Thursday, November 12, 2009

Today I made butternut squash soup.
I like doing things all in one shot. Once my oven was heated I knocked off three ingredients in one shot.

Cut one butternut squash and cut in half length wise. Scoop out any seeds. Bake at 400 degrees for an hour. Also bake one yam. Also bake 3 cloves of garlic.
Peel and cut two apples.
Peel and dice two small onions.
In ten minutes take out the garlic, allow to cool and then scrape the garlic into a pot. Also add the onions.

Come back to the oven in an hour. Take out the butternut squash and allow to cool enough that you can scoop the flesh into the pot. Allow the yam to cool as well and then peel and put it's flesh into the pot. Add the onions and turn on the burner. Once the onions and garlic are aromatic add a dash of nutmeg and several dashes of cumin and cinnamon.

Here's where we may differ: I add half the apple now and half after I blend it so that I have apple chunks. Some people like purely smooth soup and so should add all the apples now.

After mixing and cooking for about 5 minutes, put the soup in a blender and pulse till smooth.
Transfer back to a pot (add the rest of the apples if you chose to save some) and two tablespoons of maple syrup and vegan butter.

Stir over medium heat and add a dash of salt and pepper.
Voila. Delicious, warm.



And here's some spiral pasta I put together with broccoli, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, leftover garden tomatoes, baby bella shrooms and the last of the basil and oregano with some vegan buttah. I load it with nooch.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

I used to hate sushi: the consistency, the flavor, the way it looked as well.
For years I raged against it when my friends were going through sushi eating mania. I'd order tempura instead.

Then, somewhere along the way I decided to like it. My friend Shan can remember me making a concerted effort to like it: after all, it was healthy and I loved all the separate ingredients.

Shan didn't believe I'd like it. And while I wasn't forcing myself, I certainly kept trying to open myself to it slowly but surely.

Eventually I fell in love and I've been avocado roll crazed ever since. So much so that I learned how to make it about two or three years ago.

I've tried various fillings but my favorite remains avocado (I'm obviously still picky) and I love dipping them in roasted sesame seeds. Ohh man.