...is brought to you by the color ORANGE and the word SLEEPY.
Yesterday I threw my hubby a surprise party for his 50th birthday. I've been cooking, cleaning, and shopping in secret and yesterday was busy and long. And I haven't gathered pictures and recipes from the party quite yet to share, but I do have tonight's quick and easy supper.
The first recipe is a favorite of mine. My first vegan cookbook purchase was Lauren Ulm's Vegan Yum Yum and this was an early recipe try. This is an awesome, amazing, super duper easy soup that fills you up and warms you to the core. I've made it for non-vegan friends and they all give it rave reviews. And ask for the recipe! My one complaint with Lauren's book is that her recipes don't feed ravenous wolves my hungry bunch, so I end up doubling most recipes. This one is no exception. But you just need leftovers, you know. It's too good to just eat once! The recipe below includes the doubled amounts and will feed 8. (Or four wolves plus a small amount of leftovers that will be fought over.)
Spicy Tomato Chickpea Soup
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric
2 15-oz cans of chickpeas (or about 4 cups cooked chickpeas), drained and rinsed
2 28-oz cans of diced tomatoes
2 tsp salt
4 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
2 cups hot water
Black pepper, to taste
In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil to shimmering and saute the onions until softened. Add the garlic, cumin, chili flakes, mustard seeds, and turmeric and saute another minute. Add chickpeas and saute until the chickpeas begin to turn golden, just a few minutes. Add tomatoes and salt and simmer for about 15 minutes.
Transfer the mixture in batches to a blender and puree until smooth. Be careful to vent the lid or the whole thing will explode on you. Don't ask me how I know this. *ahem* Transfer back to the Dutch oven. Add nutritional yeast and water and stir together until smooth. Taste to adjust seasonings. Enjoy!
Calories per 1 1/2 cup serving: 198
Fat: 8 g
Carbs: 28 g
Protein: 7 g
This next recipe is a New York Times recipe and was made because I had two butternut squashes sitting on my counter just begging for me to cook them before they went bad. So I took one of them and made this and it was scrumptious. My belly was actually full from the soup, but when I tasted one cube of squash, I knew I had to go back for more. The bowl pictured below is really a teeny tiny bowl so my serving was probably less than 1/4 cup. This WILL be my before-bed snack, though, I can assure you! It's like dessert...only with lots of garlic!
Now, this recipe said that it needed to cook at 375° for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I don't wait that long for much. I bumped the temperature up to 400° and set the timer for 20 minutes. Stirred it and popped it back in for another 20 and it was done. Cooking it for 2 hours would have turned it to mush!
Simple Provencal Winter Squash Gratin
1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup bread crumbs (I pulverized two slices of leftover bruschetta from the party last night)
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves (let me just say I am sure I have nowhere near 1 tbsp of thyme in this dish - I absolutely hate pulling those little tiny leaves off and I'm obsessive about not getting any little stems in there so I probably had somewhere closer to 1/2 tsp! Ha!)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
3 tbsp olive oil
Preheat oven to 400°. Toss together ingredients in a large stoneware dish or gratin dish. Place in the oven and bake 20 minutes. Stir and test one of the pieces of squash. Return to the oven for an additional 20 minutes or until squash is fork tender. Serves 6. (Or one crazy butternut squash lovin' lady who worked up an appetite at Zumba.)
Calories per serving: 154
Carbs: 21g
Protein: 3 g
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