Butternut Squash Soup

6 servings - taken strait from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/butternut-squash-soup/detail.aspx

• 6 tablespoons chopped onion
• 4 tablespoons margarine
• 6 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash
• 3 cups water
• 4 cubes chicken bouillon
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• In a large saucepan, saute onions in margarine until tender. Add squash, water, bouillon, marjoram, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Bring to boil; cook 20 minutes, or until squash is tender.
• Puree squash and cream cheese in a blender or food processor in batches until smooth. Return to saucepan, and heat through. Do not allow to boil.

Our changes:
We cooked the squash first to make it easier to peel and faster to cook.
We only put in 1 package of cream cheese, because it is creamy enough already!
And of course we used veggie broth instead of chicken broth!

It's pretty awesome. We've had several people ask for the recipe. I highly recommend trying this one out for thanksgiving!

Chili Dogs and Chickn Sammiches

Right now I'm still in search of a good chili recipe. If anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them!

For my chili-dogs I just used Bush's chili beans. They are really good and since they come out of a can are ready instantly! I forget what kind of dogs we used, but they were okay - I still miss Morning Star's Hot Dogs. Those were the best.

We also did "Chicken" sandwiches. We used sour cream instead of mayo because we didn't have mayo and the sour cream was left over. Lettuce, tomato, etc. It's yummy. I believe we used Morning Star's patties, but Boca and Qron are good too.

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie Filling:

• 2 cups mashed, cooked pumpkin (See Below)
  
• 1 can evaporated milk-- you'll need somewhere between 5 and 12 ounces
  
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar (Maybe just a tad more...)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves

Making the Cooked Pumpkin: There are a couple ways to do this. Either way will require a pie pumpkin, which tend to be small and sold around/before halloween in the Midwest. The first (better) way is to, after gutting the pumpkin, slice the pumpkin into crescents, place on a greased pan, and cook at 375*F for about 40 minutes. When done, scoop the innards away from the skin, ad you've got your pie mixture. The second way, which looses a lot of nutrients and takes more time, is to cut the gutted pumpkin into chunks and boil them until you can easily skewer them with a fork (ala mashed potatoes). The problem with this is that water-soluble nutrients leak out of the pumpkin when you boil it.

Making the filling: Once you've got your pumpkin goo (you should have two cups!), put it in a blender of food processor and add a little bit of the evaporated milk and blend the hell out of it. This will take a little practice (and/or luck!): you want to make a mixture that's smooth and about the consistency of thick soup. If you add too much evaporated milk, you're going to wind up with a soupy mess that might not hold together well in the pie. If you add to little, it's going to have a grainy texture and might be a little chunky. If in doubt, I would add a little more rather than a little less. Once this is done, add the sugar and spices. The clove really give it a nice taste, but you've *got* to be careful with them. They can make the pie overpowering if you add much more than 1/4 tsp. Mix this all together with the blender/processor. Finally, mix in the eggs. I really recommend you add 2 eggs. The eggs help to give some consistency to the final product. I've been worried about getting a weird flavor from adding two eggs... but whenever I add only one I wind up with a pie that's pretty gooey at the end. Alternatively, I haven't had any problem with taste when I add 2 eggs. Anywho, add the eggs and blend.

Once this is all done, pour the mixture into a pie crust (if you want this to be home-made, you're on your own for now! We haven't given that a shot yet...), and bake at 400*F for 40 minutes. Let cool on the counter for an hour after removing from the oven. I recommend putting it in the fridge for an additional hour or two after that, but if you just can't wait, dive in. ;)

Chana Masala

We tried this Chana recipe
http://vegetarian.about.com/od/maindishentreerecipes/r/ChanaMasala.htm

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 can chickpeas in water (also called garbanzo beans) or 1 1/2 cups precooked + 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• juice from one lemon, (approx 2 tbsp )
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1 large bunch of spinach or two handfuls, rinsed

We followed it and it wasn't bad, but it wasn't a keeper either. We have some work to do. It was too dry first of all. It needed something like tomato sauce. We also used an in-season Chinese spinach or something similar to spinach but more hearty. That was really good. We'll keep looking and taking suggestions.

