Soup is all about comfort and I needed comfort this week. What with being all sad and slightly stressed with a little touch of the holiday blues. And I needed something to warm me up because is has been freaking chilly cold. I needed soup. But I wanted something slightly special, not the everyday, but also not anything fussy or finicky. A soup that I could make really fast or let sit on the stove all day. A soup that would bring a little brightness without being overly rich. A soup to take away the chill and make me happy.
Is that asking to much of a soup? I think not.
This soup, it did it all. But also take into account, this soup is not for the people that do not like squash. Or for the people that do not like apples or cranberries. Or for people that do not like thick creamy soups. But if you are not one of this people (you are a person that likes squash, apples and cranberries, and creamy soup) then this soup is for you. It is for us. Creamy, flavorful, slightly sweet and spicy with a little tang and just so dang delicious. It is like a warm blanket of soup. Comfortable and lovely. I have basically eaten an entire pot all to myself in the past two days.
It has been just what I needed.
Join me.
The stuff. A butternut squash, a couple apples, and some cranberries. Also a carrot, an onion, some fresh ginger, a few cloves garlic, cumin and chili powder, salt and pepper, apple cider vinegar, and a little olive oil.
Start by chopping up the carrot and the onion. Small pieces just because they cook a little faster.
Peel and grate or mince some fresh ginger too.
Toss that all into a big pot with a splash of olive oil and a splash of water and cook on a medium heat until tender and fragrant.
While the veggies cook, chop the squash into small cubes. Remove the seeds, but no need to peel.
And chop up the apple too, but set aside a half of one for the apple cranberry relish.
Now toss all that into the pot along with the cranberries.
Add the spices, salt and pepper, a few splashed of apple cider vinegar, and water to cover it all. Then place it on stove, bring to a boil, then turn heat to medium and let cook.
While the soup is cooking, make the relish. Mince the half apple along with about 1/2 cup of cranberries.
Place in a bowl with a pinch of salt and a few splashed of apple cider vinegar. Then just let it sit and meld.
Soup is looking good. Everything is soft and falling apart and ready to go.
Blend it all until smooth.
Thick and creamy goodness right here. If it is to thick, add more water, too thin, cook it down a little longer. The consistency is up to you.
Now all you need to do is ladle soup into bowls and top with a couple spoonfuls of the relish.
This is comfort. This is good.
Have a great, comfy weekend.
-C
makes 6-8 servings
1 small butternut squash (about 5 cups cubed)
1 large onion
1 carrot
2 macon or mac apples
2 cups fresh cranberries (you can use frozen too)
2 tablespoon cumin
2 tablespoons chili power
2-3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoon fresh minced or grated ginger
4-5 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper
6 cups water
Start by chopping the onion and carrot into small pieces. Place into large heavy bottom pot with a splash of water and a tiny splash of olive oil. Mince the garlic and peel and mince ginger. Toss into the pot as well and place it on a medium heat to cook until the veggies are tender and fragrant.
While the veggies are cooking, dice up the butternut squash. Remove any seeds but there is no need to peel. Also dice up the apples, reserving 1/2 of one for the relish. Place the chopped squash and apples into the pot with the cooking veggies along with 1 1/2 cups of cranberries , the chili powder and cumin, 2-3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, and the water. Place the pot back on the stove, bring it to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and let cook.
Once soup is on the stove, take reserved half apple and the other 1/2 cup of cranberries and dice into very small pieces. Place into a bowl with a little pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar. Toss around and set aside.
And back to soup. Once the squash is tender and starting to fall apart, it is time. Remove from heat and either with a immersion blender, or a regular blender, blend the soup until smooth. After its blended and creamy smooth, check for thickness. If you think it is too thick, add more water. Too thin, place back on stove and cook down until it thickens up a bit more.
When you are ready to serve and eat, ladle soup into a bowl and top with more pepper and a spoonful or two of the apple cranberry relish.
Then eat and feel cozy.
I made baked beans last week for a side to dinner with the mr and Barb. They ate them all. I didn’t get more then a spoonful. I was sad for me, but also was like “Shit, if I had known you guys were bean fiends, I would be making baked beans like all the time.”
And maybe not all the time, but I made them again this week. And again, they ate a lot, but I got me some this time, and I will probably make them again next week too because they will be perfect for Thanksgiving. See, homemade baked beans are a thing of beauty. Sure you can buy them in a can and be just fine, but these baked beans, well these are waaaayyyy way better. These baked beans are soft (not canned bean soft) and tomatoey and a little spicy with a tang. Not sickly sweet, (not sugar added) and not too salty.. They are just about perfect. You can eat them on their own, toss them into salads or wraps, stick on some toast, serve as as side, or just eat them cold straight from a jar from the fridge right before bed. (your loved one will thank you for that). Plus they are baked in the oven and I love me a good warm oven on a cold day. And the obvious, but all the protein and all around goodness. A great dish to serve if ever you need to feed people like me who don’t eat meat. It’s a win win win win.
Baked beans in all their glory. No cans in sight.
The stuff. White beans that were soaked overnight, strained then added back to a pot with 6 cups of water. Also have crushed tomatoes. an onion, a few cloves of garlic, chili powder, mustard powder, apple cider vinegar, and some salt and pepper.
First step is to start boiling you beans. But while that is happening, mince garlic and chop the onion into really small pieces.
Toss the onion and garlic in a pan and cook on medium low until soften and fragrant.
Cooked beans. All you need to do to cook them is place the pot with soaked beans and water on high, bring to a boil, then turn heat to a medium. Let beans cook until tender. It should take about an hour and a half.
Beans are cooked and the garlic and onion are soften so now all you do is combine everything together. Don’t drain the beans, just toss in the tomatoes, the vinegar, the spices, and a few pinches of pepper and a pinch of salt. Stir in all together,
Looks like soup right? This is right before you stick it into the oven.
Now look at that, oven baked beans. The best part… The crispy sides. ALL MINE!
Not much left to do but eat them. Straight up with a hunk of bread. That is a good way to start anyway.
Enjoy your beans!
-C
Makes a big pot of beans
1 pound (2 cups) white beans soaked in water for at least 8 hours (I used great northern but navy would be good too)
6 cups water or veggie stock
3 cups (or a 28 oz can) crushed tomatoes
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 1/2 tablespoons chili pepper
1 tablespoon mustard powder
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper
Strain soaked beans and place them into large oven safe dutch oven almond with the water and stick on the stove. Bring the beans to a boil then reduce heat to medium and cook util the beans are tender. Should take about 1 1/2 hours.
Sometime while the beans are cooking, mince garlic and chop the onion into very small pieces. Place in a skillet and cook on medium until the onion and garlic are soften and fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside until beans are cooked
Preheat oven to 425
One beans are tender, dump in the cooked garlic and onion, the tomatoes, the spices, the vinegar, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Stir it all together and place into the oven. Bake for about 2 hours, staring about ever 30 minutes, until the bean sauce is nice and thick. If at any point you think they have gotten to dry, just add more water. Pull the beans out of oven once you are happy with the sauce consistency. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed.
And then eat them. As a meal, as a side, or as a snack. Beans are good anytime.
Any leftovers should be stored in the fridge. Beans can be reheated very easily on the stove top. Just place the pot back on stove, stir in a little water and cook til hot.
Beans are also fantastic eaten cold from the fridge.
The thing with having an abundance of squash in the house, and having the abundance keep growing (we get a lot of squashes at farm share) is that I need to cook just about every meal with said abundance, which I am totally on happy to do. I welcome all the squash. I am excited about all the squash. I could eat al the squash all day, everyday. And I do. But that is me. The mr and the others the I sometimes cook for, they are not as squash crazy as me and get sick of plain old roasted squash so I am trying to change it up and make new and interesting things out of the squash so no one gets bored with it.
Yes, I know stuffing an acorn squash is hardly a new idea, but this squash is not stuffed with the usual rice and stuff, it stuffed with lots of black beans and cumin and chili powder spiced cauliflower (and a few other things). The combination of all the flavors with the acorn squash really hit all the right spots for a tasty, not boring squash meal. It is a brilliant combination of flavors that even the not so keen on squash person will love.
