit low (cause I forgot to re-cover the pot while I made this entry initially), I also added some whole milk and apple cider.
– when serving, top with a sour cream flavored with curry powder and horseradish sauce (but not too much, because the black pepper in the soup actually makes it kinda spicy, and the cream should cool things off)

Indian String Beans (recipe lost… from allrecipes.com?)
– melt ghee
– fry black mustard seeds until the pop a bit (I also fry a bit of asofoetida)
– add sliced garlic
– add parboiled string beans

Chinese Cabbage (recipe from Meghan, a friend who is neither vegetarian nor sushi)
– Melt 2-3 tablespoons of butter over as high a heat as will not burn the butter
– throw in a couple cloves of chopped garlic, and then almost immediately
– toss in shredded apple and shredded chinese cabbage
– season with pepper
– cook until almost mushy, but not quite

ETA: this was even more tasty with some pepper, soy sauce, and a splash of red wine… and might have been good with a teensy bit of white vinegar as well)

I forgot to eat breakfast, and now it is too close to dinner time to snack much. Buggery.