Lemony Butternut Carrot Soup

Well, fall is officially back. I recognize it not only by the cooler temperatures and a handful of yellow leaves, but also by my burning desire to turn colorful vegetables into warm creamy soups. And this soup, eaten with a good chunk of crusty bread, is certainly a new favorite.



1 medium butternut squash
splash olive oil
1 onion, chopped
8-10 cloves garlic
1-2" ginger root, peeled and grated
1 lb carrots, roughly chopped
3-4 C veggie broth
2 C water
2 C unsweetened soy milk
juice from one orange
zest from one lemon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
salt and pepper

Chop the squash into quarters, deseed, and place in a baking dish with about 1/2 inch of water. Roast in a hot oven (450 degrees) for about an hour until squash is very tender. Remove from heat and let sit until cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile, in a large pot, heat a splash of olive oil. Add onions, whole garlic cloves, and grated ginger and saute until onions are fragrant and translucent. Add in carrots and stir well. Pour on veggie broth and water. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and allow carrots to simmer about 30 minutes. When squash is cool enough to touch, peel off the skins, roughly chop squash, and toss into the soup. Simmer all an additional 10 minutes.

Using an immersion or standing blender, puree the soup and return to the pot over low heat. Stir in soy milk, juice from one orange, zest from one lemon, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer an additional five minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve hot topped with any combination of sliced scallions, chopped fresh parsley, yogurt, or spicy toasted squash seeds. I served mine with all four, and it was awesome!

This makes a wonderful, colorful meal when accompanied by some delicious crusty bread and a plate full of Cabbage, Carrot, Broccoli Slaw.

Scrumptious and healthy (sort of) almond cookies

This makes a pretty small batch, but almond flour is expensive.

Ingredients
2 cups almond flour
1/6 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup agave syrup (you could use honey or golden syrup instead)
1 egg
1/4 cup coconut flakes
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon almond butter (or you could try peanut butter)
1/4 cup flax seeds (you could leave this out, but it gives it extra protein and a little texture)

xtras
raspberry jam and chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.
Mix flour and butter (i used my hands to get it smooth). Add in everything else.
Use a teaspoon to make 1inch balls and lay them on a cookie sheet. Start them baking for 3-5 minutes, then take them out and either flatten them with a fork or i put a little dent in some and filled it with raspberry jam/a chocolate chip. let them bake for another 8-10 mins...Until just a little brown on the outside.
Let cool. Devour.

Spicy Coconut Pumpkin Soup

This soup is subtle (or not so subtle if you load up on the chili!) and wonderful with the coconut, cilantro, lemon combination. Perfect for this time of year - and if you've never cooked with a whole pumpkin before (I hadn't) this is a great place to start. I highly recommend that you split the pumpkin into halves or quarters, prick the inside all over with a fork, and stick it in the oven at 450 degrees for 30-45 minutes to soften before you try to peel it and chop it up. Roasting also brings out the wonderful pumpkin flavor. And, make sure you roast those seeds, too! Here's a little trick for detangling the seeds: when you pull them out of the pumpkin, dump them in a bowl of water and sqeeze them around with your hands for a while. The seeds will float and the goo will sink!



2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tsp brown sugar
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small pumpkin, skinned and chopped into 1-inch chunks
2-3 cups vegetable broth
1 14-oz can coconut milk
1 TBSP chili powder
1-2 TBSP lemon rind, grated
4-5 shakes soy sauce
freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
yogurt, cilantro, lemon peel, for garnish

In a large pot, heat oil and gently cook onion with brown sugar and garlic over low heat until softened (8-10 minutes). Add chopped pumpkin, vegetable broth, coconut milk, chili powder, lemon rind and soy sauce. Season with freshly ground pepper. Simmer for about 25 minutes until tender. Remove and puree until smooth. Just before serving, adjust seasoning to taste. Mix in chopped cilantro. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with a dollop of yogurt and sprinkled cilantro and lemon rind.

Laurel's Famous Tofu Balls

Alex requested this recipe, so here is a close approximation. My mom made various versions of these when I was little but never actually measured the ingredients. I've been making them for about four years and of course I've never actually measured the ingredients either, so you might have to futz with the wet/dry proportions a little. Sooooooo delicious as a vegetarian alternative to meat balls on spaghetti. (Just make sure the boys in your life don't eat eight and make themselves sick. For real. Not only are sick boys no fun, but you totally want to have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.)