That is my opinion of course but it will be your opinion too after you make and eat these. We will brilliant together.
To the stuffed squash.
The stuff. An acorn squash, some cauliflower, cooked black beans, an onion, and a few kale leaves. Also need some cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper. salsa, and olive oil.
Start by cutting the squash in half and scooping out all the seeds.
Place the squash open side down on a baking sheet or in a skillet lightly oiled and then stick into a hot oven to roast.
After the squash goes in, dice up the onion and cauliflower into small little pieces.
Place the chopped stuff onto a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and toss with the cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Get that into the oven too.
Roasted, and ready. Stop, do not eat it all, but you might want too, it is so freaking good.
And once this guy in fork tender, its ready as well.
Scoop out a bit of the cooked squash from each side making the well bigger. More room to stuff.
Get everything together. Chop the kale, grab a bowl.
The black beans, salsa, scooped out cooked squash go into bowl. Add in the roasted cauliflower and onion and the chopped kale and mix.
Now stuff each side. Get as much in as you can, mound it as high as you can and place back into oven to bake for a little bit longer.
Cooked and slightly crispy in all the right ways.
These stuffed suckers are everything we all wanted and didn’t know we needed. Fantastic, and all the more when serves with extra salsa, sliced avocado, and a wedge of lime.
Go get at it.
Bye!
-C
Makes 2 stuffed halves. This recipe is very easy to fiddle with and can easily be double or tripled.
1 medium sized acorn squash
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans
1/4 head of cauliflower (about 2 cups chopped before roasting)
a small onion
a few kale leaves
1/4 cup thick and chunky salsa
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chili pepper
salt and pepper
olive oil
Avocado, lime, extra salsa (optional)
Preheat oven to 400
Slice acorn squash in half and scoop out all the seeds. (seeds can be roasted). Place both halves cut side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet or oven safe skillet and place in oven to roast for about 30-35 minutes or until the squash is fork tender.
Once squash is in oven, dice the onion and cauliflower into small pieces and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and toss together with the cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Place into oven along with the squash. Roast for 15-20 minutes or until the cauliflower is lightly browned and tender.
When the cauliflower is roasted and squash is cooked, get all the rest of the ingredients ready. Dice up the kale . Take each side of squash and scoop out about an inch more of cooked squash, leaving a good sized well. Place cooked squash into a bowl and kind of mash it up. Add in the beans, the salsa, the kale, and the roasted cauliflower and onions. Season with salt and pepper and mix it all up. Take filling and fill the squashes, stuffing as much as you can in and mounding it on top. Place the halves back onto baking sheet or skillet and place back into oven for 10-15 minutes until nice and browned and slightly crispy on top. Pull from oven and serve. Although not necessary, extra salsa, avocado, a lime are much appreciated.
A lot of times I make food that I don’t nessasrily care to eat because well, I love to make for other people. Take all the cakes, I love to make cake, it makes me so happy to make a cake, but I don’t eat cake. I never eat cake.
This is not one of those times. I basically made these cabbage rolls all for me. Sure I shared them with the mr because it was dinner but honestly, he was’t the biggest fan (he hate celery). And to be honest, I was glad he didn’t really like them because these things were bonkers amazing to me whichh means I got to eat them all myself. In fact I thought they were so good that I made them twice this week. And not just because I have a shit load of cabbage right now, (I stocked up on cabbage and have like 15 heads in the pantry and stuffed in the fridge), although it helped that I do.
I ♥️ cabbage.
And now I ♥️ these cabbage rolls.
To the rolls!
The stuff. A head of cabbage, a can of butter beans (cooked from dried beans or canned), crushed tomato (also home made or canned), a couple stocks of celery, a carrot, an onion, some garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, and a little olive oil.
Start by getting the cabbage leaves to roll the filling in. You are basically just going to dunk the whole head of cabbage, with the core removed, into a big pot of boiling water until the outer leaves are tender enough to peel away. You are going to want to 12-14 nice leaves so peel away using tongs. Once you have all the leaves, remove the rest of the cabbage ans place the leaves back into the pot to cook until completely tender and soft. Remove then from the water and place them into a bowl and let them cool.
Meanwhile the filling. Take roughly half of the remaining cabbage and rough chop it up along with the celery, carrot, onion and garlic.
Place it all into food processor and pulse until its a small chunky chunk consistancy.
Add a splash of olive oil to a pan then dump the veggies on in. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and the Italian seasoning then set on a medium heat on the stove to start to cook the veggies a bit.
One the veggies are out and cooking, pulse up the butter beans in the food processor until not quite smooth. Some chunk is good.
Dump the veggies back into the food processor with the beans, along with a little of the crushed tomato. Pulse a few times.
That is the filling. Time to roll.
Pat each leave dry and lay flat on counter. If your cabbage leaves have thick ribs you can slice them down the middle, just not to far up into the leaf. Add about 1/3 of a cup of the filling (add less for smaller leaves) and then roll as tightly as you can like a burrito without the filling coming out. Repeat until all the filling is gone.
Place all of the rolls nice and cozy into a oven safe pan, preferably the pan you have been using to cook the veggies in (you want them to fit close together, it helps then from opening up during cooking ) and cover then all up with crushed tomato.
Now all you need to do is stick the whole thing in the oven.
If you got it, spinkled with some green scallions and parsley for color and flavor and the all you need to do it eat. Eat one or eat them all because they are freaking fantastic!
P.S. Left overs are just as good, if not better cold.
YAY CABBAGE!
Stay cool.
-C
A medium sized head of cabbage
2 cups (or 1 can) cooked butter beans
an onion
1 large carrots
2 stalks of celery
3 cloves garlic
3 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes (or a 28 oz can)
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
olive oil
salt and pepper
First thing, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Remove the core from the head of cabbage and place the cabbage head into the boiling water. Gently peal away 12-14 of the outer leaves from the head then remove the head. Place the leaves back into the boiling water until they are soft and plyable. Remove from water and place in a large bowl.
Preheat oven to 400
Rough chop about half of the remaining cabbage head (like a little more then a cup) the carrot, celery, onion, and the garlic and place into a food processor. Pulse until its a small chunk consistency. Add a drizzle of olive oil to a skillet (if you can, use a oven safe skillet the can also be used to bake the rolls in) and dump the veggies in. Sprinkle with the Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, and place on a medium heat to cook for a few minutes. While the veggies are cooking, drain the beans and dump them into the food processsor. Pulse until not quite smooth. After the veggies have started to become fragrant and are not completely raw, dump those veggies back into the food processor with the beans. Add about 1/3 cup of the crushed tomato and pulse until combined.
To assemble the rolls. Pat the leaves dry and lay flat. If a leaf has a really thick rib, cut it down the middle, but not to far up the leaf.. Place about 1/3 cup of filling into each leaf (less if the leaves are small) and roll each one up like a burrito, as tight as you can without ripping the cabbage. Place rolls into oven safe skillet, bumped up against each other if they can. Once all the rolls are assembled and in skillet, pour the crushed tomatoes all over, getting the sauce in between each of the rolls.
And then place the rolls into oven to bake for an hour.
Once the rolls looked cooked and maybe a little crisp on an edge or two, remove and let cool a few minutes before serving.
Chopped parsley and scallions are nice to sprinkle on top if you got it.
Eat, and eat some more. Any left over should be placed into the fridge and eaten just a short few hours later cold, while standing in from of the fridge because these cold are almost better then hot. So good!
Are you as excited about pumpkin season as I am. And not because of pumpkin spice this or that, I am talking about real squash pumpkin. I am so excited, and have started a stash. I have about 10 sugar pumpkins all through the house. Equal parts fall decor and dinner. Being able to eat your decorations is key to a successful life. I am 100 percent sure about that.
So now that we have established that it’s time to eat pumpkin, we also have to realized that there are more ways to eat pumpkin then in baked goods. Savory pumpkin is just as good, if not better then sweet pumpkin. I mean, it’s a squash and don’t we all love a good ssavory squash situation? If you don’t, well you are in the wrong place my friend.
