Butternut Squash and Fontina Soup

I had a few reasons to be excited about moving into a house last summer (no downstairs neighbors, no climbing a flight of stairs with groceries, a garage to park in, four seasons...) but one of the things I was looking forward to the most was the garden.  

My mother-in-law has a remarkably green thumb and can grow almost anything.  In the spring, dozens and dozens of tulips and daffodils come up out of nowhere, and there are waves of flowers that come throughout spring and summer in different parts of the garden.  Then she has garden boxes for planting vegetables.  

In the past, Adam told me there was an enormous garden plot in the backyard and they used to grow most of their summer vegetables there, but since only two people have been living here for many years, it shrunk down, and is now fairly small, but there was still room for me to plant tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, peas, squash, some greens, pumpkins and a few other things.  It was a delight to wander around the garden on warm summer evenings, looking to see what was ready for picking.  

I really was looking forward to getting a few butternut squash out of the garden, because it is my favorite winter squash, but sadly, one of the vines ended up producing pumpkins (my fault or the seed packet? We will never know), and the actual butternut squash vine only produced one small squash.  I had envisioned squash soup through all of fall, and was a little disappointed at the lackluster turnout.  Thankfully, kind friends and neighbors came to the rescue and we ended up with a few butternut squash.  

I had never found a butternut squash soup recipe that I loved (although I had eaten some delicious ones, so I knew it was possible), so I was thrilled when I threw a few random fridge leftovers in with the butternut squash and made a creamy, rich and thoroughly delicious soup.

This is very likely to become the staple butternut squash soup in our home.  It was so good.  I hope it helps fulfill your fall squash dreams, too.  

Happy Cooking!  

Butternut Squash and Fontina Soup

1 large Butternut Squash, roasted

1 onion, diced

1 Tbs olive oil

6 - 8 fresh sage leaves, chopped into small pieces (or 1 tsp dried sage leaves)

1 cup shredded fontina cheese

1 cup cream

1 tsp salt

2 cups veggie broth

To roast the squash: 

Preheat oven to 400°F Chop the squash in half vertically from the stem to the bottom.  Scoop out the seeds in each half and discard them.  Pour a small amount of oil on a rimmed baking sheet, lined with a silicone baking mat or foil.  Place squash fleshy inside down on the sheet and bake for 40-50 minutes until it is very easily pierced with a fork.  Remove baking sheet from the oven and let squash cool.  Then use large spoon and scoop out the flesh and discard the skin.  

To make the soup:

Sauté onions in the oil for 5-7 minutes, until they are translucent and soft. Add sage and squash and cook for another 1-2 minutes.  

Add the broth and salt and stir.  

Cover and bring mixture to a boil. Turn down the heat and let the soup simmer for 8-10 minutes 

Remove soup from the heat, and put it in a high speed blender.  Blend up until it is very smooth and then put back on the heat, add the cream and the shredded cheese and then heat until the cheese is melted.  

Enjoy!

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Harvest Quinoa Salad

***this post is in collaboration with Anolon.  All opinions are my own.  As always, thank you, thank you for supporting the brand that make this blog possible. You guys are the best!

As I get older, I am finding that quality is much more important than quantity to me (as is evidenced by many, many of the posts on this blog).  I would rather have one great pair of jeans that makes me feel like a million bucks than 10 pairs of jeans that make me feel fat or ugly.  

The same is true in my kitchen.  I want to love all my dishes and cooking equipment, and have them last for a long time, especially now that I am blogging and need to take photos of a lot of my food.  Good and beautiful cooking equipment is essential for me.  

For a long time, we only had two small frying pans, and many of my recipes had to be transferred mid-cooking, because they were overflowing.  It was the worst.  Then I got this gorgeous stainless steel frying pan from Anolon.  It was life changing.  Seriously. 

It is huge, so it holds a large salad like this one pictured here, my pot pie sauces and just about anything else you could throw at it.  It has a nice large lid, and has a fancy copper stripe around the bottom right above the base.  And it cleans up beautifully.  It is a heavy, high quality pan that will last me for years.  And I really look forward to keeping it for a long, long time.  

If you need a new pan, this one's for you.  Trust me, it is fabulous, and you won't regret it!  

Harvest Quinoa Salad:
serves 4-6

1 Tbs olive oil
1 red pepper, destemmed, seeded and diced
1 cup fresh green beans, cut
2 medium carrots, ends chopped off, cut into wheels, and then quartered to create little chunks
1/2 small onion, diced
salt and pepper to taste
3-4 cups cooked quinoa
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

Cook the quinoa according to the package directions.

In your fabulous Anolon 12" skillet, heat your oil over medium on the stove.

Add the onion and carrot and sauté for about 7-8 minutes, until the carrots begin to soften and the onion is translucent.

