Summer Recipes

These are some good foods for the hot summer months:

Frozen Fruit
Frozen watermelon (~courtesy Dana), grapes, bite-sized chunks of banana. Great icecream substitutes!

Fruit and Veggie Smoothies (~courtesy Ron and Vicki)
1.) carrot, spinach, strawberry, blueberry
2.) carrot, tiny bit of ginger, cucumber, banana, apple, spinach, half a lemon, a bit of yogurt for creaminess
3.) carrots, cucumber, bell pepper, strawberry, banana, ginger, yogurt, pineapple juice, protein powder, aojiru.
Ideas: Watermelon is abundant, but it has a rather delicate flavor, so I'm trying to find good matches for it. Watermelon and tomato, or watermelon and cucumber? (Please don't try it with yogurt or tofu! My attempts have been disgusting at best.)

-Mary's Smoothies:
1.) yogurt, an 8th of a brick of tofu, frozen blueberries, banana
2.) yogurt, banana, kinako powder.

Cold Soups
-Gezpacho: Blend five small tomatoes, an 8th of an onion, two cloves of garlic, a bit of celery and red bell pepper, a splash of lemon juice, and a cucumber together in a blander, and serve chilled. Good also with some black pepper and salt.
-Veggie Juice Soup: Marukyo sells a no-sugar, no-salt 100% veggie juice (primarily tomato and carrot juice) at the market, and it is a great base for a cold soup. I blend in a bit of garlic and onion, sprinkle on some dried basil [because my fresh basil was eaten by a happy caterpillar :'( ] and then drop in leftover stir fried mushrooms and potatoes that have been chilling in the fridge. Great served with a fried egg, or some macaroni noodles!!


-Alternative Tuna Salad: tuna (that is stored in water, not oil), olive oil, balsamic vinegar, capers, a chopped onion, chopped pickles, sometimes mayo, sometimes chopped olives, fresh thyme, lemon juice. Serve over lettuce or chopped spinach. Side with red bell pepper or cucumber.

I want to look up:
-Vegan frozen banana and soymilk "icecream"

Baked Vegetable Soup

Kale and Roasted Vegetable SoupServes 4
3 medium carrots, cut into 1/2-inch slices
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges (or 1 15-ounce can of no added salt tomatoes)
1 yellow onion, peeled and cut into 6 to 8 wedges
6 big cloves of garlic, peeled
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes (you can also use eggplant)
1 bunch of kale, stacked, rolled up, then thinly sliced
1 can cannellini beans, drained, or 1 1/2 cups freshly cooked white beans
6 cups vegetable stock
1 heaping teaspoon dried thyme or a palm-full of fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Lightly oil a rimmed baking pan. Arrange the carrots and squash (or eggplant) on one end and the onions, garlic, and tomato on the other. Roast until everything is slightly browned, around 30 minutes.
• Scoop the onions, tomatoes, and garlic into a blender. Puree the vegetables briefly. Add the stock and mix briefly.
• Bring the stock with blended veggies to a simmer. Add the kale, thyme, and bay leaf. Cook until the kale is tender, about 30 minutes.
• Add the carrots, squash (eggplant), and white beans. Cook for about 5 more minutes. Remove the bay leaf and the thyme sprigs if you used fresh thyme.
• Season to taste and serve hot.

Nutrition information per serving:
Calories: 271
Fat: 4 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Carbohydrate: 49 g
Fiber: 11 g
Sugars: 7 g
Sodium: 192 mg (without added salt)
Protein: 19 g

Smokey Watermelon Gazpacho

Smokey Watermelon Gazpacho
Serves 4
Ingredients:
6 cups watermelon, black seeds removed
5 big tomatoes, quartered
1 heaping tablespoon smoked paprika
1 clove garlic, peeled
1/2 cup whole almonds, toasted
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon minced chipotle in adobo sauce
Kosher salt to taste
Garnish:
1/4 sweet onion or red onion, finely diced
1 small cucumber, finely diced
Stuff your blender with ingredients up to about 2/3 full and blend until fairly smooth. Do this again with the rest of the ingredients. Taste and adjust. Garnish each bowl of gazpacho with some onion and cucumber.