This dish here pretty much sums up all that I ever want to eat again. Roasted pumpkin with cumin is one of the best things ever. No joke. Swiss chard is definitely my favorite green, besides spinach, (and I love kale, but chard is better then kale too!) and red lentils are my favorite kind of lentils. All I all, this small list of ingredients makes for one heck of a dish. I was pre making this for dinner for Barb and the mr. and ended up making something else for dinner so I could eat and save it all for myself. I did not share one bit of this and feel zero bad about it. I mean, I made it so it is mine. They had chili, I secretly ate this.
It’s come to that. I am hiding my pumpkin and lentil dish. What is wrong with me? Ha!
Now to the best pumpkin dish ever!
The stuff. A sugar pumpkin, some swiss chard, an onion, red lentils, a few cloves of garlic. cumin, salt and pepper, and olive oil.
Cut the pumpkin in half, scoop the seeds out (save for roasting later), and chop into mouth sized chunks. Dice the onion up, and remove the stalk and thicker part of the rib from the chard leaves and dice up the stalk. Stick the leaves to the side.
Place all the chopped up stuff onto a baking sheet, drizzle with a little bit of oil, dump on some cumin and sprinkle with salt and pepper then toss it all around.
A fall roast ready for the oven.
Once veggies are in oven roasting, make the lentils. Water and lentil in a pot, bring to a boil, turn on low and let cook until lentils are done. Once cooked, sprinkle in a pinch of salt.
Also mince up the garlic and rough chop up the chard leaves.
Fall veggies are looking nice and roasted and tasting all so good. Toss in the minced garlic and chopped chard leaves and pop the baking sheet back into the oven for a little longer just until the garlic and leaves are cooked too.
Now you have your lentils and the cumin roasted pan of goodness. If you have a lime, cut that up too because it will make this all just perfect. Perfect I tell you.
Here it is. A bowl of red lentils, piled high with cumin roasted pumpkin and chard with a fresh squeeze of lime. Once you aat a few bites, tell me. Best fall dish ever, right!?!
Have a fantastic fall weekend.
-C
serve 2-3
1 pie pumpkin
1 bunch of Swiss chard (between 5-6 large stalks, more if the stalks are small)
1 yellow onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1 cup died red lentils
3 cups water
2 tablespoons cumin
A lime (optional)
salt and pepper
olive oil
Preheat oven to 400
Start by cutting pumpkin in half and removing seeds, (place seeds aside for later to roast), then cut the pumpkin into inch or so cubes. Grab the chard, remove the stalks and ribs from the leaves, place leaves to the side, and dice the stalks up. Dice onion into medium sized chunks and place all of what you have just chopped on a baking sheet. Drizzle a teaspoon or two of oil all over. Spinkle on the cumin and a pinch of salt and pepper and toss around. Evenly distribute the veggies on the pan and stick into the oven to roast, for about 25 minutes, or until the pumpkin and chard stalks are fork tender. In the meantime rough chop the leaves and mince the garlic. When the pumpkin and chard are just about done, remove pan from oven and toss in the garlic and leaves. Place pan back into oven for another 8-10 minutes or until the leaves have cooked. Remove from oven.
While the veggies are roasting, make the lentils. Place the water and lentils into a medium sized pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn down to low, giving it a stir ever few minutes until lentils are soft.Once cooked, remove from heat and season with pinch of salt salt.
When the lentils are cooked and the veggies are roasted, it’s time to eat. Spoon lentils into a bowl and top with roasted veggies. Season with more salt and pepper if needed and cut up lime (optional) and squeeze juice all over. Eat right away and save any for later.
I feel like this salad is kind of a summery salad, or better yet, a salad that highlights all the best of what summer has to bring. All the fresh tender dill that is still growing (but not for long) , all the brightly colored and amazing veggies that are being harvested and are nearing the end (bye fresh cucumbers.) This salad might just be my little last hurrah of summer cooking before it is all root veggies and dried herbs and hot and hearty food. And not going to lie and say that I am sad to see summer go because I am so so ready for it to be over, but I will miss all the fresh fresh produce. And I will especially miss all the fresh dill because fresh dill is seriously the best.
Eat up what is left of summer now before it’s too late!
The stuff. Quinoa, a bunch of dill, a cucumber, a pepper, an onion, and some cherry tomatoes. Also a clove of garlic, some salt and pepper, and red wine vinegar.
Mince the garlic, chop the onion, mince the pepper and the cucumber, half the tomatoes, and last but noblest, rough chop the dill.
All that goodness goes into. big bow, along with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and the vinegar Tossed around and left to meld.
Uncooked quinoa with water turns to cooked quinoa
Quinoa meets the bowl of veggies
And after a good mix, viola!
You got yourself a yummers fresh dill and veggie quinoa salad.
-C
serves 3-5 as a side or 2 as a meal
1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups water
I bunch fresh dill (like a 1/3 cup chopped… But use as much as you want)
1/2 a small red onion
1 clove garlic
1 small Persian cucumer
1/2 of a sweet red or yellow pepper
handful or two of cherry tomatoes
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
Start by cooking the quinoa. Place the water and the uncooked quinoa into a medium sized pot. Place on high heat until sorts to boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and place lid on the pot. Let cook for about 15 minutes, checking at 10 minutes, to see if all the water has absorbed. When it has, remove from heat and let sit for a few more minutes then fluff with a fork.
While the quinoa id cooking, mince the garlic and chop all the veggies into small little pieces. Place into a big bowl. Chop up the fresh dill and toss into bowl too, along with the vinegar and a good sprinkle of salt and pepper. Mix it all around and let sit on the counter for a little so the veggies get nice and vinegary. Once quinoa is cooked and fluffed, dump into the bowl and mix around. Season with more salt and pepper if needed. Eat warm or refrigerate and eat cold. It’s defiantly one of those salads that taste great right away but tastes even better the next day.
The rhubarb is ready and I am ready. There will be rhubarb in everything for weeks. But what to start with? I was debating if I should go classic and make a pie, or maybe savory and make a rhubarb tomato soup (going to make that soup later), or maybe just a big batch of jam to stick on and in everything.. Then I remembered that I had a cookie dream last fall, a dream that I had made almond rhubarb cookie. (that is the extent of my dream memory) And who am I to ignore a cookie dream? So I starting off rhubarb season with cookies.
These cookies are all sorts of good. They have oats, almonds, flax, and a vegetable (because we all know that rhubarb is technically a veggies right?) so right there is a good enough excuse to make them. And to eat whenever, including breakfast, because remember, all the good stuff. But don’t let that good stuff fool you. These cookies are just as good, if not better then any other cookie. Soft and chewy. So nutty, sweet but not too, and rhubarb all tart and fantastic cutting in to say hey hey hey. These are springtime, any time, cookie time cookies. Dream cookies that are now reality cookies.
Let the rhubarb begin!
The stuff. Almonds, oats and rhubarb. Brown sugar, vegan butter, a flax egg, cinnamon, baking powder, vanilla and salt.
First we need to turn the oats into flour so blend them in a food processor until that happens
Next up are the almonds. These you want to pulse for about 2-3 minutes they become more of an almond meal the flour. Don’t over blend or else you might end up with almond butter.
Next up. Sugar, vegan butter, cinnamon, vanilla, ans flax egg all go into a big bowl.
Mix well until all combined and incorporated.
Now add in the oat flour, almond meal, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder.
Stir it up and there you go.. but the rhubarb!
Remove the leave from rhubarb if you haven’t already. They will kill you!(or make you violently ill). Chop the rhubarb stalks into small pieces that are roughly the same size as chocolate chip. Some chunks can be a little bit bigger, but you don’t want the piece too big or else you will end up with soggy cookies.
Rhubarb goes into cookie batter Mix it all in.
Scoop out dough onto baking sheet and give them all a good pat to flatten them down a good bit. Place them into the oven for 17-22 minutes to bake. until nice deep golden brown.
Golden brown and baked all nice. Look at those rhubarb chunks. So pretty.
