buttercup squash soup

1 medium buttercup squash
3 cloves garlic
1/2 onion
1T fresh sage
1 apple
2 carrots
1 T olive oil


cut squash in half (i used my ninja strength) and bake in a pan of water for about 30 minutes or until soft.  cool enough to be able to scoop the squash away from the skin (which should happen pretty effortlessly at this point).

roast garlic, onion, apple and carrots-combine w/squash in medium pot, adding 3 or 4 C water.  add salt and pepper.  let simmer over medium heat for about 20 minutes.

add sage and blend.

creamy squash soups are perfection.

"I'll have a blue Christmas..."

in a few weeks we will be hosting a holiday dinner party.  I think I probably enjoy the planning and preparation that go into dinner parties more than the party itself-usually, but this is different.  I am excited to say that (at least) for the evening, some of my favorite people in the entire world will be here-in one place!  one of my younger sisters-Jaime (the one I can actually have a conversation with, without *facepalming* the entire time) and her long-time boyfriend Jordan, my close, good friend-Mel (one of my favorites from Brooklyn via Buffalo(currently)), my best, good friend, Lee-from high school and of course, my husband and current best friend-Jacob.

so much yay!

the menu is "appetizer" themed and still in the finishing "brainstorm" phase, so could change/be enhanced. 

fondue "say cheez" gravy (total eye-roll at the name)
crumpets
stuffing muffins (half with cranberry)
candied yams with Sweet and Sarah vegan "pumpkin spice" marshmallows
glazed carrots
pumpkin mousse w/ginger snap pieces
blueberry/cranberry tarts(galettes?)
baked artichoke dip


(yes, it has been pointed out that this is a very "orange"-themed menu) (whatever)


it has also been pointed out that this menu is lacking in protein (which I'm mostly, "whatevs" about), so Lee is allegedly bringing some kind of lentil chili-may The Force be with her.

also wine (muddled or not or "whatever") and warm spiced cider with rum. 

since my only real defense against wanting to kill myself during the Winter are the holidays and the planning/decorating that (I make)happen, there will be some gift exchanging and Elvis Presley Christmas album-playing...

...and cats wearing reindeer antlers.  but only cats, because I've broken my human-pair :(

oh!  and besides general present-ry that will be happening we have a small pile of stuff from around the house (or that we have never even used)  that we are going to donate, but will have our friends take whatever they might want-first.
which-totally reminds me of the party that we had in Brooklyn before we moved to Oregon that was "getting rid of stuff we  don't want to move across the country"-themed and ended up with Benjamin wearing my Jr. prom dress and playing with dolls...

FALL!

i've never experienced buttercup squash before. it's pretty tasty. sweet and dense. made an apple and buttercup squash bake w/raisins.

2 lb. squash
2 Cortland apples
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C melted Earth Balance
1 T flour
1 t salt
1/2 cinn. and nutmeg

bake at 350 for about 30-40 minutes.

there really isn't a proper way to describe how difficult it is to actually cut up this particular squash. i didn't have the patience to slice it in half and bake it in water and THEN let it cool before using it...but i should have.

still have one left. considering using some of it in the pumpkin ravioli that i anticipate making this week, as it will make it pretty sweet w/out using sugar...idk. ideas.

* * *

Pumpkin Coconut Bread

2 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
1 C oil
4 eggs(egg replacer =4)
15 oz. pumpkin puree
3.5 C flour
2 t baking soda
2 t salt
1/2 t cloves
1.5 t cinn.
1 t nutmeg
2/3 C water
1 C coconut
1/2 C walnuts

@350 for 60 minutes


cooked down some blackberries w/ a little water and maple syrup to make a coulis to put on top.

zucchini (or in my case-yellow squash) burgers

4(ish) zucchini (yellow squash actually works amazingly well and when that's what you have an abundance of...)
1/2 t salt
1/4 C almonds (crushed or slivered)
3 T minced basil (fresh from our garden!!!)
1 T flour
egg replacer equivalent to 1 egg
1/4 C bread crumbs
1 T oil

as always, of course, doing what a recipe tells you to do is vital and makes a huge difference/makes you not want to pull your hair out and cry.

after shredding the squash, squeeze out the excess water via cheesecloth.

combine all ingredients. shape into patties and fry in a good amount of oil until lightly browned. transfer to a tray and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.


also, another good lesson is to actually use (purchased) breadcrumbs as opposed to just toasting leftover bread and making your own as this works much better for desired results.

as we (of course) STILL have a bunch of yellow squash from my mom's garden, but alas, have no more almonds, i will be making them w/walnuts, today. we'll see.
*shrug*



credit to Emily Gould:
http://thingsiatethatilove.tumblr.com/post/919605145/cookingthebooksshow-this-morning-we-had-a-visit
the link to the actual recipe is not working anymore, FYI.

