Spicy Autumn Soup

It's that time of year!  Soup!  I love making soups, but I can never create the same one twice, so I've decided to start writing down what I did so I can remember some of these amazing creations.

Of course this time of year is full of pumpkin this, squash that.... it's dizzying.  But Trader Joe's had
a few spectacular things on the shelves that inspired this soup for me.  Photos help, so I'm including those.

I also cooked by candlelight (Brownie thinks I'm insane for doing this) so I didn't have a chance to take many photos during the process, which is why you get to admire this lovely shot of my leftover soup in tupperware.  You're welcome. I promise it's just as scrumptious leftover!  Noodles a little softer, but still good!

This has a kick to it, so be ready to clear those sinuses!  It's also incredibly filling, so small portions go a long way.

Here Goes:

Ingredients:

• Olive Oil
• 1 Cup Chopped Onion
• 1 Cup Chopped Celery
• 1 Cup Chopped Carrot
• 6-10 Garlic Cloves - Minced (however much or little you prefer)
• 1 Stick Salted Butter
• 3 small zucchini, sliced or chopped as you wish
• 1/2 Cup Chopped Bell Pepper
• Truffle Oil (totally optional but they have a tiny bottle of this amazingness at Market of Choice if you want to use it)
• 1 Package Trader Joe's Cheese & Garlic Croutons
  
  
  
• 1 Package Trader Joe's Fall Zucchette Pasta
• 1 Jar Trader Joe's Autumnal Harvest Creamy Pasta Sauce
• 1-2 Cups cooked or leftover meat of any kind that you may have on hand or need to use, chopped
• 1/2 Cup Chopped fresh Sage
• 1 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (The sauce has a bite to it, so if you're sensitive to spicy, leave this out)
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 2 Teaspoons Cumin
• 1-2 Tablespoons fresh Thyme (1/2-1 Tablespoon dried)
• 2 Teaspoons fresh, chopped Oregano (1 Teaspoon dried)
• Dash of Cinnamon
• 1 Teaspoon Paprika

Directions:

• Boil water with 1 Tablespoon olive oil and get noodles cooking in a separate pot for now.  
• Saute garlic, onion, celery and carrot with 1/2 the stick of butter and a few sprinkles of salt in a soup pot until butter is melted and onions are a bit soft
• Add water, about 8-10 cups and turn the heat up to bring to boil
• While the water is heating up for soup, add the cayenne, salt & pepper, cumin, thyme, oregano, cinnamon and paprika.  Stir.
• When water comes to a boil, turn the heat down to a simmer until the pasta is ready.
• Drain pasta, leave in the collander
• In pasta pot, put the remaining 1/2 stick of butter with chopped fresh sage - on medium heat, melt butter and cook sage until it's a bit crispy
• Turn soup back up to a boil, add jar of sauce, zucchini and bell pepper and let boil while you do the final step with the pasta.
• When the sage is ready, put pasta back into the pot and toss it with sage and butter, sprinkling with salt and truffle oil until you like the flavor
• Let Pasta sizzle in pan on medium heat, stirring often for about 5 minutes
• Add chopped meat to the pot, stirring in to let it heat up and flavor the soup a bit - 5 minutes while the pasta sizzles
• Taste the broth, making sure the flavors are where you want them, adjust as you wish.  If you didn't use enough garlic, sprinkle in some garlic powder for a quick fix :-)
• Stir pasta into the soup
• Serve soup with cheesy garlic croutons and enjoy!

This soup is very filling and this recipe will feed 6-8 people.

Cupcake Squash with Marigold Rice

So, to Brownie's credit, this was part of his cooking challenge the other night.  He created a beautiful steak dish, but he also created this side dish that my vegetarian heart fell in love with!  So I'm sharing the recipe with you!

I had never heard of a cupcake squash until my mom grew one in her garden and gave us one to experiment with.  I'm pretty glad she did!

A few notes:  Yes, that is in fact string cheese on top of our beautiful squash!  hahaha  It was part of the challenge and it actually wasn't half bad!  So if all you have in the refrigerator is string cheese ... go for it.  Tried and true. When I asked Brownie what he would have RATHER used, he said white cheddar, so that's what our recipe calls for.

You might be thinking ... marigold blooms?  Like, flowers?  Yes!  They're edible.  They are also an inexpensive substitute for saffron in recipes ... FYI.  So use them and be amazed!

And Yes, the shell is edible too!