Cookies out on a wire rack to cool and firm up a bit.
So now you eat yourself a cookie. Or two.
-C
makes 18-22 cookies depending on size
1 1/2 cups raw almonds
1 1/2 cups old fashion oats (gluten free if needed)
1/3 cup vegan butter room temperature
1 flax or chia egg (1 tablespoon ground seed and 3 tablespoon water)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2-3 stalks rhubarb (about 1 1/2 cups chopped)
Preheat oven to 350
Add oats to a food processor and blend until the oats turn into flour, which will take about 2 minutes. Dump the now flour into a bowl. Add almonds to the food processor and pulse for 2-3 minutes until the almonds turn into fine meal. Dump into the bowl with oats.
In a large bowl mix together the vegan butter, brown sugar, flax egg, and vanilla until fully incorporated. Add in the oat and almond flours, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder and mix until la dough forms.
Grab rhubarb and chop into little pieces that are roughly the size of a chocolate chip. Measure out 1 1/2 cups and dump into batter. Mix until incorporated.
Scoop out cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet and flatten each cookie to aboutt 1/2 inch thick. Place into preheated oven. and bake for 17-22 minutes (rotate after 12) or until a nice golden brown on top and bottom. (Depending on your baking sheet and stove, it could take a few minutes longer, just keep your eyes on the cookies!) Once bakes, place on a wire rack to cool. These cookies are very fragile until they cool off so be careful handling them.
Let cool and eat. And yes, these are 100% exceptable to eat as a breakfast cookie.
Left over cookies should be stored in an airtight container at room tempature for 2-3 day, longer in the fridge, and can be frozen .
And eat yourself a cookie. Or two.
Cookie anecdote. I placed a cookie sheet full of cookies back into a cold oven to store while I was cleaning up the kitchen. And left them there and kind of forgot about they, And then I cranked the oven on to make dinner and a few minutes later smelled something burning. OH fuck… the cookies! I pulled them out just in time to see that I had completely burnt the bottoms. SO PISSED ( I might have raged cried a little). But you know what I did? I cut all the bunt bottoms off and placed the crumbles up un-burnt bits onto a bowl. The mr came home and ate the bowl of crumble and was happy as a clam. And lucky had left out half of the cookies l on the counter so not all were lost. But lessons learned. Cookies crumbles are just as good as whole cookies and always check the oven before turning it on. There might be cookies in there!!!
The mr has a soft spot for tortilla chips. He doesn’t get chips often, but when he does it is usually the super fried, super salty, in a plastic bag, tortilla chips. And I am ok with that because it is not often and the dude deserves chips when he wants them. But I hate how crappy they are for him, especially all the salt. So much salt that I can smell it in my mouth (yes, I said that right). So, as with everything else we eat in the house, I now make chips from scratch. (Slowly I have eliminated just about everything that is pre packaged and started making it myself. I think it’s pretty much just the dried pasta and the mr’s yogurt and cheese that I haven’t gotten to.Yet.) This way he can eat his chips and I don’t have to sit there tasting the smell and thinking about the crap that he is eating. I know I say this a lot, but lets just take a minute here and acknowledge how I really am the best girlfriend ever.
Ok, now about these chips. I have made plan tortilla chips a few times before and figured it was time for a twist. In come black beans. Why, because I was pretty sure beans were going to be awesome, and lo and behold, I was completely right. Adding the beans take little to no more effort then making the chips without, and bonus here, more fiber and protein and good stuff going into a chip. Then they are lightly oil, lightly salted, and eaten without any guilt because I made them and they are the best. Seriously, the mr thinks they are amazing and doesn’t miss those pre package ones a bit. And sure, they might take a little time and minimal effort, but really they are super easy and the time and effort to make them is probably no more then going into a store, waiting in line to pay, and driving home to eat your chips. You can have these chip made in that amount of time. So you might as well just make them.
To the chips.
The stuff. Masa harnia, black beans, water, salt, and a little oil. There should be a lemon or lime here too, but I forgot to stick it into the picture. Oops.
Pretty easy. Add the beans to a food processor and blend untill completely smooth. Add in the masa and pulse then gradually add in water until a dough forms. Stop and feel the dough. If it feels like play dough and comes together into ball easily, then you are good. If it is to wet, add a little more masa, to dry, more water.
Dump the dough onto the counter and form into a ball. Place the doguh into a bowl and cover with a damp closer for 15-30 minutes to let the dough rest.
After the rest, divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll into balls. Place the balls onto a damp cloth and cover while you are making the tortillas so they don’t dry out.
To flatten those balls into tortillas. After doing this a bunch of times, I have a system that works the best for me. I use a large ziplock bag (the plastic is a little thicker and easier to deal with, plus I don’t use plastic wrap), a cutting board, and a rolling pin. Place a dough ball into the center of the bag then take the cutting board and press directly on top, placing all your weight onto it. It gets flat, but not flat enough so take the rolling pin and flatten some more. Then press the rolled out dough with the cutting board one last time. Carefuly remove from bag and place direrely onto a hot dry skillet.
Cook each side 3-4 minutes or until it starts to get a few light brown spots. Once cooked, place on a plate or baking sheet. If I were just making tortillas, I would place then in between a kitchen towel to keep them warm, but because they are destined for chips and don’t care.
Black bean corn tortillas. Hey, you could stop here and make a taco or something if you need to. Feel free to use a tortilla or two before using the rest to make the into chips.
So chips. Grab baking sheets, oil, salt, a knife, and the tortillas. Take a few of the tortillas and oil them. (The easiest way I found to do this is to rub oil on with my hands then rub the oil onto the tortillas. ) Oil 3 at a time, stacked them on top of each other and cut into 8 triangles,
Get as many of the triangles onto a baking sheet as you can, without overlapping. Once all nice and tight, sprinkle the tops with salt and pop them into preheated oven.
Pull the chips out of the oven when they are crispy and done (about 10 minutes) then squeeze a little lemon juice all over the chips. Toss around and pop the pan back into the oven for another minute or two just so the juice doesn’t leave the chips soggy.
Dump cooked chips onto a wire rack to cool. Eat as you work, you deserve it.
Pile chips into a bowl, and serve with some salsa or guacamole or whatever you eat you chips with. They are your chips.
-C
Makes 98 chips, or like a good sized bag worth
2 cups masa harina
1 cup cooked black beans in bean juice
1- 1 1/4 cups warm water
couple teaspoons neutral oil (I used grape seed oil)
2-3 teaspoons salt
A lemon or lime
Beans go into a food processor and blended until completely smooth. Add in the masa and blend, slowly adding 3/4 cups water until a dough starts to forms. Stop and check dough. It should feel like play dough and come together easilty onto a ball. If it feel wet, add in a couple of tablespoons more of the masa. If it is still too dry and crumbly, add in more water until it’s to the right consistnacey. Dump dough onto counter and form in a ball. Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp towel and let sit for abut 15-30 minutes.
Preheat a skillet on medium high heat on stove.
Once dough has rested, divide into 12 pieces and roll into balls. Place balls onto a damp towel and cover when not working with them. Grab a large ziplock bag, a cutting board, and a rolling pin. Take a dough ball and place in the center of the bag. Press down with the cutting board, placing all your weight on top. It got flat, but not flat enough. Continue to flatten out with the rolling pin until it is about 1/8 inch thick. Press again one last time with the cutting board. Gently remove from bag and place directly onto the hot skillet. Cook each side for 3-4 minutes or until it starts to get a few light brown spot. Place cooked tortilla on a baking sheet or in between a kitchen towel. Repeat until all 12 dough balls are cooked into tortillas.
Preheat oven to 375
Working in 3’s. dump a little oil onto your hand then lightly rub it all over the tortillas. Stack them on top of each other then cut into 8 wedged. Place wedges onto a baking sheet, get as many as you can onto sheet without any overlapping, then sprinkle with salt. to taste. If you have them, use multiple baking sheets. Place in oven for about 10-12 minutes or until the chips are crispy. Remove and sprinkle lemon juice all over the chips. Toss around and place back into oven for a minute or two just until lth lemon juice evaporates. Remove and dump chips onto a wire rack to cool.
