Etta James – A Sunday kind of love
I’m not just making amends with human thorns this Thanksgiving weekend, but with some veggies from my past as well!
So here I am, digging through my personal closet and recapitulating my past, attempting to shine some light on all the places that I have ached. I totally believe that our senses hold memory and, for me, smell and taste bring back beats of my past like crazy. Learning to eat healthy whole foods and veggies that I’ve either never tasted or have haunted me since childhood has been challenging to say the least.
Part of how I eat is to eat what is in season. In doing so, I am working with my body to support the climate that food exists in- in short, aiding digestion! This is totally in line with the idea of feeding people with seasonal allergies local honey – they do better! Since it is fall and I’ve been evaluating my local seasonal choices, one haunting vegetable faces me: SQUASH!
SQUASH has been the toughest adjustment. When I was about 5 years old, before my parents divorced, we lived up on Lake Erie in a white house that haunts my memory with HUGENESS. I remember this house like the back of my hand and I also remember the first time I ate dinner with the neighbors. This neighbor lady served a scoop of cottage cheese, a hamburger with no bun and a side of BUTTERNUT SQUASH!!
My 5 year old taste buds screamed “YUCK”! There was NO flavor and salt was not part of the deal! That night I threw up everywhere…scarred fo’life from the SQUASH!
That being said, this fall I have been trying to find a way to patch up my “Squashy Past”….
Honestly, here is my new FAVORITE recipe: I make this soup once a week and eat the entire pot by myself!
One large Butternut Squash – Peel it, clean out the seeds and dump them (just like cleaning a pumpkin!) Then chop into medium chunks.
One large carrot – washed and chopped into medium slices
1 quarter of a sweet onion or a red onion makes it yummy too! Slice into medium pieces.
1 Quarter of a peeled and cored apple – any apple, I prefer a sweet one!
Ginger!!!! I tablespoon of chopped up ginger, you can add more for more of a kick!
1 Teaspoon of Tamari or Shoyu sauce. (this is soy sauce)
1 Teaspoon of Tumeric – you can buy fresh or ground in a jar from the market, this is major body medicine for us all!
Garlic!!!! I use at least 4 cloves, I love the flavor and again, the magic that it brings. If you aren’t into it then don’t use as much. I also use a garlic press, so that I can squeeze juice from the cloves into the soup.
1 Teaspoon of Vegan Vegetarian Soup base. (you DON’T necessarily need this – but I like a bit of flavor. You can also use veggie broth or chicken broth if that’s what your down with.
3/4 cups of left over brown rice or freshly cooked brown rice ( if you have it, if not, don’t worry – I use it as a thickener)
Now that you have your list here is what ya do:
Place 3 cups of water in a small soup pan and add your veggie soup base or veggie soup broth or chicken broth. Bring it to a simmer and add EVERYTHING EXCEPT the cooked brown rice. Cover and bring to a boil, cooking until your veggies are soft and mushy. Add your brown rice and mix through. Once it’s heated up separate a small cup of it and pour over two large tablespoons of sweet yellow miso, dilute the miso and then add it back into the soup , let it cook at a LOW temp. Remember we don’t want to BOIL the miso or overcook the veggies!
Once it’s all heated and integrated, move your pot to your closest power plug and bust out your WAND! I love this thing, it’s the best new appliance, and if you don’t have one put it on your list! It totally makes our hand mixers (and even blenders) an appliance of the past. I don’t even have to use my blender anymore!!! (Find the Wand on Amazon by clicking here!) I plop my wand in and “VOILA ” I have a creamy soup ready to rock and loaded with pro-biotic!!!
Happy Thanksgiving!
