Tortilla Soup

Growing up in the southwest, I didn't fully understand spring until I moved to New England. While we definitely have a real winter in New Mexico, replete with snow and single-digit temperatures, you are always confident that the end of winter is near. The cold is reasonable there. It comes just before Christmas, hangs around through January, and starts to lift in February. 

Cheezy Broccoli Soup with Garlicky Croutons

So far, I've been loving this Colorado winter—it's been just the right amount of snow and cold, with so many sunny and warm days in between. It's kinda like eating my cake and having it too.

Curried Kobucha Peanut Soup

Here is an exotic take on a creamy butternut squash soup. I posted this recipe originally in 2012, and now (in 2015) am going back through and retesting my recipes, since I (think) I have become a better cook over the past couple years. I've made some improvements to this recipe. 

For one, I wanted to have a protein and a green in the soup. I wanted the protein because I like to have a protein at the heart of all my main dishes, and I wanted the green because I wanted the additional nutrition. 

After some thinking, I've decided to entirely omit the greens. It took a lot away from the soup, and really, between the tomatoes and squash this soup is extraordinarily nutritious already. The beans really took a lot away from the soup too. But I still wanted to have protein in this soup, so instead of mixing them in after blending the soup, I've blended them along with the rest of the soup, achieving a creamier and heartier texture and taste (but not one that screams "beans!" in any way at all).

I've used adzuki beans, which look like small black beans, although a bit browner. I have occasionally found these beans in cans, but for this recipe I cooked them fresh, which is easy to do--just combine 1 cup beans and 3 cups water in a saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, and cook for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally and adding water if necessary. For this recipe you can then strain the beans and add to the pot when called for. If you cannot find adzuki beans at all, you can substitute red kidney beans. Likewise, if you cannot find any kobucha squash, you can substitute with a pie pumpkin or a large butternut squash.

Curried Kobucha Peanut Soup

Time: 45 minutes

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 Kobucha Squash, about 3 1/2 pounds, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes 
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 tablespoon grated ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups cooked adzuki beans
3 cups veggie broth
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped

Directions

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and squash, and saute until softened and the onion is translucent. Add the jalapeno, ginger, and garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add the curry and garam masala and saute for 30 seconds longer. Add the tomatoes and veggie broth, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Simmer until the squash is tender, about 20 minutes. 

Stir in the beans. At this point, if you have an immersion blender, you can use this to blenderize your soup and make it creamy. If you do not have an immersion blender, you can pour the soup in batches into a regular blender, blending until smooth. Return the stew to the pot and stir in peanut butter and cilantro. Serve with crusty bread.

Cheers!

Palak Dal

I love Indian food. It may be one of my favorite types of foods. 

Palak means spinach. Dal refers to thick lentil-based stews. So together, they become a lentil-based stew with lots of spinach. I can't think of many things that could be more healthful for you than this dish, with its spices, spinach, lentils, brown basmati rice, and tomatoes. 

I used red lentils. Since lentils are really still a new world to me and maybe are for you too, here's a picture of my red lentils so that you know what you're looking for at the grocery store.

Palak Dal

Serves: 2-4

Time: 45 minutes, 15 minutes active

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 yellow onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1-2 tablespoons grated ginger

1 jalapeno, not seeded because you're tough, minced

2 tablespoons curry powder

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon cardamom

1 teaspoon tumeric

2 cups red lentils 

6 cups veggie broth

1 pound spinach

1 large tomato, diced

1 medium eggplant, diced

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

1/2 cup non-dairy unsweetened creamer

Freshly cooked brown basmati rice, for serving

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, ginger and jalapeno. Saute until translucent. Add curry, garam masala, cumin, cardamom, and tumeric and saute for 30 seconds. Add water and lentils. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until lentils they are soft (this took about 20 minutes I believe, but the package suggested up to 45 minutes so leave extra time in case they take longer). 

Once lentils are cooked, stir in spinach, tomato, eggplant, cilantro, and soy creamer. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the eggplant is cooked through. 

Serve over rice.

Cheers!