Homemade Vegetable Soup

Sooo...this is a real treat...because this is a recipe that I didn't pilfer from anyone...I completely made it up.

Which may...or may not...be a good thing.

See, I just got off 14 days of Master Cleanse...I have eaten anything but this lemon juice/maple syrup/cayenne water for 14 days.

And the first day you're off, you have to SIP orange juice all day (best damn orange juice I ever tasted)...and THEN...depending on your stomach (listen to your body, they say)...you're supposed to eat vegetable soup. Homemade vegetable soup, with vegetables only minimally cooked. No seasoning. Nothing canned or processed.

Vegetables...and water.

I can't TELL YOU how excited I was to make this soup.

The first day you eat it, you're supposed to really just stick to the broth...minimal solids. Then each day introduce more and more solids into your tummy.

So...I think you know that I cheated. First of all, I used a Vegetable Stock and Vegetable Broth as my base. I used certified organic stuff...but still.

And I didn't MINIMALLY cook stuff...but here...I'll let you see for yourself...

So, first I poured a whole box of vegetable stock in my pot, and a whole box of vegetable broth. I put the stove on warm and let it heat oh-so-slowly.

Then I diced a whole onion and several stalks of celery, and sauteed them with a couple tablespoons butter and some pepper and sea salt.

I'm just a rule breaker.

Oh, yeah, Baby Bellas...come to mama...

When those were soft, I added about 8 oz sliced Baby Bella mushrooms and cooked them just until they smelled DIVINE, and then I dumped them in my waiting (and now lukewarm) broth.

Then I sliced up a zucchini, and a yellow squash, and one, whole, peeled eggplant. I didn't bother peeling the zucchini or squash...but I DID the eggplant. I'm weird like that. I also cut those zucchini and yellow squash slices in half to make little half-moons, but I cubed the eggplant.

Shapes and colors...

I like varying shapes and textures in my soups.

Then I added, like, 4 or 5 tomatoes, all chopped up...seeds and all.

Just put the whole bunch in there...seeds and all...

 About now I saw I had more veggies than broth, so I added another box of vegetable broth. My eyes are DEFINITELY bigger than my stomach...this is a LOT of soup. But since it's all I'm supposed to eat for the next couple days, I'm going BIG.

After the broth, I added a whole bag of spinach...stems removed.

Spinach added...pre-wilt...

Now here's where I break the rules AGAIN...I added a can of water chestnuts. I know, I know...but I like them in soup!! What can I say?

I know, I know...nothing processed...but I couldn't HELP myself!!

I added some sea salt and generous amounts of pepper, and I turned up the heat to make it boil. Once it boiled, I turned it back down to a low simmer and cooked until everything was soft and yummy (except those water chestnuts).

Now I'm gonna eat it...slowly...and I'm gonna chew the veggies (which are already soft) until I can pretend they're just broth, too.

I love soup.

I love vegetables.

I am SO HAPPY to eat again!!

Heaven in a stock pot...

courtesy me!!!

Stuffed and Baked Acorn Squash

This recipe has been adapted from several others and made my own. I claim it. It is one of my favorite things to eat in the fall...I literally cannot get enough...and I want to share it with the masses because I am feeling uncharacteristically generous today...

On a side note: This is NOT my hubbys favorite dish. He calls it "chick food". So that means more for me...and the kids...

On a sider note: This can be a side dish OR an entree...it depends on how you serve it. Tonight it was our entree, served with a spinach salad and a hearty shepherds bread. But I've served it both ways...

Stuffed and Baked Acorn Squash

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2 medium acorn squash, halved and seeded

4 large baking apples, peeled, cored, and diced (I use Granny Smiths)

1 ripe pear, peeled, cored, and diced

1 pound sausage (preferably Italian sweet or chorizo)

4 TBS dark brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

4 TBS butter

1/4 cup apple cider

1 TBS dark rum (optional)

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1. Preheat oven to 325. Butter a baking pan. Place acorn squash in baking dish CUT SIDE DOWN. Add 1/4 inch hot water to pan. Bake for 45 minutes.

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2. Meanwhile, brown and drain sausage. Set aside.

