Spicy Italian Pumpkin Harvest Soup

If you love pumpkin, and you love a dish with Heat, I am sure you will love this dish! 

Sometimes pictures are worth a thousand words, right? So I will not be writing up story to go along with this dish. :-)

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons of butter
• 1 cup of chopped onion
• 1 15 ounce can of pumpkin (or you can use fresh pureed if you have it on hand)
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced ( your choice, I am sure that sweet potatoes would go well in this dish. we used yukon gold, however next time I will try this recipe with the sweet!)
• 4 cups of chicken broth ( fresh homemade)
• 1/2 cup of Organic Heavy whipping cream ( or your choice of dairy substitute)
• 1/2 teaspoon of Cayenne pepper
• salt/ and pepper
• 1 to 2 tablespoons of chopped dry parsley

Directions:

Melt butter in a french oven. Add onion and saute for a two minutes. Add Pumpkin, and potato, cream and chicken broth/ Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat. Cook until potatoes are soft. Add spices, and salt and pepper. Transfer into a bowl, and puree soup. 

Serve and enjoy!

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Chunky Tomato Soup

Portland grey skies never seem to leave us, until July. With cool temperatures, overcast clouds, some days I want to curl up and read a book next to a fireplace, enjoying coffees, teas, and warm bowls of soup for dinners. 

I love soups. They can be so versatile, flavorful, and simple to make. You can slow cook them, and allow the aroma's  fill your home. They are filling, and easy to use for leftovers!

Hold the Bread Please

• 1 Onion
• 3 Garlic Cloves
• Handful of Basil leaves
• 4 (14.2 ounce) cans of Diced Tomatoes 
• 16 slow roasted tomatoes
• Kosher Sea Salt
• Black pepper
• 2 sprigs of Rosemary
• 1/4 cup of Olive oil

Dice Onion, and garlic. Heat olive oil, onions, and garlic in a dutch oven over medium heat for ten minutes. Add tomatoes, salt, rosemary, basil, slow roasted tomatoes, salt and pepper. Turn down heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

This soup is chunky and thick. If you like a thinner soup, feel free to add a cup of water.

Slow Roasted makes this soup amazing

Fresh Garden Herbs add intensity and flavors to the dish

Dice and simmer for ten minutes

Add bacon instead of bread, for a complete meal!

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

Many people turn their noses up to Cauliflower, thinking that it is flavorless. However, this vegetable is highly versatile, low in fat, high in dietary fiber, folate, water and vitamin C, and an excellent source of carotenoids. With phytochemicals, indole-3-carbinol, cauliflower is known for aiding and blocking growth of cancer cells, and can actually prevent and slow the grown of cancer and tumors. Cauliflower also may assist the liver in detoxing carcinogenic substances. Feel free to play with this recipe, it can easily be made vegetarian, dairy free, and of course gluten free!

• 1/2 stick Butter or olive oil
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 3/4 of a cup of Green onion, sliced and divided in half
• 2 whole Carrot thinly sliced
• 1 stalk Celery, well Diced
• 1 whole Cauliflower Heads
• 2 Tablespoons Fresh Or Dried Parsley
• 32 ounces of organic Chicken Broth Or Stock or vegetable Broth
• 2 cups Almond milk ( or milk)
• 1 cup Half-and-half (optional)
• Sprinkle of salt and Pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of paprika
• 1/2 cup of Sour Cream (optional)
• 4 slices of Turkey Bacon (Applegate) (optional)
• 1/2 cup of red Bell Pepper diced
• 1/2 cup of tomato diced

In a Dutch oven brown bacon.Remove, and then melt butter or add 1/4 of a cup of Olive oil.

Add minced Garlic, whites of onions, reserve the green Chives Saute for 2 minutes

Add carrots and celery and continue to saute for 5 minutes then add Cauliflower and cook for 10 more minutes.

Add Chicken or vegetable Broth, cook on medium heat for 20 minutes. Add 2 pieces of diced Bacon

salt and pepper. And 1/2 teaspoon of paprika.

Now you can either get your blender and Puree, or what I find easiest is to pour contents into a bowl and puree with my Smart Stick Blender. Once the soup is pureed, pour it back into the dutch oven and add Milk/ Cream, and sour cream, perhaps more pepper if desired or even better a pinch of RED Pepper! Stir well.

Spoon into bowls, and top with the remaining 2 pieces of diced Bacon, a tablespoon of red bell pepper, some chives and parsley. The tomato is optional.

This dish is pretty filling, and very delicious.

Sun-dried Feta Cauliflower

Sun-dried Feta Cauliflower

• 2 cups of Cauliflower
• 1/2 cup of sun-dried tomato
• 1/4 cup of feta cheese or goat cheese
• Sprinkle of oregano, basil, garlic powder, and thyme

1. Steam cauliflower.
2. In sauce pan add Cauliflower, Sun-dried tomato's, feta and spices,
3. Serve and savor!

Chili

Chili in May..

Tonight is a Chili night. It is a cold and grey day in the Nw, and I am feeling like I need some comfort food. So we will light our fire places, curl up on our couches, read a book, and eat chili!

• 2 teaspoons of olive oil
• 1 small onion
• 2 pounds of lean ground beef
• 8 ounces of slice mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon Cayenne
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 1 tablespoon of Mexican chili powder
• 3 cans of organic diced tomato
• 1 can of organic stewed tomato
• 7 ounces whole green chile's (drained)
• 1 6 ounce tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• 1 teaspoon of oregano
• season with pepper
• 2 diced sweet cherry peppers Jarred Mezzetta

1. Dice one small onion, saute in two tablespoons of olive oil. 
2. Soften and add sliced mushrooms, and ground beef. 
3. Ground and drain.
4. Add all canned items and spices.
5. Stew on low for 15 to 30 minutes!