Ingredients:

• 1 Cupcake Squash
• 2-3 Ripe Figs
• Raw Almonds
• Fresh Garlic Cloves
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• 5 Marigold Blooms
• 1 Cup Rice
• Olive Oil
• Garlic Powder
• White Cheddar Cheese (or whatever your preference)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Cut a few slices off the top of the cupcake squash and set aside.
• Scoop out inside of squash, discard seeds, chop remaining flesh and set aside in a small bowl
• Dice 2-3 figs and add to bowl with chopped squash
• Chop 3 -4 raw almonds add to bowl with figs
• Mince 1-2 garlic cloves and add to your bowl
• Add a pinch of salt and a couple grinds of fresh ground pepper
• Add 1 1/4 cups water to pan, chop the petals of 4 or 5 fresh marigolds, add to water, bring to a boil, 
• Add rice, put lid on, simmer for 15 minutes or so - until rice is done
• While rice is cooking, rub hollowed squash inside and out with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder
• Place hollowed squash in a baking dish and bake at 350 until flesh is soft - about 10 minutes
• While the hollowed squash is baking, Sautee your ingredients in the bowl over medium heat with olive until combined and heated - maybe 3 minutes
• Remove squash from oven, set aside
• Scoop rice into sautéed mixture and mix together until the amounts are to your liking, adjust salt and pepper to taste
• Spoon rice mixture into hollowed cupcake squash
• Top with cheese and put under the broiler until cheese is melted and browned
• Optional: boil water and blanch extra slices of squash before plating, garnish with fresh marigold flowers, chopped fresh chives and more chopped almonds

This recipe is for one cupcake squash - if you're cooking for two, you'll have to double the recipe. You'll probably have some of the rice leftover ... and that isn't a bad thing - am I right!?  ;-)  But honestly,  1 1/2 cups of rice would make two of these no problem.  

Garden Veggies over Rice

Brownie likes to create beautiful food and play with flavors.  I tend to be more practical and rely on the foods I grew up eating.  I have a deep love for zucchini and this week, we had THREE zucchini ripen in the garden.  Two yellow and one green.  We also had two beautiful tomatoes ready to eat.  So tonight, I took over dinner duty.  

Now, when I cook, you can bet it's going to be something simple.  Every time my mother and I went to a potluck of any kind, my vegetarian mother would bring this dish with us and people would absolutely devour it.  It was one of the first things she taught me to cook as a teenager.  I still love it.

So in the spirit of sharing actual recipes, I will write down what I used and how I put this together.

Ingredients:

• 3 Medium Zucchini (or a mix of zucchini and yellow squash)
• 1 Large Scallion (Or onion, whatever is on hand)
• 3 Medium-to-large Tomatoes
• Basil (dried or fresh - either way)
• Garlic
• Salt
• Olive Oil
• Cooked Rice

Direcitons:

• I cook rice ahead of time and when my rice cooker beeps, I start the veggies and let the rice warm.
• Heat olive oil in a saute pan and begin cooking Scallion and freshly minced garlic - whatever your tastes are!  I use a LOT of garlic, we love the flavor.
• Chop Zucchini to desired size and put in the pan with garlic and scallion.
• Toss and add salt to taste
• Chop fresh basil and tomatoes while you're waiting for the zucchini to soften.
• Stir your zucchini or toss it in the pan every so often - don't neglect it or it will cook unevenly.
• If you're using dried basil, add it at this point so it has time to re-hydrate
• When they start to soften, I throw in the fresh basil and toss with veggies.
• When they're the texture you prefer, turn the heat off and stir in your chopped tomatoes so they can warm with everything else.  You don't want to COOK the tomatoes, just warm them.
• Scoop some rice into a bowl and add veggies on top!

You'll notice your veggies are a bit watery in the bottom of the pan - that juicy goodness is DIVINE scooped over your rice!  I love to eat this all stirred together in a big mashy mess - it's perfection!

This time around, I decided to use some of our freshly harvested Nasturtium leaves as well.  They have a peppery, radish-y flavor that I wanted to play with.  I didn't really use enough to flavor much, but when I got some in a bite, I could definitely tell they were there and they were a nice addition.  Not always available, but if you want to try them ... it does work with this recipe pretty well.

Enjoy the summer veggies while they last!  As usual, if you try this and put your own spin on it, we'd love to see what you come up with!  Come back and post pictures for us! :-)