CREAMY YELLOW SUMMER SQUASH SOUP

My first box of vegetables arrived this week.  This is my third year of signing up for a weekly box of local vegetables at Green Cay and every week it seems like Christmas.  I have beautiful, fresh vegetables and endless possibilities.  Some of what was in our box included 6 summer squash, baby bok choy, fresh lettuce and a huge bag of basil.  I immediately set to work and blended fresh pesto with the basil, fresh spinach, pine nuts and walnuts (see previous post on pesto).  I divided the batch into 4 containers; froze three and used one container right away with a bowl of whole wheat pasta.  This time I added juice of a whole lemon and it just made the pasta zing.  Try it sometime.

Meanwhile, I really wanted to use some of the summer squash and I didn’t want to cook the first thing that came to mind – a stir fry with quinoa or pasta.  I also had some garbanzo beans and leeks which had me thinking about soup.  The lemon juice at the end really brought out the flavors.  Are you seeing a trend?  Yes, I am on a lemon kick.  We always have lemons or limes in the house.  Living in Florida, you would think we could just go pick them off the tree, but we don’t and can’t - something to do with a fruit fly invasion.  Oh well.  (Sometimes we have mangos falling from the neighbor’s trees and when they do, that really makes me happy.)

Ingredients:

1 onion chopped

2 leeks cleaned and white portion sliced thin

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 yellow squash chopped

1 can coconut milk

1 vegetable bouillon cube

2 cups water

1 ½ cups cooked garbanzo beans or 1 15 oz. can drained and rinsed

½ cup parsley roughly chopped

1 teaspoon toasted ground cumin (see previous post on cumin)

Salt and pepper to taste

Juice of ½ a lemon

Garnish with fresh made croutons*

Sauté the onion and leeks with the olive oil in a large stock pot.  Cook until translucent - about 5 minutes.  Add the squash and cook for about 5 minutes more.

Mix in the coconut milk, the water and the vegetable bouillon cube and simmer with the lid slightly ajar for 10-15 minutes.  Add the spices, herbs and beans and cook for about one minute.  Let the soup cool slightly.

Use an immersion blender to cream some of the squash and beans.  I like to leave it chunky so I don’t puree it very much.  Add the lemon and adjust seasonings.  Add the croutons just before serving.

*To make croutons: preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Cube some “day old bread” and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a bit of salt. Toast in oven until crispy and brown (about 5-10 minutes).

Black-Eyed Peas with Chard, Corn and Onions

Fresh Black Eyed Peas

I am now in love with black-eyed peas and I am not referring to the wildly popular music group, but the delicious legumes that I hope I can convince Madison to grow this summer in Connecticut.  My local farm in Boynton Beach, FL provided me with a bag of mature black-eyed pea pods that were dry and ready to be shucked or shelled.  It was kind of a fun project for my daughter.  She took the pods and spread them out in a rimmed cookie sheet and went to work getting the peas out of the pod.  Because the pod is dry, the peas mostly just pop right out.  I don’t know how long they will store this way.  I would recommend cooking them right away and freezing them, or freeze them just after they have been shucked.

When referring to recipes that ask for black-eyed peas (or cowpeas – I am not making this up), you don’t have to cook freshly shelled peas as long, so check on the progress as you cook them.  In my recipe, my peas were done in about 20 minutes.

I also discovered that black-eyed peas sprout beautifully.  (This has nothing to do with this recipe, but everything to do with different ways to enjoy black-eyed peas!)  They make an incredibly healthy and delicious snack as well as a crunchy addition to a salad.   See my previous post about sprouting mung beans.  (Black-eyed peas are related to mung beans too. Maybe that is why they both are easy to sprout.)

Ingredients:

1 cup freshly shelled black-eyed peas

4 cups fresh chard, stems removed and roughly chopped

(spinach or arugula could be substituted for chard, just add at the last minute and wilt them rather than cook them)

2 medium to sweet onions
3 ears fresh corn, cut off the cobb

1 Tablespoon freshly toasted and ground cumin (see previous post)

1 teaspoon dried chipotle pepper (optional)

¼ cup water to steam the chard

Start the black-eyed peas and three cups water in a saucepan and cover.  Simmer.  Check after 20 minutes.  Depending on how dry the beans are, they may need to simmer longer before they are ready.