Okra

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/easy-indian-style-okra/detail.aspx

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 pound sliced fresh okra
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• salt to taste

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, and cook until tender. Stir in the okra, and season with cumin, ginger, coriander, pepper and salt. Cook and stir for a few minutes, then reduce the heat to medium-low, and cover the pan. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until okra is tender.

So, we tried okra. Bryan didn't mind it, but the texture was just too much for me. It was so slimy, and once it got cold (which didn't take long) it was REALLY gross.
If any one has a way to make it less slimy, I'd like to hear it. But the farmer I bought them from that some things will make them less slimy, but they will always be slimy.
So this one is a no go for us. We'll try another vegetable...

Couscus

http://cocinarcomercompartir.com/recipes/basil-couscous-with-red-pepper-and-sunflower-seeds-80105?servings=1&units=us

• 2 c. Fast-cooking couscous
• 2 c. Boiling water
• 2 x Cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves
• 1 1/2 c. Lightly packed parsley leaves
• 1/4 c. vegetable stock
  
• 8 x Cloves garlic, peeled
• 3 Tbsp. Virgin extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp Pepper
• 1 med Red bell pepper, halved, cored, seeded & minced
• 1/3 c. Toasted sunflower seeds

Directions

Boil as much water as is needed to cook couscous. Blanch basil and parsley in boiling water for 10-15 seconds. Drain herbs and place in the food processor. Cook couscous in boiling water.
In food processor add herbs, broth, and garlic. Process til smooth. Add couscous and processed mix into a bowl. Add a cut up red pepper. We also added one package (~10-12oz) of tofu.
Be careful not to add the bottom of the bottle of sunflower seeds because it gets grainy and the whole batch will taste like sunflower seeds. The seeds do add a great texture - so don't omit them!

We liked this enough to make it twice! It's got a lot of left overs and is easy to reheat. You could easily throw in more vegetables to make a good salad-like feel for a party!

Shepards Pie, Vegetarian

I have seen Bryan eat Shepard's Pie at the local Irish Restaurant several times, and it always looks REALLY GOOD! So we have finally tried to make a vegetarian version.
It turned out great. We looked at these two recipes:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/vegetarian-shepherds-pie/detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/vegetable-shepherds-pie/detail.aspx

We followed the second one to some extent.

• Several Red potatoes
  
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 16oz mixed veggies (eggplant, oh crap, what else?)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 (19 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika

was our recipe. We made the mashed potatoes based on a different recipe we had already done.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/garlic-mashed-red-potatoes/detail.aspx
It turned out really good. I might try and find a way to add more flavor to the veggies, but I really loved the mashed potatoes so I might just make more mashed potatoes next time.

Stew with BARLEY

We have been buying a lot of vegetables from the farmer's market. Eating local has a lot of benefits that I really like to talk about.
-You eat fresh stuff, so it tastes better, nutrients have less time to degrade
-You keep your money local, which helps the local economy - a BIG deal in Michigan
- You know who is bringing you your food. This means you know if they use pesticide, what kind, how much, GMO, hormones, or WHATEVER, but you KNOW so you can decide what is okay.
- This also means it's generally a smaller farm and can take the time to have correct sanitation practices, so food borne illness can be lower
- It is a really cool environment to walk through!

Anyway, fall vegetables are great! But using them in a variety of ways can be tough. So we made a stew, that is very similar to our casserole, except instead of baking it, we put it in the crock pot for 3-4 hours. We have played with the stew a lot more than the casserole in an effort to make the two dishes different, as well as change the flavor. We use potatoes, green beans, carrots, thyme, salt, pepper, vegetable broth, and onions each time. We've play around with cream of mushroom soup, yogurt, and a barley to make it thick and different. The barley was a success, however, we *may* have overdone it. The instructions were for using 1 cup of barley, and BOY did that fill up the pot! In the left overs the barley soaked up so much broth that there wasn't any left! So, lesson with barley: start small.

Other than that, this is another recipe we have toyed with so we don't have a specific perfect one yet!