Fall Harvest Sweet Potato Soup

Such a delicious, nutritious and comforting soup on a cool fall day to chase the blues away. Having been under the weather for a week, my first positive activity was to get back in the kitchen and make up a large batch of soup with the ingredients I had on hand, thanks to my daughter having gifted me an extra large sweet potato from a local farm. It took no time at all to prep and cook this soup garnished with tasty croutons on my stovetop. Quick and easy for an Instant Pot recipe too. Enjoy!

Soup Ingredients

1 lb. Sweet Potatoes (extra large or 2 medium), peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes

1 lb. Carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2" slices

1 large Onion, diced

1 large clove Garlic (2 medium), finely chopped

2 Tbsps Olive Oil

2 Tbsps Chicken Stock Base ("Better than Bouillon" brand)

1 tsp ground Cinnamon

1 pinch Nutmeg

2 Bay Leaves

6 cups Water

Crouton Ingredients

2 slices Bread, crust removed and cut into 1/2" cubes

2 Tbsps Olive Oil

1 Tbsps pure Maple Syrup

Soup Directions

1. On medium heat sauté carrots, onion, and garlic in 2 Tbsps olive oil for about 10 minutes.
2. Stir in spices, cooking another minute or so.
3.  Add sweet potato, chicken base, bay leaves, and 6 cups of water. Bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat and simmer for another 10 minutes or so, until sweet potatoes are tender.
5. Remove bay leaves and puree soup with an immersion blender, if you have one. If not use a counter top blender. Be careful not to splash boiling soup on yourself.

Crouton Directions

1. Heat 2 Tbsps olive oil in frying pan on medium heat. Add cubed bread and toss until golden brown.
2. Remove from heat and drizzle bread cubes with 1 Tbsp maple syrup.

Serve the Sweet Potato Soup in small bowls topped with maple syrup drizzled toasted bread cubes. 

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

When you are scrapping out your Halloween pumpkins before you carve your beautiful designs into them, be sure to save the seeds for roasting... don't let them go to waste, as they make a very nutritious and delicious snack.

My daugther's family just finished carving their pumpkins, and now the grandkids and me are roasting them in the oven; seasoning them with a mix of pumpkin spice, sugar and cinnamon for a sweet treat.

Directions
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. 

Seed the pumpkin:
Using a large, long-handled spoon, scrape both the pulp and seeds out of your pumpkin into a large bowl.

Clean the seeds: 

It's messy, but you'll want to separate the stringy pulp from the seeds you're about to roast. Rinse the seeds in a colander under cold water,  plucking out any remaining pulp, then shake dry. Don't blot with paper towels, as the seeds will stick.

Dry the seeds: 

On an oiled baking sheet, spread the seeds out in a single layer and roast at 300 degrees F for 30 minutes to dry them out.

Add spices: 

Leave the oven on at 300 degrees F, while tossing the seeds in a large bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil and your choice of spices according to taste. If savory, include salt. Return the seeds to the oven spread out on the same baking sheets, and bake until crispy and a light, golden color. It will take about 20 minutes or so. Keep an eye on them!

Sweet Toss (below): with cinnamon and sugar (pumpkin spice optional; do not use salt).
Indian Toss: with garam masala; mix with currants after roasting.
Spanish Toss: with smoked paprika; mix with slivered almonds after roasting.
Italian Toss: with grated parmesan and dried oregano.
Barbecue Toss: with brown sugar, chipotle chile powder and ground cumin.

Roasting...

Roasted... Yum!

Best-Ever Vegan Chili and Best-Ever Rainbow

Best-Ever Chili

One of my latest "unpacks" from our recent move to the Olympic Peninsula is our moveable dry goods pantry - - beans begging to be cooked, since temperatures have dropped into the low 40's and 30's. I made yesterday an At-Home day, primarily so I could cook a large batch of homemade vegan chili based on "Big Paul's Chili" award-winning recipe with the follow additions, as follows :

I cooked up my own red beans, added V-8 juice for additional liquid, my own dried tomatoes (chopped), as well as crumbling three vegan Sunshine falafel patties (gluten /soy free) into the chili during the last stage of simmering all the ingredients.

It's savory sweetness and chunky texture make for an especially tasty, hearty, nutritious meal to stave off the fall and winter chill!