Basic ingredients:
1 package firm tofu
1 medium onion, diced
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBSP olive oil
2 large eggs
3/4-1 C bread crumbs
fresh parsley, chopped
fresh/dried basil
salt and pepper
vegetable oil for frying

Magic ingredients:
splash soy sauce
toasted sunflower seeds
chopped walnuts
handful of poppy seeds
sauted diced mushrooms
chopped olives
parmigiano
any other spices that sound good to you

Saute onion and garlic together in the olive oil over medium heat until onion is translucent and fragrant. Drain tofu well and crumble it into a large bowl. Add sauted veggies, eggs, bread crumbs, herbs, and salt and pepper. (Note on the breadcrumbs: if you don't have any lying around, feel free to throw crackers or stale bread into the blender and pulse until crumbled. And for the gluten-free among you, rice crackers work great for this!) Here's the fun part: with your hands, mush and crumble all ingredients together until well mixed. If it feels too wet, add another small handful of bread crumbs. Now, you want to think about adding a magic ingredient or two. These balls are delicious just like this, but everybody likes a little magic, and I've had great success adding various combinations from this list. The walnuts are probably my all-time fave, but add whatever sounds good to you. Of course, if you have a stroke of genius and come up with another amazing ingredient addition, by all means do it and post a note about it. Mix thorougly.

Roll the mixture between your hands in medium chunks to form about a dozen balls. Heat a good amount of vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan, and when hot, add half the balls. Allow them to brown on the bottom (usually 4-5 minutes depending on the heat of the oil), before turning to the next side. I think I end up browning them on four sides usually, so they come out of the pan looking a little bit like little pyramids.

Serve over pasta and sauce with plenty of parmigiano sprinkled on top! Yummy!

PS - This is your new favorite recipe.

Pasta with Garlicky Butternut Squash

This is adapted from an Urban Organic recipe. Chris and I made it last night for dinner and it was seriously tasty. And oh so autumnal.

1 lb whole wheat pasta of choice
1 large butternut squash
1/4 cup olive oil
6-8 large cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp sage (I substituted 1/2 tsp thyme)
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley (I substituted 1/2 tsp dried cilantro)
salt and pepper to taste
parmesan cheese for garnish (optional)

Seed, peel, and dice the squash (about 1/2" chunks). Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat and add squash. Saute about 5 minutes until it begins to brown. Add garlic and saute for another couple of minutes. Add water, herbs, salt, and pepper, and cook until squash is tender, about another 5 - 10 minutes. Meanwhile, add pasta to boiling salted water and cook until al dente. Drain pasta and toss with squash. Generously cover with grated parmesan cheese and serve immediately!

NOTE: One of the very best things about eating squash, I think, is toasting the seeds. So don't throw those seeds away!! Remove all the squash guts from the seeds, rinse them well, and mix with about 1 TBSP olive oil and any combination of spices. Combos I've tried and like: salt and pepper, curry powder, paprika and S & P, nutmeg and pepper, black tea and pepper, cinnamon and sugar. Be creative! Spread evenly on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 5 - 10 minutes, checking regularly so they don't burn. So good on top of salads, soups, or just by the handful...

Baked Tofu Sticks

Much more exciting than they sound. Li and I made these Saturday night and they were awesome. I bet you could play with the spices in the bread crumbs (maybe add sesame or poppy seeds?) and get some fantastic flavors.

1 package firm tofu
3 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP rice vinegar (we used cidar)
1 garlic clove, mashed
1 C bread crumbs
2 TBSP parsley
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
pinch of cayenne
3 TBSP flour
6 TBSP cold water

Cut the tofu horizontally into three slices, restack and cut down through them vertically in parallel lines to divide into six sections (you should have 18 little sticks now). Arrange the tofu sticks in a baking dish in a single layer.

Mix together the soy sauce, vinegar, and garlic, and drizzle over tofu. Set aside for 30 minutes, turning once after 15 minutes so the sticks can marinate evenly.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spray or oil a baking tray.

In a shallow bowl, mix together bread crumbs, parsley, paprika, salt, pepper, and cayenne. In a separate shallow bowl, whisk together flour and water until smooth. Dip each marinated tofu stick into the flour mixture and then coat well with the seasoned bread crumbs. Arrange breaded sticks on the baking tray so they're not touching and bake for 30 minutes, until crisp and hot.

Serve baked tofu sticks warm with some sort of dipping sauce (Moosewood suggests: 1 TBSP soy sauce, 1 TBSP rice vinegar, 1 tsp sugar, and 1 TBSP chopped scallions).

Banana Oatmeal Sunflower Chocolate Chip Cookies

Surprisingly amazing. And you can feel good about eating them because sunflower seeds are superfood. For real. PS - this had a flour typo, but now it's all fixed up and ready to rock...enjoy!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup oil
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup oats (the quick cook kind)
2 medium bananas
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate (or dark chocolate!) chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel and mash bananas. In large bowl beat oil, bananas, and sugar. Mix flour and oats with sunflower seeds and baking soda. Add dry ingredients to bananas and stir until thoroughly mixed. Add chocolate chips. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten cookies a little on sheet (because they won't really spread in the oven). Bake about 15 minutes until edges are golden brown. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.