Brown rice cakes with sauteed vegetables

When I first saw this recipe, I thought, "Well, maybe..."  And then I promptly set it aside for a couple of years and forgot about it!  Recently I found it in my "to try" file, and thought, "Well, maybe..."

I'm glad I finally got around to actually trying it.  It's really really good!  Brown Rice Cakes with Sauteed Fennel, Broccoli Rabe, and Ricotta

Mildly spicy butternut squash soup

You can never have too many variations on butternut squash soup!


Mildly Spicy Butternut Squash Soup

2 (20 oz) bags of frozen butternut squash, thawed
2 c vegetable broth (more if needed)
1/2 t cinnamon
2 t each of fresh marjoram and thyme
Dash of nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
1 can of coconut milk
Roasted pumpkin seeds

In a Dutch oven, combine the squash and broth, bringing it to a boil.  Lower the heat and simmer until squash is completely soft.  Stir in the spices and herbs, and add half the can of coconut milk.  Use an immersion blender to puree the soup.  Add the rest of the coconut milk if desired.  Top with pumpkin seeds to serve.  

Butternut-cider squash soup

I love adding butternut squash to many different stews and soups that I routinely make during the late fall and winter, and several of our favorite recipes feature it very prominently, so why would we need yet another?  Because this one is like no other!  The recipe for Cider-Infused Butternut Squash Soup comes from Hannaford's Fresh magazine, and the only change I made was to use some of my own vegetable stock rather than water plus boullion.

Our other two favorite squash /soup stew recipes are these:
Simple Butternut Squash Soup
Beef and Squash Stew

Cauliflower soup

Back when I very first started cooking for myself, I was a vegetarian and was totally in love with creamy vegetable soups.  Most of the time all I did was steam the vegetables soft and then process them with some water or veggie broth and add milk.  It was bland, but I didn't know any different.

Then I learned about browning things in just a bit of fat.  What a revelation!  Even though most of my other vegetable soups got markedly better, I could never quite get the hang of making a really good Cauliflower Soup.  I didn't like browning the veggies...the soup would end up nut brown and too sulfurous.  So I finally just set my dream aside.

Until the September issue of Cook's Illustrated.  It seems that the trick with cauliflower is to cook it in two batches, one for 30 minutes and the other for 15.  The 15 minute batch has the cabbagey sulfurous taste, and the 30 minute batch is mellow, nutty, and sweet.  Too much longer and all taste is lost.  Who knew?  And don't bother to brown it either...just add it to (also unbrowned) leeks and onions along with the water.  Give it a whirl with an immersion blender at the end and skip the milk.

Wild rice and mushroom soup

This is hands-down the very best Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup I've ever had.  Period.  The recipe comes from Cook's Illustrated, and you know how they won't let you see their recipes unless you pay, but I found someone else who didn't mind putting it up online.  So click away and then make sure you make it!

I made just a few modifications for the future.  Instead of heavy cream, I switched us to half and half, and instead of dried shitake mushrooms, I opted for fresh ones.  And instead of cooking the rice in the oven, I used my steamer.

Springtime vegetable tart

Another winner from Hannaford's Fresh magazine.  I made several changes, including using a large tortilla for the shell instead of pie crust.  I've been doing that more and more lately, trying to avoid the heaviness of pastry for dinner!  If I made it for company, I'd probably make my regular pie crust instead of using the tortilla.  Either way, I wouldn't be using a store-bought pastry like the one they suggest, sorry.

Stuffed portabella mushrooms that I actually like

Don't hate me.  I have just never been a fan of those huge meaty mushrooms, and certainly not as a substitute for actual meat.  Still, I have wanted to like them, so I continue to experiment.  I like them much better when they've been chopped up into something, but that sort of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

Finally, I found this stuffed recipe that I really like, thanks to Hannaford's Fresh magazine.  A lot of the stuffing is actually taken up with additional mushrooms.  That's not cannibalism, is it?

Simple butternut squash soup

This really should be called Quick and Simple...as long as you have a steamer (a rice steamer is best), you can intensify the flavors of your soup and turn it out in practically no time!

Simple Butternut Squash Soup

2 (20 oz) bags of frozen butternut squash
Butter
2 shallots, minced
6 c water and vegetable stock
1 t salt 1/2 c half and half
1 t brown sugar

 Steam the butternut squash until soft. Heat butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat, and saute shallots until softened. Add squash, in batches, and brown slightly. Add the water collected in the steamer tray plus enough water and vegetable stock to equal 6 c. Add the rest of the squash, and salt; boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Use an immersion blender off heat. Stir in the half and half, and the brown sugar.

Artichoke soup

This is the best...hands down...Artichoke Soup we've ever had.  Even though it's a bit fussy, it's worth it.  The flavors are beyond compare.