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3. In a large bowl, mix apples, pear, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a large skillet, melt 4 TBS butter. Add apple mixture and cook until fruit is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in cider and rum. Simmer, stirring often, until the fruit is tender, about 8 minutes. Add sausage and heat through, being careful not to overcook the sausage.

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4. Remove squash from oven; pour off water from pan and turn squash cut side up. Fill squash with apple/sausage mixture. Bake until squash is tender, about 15 minutes more.

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Viola!

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courtesy me!!!

Ratatouille

Rata-tat-tat-ta-ta-tat-ta-tat-atouille.

(Sorry. Sometimes I can't help myself)

I don't get to make this yummy, filling, and entirely wholesome dish very often...but one of my local grocers had zucchini and yellow squash ON SALE...and when I saw the combination, this was the first thing that leapt to my mind. I have a few different recipes for Ratatouille, but I wanted to make the one that has become the most famous... Thomas Keller's creation that was animated by Pixar on the movie about a rat than can cook (we love that movie).

I ran into a couple issues right away. The first was that I had a hard time finding those cute little Italian eggplants...the ones that are much smaller than their traditional bulbous cousins...which are great for Eggplant Parmesan and Grilled Eggplant (recipes for later), but terrible for getting those nice small circles of squash that lies in neat concentric circles in the movie. Normally, the size of the eggplant you use is not an issue...after all, ratatouille is more or less a stew of sorts...but to get Ratatouille's (Thomas Keller's) ratatouille, I needed nice, small eggplants.

The second was that I don't own a mandoline, so my slices were slightly thicker than the required 1/16 of an inch. Now, personally, I don't MIND thicker slices of zucchini, yellow squash, and eggplant. But you might.

As it turned out, my squashes were all different sizes, so it didn't look as pretty as the movie version...but luckily, when it comes to food, looks aren't everything. And it was very, very yummy.

I DID double this...because it's what I do. And I served it with crusty french bread.

Oh - incidentally, I didn't get this off Thomas Keller's website or out of his book...although I could've. I stumbled on it in Smitten Kitchen's archives...and I checked it against his original, and found it a sufficient. So here is Ratatouille's Ratatouille...Bon Apetite!

Oh, wait...I have another footnote...uhhh...I used A LOT more garlic than the recipe called for...and I actually used ACTUAL GARLIC, not my jar of pre-minced stuff. And because of that, I ran into the same problem I ALWAYS run into when I use real garlic...and that's that I have to peel twice as much as I use because I eat it like candy.

Oh, I see you cringing behind your screens!! Don't think I don't!!! I used to think the SAME WAY...but then I lived in Chicago a couple doors down from this AMAZING Italian lady named Rose who was an AMAZING cook, and an even MORE amazing friend...whom I desperately miss...and she used to eat garlic like that while she was creating her authentic Italian masterpieces.

And one day, after watching her do it, I tried it, and then I was hooked.

For schizel.

Sure...I don't get many kisses...but amazingly, I don't get sick, either. (Although that might be because no one can get close to me for a couple days to spend their germs).

Ratatouille

1/2 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced (or more...chomp, chomp, chomp, BURP!)

1 cup tomato puree

2 TBS olive oil, divided

1 small eggplant ("Italian eggplant" works best)

1 zucchini

1 yellow squash

1 red bell pepper (go for length, not width)

Few sprigs fresh thyme

Salt and pepper

Few TBS goat cheese, for serving

1. Preheat oven to 375

2. Pour tomato puree into the bottom of an oval baking dish, approximately 10 inches across the length (if you're doubling...you need a bigger dish). Drop sliced garlic cloves and chopped onion into the sauce, stir in 1 TBS of the olive oil and season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.

3. Trim the ends of the zucchini, eggplant, and yellow squash. As carefully as you can, trim and core red pepper, leaving edges intact, so you can look through it.

4. On a mandoline, adjustable blade slicer, or with a VERY sharp knife, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick.

5. Atop the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping a bit so the flat surface is visible, alternating veggies.

6. Drizzle reaming TBS of olive oil over vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs and sprinkle thyme over dish.

7. Cover the dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside.

8. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They shouldn't be brown at the edges, and you should see tomato sauce bubbling up around them.

9. Serve with soft goat cheese crumbled on top and some crusty French Bread! Viola!

courtesy Smitten Kitchen, adapted from Thomas Keller and his restaurant, the French Laundry