Butternut Squash Soup

I love squash. All kinds of squash. They’re kind of amazing vegetables due to the fact that they adapt very well to both savory and sweet dishes. They’re so versatile and so delicious – everyone should eat more squash!

Butternut squash is probably one of the most popular types of squash out there these days. However, it’s a tough bugger to cut. I love butternut squash but I absolutely hate peeling and slicing it so I admit that I don’t eat as much of it as I probably could.

But this weekend I got brave. I went out and bought a fresh squash, rolled up my sleeves, and went to town on it with the biggest and sharpest knife I had. It still took awhile, but I destroyed that squash in the end. Then I cooked it up with some other veggies, threw them all in my food processor and turned it all into delicious soup.

And it was good…

Curried Butternut Squash Soup
(Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Puréed Butternut Squash Soup)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 an onion, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2¾ pounds small butternut squash, prepared and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 cups vegetable stock
2 cups water
1/2 cup peanut butter
Curry powder
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions:

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion, ginger, garlic and celery until fragrant (about 2 minutes). Add squash and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant (about 6 to 8 minutes). Stir in water and stock. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer until squash is tender (20 minutes).


Purée your soup in two batches. (*Note: When blending hot foods, allow the heat to escape to prevent splattering. Remove the cap from the hole of the blender’s lid, and cover with a dish towel.)


When soup is blended, pour back into pot and stir in peanut butter, and enough curry powder and salt and pepper to suit your tastes. Serve hot.

Pumpkin Double Whammy!

So, my pumpkin obsession got a little bit intensified over the weekend when I discovered that numerous vendors at the farmer’s market have lovely selections of sugar pumpkins! I’ve been searching for cooking pumpkins for awhile now and I’m so stoked that I can finally buy them from local farmers at the market. The vendor I bought them from last weekend even assured me that she’d be selling them until Christmas…needless to say, I’m a little excited.

Today, I have a double dose of pumpkin for you! 1 savoury dish and 1 sweet. I made a pumpkin soup and a gluten-free version of one of my favourite pumpkin breads :)

Curried Roasted Pumpkin Soup
(Adapted from Joy McCarthy’s Roasted Pumpkin Curry Soup)
This soup is so yummy and incredibly good for you. I’m kind of in love with it.

Ingredients:

1 small sugar pumpkin, seeds and stringy bits removed and cut into large chunks
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp freshly chopped ginger
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tsp curry powder
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Drizzle pumpkin chunks with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in oven for 40-60 minutes. When pumpkin is fork-tender, remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Let cool and remove flesh from skins. Set aside.

Melt coconut oil in a large pot on the stove on medium-high heat. Add onions and celery and cook until brown, stirring frequently. Once veggies have browned, add garlic, ginger, pumpkin, salt and pepper.

Add enough water to just cover the vegetables. Stir occasionally and skim off any foam that appears on the surface with a ladle. Once the soup has come to a boil, turn the heat down to low heat and let simmer. Sprinkle in the curry powder and stir. Allow the soup to simmer for 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.

After letting it simmer for 15 minutes or so, remove pot from heat. With a hand-blender (or food processor), blend the soup until no chunks remain. You may need to add more water during this step if the soup is too thick.

Add any additional salt & pepper to taste. Enjoy!


Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Spice Bread
(Adapted from Joy the Baker’s Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Bread)
This bread is really crumbly and moist…and also very sweet. It’s more like cake. I think I might even love it more than the original.

Ingredients:

1 cup rice flour
3/4 cup oat flour
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
2½ tbsp water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place a rack in the center of the oven. Grease and flour one loaf pan and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.

In a medium bowl, carefully whisk together pumpkin puree, oil, maple syrup and water.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and use a spatula to fold all of the ingredients together. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl well, finding any stray flour bits to mix in.

Pour the dough into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven. Let rest in the pans for 20 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack.

Serve warm.

Awesometastic Chicken Curry

So, I really didn’t expect to be posting on this blog everyday…or posting many “normal” recipes however I made a chicken curry today that was so good, I figured it needed to be shared. My boyfriend, Matt, raved about it and after some serious curry fails in the past, it feels good to make something awesome for a change.

Plus, he’s a super harsh critic when it comes to my cooking. If he thinks it’s good, it usually is.

So, without further ado, the recipe for Stephanie’s Awesometastic Chicken Curry!

Ingredients

vegetable or canola oil
½ a medium onion, diced
1 red pepper, chopped (green, yellow or any combo of the 3 would work too)
3 garlic cloves, minced
3-4 tbsp curry paste (I use Patak’s Mild Curry Paste)
2-3 boneless chicken breasts, chopped into 1-inch pieces
5 tomatoes, diced (I used roma tomatoes because that’s all I had, but a can of diced tomatoes would work fine too)
¼ cup whipping cream
1 tsp coriander
pinch or 2 of hot red pepper flakes

basmati rice, for serving


Directions

Heat up vegetable oil (about 2 tbsp) in a deep frying pan on medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic and pepper and fry until onion is soft and golden. Stir in curry paste and add chicken. Cook until meat is sealed, about 3 minutes.

Add tomatoes and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes.

Add cream, coriander and red pepper flakes and simmer for another 5-10 minutes, until meat is cooked. Feel free to add other spices or more pepper flakes to taste. I also eyeballed the cream, so you could add more of that too if you want a creamier curry.

Serve with basmati rice. Naan bread would be good too.

This made enough for Matt and I, plus 2 servings of leftovers.


I know this recipe isn’t anywhere near vegetarian or vegan, but you could make it so by substituting the chicken with a can of chickpeas and using a dairy-free creamer or coconut milk.

I promise I’ll be back posting some new dessert recipes ASAP!! Look at me, less than a week in and I’ve already seriously strayed from my original intent…some dessert blogger I am.