Ingredients:

3 Bell Peppers (green, red, yellow or orange combo), chopped

2 medium Onions, finely chopped

2 Carrots, chopped

3 Celery ribs, chopped

6 Garlic cloves, minced

2 T Lemon juice

1 small can Jalapeño peppers (mild), chopped

1 (15 oz) can organic Tomato Sauce

1 (28 oz) can organic crushed Tomatoes

1 cup dried Tomatoes, chopped

V-8 Juice for additional liquid

1 (15 oz) can of pitted Black Olives, chopped

6-8 cups Red Beans, cooked or canned (15 oz)

2-4 cups Black Beans, cooked or canned (15 oz)

2-4 vegan meatless patties or soy crumbles (optional)

¼ cup Maple Syrup (or Brown Sugar)

1 T Molasses

2 (heaping) T Chili Powder

¼ tsp Cayenne Pepper

Salt to taste

Olive Oil for sautéing vegetables

Directions:

1. In a large stock pot over medium heat sauté in olive oil the onions, carrots, celery, bell peppers and garlic until soft.
2. Add the tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, dried tomatoes, lemon juice, chili powder, cayenne pepper, maple syrup, molasses or brown sugar. Stir to mix well and heat up.
3. Reduce heat to medium, and then add in the red and black beans, black olives and optional meatless crumbles.
4. Simmer for 30-minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally. Salt to taste.
5. Garnish options: green onions, sour cream, crumbled saltine crackers
6. Serve with Spoon Bread (see my recipe)

Serves 8-10

Best-Ever Rainbow

After the chili was made and simmering, I made a quick trip over to the Wooden Boat School to deliver a new assortment of teas for the students to enjoy. It was a cold and rainy day. As I came down the hill, I saw the most beautiful, spectacular, breath-taking rainbow I've ever seen, which spanned the entire bay, seeming to rise out of the water at Port Hadlock and arch across the sky to Port Townsend. Here are the images I quickly captured before it faded away:

Celebrating, Fall, Comfort Food and Family

I awoke to a blanket of fog that had settled upon Siuslaw Valley. As it burned off over the course of the morning, the fall scenes surrounding me were magnificent. Steam from the horses nostrils melded with the rays of soft light filtering through the golden leaves of the grand old maple. 

Today is our son-in-law's birthday. So I set to work early to set a fall harvest table, which later will be filled with warm, savory dishes for a cool, fall evening celebration. I'm cooking from Donna Klein's The Gluten-Free Vegetarian Kitchen. The main entree this evening is Mushroom, Pea and Pearl Onion Pot Pie with Herbed Potato Topping on page 108, served with Warm Beet Salad with Parsley and Walnuts on page 51.

Early in the afternoon, I made a double-batch of oven-ready pot pie and had just finished making the warm beet salad when the call came. Change of plans. Our son-in-law was going to have to work later than expected at the hospital. Not a problem, we simply took dinner to their house, so it would be ready to eat when he walked in the door.  

I only made a few changes to the recipes.

There was enough vegetable broth and cream cheese in the pot pie  mixture that the skim milk was totally unnecessary, mixed together with peas and pearl onions, sauteed chopped onions, mushrooms, red pepper and fresh basil. No longer having fresh herbs available from my garden, I blended a variety of dried herbs together from my spice cupboard: marjoram, oregano, savory, tarragon and thyme to add to the potato topping.

The whole beets warmed through with vegetable broth, raspberry vinegar, scallions and coarsely chopped walnuts were delicious all by themselves, but I presented each serving on a bed of fresh greens topped with crumbled feta cheese and drizzled with a zesty raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

Locally-made, ready-to-bake bread from the natural foods grocer and bakery was hot and ready to slice and serve in ten minutes.

Effie and Dirk loved both the entree and the beet salad, rating the meal a *****.  Watching how our one year old granddaughter was gobbling her dinner down was the best compliment of all.

Our daughter served us an incredible non-alcoholic beverage she made with fresh prickly pear, lime, sugar and cinnamon.  This is not her exact recipe, but close:

2 cups cold water

1 cup ice

2 cups red prickly pears, halved, pulp and seeds scooped out (wear rubber gloves)

1/4 cup sugar, or to taste

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, or to taste

cinnamon to taste

Directions: In a blender combine all ingredients and blend on high speed until completely smooth. Pour cooler through a fine sieve into a glass pitcher. Chill cooler and stir before serving.

Effie also baked and beautifully decorated a German chocolate birthday cake for Dirk. I took a GlutenEase well in advance, realizing the temptation was going to be too great to pass on a slice of yummy homemade cake with vanilla  bean ice cream on this festive occasion.

Our family loves to get together and share in the cooking and eating of good food, always cooking more than enough to ensure that there will be leftovers. We do love our leftovers and find that they are often just as good or better the next day... with few exceptions.

"The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers.  The original meal has never been found."  ~Calvin Trillin