"raw" corn chowder, rawr.

"raw" corn chowder.

4 C raw corn
1 red bell pepper
2 C almond milk
1 t salt
1 T agave
2 tomatoes
1 t dill


* * *

as we had some corn leftover from mom's harvest this year i just used what we already had in-house...so i substituted a green for a red pepper, regular soy for almond milk and maple syrup for agave.

while i think it would have been slightly better w/the original ingredients, i found it to work quite well, otherwise.

don't know how i really feel about the dill in this, though.

dill is more of a savory spice than i think this recipe calls for...

also, the original recipe is "raw," but in using the maple syrup i clearly wasn't "going for" that aspect...

cucumber salad, pickled cucumbers, corn pancakes, perogies...

i'm super terrible about this! (the beginning of every entry!)

i've started about 5 posts and let them sit idle for days and not revisited them. i suck.

BUT...

we can say that my reasons for not being super-active online are that i'm being super-active in real life.

but now it's going on day 2 of rain-all-day-ocity.

froze a lot of marinara sauce this past week(or tomato base w/basil, salt,pepper,garlic and oil...that's marinara base, no?)

cucumber-yogurt salad has taken over our lives as we have a lot of lemon cucumbers going on and, really, how many things can really be done w/cucumbers? namely-lemon cucumbers. yellow, round, tennis ball sized...

1 C soy yogurt
2 (ish) cucumbers
1 C water
1/4 C vinegar
1t dill
1 onion (finely chopped)
1/8 t tumeric (or a little more if you heart it, in some things-as i do.)
dash pepper
1/2 t salt

serve over greens

* * *

something that we just decided (and by "we" i mostly mean "Jacob") to try, yesterday, b/c we just couldn't fathom using the cucumbers in a timely enough matter, was that we "pickled" 2 big mason jars-full. here's hoping it works out as we have tons more on their way, still.

mason jar of raw cucumber slices, 1C vinegar 1C water, S&P, spices.


* * *

i read a recipe for "corn pancakes" and veganized it and it was awesome.

2T oil
3/4 Corn
1/8 t salt
egg replacer for 1 egg
1 1/4 C buttermilk (soy w/vinegar)
1/4 t vanilla
1 T sugar
3/4 C flour
1/4 C cornmeal
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda

fry in a pretty hot pan of oil to prevent sticking.
maple syrup to taste.
viola.

* * *

perogies? pierogies? peirogies?

well, "the computer" says that those are all "not wrong" while simultaneously letting me know that they are incorrect. idk. super Polish power, go!

either way, whatevvvvs.

made some garlic pierogies and froze them, this past week.

2 C boiling water poured over a mixture of 4 C flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

potatoes mashed w/roasted garlic, salt and pepper.

i use my ever-trusty ring molds to size out good-size dough-to-potato filling ratio.

* * *

a good companion to this is-of course-apple sauce as well as some beet horseradish:

3C cooked beets
6oz. horseradish
1 T brown sugar
1 t vinegar
1/4 t salt.

blended.

When it's 100 degrees in New York, it's 72 in Los Angeles. When its 30 degrees in New York, in Los Angeles it's still 72...

...However, there are 6 million interesting people in New York, and 72 in Los Angeles." ~Neil Simon

yesterday i harvested another 1/4 row of potatoes and these ones seem to be free of blight. i've managed to cut around on the blighted ones and par-boiled a few cups of cubed potatoes for freezing.

going to make and lightly cook some latkes to freeze, but still have a row and a half left to harvest, which can wait awhile...so i think it's pretty apparent that potatoes are going to be our winter food for this year.

pierogies will also be made and frozen w/in the next week.

* * * *

just picked 5 smartypants' of blueberries w/mom at mom's neighbors'!

probably going to make some blueberry/gooseberry/blackberry muffins later as we have a few cups of gooseberries from mom and there were random blackberry bushes w/in the blueberries that attacked me a lot.

doing that just cut into my normal sitting around time, so i guess i've gotta go get THAT taken care of...