Eat chips. Any left over can be placed into a airtight container or bag and will last about 3-4 days.
THE LOVELY CRAZY
December 21, 2018 by maximios • Blog
Soup is all about comfort and I needed comfort this week. What with being all sad and slightly stressed with a little touch of the holiday blues. And I needed something to warm me up because is has been freaking chilly cold. I needed soup. But I wanted something slightly special, not the everyday, but also not anything fussy or finicky. A soup that I could make really fast or let sit on the stove all day. A soup that would bring a little brightness without being overly rich. A soup to take away the chill and make me happy.
Is that asking to much of a soup? I think not.
This soup, it did it all. But also take into account, this soup is not for the people that do not like squash. Or for the people that do not like apples or cranberries. Or for people that do not like thick creamy soups. But if you are not one of this people (you are a person that likes squash, apples and cranberries, and creamy soup) then this soup is for you. It is for us. Creamy, flavorful, slightly sweet and spicy with a little tang and just so dang delicious. It is like a warm blanket of soup. Comfortable and lovely. I have basically eaten an entire pot all to myself in the past two days.
It has been just what I needed.
Join me.
The stuff. A butternut squash, a couple apples, and some cranberries. Also a carrot, an onion, some fresh ginger, a few cloves garlic, cumin and chili powder, salt and pepper, apple cider vinegar, and a little olive oil.
Start by chopping up the carrot and the onion. Small pieces just because they cook a little faster.
Peel and grate or mince some fresh ginger too.
Toss that all into a big pot with a splash of olive oil and a splash of water and cook on a medium heat until tender and fragrant.
While the veggies cook, chop the squash into small cubes. Remove the seeds, but no need to peel.
And chop up the apple too, but set aside a half of one for the apple cranberry relish.
Now toss all that into the pot along with the cranberries.
Add the spices, salt and pepper, a few splashed of apple cider vinegar, and water to cover it all. Then place it on stove, bring to a boil, then turn heat to medium and let cook.
While the soup is cooking, make the relish. Mince the half apple along with about 1/2 cup of cranberries.
Place in a bowl with a pinch of salt and a few splashed of apple cider vinegar. Then just let it sit and meld.
Soup is looking good. Everything is soft and falling apart and ready to go.
Blend it all until smooth.
Thick and creamy goodness right here. If it is to thick, add more water, too thin, cook it down a little longer. The consistency is up to you.
Now all you need to do is ladle soup into bowls and top with a couple spoonfuls of the relish.
This is comfort. This is good.
Have a great, comfy weekend.
-C
makes 6-8 servings
1 small butternut squash (about 5 cups cubed)
1 large onion
1 carrot
2 macon or mac apples
2 cups fresh cranberries (you can use frozen too)
2 tablespoon cumin
2 tablespoons chili power
2-3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoon fresh minced or grated ginger
4-5 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper
6 cups water
Start by chopping the onion and carrot into small pieces. Place into large heavy bottom pot with a splash of water and a tiny splash of olive oil. Mince the garlic and peel and mince ginger. Toss into the pot as well and place it on a medium heat to cook until the veggies are tender and fragrant.
While the veggies are cooking, dice up the butternut squash. Remove any seeds but there is no need to peel. Also dice up the apples, reserving 1/2 of one for the relish. Place the chopped squash and apples into the pot with the cooking veggies along with 1 1/2 cups of cranberries , the chili powder and cumin, 2-3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, and the water. Place the pot back on the stove, bring it to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and let cook.
Once soup is on the stove, take reserved half apple and the other 1/2 cup of cranberries and dice into very small pieces. Place into a bowl with a little pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar. Toss around and set aside.
And back to soup. Once the squash is tender and starting to fall apart, it is time. Remove from heat and either with a immersion blender, or a regular blender, blend the soup until smooth. After its blended and creamy smooth, check for thickness. If you think it is too thick, add more water. Too thin, place back on stove and cook down until it thickens up a bit more.
When you are ready to serve and eat, ladle soup into a bowl and top with more pepper and a spoonful or two of the apple cranberry relish.
Then eat and feel cozy.
I made baked beans last week for a side to dinner with the mr and Barb. They ate them all. I didn’t get more then a spoonful. I was sad for me, but also was like “Shit, if I had known you guys were bean fiends, I would be making baked beans like all the time.”
And maybe not all the time, but I made them again this week. And again, they ate a lot, but I got me some this time, and I will probably make them again next week too because they will be perfect for Thanksgiving. See, homemade baked beans are a thing of beauty. Sure you can buy them in a can and be just fine, but these baked beans, well these are waaaayyyy way better. These baked beans are soft (not canned bean soft) and tomatoey and a little spicy with a tang. Not sickly sweet, (not sugar added) and not too salty.. They are just about perfect. You can eat them on their own, toss them into salads or wraps, stick on some toast, serve as as side, or just eat them cold straight from a jar from the fridge right before bed. (your loved one will thank you for that). Plus they are baked in the oven and I love me a good warm oven on a cold day. And the obvious, but all the protein and all around goodness. A great dish to serve if ever you need to feed people like me who don’t eat meat. It’s a win win win win.
Baked beans in all their glory. No cans in sight.
The stuff. White beans that were soaked overnight, strained then added back to a pot with 6 cups of water. Also have crushed tomatoes. an onion, a few cloves of garlic, chili powder, mustard powder, apple cider vinegar, and some salt and pepper.
First step is to start boiling you beans. But while that is happening, mince garlic and chop the onion into really small pieces.
Toss the onion and garlic in a pan and cook on medium low until soften and fragrant.
Cooked beans. All you need to do to cook them is place the pot with soaked beans and water on high, bring to a boil, then turn heat to a medium. Let beans cook until tender. It should take about an hour and a half.
Beans are cooked and the garlic and onion are soften so now all you do is combine everything together. Don’t drain the beans, just toss in the tomatoes, the vinegar, the spices, and a few pinches of pepper and a pinch of salt. Stir in all together,
Looks like soup right? This is right before you stick it into the oven.
Now look at that, oven baked beans. The best part… The crispy sides. ALL MINE!
Not much left to do but eat them. Straight up with a hunk of bread. That is a good way to start anyway.
Enjoy your beans!
-C
Makes a big pot of beans
1 pound (2 cups) white beans soaked in water for at least 8 hours (I used great northern but navy would be good too)
6 cups water or veggie stock
3 cups (or a 28 oz can) crushed tomatoes
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 1/2 tablespoons chili pepper
1 tablespoon mustard powder
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper
Strain soaked beans and place them into large oven safe dutch oven almond with the water and stick on the stove. Bring the beans to a boil then reduce heat to medium and cook util the beans are tender. Should take about 1 1/2 hours.
Sometime while the beans are cooking, mince garlic and chop the onion into very small pieces. Place in a skillet and cook on medium until the onion and garlic are soften and fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside until beans are cooked
Preheat oven to 425
One beans are tender, dump in the cooked garlic and onion, the tomatoes, the spices, the vinegar, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Stir it all together and place into the oven. Bake for about 2 hours, staring about ever 30 minutes, until the bean sauce is nice and thick. If at any point you think they have gotten to dry, just add more water. Pull the beans out of oven once you are happy with the sauce consistency. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed.
And then eat them. As a meal, as a side, or as a snack. Beans are good anytime.
Any leftovers should be stored in the fridge. Beans can be reheated very easily on the stove top. Just place the pot back on stove, stir in a little water and cook til hot.
Beans are also fantastic eaten cold from the fridge.
The thing with having an abundance of squash in the house, and having the abundance keep growing (we get a lot of squashes at farm share) is that I need to cook just about every meal with said abundance, which I am totally on happy to do. I welcome all the squash. I am excited about all the squash. I could eat al the squash all day, everyday. And I do. But that is me. The mr and the others the I sometimes cook for, they are not as squash crazy as me and get sick of plain old roasted squash so I am trying to change it up and make new and interesting things out of the squash so no one gets bored with it.