You know that I often will give you a link to a Cook's Illustrated recipe online, and I understand why you're frustrated since they actually charge money for that information.  Sorry, but that's their right.  While I'm not going to deliberately violate their copyright by printing their recipe here, I've decided that I'll share a link with you where someone else did not have a problem with doing that.  So here it is: Artichoke Soup 

Tabbouleh with toasted quinoa and pistachios

I love classic tabbouleh, but recently I tried a variant that was surprisingly good.  Substitute quinoa that you've toasted in a skillet first for the bulgar.  Use everything else you normally would (olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, scallions, cherry tomatoes, parsley, and mint), but add some pistachios and golden raisins too!  I also added some English cucumber to the dish shown above, and served it on mixed dark greens. 

Spaghetti with onions and yogurt...I'll pass, thanks!

We had a pasta dinner which featured a different topping from our usual Spaghetti Sauce (or gravy, if you prefer!).  We are not strangers to trying pasta with a twist, like our Pasta with Lentils and Walnuts.  But this time, the experiment just didn't pan out.

I made Spaghetti with Caramelized Onions and Yogurt, and while it was ok, it just wasn't exciting enough to go into our permanent file.  You may very well feel differently! 

Sushi Bowls

Here's another heart-healthy dish that's pretty darned tasty.  I came across the idea in the Fresh magazine from Hannaford, but I changed it quite a bit.  We prefer tempeh to tofu, so that's one really big change.  I'd suggest checking out their recipe and deciding for yourself.  Here's mine:

Sushi Bowls

Rice of any type, prepared in a steamer

1/2 c orange juice

1 T sesame oil

1 T rice vinegar

2 t fresh ginger, minced

1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes

2 t  soy sauce

1 ( 12 oz.) package of tempeh

3 sheets nori seaweed wrappers

1 c shelled edamame, thawed if frozen

1 carrot, shredded

1 pickling cucumber, peeled and diced

1 avocado, cubed

2 T sesame seeds

Start rice in the steamer.  Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Mix orange juice through soy sauce in a bowl and crumble the tempeh into it.  Set aside, but stir from time to time.  

Heat a large non-stick skillet and heat the nori sheets one at a time on both sides until fragrant, about 45 seconds per side.  Set aside.

Place the rice in a large bowl and top with the drained tempeh (keep the sauce), edamame, carrot, cucumber, and avocado.  Top with sauce, crumbled nori, and sesame seeds.  

 

Cheesy corn goodness on pizza?

Amazing!  I wasn't sure quite what to expect when we tried this recipe for Grilled Pizza with Cheesy Corn from Martha Stewart magazine, but really...it's pizza.  How bad could it be?

Turns out it was awesome.  I'm not kidding either.  I did start with corn sliced right off the cob, but I've seen online that some others have used frozen corn and thought it still turned out great.  Good to know for the winter months ahead!  I used a piece of naan flatbread as the crust instead of making my own.  It's still summer: I needed to cut at least a few corners!

Spicy gazpacho

Since we've been on a roll recently with delicious cold soups, I decided to revisit our Spicy Gazpacho Soup.  Yup.  We still like it!

Cucumber wasabi soup

After enjoying Gazpacho Blanco a few weeks ago, we ended up craving Cucumber Wasabi soup, just for the extra spice and creaminess!

Tabbouleh

Tabbouleh is one of my favorite summer salads from way back in my hippy days.  My methods haven't changed much over the years, but when I saw the suggestion from Cook's Illustrated to cut up the tomatoes first and use the drained juice to soften up the bulgur, I scratched my head.  Why didn't I think of that before?

Kale and sunflower seed pesto

I told you a few weeks ago that we had been experimenting with various pesto recipes that are alternatives to basil.  Not that we don't also LOVE basil.  I found this Kale and Sunflower Seed Pesto mixture at Cook's Illustrated along with some of the others that we tried.  I passed it by at first because I thought it looked kind of weird.  I should someday learn not to eat quite so much with my eyes!  It was delicious.



Image: Stock.echng, J Wilsher

Pasta with leeks and sugar snap peas

Fresh sugar snap peas are at their best in the spring and early summer.  Combining them with leeks, lemon zest, and some tasty cheeses was inspired.  Thanks to Martha Stewart for this delicious pasta recipe.  My major change was to use orecchiette pasta instead of the pappardelle noodles she suggests.

Pesto doesn't have to be basil

Red Pepper Pesto

Basil pesto is amazing, and I love it to death.  But sometimes you just want a change, so when an issue of Cook's Illustrated shared some ideas for super-tasty pestos that used different ingredients, I was on board.  So far we've tried two of them, and they are both keepers: Roasted Red Pepper and Pistachio Pesto and Green Olive, Almond, and Orange Pesto.  There is also a recipe for Sage, Walnut, and Browned Butter Pesto that we haven't tried yet.

Green Olive Pesto

Here are the other pesto recipes that I love from my own blog:

Basic Basil Pesto
Citrus Pesto
Artichoke Pesto
Sun-dried Tomato Pesto

Kale and white bean lasagna

It was good, just not quite good enough to add to our permanent file!  You may feel differently however.  I loved the mix of greens, tomatoes, Parmesan, and mushrooms with the pasta.  It was just the white beans that were a little off-putting to me.  Not majorly, just not quite there.  Lasagna