Herbed Acorn Squash Bisque

October 6, 2014 Kathleen Henry

This soup is pure love. Love of squash. Love of Fall. Love of whatever you like.

I tend to favor acorn squash for smooth soups over butternut squash for a couple of reasons. One; butternuts always tries to kill me when I'm trying to crack them open and two; acorn squash has a more developed flavor when roasted compared to butternut. Did I mention that the little green guys are a lot easier to work with?

Poor little acorn squashes all forlorn and neglected in favor of trendy butternut or snazzy spaghetti squash. Not 'round these parts. This soup delicately showcases acorn squash in all it's glowing glory. Todd and I ate the entire pot in one night, that is how amazing this soup is. I plan to make it for thanksgiving too, which is a coveted recipe spot!

Produce On Parade - Herbed Acorn Squash Bisque - A perfectly creamy, fall soup that’s incredibly delicious. It’s quite easy to prepare and mostly hands-off.

“I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.”

— Mahatma Gandhi

A perfectly creamy, fall soup that’s incredibly delicious. It’s quite easy to prepare and mostly hands-off. I prefer my soups probably thicker than most, but this can be thinned easily with a bit of additional water.

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Herbed Acorn Squash Bisque

by Katie @ Produce On Parade October-6-2014

A perfectly creamy, fall soup that’s incredibly delicious. It’s quite easy to prepare and mostly hands-off. A delight for Thanksgiving!

Ingredients

2 acorn squashes (about 3-4 lbs. total)
1 Tbsp. vegan butter
1 medium yellow onion, diced
dash of kosher salt
dash of ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, minced
1 Tbsp. fresh sage, minced
2 cups vegetable broth
½ cup full-fat coconut milk
1 dried bay leaf
dash of freshly ground nutmeg

Instructions

Microwave both whole squashes on high for about 10 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then slice in half lengthwise. Preheat oven to 450 F and coat a baking sheet with a nonstick cooking spray. Scoop out the seeds from the squashes and discard. Place the four squash halves face-side down on the sheet and cover loosely with aluminium foil. Bake at 450 for about 20 minutes, until very tender.Meanwhile, heat the butter in a large soup pot over medium low. Add the diced onion and sauté until fragrant, about 5-8 minutes. Sprinkle with a dash of kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste. Add the fresh herbs and sauté for a few additional minutes. Now, add in the remaining ingredients and bring to a low boil. Carefully scoop out the flesh from the cooked squash and allow to lightly boil for about 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and transfer the soup to a blender. Blend on high, allowing steam to escape the lid, until smooth. Add additional water as needed to thicken to desired consistency. Serve hot.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 50 mins Yield: 3

Dutch Word of The Day

Soup --> Soep (pronounced the same actually)

Good Deed of The Day

Doctors from Government General Hospital announced at a scientific conference in Vancouver, Canada that they have recently uncovered, "when meat or fish is cooked directly over fire, it gets covered with cancer-causing carcinogens, making it more dangerous than even smoking or consumption of alcohol, surgical gastroenterologist Dr S M Chandramohan said". Yikes! Just one more reason to steer clear of meat, yo. Read more here. Que "The More You Know" chime...

Roasted Maple Tempeh + Rosemary Quinoa

January 3, 2014 Kathleen Henry

Tempeh is pretty cool. I never ate it growing up. However, for a time I did work here (see photos at end of the post)...saweetest job there ever was, let me tell you. Anyway, the owner was a rambunctious, old vegetarian guy from Boston and on the menu we had a few tempeh sandwiches. This was my only exposure to tempeh for the greater part of my life. I think I did taste it while cooking there and I don't think I liked it very much. Even being vegan for almost a whole year now, I am only just recently starting to really to enjoy it. Well, this is my favorite way to have it now, maple roasted! The unique tempeh flavor is still detectable and compliments it's scrumptious caramelized maple crust. Together with herbed rosemary quinoa, dried cranberries and toasted walnuts, this is a new favorite in my book!