Yes, I know stuffing an acorn squash is hardly a new idea, but this squash is not stuffed with the usual rice and stuff, it stuffed with lots of black beans and cumin and chili powder spiced cauliflower (and a few other things). The combination of all the flavors with the acorn squash really hit all the right spots for a tasty, not boring squash meal. It is a brilliant combination of flavors that even the not so keen on squash person will love.
That is my opinion of course but it will be your opinion too after you make and eat these. We will brilliant together.
To the stuffed squash.
The stuff. An acorn squash, some cauliflower, cooked black beans, an onion, and a few kale leaves. Also need some cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper. salsa, and olive oil.
Start by cutting the squash in half and scooping out all the seeds.
Place the squash open side down on a baking sheet or in a skillet lightly oiled and then stick into a hot oven to roast.
After the squash goes in, dice up the onion and cauliflower into small little pieces.
Place the chopped stuff onto a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and toss with the cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Get that into the oven too.
Roasted, and ready. Stop, do not eat it all, but you might want too, it is so freaking good.
And once this guy in fork tender, its ready as well.
Scoop out a bit of the cooked squash from each side making the well bigger. More room to stuff.
Get everything together. Chop the kale, grab a bowl.
The black beans, salsa, scooped out cooked squash go into bowl. Add in the roasted cauliflower and onion and the chopped kale and mix.
Now stuff each side. Get as much in as you can, mound it as high as you can and place back into oven to bake for a little bit longer.
Cooked and slightly crispy in all the right ways.
These stuffed suckers are everything we all wanted and didn’t know we needed. Fantastic, and all the more when serves with extra salsa, sliced avocado, and a wedge of lime.
Go get at it.
Bye!
-C
Makes 2 stuffed halves. This recipe is very easy to fiddle with and can easily be double or tripled.
1 medium sized acorn squash
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans
1/4 head of cauliflower (about 2 cups chopped before roasting)
a small onion
a few kale leaves
1/4 cup thick and chunky salsa
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chili pepper
salt and pepper
olive oil
Avocado, lime, extra salsa (optional)
Preheat oven to 400
Slice acorn squash in half and scoop out all the seeds. (seeds can be roasted). Place both halves cut side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet or oven safe skillet and place in oven to roast for about 30-35 minutes or until the squash is fork tender.
Once squash is in oven, dice the onion and cauliflower into small pieces and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and toss together with the cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Place into oven along with the squash. Roast for 15-20 minutes or until the cauliflower is lightly browned and tender.
When the cauliflower is roasted and squash is cooked, get all the rest of the ingredients ready. Dice up the kale . Take each side of squash and scoop out about an inch more of cooked squash, leaving a good sized well. Place cooked squash into a bowl and kind of mash it up. Add in the beans, the salsa, the kale, and the roasted cauliflower and onions. Season with salt and pepper and mix it all up. Take filling and fill the squashes, stuffing as much as you can in and mounding it on top. Place the halves back onto baking sheet or skillet and place back into oven for 10-15 minutes until nice and browned and slightly crispy on top. Pull from oven and serve. Although not necessary, extra salsa, avocado, a lime are much appreciated.
A lot of times I make food that I don’t nessasrily care to eat because well, I love to make for other people. Take all the cakes, I love to make cake, it makes me so happy to make a cake, but I don’t eat cake. I never eat cake.
This is not one of those times. I basically made these cabbage rolls all for me. Sure I shared them with the mr because it was dinner but honestly, he was’t the biggest fan (he hate celery). And to be honest, I was glad he didn’t really like them because these things were bonkers amazing to me whichh means I got to eat them all myself. In fact I thought they were so good that I made them twice this week. And not just because I have a shit load of cabbage right now, (I stocked up on cabbage and have like 15 heads in the pantry and stuffed in the fridge), although it helped that I do.
I ♥️ cabbage.
And now I ♥️ these cabbage rolls.
To the rolls!
The stuff. A head of cabbage, a can of butter beans (cooked from dried beans or canned), crushed tomato (also home made or canned), a couple stocks of celery, a carrot, an onion, some garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, and a little olive oil.
Start by getting the cabbage leaves to roll the filling in. You are basically just going to dunk the whole head of cabbage, with the core removed, into a big pot of boiling water until the outer leaves are tender enough to peel away. You are going to want to 12-14 nice leaves so peel away using tongs. Once you have all the leaves, remove the rest of the cabbage ans place the leaves back into the pot to cook until completely tender and soft. Remove then from the water and place them into a bowl and let them cool.
Meanwhile the filling. Take roughly half of the remaining cabbage and rough chop it up along with the celery, carrot, onion and garlic.
Place it all into food processor and pulse until its a small chunky chunk consistancy.
Add a splash of olive oil to a pan then dump the veggies on in. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and the Italian seasoning then set on a medium heat on the stove to start to cook the veggies a bit.
One the veggies are out and cooking, pulse up the butter beans in the food processor until not quite smooth. Some chunk is good.
Dump the veggies back into the food processor with the beans, along with a little of the crushed tomato. Pulse a few times.
That is the filling. Time to roll.
Pat each leave dry and lay flat on counter. If your cabbage leaves have thick ribs you can slice them down the middle, just not to far up into the leaf. Add about 1/3 of a cup of the filling (add less for smaller leaves) and then roll as tightly as you can like a burrito without the filling coming out. Repeat until all the filling is gone.
Place all of the rolls nice and cozy into a oven safe pan, preferably the pan you have been using to cook the veggies in (you want them to fit close together, it helps then from opening up during cooking ) and cover then all up with crushed tomato.
Now all you need to do is stick the whole thing in the oven.
If you got it, spinkled with some green scallions and parsley for color and flavor and the all you need to do it eat. Eat one or eat them all because they are freaking fantastic!
P.S. Left overs are just as good, if not better cold.
YAY CABBAGE!
Stay cool.
-C
A medium sized head of cabbage
2 cups (or 1 can) cooked butter beans
an onion
1 large carrots
2 stalks of celery
3 cloves garlic
3 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes (or a 28 oz can)
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
olive oil
salt and pepper
First thing, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Remove the core from the head of cabbage and place the cabbage head into the boiling water. Gently peal away 12-14 of the outer leaves from the head then remove the head. Place the leaves back into the boiling water until they are soft and plyable. Remove from water and place in a large bowl.
Preheat oven to 400
Rough chop about half of the remaining cabbage head (like a little more then a cup) the carrot, celery, onion, and the garlic and place into a food processor. Pulse until its a small chunk consistency. Add a drizzle of olive oil to a skillet (if you can, use a oven safe skillet the can also be used to bake the rolls in) and dump the veggies in. Sprinkle with the Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, and place on a medium heat to cook for a few minutes. While the veggies are cooking, drain the beans and dump them into the food processsor. Pulse until not quite smooth. After the veggies have started to become fragrant and are not completely raw, dump those veggies back into the food processor with the beans. Add about 1/3 cup of the crushed tomato and pulse until combined.
To assemble the rolls. Pat the leaves dry and lay flat. If a leaf has a really thick rib, cut it down the middle, but not to far up the leaf.. Place about 1/3 cup of filling into each leaf (less if the leaves are small) and roll each one up like a burrito, as tight as you can without ripping the cabbage. Place rolls into oven safe skillet, bumped up against each other if they can. Once all the rolls are assembled and in skillet, pour the crushed tomatoes all over, getting the sauce in between each of the rolls.
And then place the rolls into oven to bake for an hour.
Once the rolls looked cooked and maybe a little crisp on an edge or two, remove and let cool a few minutes before serving.
Chopped parsley and scallions are nice to sprinkle on top if you got it.
Eat, and eat some more. Any left over should be placed into the fridge and eaten just a short few hours later cold, while standing in from of the fridge because these cold are almost better then hot. So good!
Are you as excited about pumpkin season as I am. And not because of pumpkin spice this or that, I am talking about real squash pumpkin. I am so excited, and have started a stash. I have about 10 sugar pumpkins all through the house. Equal parts fall decor and dinner. Being able to eat your decorations is key to a successful life. I am 100 percent sure about that.
