Coconut Curry Butternut Squash Soup

Talk about easy!  

This delicious seasonal soup was created in a few short steps! 

 Cut a large butternut squash down the middle and scoop out the guts.

Place the cut sides down in a pan.  Splash 1/2 cup of water into the pan 

with the squash.  Bake at 375 for 40-50 minutes. If I had a white

or yellow onion on hand I would have cut it up and tossed in the

pan to cook up, as well.

Remove from heat and allow the squash to cool a bit.

Glorious, cooked butternut squash. 

Use a spoon to scoop the cooked squash into a blender.

Then add one 14 ounce can of coconut milk and 3/4 cup coconut 

cream,1 T. yellow curry powder (you can find it most anywhere, I just

recently picked some up at Target).  Blend and add salt to taste (and if I 

wasn't serving this soup to my kids I would add cayenne pepper to taste).

Then add stock (vegetable or chicken stock) to desired thickness of soup.

If you have an immersion blender, just pop all this stuff into a large saucepan and start a blending.

I do believe Trader Joe's makes the finest of

fine coconut cream and coconut milk.

For a garnish I decided to bake some store bought naan.  

Used a pizza wheel to cut strips, then cut each strip in half.

 Tossed with sunflower oil (any light oil will do) and

sprinkled with flake sea salt and yellow curry powder. 

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

Enjoy!

I think tomorrow I will try topping the soup with chicken & 

apple sausages.  Some other tasty add ins would be:

crispy pan fried garbanzo beans, sauteed greens (spinach or kale)

and grilled chicken.  Hmmm, what else?

Quinoa & Roasted Butternut Squash Hot Dish!

The Minnesota in me can't whip up a side dish, containing condensed 

cream of soup, without calling it a hot dish.  Sorry.  Not sorry. 

I made this dish in December for a luncheon potluck at my daughter's school, with items I had in the kitchen. I didn't know how it would turn out, but after several moms asked me for the recipe at the luncheon, and another mom just stopped me last week to ask, I decided it was time to get this recipe on the blog. 

What you need:

• 3 cups dry quinoa (which cooked in 6 cups of liquid, water or stock, will yield ~8 cups of cooked quinoa)
• 8 ounce block of cream cheese, room temperature soft
• 2 boxes of condensed cream of mushroom soup 
• 2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 large onion
• 1 large butternut squash
• Olive oil
• Sea salt & black pepper

Also, I highly recommend you make the Maple Spiced Pecans, also on this blog, as they are the perfect addition of sweet and spicy crunch to this hot dish.  

 Get all that tough skin off the squash quickly, with a vegetable peeler.

I seriously just thought of this in the last 6 months after many a squash 

struggles.  Major 'duh moment'!!

 I cut the 'neck' of the squash off, then bisect the bottom of the squash

for easy removal of the the seeds and pulp.

 Slice the 'neck' of the squash into roughly 1/2 inch slices. Then

cut into roughly 1/2 inch cubes.

 Cube the bottom half of the cleaned out squash.

Place the cubed squash on a foil lined baking sheet, topped with 

parchment paper (the foil is only for easy clean up, not needed

if you are a bit more motivated than I am).  Toss the cubes with a 

generous amount of olive oil, sea salt and cracked black pepper.

I forgot about the onion, but remembered to toss it in, right before the

pan made it's way to the oven.

Place in a 400 degree oven.  Roast for 1 hour, tossing with a spoon

after half hour.

While the squash is roasting, and the quiona is cooking (just follow directions 

on the dry quinoa package), combine the 8 oz block of cream cheese, 2 boxes 

condensed soup and 2 cups of stock (chicken or vegetable) in a large bowl with a whisk.

This is my favorite brand of condensed soups.  It is also gluten free,

which is wonderful for those with dietary restrictions.

 Add the cooked quinoa to the sauce and stir.  Add sea salt to taste.

Fold in the roasted squash and onions.  

Place in an oiled baking dish.  At this point you can cover the dish and

 place in the refrigerator to bake off later.

For the perfect crust, use the vegetable peel to shave off a bit of butter

and place on top.  This too is one of my favorite little ideas/ 'duh moments'

Sprinkle a little sea salt on top of the shaved butter, and place in a

375 degree oven for 30-40 minutes.

The top will be golden brown.

Yum!  This hot dish is meal enough, when topped with the

 Maple Spiced Pecans and served with a side of greens. 

Here are a couple other ideas for this delicious hot dish: toss in additional roasted vegetables 

(zucchini, asparagus, root vegetables, portobello mushrooms), stuff large portobello mushrooms

and bake off or serve along side grilled poultry or beef.

Seriously, yum! 

Layered Salad: Squash, Quinoa, Candied Nuts, Feta & Balsamic Reduction. Oh My!

I picked up a butternut squash at the market, because I planned on spending sometime in the 

kitchen today, making baby food.  Well, that plan fell by the wayside, as it was ridiculously

 lovely outside, and I opted instead to spend that time playing outside with my little Logan.

The butternut squash was just screaming to be gobbled up today, 

so I  raided the  pantry and found some other goodies that I thought would be

 ridiculous, with the squash, on a bed of greens.

Clean out the butternut squash, remove the skin, and cut up in 1/2

 inch chunks.  Toss the chunks with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, sea 

salt and pepper on a baking sheet and bake for 35-45 minutes in a 

400 degree oven. 

In a pan heat 1 cup of balsamic vinegar to boil and reduce to simmer,

until the vinegar thickens into a syrup that coats a spoon.  It will

continue to thicken up a bit, after simmering. 

 In a dry saute pan, over medium heat, combined 1/2 cup chopped raw 

pecans, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, pinch of cayenne pepper.  

Watch like a hawk, the nuts and sugar can burn in an instant.  

Use a spoon to coat the nuts in the lightly spiced sugar.

Pile spinach and other baby greens on a platter.

Top the greens with quinoa. I had prepared quinoa in the refrigerator, 

from the night before. I cooked it according to directions and tossed 

with a bit of sea salt and olive oil.

Top with chunks of feta or goat cheese.

 Top with the sweet and spicy pecans.

Top with the roasted butternut squash.  Pour any olive oil from the 

pan on the salad as well.  I like to think of it as a deconstructed vinaigrette,

as the oil and vinegar marry together on the greens and goodies!

Yummers!

 Drizzle with the syrupy balsamic vinegar.

 Enjoy!

Here's me thinking this will be delicious, leftover...as the greens wilt a bit.