If I had happened to have stumbled upon this dish before Thanksgiving, it would have definitely made an appearance. A sneaksy and delicious way to get non-vegan folk to eat tempeh!? Muah-ha-ha! Perfect. I guess I'll have to wait until next year though.

I have to say, though this dish does seem to have a certain affinity for a Thanksgiving theme, what with the dried cranberries and maple and rosemary...however, I assure you that it's delicious any time of the year. Tempeh is an excellent source of vegan protein as well as probiotics and it can be found pretty much anywhere! Triple win!

Roasted Maple Tempeh + Rosemary Quinoa

Serves 4

Quinoa:
1 cup dry quinoa (I used red)
2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary (chopped) or 1 tsp. dried
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
1/2 Tbsp. walnut oil (or olive)
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. dried sage
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
Tempeh:
2 8 oz. packs of plain tempeh (16 oz. total), cubed
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
1/4 tsp. dried sage
2 Tbsp. chopped walnuts

First, rinse and drain the dry quinoa. Place in a medium saucepan with the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover and reduce to a simmer. Allow to simmer for about 15-20 minutes, or until all the broth is gone and the quinoa is fluffy. Check on it after about 10 minutes and give it a stir, if left too long the quinoa can stick to the bottom of the pan. Once done, fluff with a fork.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the remaining quinoa ingredients and mix well. Once the quinoa is done, add it to the bowl mixture and stir to combine.

Preheat the oven to 350 F and chop the tempeh into small, bite-size cubes.

In a large bowl, combine the remaining tempeh ingredients and then add the tempeh cubes and stir well to coat.

Scatter the cubes on a baking sheet and bake at 350 F for about 20 minutes or until the maple syrup has caramelized atop the tempeh. Be sure to check that the walnuts don't get too toasty!

Once the tempeh is done, combine with the finished quinoa and stir well.

Snuggle up and serve hot!

Wiggling to Pharrell Williams – Happy (from Despicable Me 2)

[yumprint-recipe id='59']I was a waitress and cook at the Hatcher Pass Lodge for a few years when I came back from college in Montana. It was a great job. I had the opportunity to work in an Alaska State Park, with absolutely breathtaking views. I remember the serene drive up to the mountains, and baking fresh cookies and muffins all alone, long before any customers or other employees got there, while listening to NPR. I think it's really where I discovered my love for cooking!

Inspired by Nutrition Stripped

Easy Herbed Garlic Bread

December 11, 2013 Kathleen Henry

Any medical people out there? I had the worst exam of my life today. It was so bad. On so many different levels. The ARRT is going to come and revoke my licenses. They are going to rip them right off the wall and smash them to pieces on the ground in front of me. Then...they are going to decapitate me. Yes. It's true. So, if you don't hear from me in the coming weeks, it's because I was decapitated. And I deserved it. Though I plead technology difficulties! After work, I bought some Coconut Bliss ice cream (treat yo' self!) and sniffled on the couch while contemplating my utter incompetence. I can be a bit of a perfectionist, at times.

Moving on from my gruesome and inevitable death, when we were down in Ohio, one of Todd's sisters had made us some garlic bread. Todd was instantly addicted. We got the recipe, brought it back home and it stayed safe and sound in my sock drawer. I understand that makes no sense. But, that's what happened.

Anyways, in the move it got lost and so Todd took it upon himself to find a recipe and make us some garlic bread. He's always in charge of the garlic bread making. So this time he did the cooking!

Crispy, soft and warm herbed garlic bread. This is about as easy and quick as it gets.

Easy Herbed Garlic Bread

Inspired by Todd's sister

Makes 1 loaf

6 large garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp. dried parsley
1 Tbsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
sprinkle of ground black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
1 large loaf of fresh Italian bread
slathering of vegan butter

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Add all ingredients except the bread and butter into a small saucepan. Saute over low heat for about 3-5 minutes or until the garlic has cooked.

Slice the bread in half horizontally and butter one half. Spread the garlic and herb mixture on the other half.

Put the bread pieces back together and wrap with foil. Bake on the middle rack at 350 F for 5 minutes. Then, open the foil and continue to bake for another 5 minutes.