So now that we have established that it’s time to eat pumpkin, we also have to realized that there are more ways to eat pumpkin then in baked goods. Savory pumpkin is just as good, if not better then sweet pumpkin. I mean, it’s a squash and don’t we all love a good ssavory squash situation? If you don’t, well you are in the wrong place my friend.
This dish here pretty much sums up all that I ever want to eat again. Roasted pumpkin with cumin is one of the best things ever. No joke. Swiss chard is definitely my favorite green, besides spinach, (and I love kale, but chard is better then kale too!) and red lentils are my favorite kind of lentils. All I all, this small list of ingredients makes for one heck of a dish. I was pre making this for dinner for Barb and the mr. and ended up making something else for dinner so I could eat and save it all for myself. I did not share one bit of this and feel zero bad about it. I mean, I made it so it is mine. They had chili, I secretly ate this.
It’s come to that. I am hiding my pumpkin and lentil dish. What is wrong with me? Ha!
Now to the best pumpkin dish ever!
The stuff. A sugar pumpkin, some swiss chard, an onion, red lentils, a few cloves of garlic. cumin, salt and pepper, and olive oil.
Cut the pumpkin in half, scoop the seeds out (save for roasting later), and chop into mouth sized chunks. Dice the onion up, and remove the stalk and thicker part of the rib from the chard leaves and dice up the stalk. Stick the leaves to the side.
Place all the chopped up stuff onto a baking sheet, drizzle with a little bit of oil, dump on some cumin and sprinkle with salt and pepper then toss it all around.
A fall roast ready for the oven.
Once veggies are in oven roasting, make the lentils. Water and lentil in a pot, bring to a boil, turn on low and let cook until lentils are done. Once cooked, sprinkle in a pinch of salt.
Also mince up the garlic and rough chop up the chard leaves.
Fall veggies are looking nice and roasted and tasting all so good. Toss in the minced garlic and chopped chard leaves and pop the baking sheet back into the oven for a little longer just until the garlic and leaves are cooked too.
Now you have your lentils and the cumin roasted pan of goodness. If you have a lime, cut that up too because it will make this all just perfect. Perfect I tell you.
Here it is. A bowl of red lentils, piled high with cumin roasted pumpkin and chard with a fresh squeeze of lime. Once you aat a few bites, tell me. Best fall dish ever, right!?!
Have a fantastic fall weekend.
-C
serve 2-3
1 pie pumpkin
1 bunch of Swiss chard (between 5-6 large stalks, more if the stalks are small)
1 yellow onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1 cup died red lentils
3 cups water
2 tablespoons cumin
A lime (optional)
salt and pepper
olive oil
Preheat oven to 400
Start by cutting pumpkin in half and removing seeds, (place seeds aside for later to roast), then cut the pumpkin into inch or so cubes. Grab the chard, remove the stalks and ribs from the leaves, place leaves to the side, and dice the stalks up. Dice onion into medium sized chunks and place all of what you have just chopped on a baking sheet. Drizzle a teaspoon or two of oil all over. Spinkle on the cumin and a pinch of salt and pepper and toss around. Evenly distribute the veggies on the pan and stick into the oven to roast, for about 25 minutes, or until the pumpkin and chard stalks are fork tender. In the meantime rough chop the leaves and mince the garlic. When the pumpkin and chard are just about done, remove pan from oven and toss in the garlic and leaves. Place pan back into oven for another 8-10 minutes or until the leaves have cooked. Remove from oven.
While the veggies are roasting, make the lentils. Place the water and lentils into a medium sized pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn down to low, giving it a stir ever few minutes until lentils are soft.Once cooked, remove from heat and season with pinch of salt salt.
When the lentils are cooked and the veggies are roasted, it’s time to eat. Spoon lentils into a bowl and top with roasted veggies. Season with more salt and pepper if needed and cut up lime (optional) and squeeze juice all over. Eat right away and save any for later.
I feel like this salad is kind of a summery salad, or better yet, a salad that highlights all the best of what summer has to bring. All the fresh tender dill that is still growing (but not for long) , all the brightly colored and amazing veggies that are being harvested and are nearing the end (bye fresh cucumbers.) This salad might just be my little last hurrah of summer cooking before it is all root veggies and dried herbs and hot and hearty food. And not going to lie and say that I am sad to see summer go because I am so so ready for it to be over, but I will miss all the fresh fresh produce. And I will especially miss all the fresh dill because fresh dill is seriously the best.
Eat up what is left of summer now before it’s too late!
The stuff. Quinoa, a bunch of dill, a cucumber, a pepper, an onion, and some cherry tomatoes. Also a clove of garlic, some salt and pepper, and red wine vinegar.
Mince the garlic, chop the onion, mince the pepper and the cucumber, half the tomatoes, and last but noblest, rough chop the dill.
All that goodness goes into. big bow, along with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and the vinegar Tossed around and left to meld.
Uncooked quinoa with water turns to cooked quinoa
Quinoa meets the bowl of veggies
And after a good mix, viola!
You got yourself a yummers fresh dill and veggie quinoa salad.
-C
serves 3-5 as a side or 2 as a meal
1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups water
I bunch fresh dill (like a 1/3 cup chopped… But use as much as you want)
1/2 a small red onion
1 clove garlic
1 small Persian cucumer
1/2 of a sweet red or yellow pepper
handful or two of cherry tomatoes
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
Start by cooking the quinoa. Place the water and the uncooked quinoa into a medium sized pot. Place on high heat until sorts to boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and place lid on the pot. Let cook for about 15 minutes, checking at 10 minutes, to see if all the water has absorbed. When it has, remove from heat and let sit for a few more minutes then fluff with a fork.
While the quinoa id cooking, mince the garlic and chop all the veggies into small little pieces. Place into a big bowl. Chop up the fresh dill and toss into bowl too, along with the vinegar and a good sprinkle of salt and pepper. Mix it all around and let sit on the counter for a little so the veggies get nice and vinegary. Once quinoa is cooked and fluffed, dump into the bowl and mix around. Season with more salt and pepper if needed. Eat warm or refrigerate and eat cold. It’s defiantly one of those salads that taste great right away but tastes even better the next day.
The rhubarb is ready and I am ready. There will be rhubarb in everything for weeks. But what to start with? I was debating if I should go classic and make a pie, or maybe savory and make a rhubarb tomato soup (going to make that soup later), or maybe just a big batch of jam to stick on and in everything.. Then I remembered that I had a cookie dream last fall, a dream that I had made almond rhubarb cookie. (that is the extent of my dream memory) And who am I to ignore a cookie dream? So I starting off rhubarb season with cookies.
These cookies are all sorts of good. They have oats, almonds, flax, and a vegetable (because we all know that rhubarb is technically a veggies right?) so right there is a good enough excuse to make them. And to eat whenever, including breakfast, because remember, all the good stuff. But don’t let that good stuff fool you. These cookies are just as good, if not better then any other cookie. Soft and chewy. So nutty, sweet but not too, and rhubarb all tart and fantastic cutting in to say hey hey hey. These are springtime, any time, cookie time cookies. Dream cookies that are now reality cookies.
Let the rhubarb begin!
The stuff. Almonds, oats and rhubarb. Brown sugar, vegan butter, a flax egg, cinnamon, baking powder, vanilla and salt.
First we need to turn the oats into flour so blend them in a food processor until that happens
Next up are the almonds. These you want to pulse for about 2-3 minutes they become more of an almond meal the flour. Don’t over blend or else you might end up with almond butter.
Next up. Sugar, vegan butter, cinnamon, vanilla, ans flax egg all go into a big bowl.
Mix well until all combined and incorporated.
Now add in the oat flour, almond meal, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder.
Stir it up and there you go.. but the rhubarb!
Remove the leave from rhubarb if you haven’t already. They will kill you!(or make you violently ill). Chop the rhubarb stalks into small pieces that are roughly the same size as chocolate chip. Some chunks can be a little bit bigger, but you don’t want the piece too big or else you will end up with soggy cookies.