Beef Stew

I'm going to try something similar...

Ingredients

• 2 pounds stew beef
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 1 or 2 bay leaves
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• Dash ground allspice or ground cloves
• 3 large carrots, sliced
• 3 ribs celery, chopped
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions

Brown meat in hot oil. Add water, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, bay leaves, onion, salt, sugar, pepper, paprika, and allspice. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Remove bay leaves and garlic clove. Add carrots and celery. Cover and cook 30 to 40 minutes longer. To thicken gravy, remove 2 cups hot liquid. Using a separate bowl, combine 1/4 cup water and cornstarch until smooth. Mix with a little hot liquid and return mixture to pot. Stir and cook until bubbly.

Black Eyed Pea Soup idea

Black Eyed Peas
Brown Rice
Celery
Carrots
Onions
Shiitake mushrooms
salt
pepper

Split Pea Soup

Mother's Version:

Ingredients:

2 cups split peas

2 tbsp butter or oil

10 cups water or broth

1 1/3 cup diced onions or shallots

2 cups chopped carrots

2 cups chopped celery

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon dried thyme

salt/pepper to taste

dash cayenne

Rinse peas under cold running water and pick through; discard any discolored peas.

Saute onions in butter until translucent. Add water, peas, carrots, celery and spices. Stir.

Bring to a simmer and cook on low to medium heat until peas are soft (this may take two to three hours).

Puree the soup, using a blender or food processor. Be very careful pureeing with a blender as hot foods can

Make the lid blow off (I've burned myself before doing this.).

Season the soup with salt, pepper nad cayenne pepper (or hot sauce).

Good with leftover Thanksgiving/Easter ham. :3




Emmanuel's Version:
Note: this is from memory, so I'm probably missing or misrepresenting something. But here goes:

Start by chopping one medium onion and placing in a large stockpot with oil or butter.
Simmer the onion until it gets brown, stirring as necessary to keep from burning. This should take around 10-15 minutes or so.
Fill the pot with water and bring to a boil
Add vegetable bouillon if available. If not, you will need to add a fair bit of salt as well as more herbs and probably some things like carrots or celery.
Chop 2 medium potatoes into about 1" chunks
Add about 1-2 cups of dry split peas.
Simmer for 45 minutes, or until the potatoes are starting to become soft
Add another cup or so of dry peas
Chop up and add other ingredients you like, such as carrots, parsnips, more onions, etc.
Season to taste with salt, pepper, parsley, rosemary, or whatever else you like (other popular choices are thyme, bay leaves, and sage).

Boil for another 45 minutes or so, until the original split peas have disintegrated into a green broth and the new ones are done cooking.

Note that this makes a *lot* of soup. You need to have enough water to keep this from turning into sludge! The above recipe makes probably around 4 quarts.

Good luck!

Love,
Emmanuel

Nick's Butternut Squash Soup

Spicy Butternut Squash Soup

[edit]

Ingredients

• One butternut squash
• Potatoes (probably 4-6)
• Onions (probably 2-3 depending on how big they are)
• Garlic (lots)
• Thyme (a pinch)
• Sage (a pinch)
• Rosemary (a pinch)
• Paprika (a lot)
• Cayenne (a lot)
• Cumin (a lot)
• Pepper (a lot)
• Salt (a bit)
• Ginger (fresh and/or dried; a lot in either case)
• Olive oil (about 1/2-1 cup per tray)

[edit]