Meanwhile peel the onions and cut in half.  Slice in ¼ inch slivers.  Sauté the onions in a medium sized sauté pan until they are golden.  About 5 minutes.  Add the spices and the chard.  While cooking the chard, add water to steam it.  The chard should be cooked through in 10-15 minutes.   I had older, more mature chard that took at least 15 minutes.  Most of the chard found in the grocery store will probably be done quicker.  Add the cooked peas and the fresh corn to the vegetables and heat through.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Black eyed-peas with collards are considered a good luck New Year’s dish too.  I will have to do some more research to find out why.  Happy healthy eating.

Tomato Watermelon Salad

 

 I have to admit a secret.  I have been holding out on one of my favorite things to add to salads and it is so simple that I am embarrassed to admit it, but I love to sprout Mung Beans.  They must be the simplest bean to sprout and I don’t know why I don’t sprout them more often. 

When the weather gets really warm in Florida, I start thinking of salads that I can throw together without heating up the house while also adding some protein in the mix.  Mung Beans are the answer!!

I buy the beans in the bulk aisle of Whole Foods.  When I tried to find Mung Beans at the Whole Foods in West Hartford, CT (horror of horrors!!), they did not have any in the bulk section.  They have an expensive alternative - prepackaged and spouted and then dried.  Forget it!  They took all the fun out of it.

I hope you can find them where you live, because they are so easy and add a nice crunch while adding a bit of protein.

Soak about a ½ cup of dried Mung Beans overnight.  The next morning, rinse the beans off with cool water and keep in a container on the counter loosely covered.    Rinse them off about 4 times during the day.  Just keep the beans moist, but not swimming in water. 

By dinnertime you have sprouted Mung Beans. Refrigerate any you don’t end up eating in the salad or directly out of the bowl.  They are a very addictive and healthy snack. 

I added them to my tomatoes and watermelon that I got from my local farm.  Add a little basil, olive oil and salt and you are good to go.

Cauliflower Mash with Spinach and Tempeh Croutons

Since I had a lot of spinach to use as well as cauliflower and butternut squash, I wanted to make a meal that was more a collection of tastes rather than a stew.

You will need the following ingredients:
1 head cauliflower
1/2 medium size butternut squash
2 bags spinach
2 medium size yellow onions
1 tempeh package (I like three grain by Lightlife)
Olive oil
2 teaspoons FRESH ground cumin seed (see note)
Salt and pepper to taste

Basically you are making three dishes and plating them one on top of the other for presentation.

Take a medium size pot and add the cauliflower and butternut squash cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks and add about two inches of water.  Boil at medium heat with the lid on until the vegetables are tender.  They should be done in 10-15 minutes.  Drain the water out and set aside.  Add salt and pepper to taste with 1 tsp of fresh ground cumin seed.  Leave the lid on to stay warm while finishing the two other components of the dish.

While the vegetables are boiling, start the second part of the recipe.  Cut the two onions up into bite size chunks and add to a large sauté  pan.  Add two tablespoons olive oil to the pan and sauté  the onions on medium high until the onions become golden in color (about 10 minutes).  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add ¼ cup water to the bottom of the pan to collect the brown bits.  Let the water steam off and then turn the pan down to low and add the spinach and lightly stir until the leaves have wilted.  Do not overcook.

Have another sauté  pan ready (I like to use a cast iron skillet) and cut the tempeh up into crouton size squares.  Add 1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce and 1 teaspoon fresh ground cumin seed to the pan.  Optional would be to add about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon heat such as ground red pepper or ground chipotle pepper.   Add the spices to the pan and sauté  the croutons until golden. 

Meanwhile, mash the cauliflower and butternut squash.  If too watery, turn the heat back on and cook out some of the moisture with the lid off. 

Plate a spoonful of the cauliflower and butternut squash mash, then add the spinach and onions on top with the croutons at the end.  Beautiful and delicious. 

Note: Fresh ground cumin seed has a much better flavor than purchased ground cumin seed.  If you take the time to make it fresh, you will be rewarded.  There is no comparison and I make a batch and have it ready and use it up in a week.  I add it to lots of my dishes.

Take about two tablespoons of cumin seed and add to a sauté pan.  I like to use my cast iron skillet.  Cook over medium heat and stir occasionally until you start to smell the cumin seed.   Set aside to cool and grind in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.