Rhubarb goes into cookie batter Mix it all in.
Scoop out dough onto baking sheet and give them all a good pat to flatten them down a good bit. Place them into the oven for 17-22 minutes to bake. until nice deep golden brown.
Golden brown and baked all nice. Look at those rhubarb chunks. So pretty.
Cookies out on a wire rack to cool and firm up a bit.
So now you eat yourself a cookie. Or two.
-C
makes 18-22 cookies depending on size
Preheat oven to 350
Add oats to a food processor and blend until the oats turn into flour, which will take about 2 minutes. Dump the now flour into a bowl. Add almonds to the food processor and pulse for 2-3 minutes until the almonds turn into fine meal. Dump into the bowl with oats.
In a large bowl mix together the vegan butter, brown sugar, flax egg, and vanilla until fully incorporated. Add in the oat and almond flours, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder and mix until la dough forms.
Grab rhubarb and chop into little pieces that are roughly the size of a chocolate chip. Measure out 1 1/2 cups and dump into batter. Mix until incorporated.
Scoop out cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet and flatten each cookie to aboutt 1/2 inch thick. Place into preheated oven. and bake for 17-22 minutes (rotate after 12) or until a nice golden brown on top and bottom. (Depending on your baking sheet and stove, it could take a few minutes longer, just keep your eyes on the cookies!) Once bakes, place on a wire rack to cool. These cookies are very fragile until they cool off so be careful handling them.
Let cool and eat. And yes, these are 100% exceptable to eat as a breakfast cookie.
Left over cookies should be stored in an airtight container at room tempature for 2-3 day, longer in the fridge, and can be frozen .
And eat yourself a cookie. Or two.
Cookie anecdote. I placed a cookie sheet full of cookies back into a cold oven to store while I was cleaning up the kitchen. And left them there and kind of forgot about they, And then I cranked the oven on to make dinner and a few minutes later smelled something burning. OH fuck… the cookies! I pulled them out just in time to see that I had completely burnt the bottoms. SO PISSED ( I might have raged cried a little). But you know what I did? I cut all the bunt bottoms off and placed the crumbles up un-burnt bits onto a bowl. The mr came home and ate the bowl of crumble and was happy as a clam. And lucky had left out half of the cookies l on the counter so not all were lost. But lessons learned. Cookies crumbles are just as good as whole cookies and always check the oven before turning it on. There might be cookies in there!!!
The mr has a soft spot for tortilla chips. He doesn’t get chips often, but when he does it is usually the super fried, super salty, in a plastic bag, tortilla chips. And I am ok with that because it is not often and the dude deserves chips when he wants them. But I hate how crappy they are for him, especially all the salt. So much salt that I can smell it in my mouth (yes, I said that right). So, as with everything else we eat in the house, I now make chips from scratch. (Slowly I have eliminated just about everything that is pre packaged and started making it myself. I think it’s pretty much just the dried pasta and the mr’s yogurt and cheese that I haven’t gotten to.Yet.) This way he can eat his chips and I don’t have to sit there tasting the smell and thinking about the crap that he is eating. I know I say this a lot, but lets just take a minute here and acknowledge how I really am the best girlfriend ever.
Ok, now about these chips. I have made plan tortilla chips a few times before and figured it was time for a twist. In come black beans. Why, because I was pretty sure beans were going to be awesome, and lo and behold, I was completely right. Adding the beans take little to no more effort then making the chips without, and bonus here, more fiber and protein and good stuff going into a chip. Then they are lightly oil, lightly salted, and eaten without any guilt because I made them and they are the best. Seriously, the mr thinks they are amazing and doesn’t miss those pre package ones a bit. And sure, they might take a little time and minimal effort, but really they are super easy and the time and effort to make them is probably no more then going into a store, waiting in line to pay, and driving home to eat your chips. You can have these chip made in that amount of time. So you might as well just make them.
To the chips.
The stuff. Masa harnia, black beans, water, salt, and a little oil. There should be a lemon or lime here too, but I forgot to stick it into the picture. Oops.
Pretty easy. Add the beans to a food processor and blend untill completely smooth. Add in the masa and pulse then gradually add in water until a dough forms. Stop and feel the dough. If it feels like play dough and comes together into ball easily, then you are good. If it is to wet, add a little more masa, to dry, more water.
Dump the dough onto the counter and form into a ball. Place the doguh into a bowl and cover with a damp closer for 15-30 minutes to let the dough rest.
After the rest, divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll into balls. Place the balls onto a damp cloth and cover while you are making the tortillas so they don’t dry out.
To flatten those balls into tortillas. After doing this a bunch of times, I have a system that works the best for me. I use a large ziplock bag (the plastic is a little thicker and easier to deal with, plus I don’t use plastic wrap), a cutting board, and a rolling pin. Place a dough ball into the center of the bag then take the cutting board and press directly on top, placing all your weight onto it. It gets flat, but not flat enough so take the rolling pin and flatten some more. Then press the rolled out dough with the cutting board one last time. Carefuly remove from bag and place direrely onto a hot dry skillet.
Cook each side 3-4 minutes or until it starts to get a few light brown spots. Once cooked, place on a plate or baking sheet. If I were just making tortillas, I would place then in between a kitchen towel to keep them warm, but because they are destined for chips and don’t care.
Black bean corn tortillas. Hey, you could stop here and make a taco or something if you need to. Feel free to use a tortilla or two before using the rest to make the into chips.
So chips. Grab baking sheets, oil, salt, a knife, and the tortillas. Take a few of the tortillas and oil them. (The easiest way I found to do this is to rub oil on with my hands then rub the oil onto the tortillas. ) Oil 3 at a time, stacked them on top of each other and cut into 8 triangles,
Get as many of the triangles onto a baking sheet as you can, without overlapping. Once all nice and tight, sprinkle the tops with salt and pop them into preheated oven.
Pull the chips out of the oven when they are crispy and done (about 10 minutes) then squeeze a little lemon juice all over the chips. Toss around and pop the pan back into the oven for another minute or two just so the juice doesn’t leave the chips soggy.
Dump cooked chips onto a wire rack to cool. Eat as you work, you deserve it.
Pile chips into a bowl, and serve with some salsa or guacamole or whatever you eat you chips with. They are your chips.
-C
Makes 98 chips, or like a good sized bag worth
Beans go into a food processor and blended until completely smooth. Add in the masa and blend, slowly adding 3/4 cups water until a dough starts to forms. Stop and check dough. It should feel like play dough and come together easilty onto a ball. If it feel wet, add in a couple of tablespoons more of the masa. If it is still too dry and crumbly, add in more water until it’s to the right consistnacey. Dump dough onto counter and form in a ball. Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp towel and let sit for abut 15-30 minutes.
Preheat a skillet on medium high heat on stove.
Once dough has rested, divide into 12 pieces and roll into balls. Place balls onto a damp towel and cover when not working with them. Grab a large ziplock bag, a cutting board, and a rolling pin. Take a dough ball and place in the center of the bag. Press down with the cutting board, placing all your weight on top. It got flat, but not flat enough. Continue to flatten out with the rolling pin until it is about 1/8 inch thick. Press again one last time with the cutting board. Gently remove from bag and place directly onto the hot skillet. Cook each side for 3-4 minutes or until it starts to get a few light brown spot. Place cooked tortilla on a baking sheet or in between a kitchen towel. Repeat until all 12 dough balls are cooked into tortillas.
Preheat oven to 375
Working in 3’s. dump a little oil onto your hand then lightly rub it all over the tortillas. Stack them on top of each other then cut into 8 wedged. Place wedges onto a baking sheet, get as many as you can onto sheet without any overlapping, then sprinkle with salt. to taste. If you have them, use multiple baking sheets. Place in oven for about 10-12 minutes or until the chips are crispy. Remove and sprinkle lemon juice all over the chips. Toss around and place back into oven for a minute or two just until lth lemon juice evaporates. Remove and dump chips onto a wire rack to cool.
Eat chips. Any left over can be placed into a airtight container or bag and will last about 3-4 days.