In a smaller pot or frying pan, heat the balsamic vinegar over medium, until it begins to boil.  Turn the heat to low and let it cook for about 3 minutes, until it thickens (turn on your stove vent, or you might pass out from the fumes).

While the vinegar is reducing, add the beans, and pepper to the frying pan with the onions and carrots, and cook them, stirring occasionally for another 2 or 3 minutes.

When the beans and red pepper are beginning to soften, add the cooked quinoa, and stir.  Remove from the heat, and plate.  Pour the reduced vinegar over the top, and enjoy.

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Zucchini Pesto Pizza

I made this pizza 3 times in the last week and a half (that sounds kind of insane when I write it down...).  Partially to use up zucchini, it was super easy, and because I was trying to get it just right for this blog!  

The first time, the parmesan was pretty overwhelming (I used a pretty strong parmesan).  The second time, I made it on a whim, because I needed to make something quickly, and I used less parmesan, and it was still really good, but not as strong.  The third time was a happy medium where I added a little mozzarella to offset the strong Parmesan flavor. 

 It takes about 30 minutes to make this, from start to finish, as long as your pizza dough is already made.  Definitely worth putting on your meal plan this week.  

Zucchini Pesto Pizza

1 pizza crust

2-3 Tbs basil pesto

1/8 cup mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1 Tbs olive oil

1 zucchini, thinly sliced

Pour your oil in a skillet set over medium heat.  Add the zucchini and arrange them so no edges overlap.  Cook for about 3 minutes, until the edges begin to brown, them flip the zucchini over and cook for another 2 minutes on the opposite side.  

While they are cooking, sprinkle a little cornmeal evenly onto a silicone mat.  Roll out your dough.  Spread the pesto on top of the dough.  Once the zucchini is cooked, place it evenly (like pepperoni), on the pizza.  Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese, then top with Parmesan cheese.  

Cook in an oven preheated to 450°F for 8-10 minutes, or until the crust is browning and the cheese is crispy.  Serve immediately.  

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Curried Vegetables and Rice With A Vegan Cashew Sauce

The last few years, I have been really into eating vegetables.  I generally eat a salad (or vegetable heavy leftovers) for lunch and for dinner, we usually have a vegetable heavy dinner.  This is my favorite kind of meal, because it leaves me feeling satisfied and energized, and not too stuffed.

This dinner is vegan, simple, and really, really good.  The first time I made it, I wasn't totally sure what I was going for, but it worked pretty well, and I knew I was on to something.  After a few slight modifications, it is pretty much perfect, and exactly what I had hoped it would be.  Hopefully you will love it as much as we do!

Curried Vegetables and Rice
Serves 4

1 1/2 cups rice

Roasted Vegetables:
1 large sweet potato, diced into 1/2 inch pieces
2 zucchini, diced into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 onion, diced
1/4 tsp garlic powder (or 1 small garlic clove)
1 Tbs curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil

Cashew Dressing 
Adapted slightly from The Scaling Back Blog

1/2 cup roasted cashews
1 Tbs rice wine vinegar
1 tsp lime juice
1 clove garlic
4-5 Tbs water
1/4 tsp ginger
1 tsp honey

Cook rice according to package directions.

Preheat your oven to 400°F.  On a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat, combine the sweet potato, zucchini, onion.  Sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, curry powder and salt, then drizzle with the olive oil.  With clean hands, toss until all the vegetables are evenly coated.  Place in the hot oven for 25 - 30 minutes, or until the sweet potato pieces can be easily pierced with a fork.  Flip some of the vegetables every 5 minutes with a spatula, to keep the vegetables from getting dry.

While the vegetables are cooking, combine all the dressing ingredients in a small food processor or blender and blend until fairly smooth (it may still have some graininess).

Once your vegetables and rice are done, place rice on the plate, top with a large helping of the vegetables and top with sauce.  Serve with greens if you like.  Enjoy!

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Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

Everyone needs a go-to pasta sauce recipe.  This is mine.  I have been a longtime fan of Mel, and this recipe is one of my very favorites.  Her original recipe features sun-dried tomatoes (which are terrific, btw), but I decided to throw in something a little more exciting to highlight the summery nature of this recipe!  These Mezzetta roasted red bell peppers are mild enough for a kid to eat, but add a hint of spiciness and a lot of flavor to the sauce!  

This recipe is the perfect base for your grilled meats: chicken, steak or maybe even pork!  Hopefully you can get your grill on with this recipe!  

If you love entering giveaways, like I do, hop over to the Mozzetta contest page to enter their summer grilling giveaway to get yourself set up for all your summer patio parties!  The prize pack is pretty epic and will make your summer eating delicious!

Original recipe source here

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