Directions

1. Marvel at how incredibly precise the measurements are for this recipe.
2. Preheat oven to 375°F.
3. Set a pot of water on the stove to boil.
4. Cut the potatoes into cubes. Put them in the pot when the water boils. Cook until very soft and then drain off most of the water.
5. Microwave the butternut squash. Cut it in half, and scoop out the seeds and gooey bits. Peel off the skin (you can use a regular vegetable peeler) and then cut into cubes.
6. Cut the onions into rings.
7. Arrange the onions and butternut squash on a baking tray. Sprinkle with minced garlic, salt, pepper, and lots of olive oil. Put the tray in the oven and cook until the butternut squash has started turning a golden brown, usually 30-45 minutes.
8. Mix butternut squash-garlic-onion mixture, fresh ginger, additional garlic (if you like garlic), and potatoes in a blender or use an immersion blender to blend in a pot. I prefer a chunkier soup, so I don't blend completely, but you can blend as much or as little as you want.
9. At this point you may need to add water. You can use the water you boiled the potatoes in or water from the tap.
10. Cook over medium heat and add dried spices to taste.
11. Enjoy!

This should make enough for 4-6 people, depending on how much of everything you throw in. If you decide to store it and reheat it later, I highly recommend adding water before microwaving as it's a fairly thick soup and dehydrates easily.

So Much Pumpkin!

To Try for Tomorrow, to use up the piles of pumpkin we have:
-Pumpkin pasta sauce
-pumpkin spice bread
-slow cooker pumpkin soup


Pumpkin Pasta Sauce

• 1/4 c. butter
• 1 medium-sized shallot, minced (You can use 1/2 a small onion in place of the shallot if you want. However, the shallot does provide a nice mild flavor.)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
• 1/2 c. chicken stock
• 3/4 c. milk
• 1 1/4 t. salt, more or less to taste
• 1/2 t. black pepper, more or less to taste
• 1/8 t. nutmeg
• 1/4 c. diced parsley

Maybe play with orange juice?


Pumpkin Spice BreadIngredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for prepping pan
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup light or dark brown sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing pan
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 3/4 cup roasted pumpkin seeds

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Have 4 (3 by 5 1/2 by 2-inch) bread pans greased and floured.

Whisk together the flours, sugars, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg and set aside. Beat the eggs, then add the milk, butter, pumpkin, and ginger. Whisk to combine well. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and fold in 1/2 the pumpkin seeds. Divide the batter among the 4 pans and top with the remaining pumpkin seeds. Bake about 45 to 50 minutes or until the top is browned and cracked.

Slow Cooker Sweet-Hot Vegan Pumpkin Soup

1 – 16 oz. can pumpkin

4 cups (32 oz. carton) vegetable broth

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 tablespoons watercress, chopped

1 or 2 jalapeno chiles, seeded and chopped

3 tablespoons agave nectar

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup Sauterne wine

watercress leaves for garnish

Combine all ingredients (except garnish) in crockpot and simmer on low for 9 to 9.5 hours, or until vegetables are soft. Puree soup in a blender or food processor. Reheat if needed or garnish with watercress and serve! Enjoy!

Chelsea's Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin Soup Recipe

1/2 stick butter or margarine
1 lg. Onion, chopped
1 medium leek, white part only, chopped
1 lb. canned pumpkin (Libby’s is a good one to use)
4 cups chicken broth
1 tsp. Salt (Optional since chicken broth adds enough flavor)
1/2 tsp. Curry powder
1/4 tsp. Ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Ground white pepper
1/4 tsp. Ground ginger
1 bay leaf
1 cup half-n-half (Optional – to be added at the end before serving
if you wish to have a creamier soup)

In medium soup pot melt butter and sauté onion and leek until soft.
Add pumpkin, broth, and seasonings.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, uncovered,
stirring occasionally.
Remove bay leaf.
Puree soup in blender or food processor, in small batches. (May be
refrigerated for a few days at this point, or frozen)
Return soup to pot.
Add half n half.
Cook over moderate heat for a few minutes, stirring.
Adjust seasonings.
Enjoy :)