Spicy Ginger Pumpkin Soup

About a year ago, I visited a friend who served this amazing soup. He was kind enough to send me the recipe! This is great recipe because you can play around with the type of liquids and winter squash you use. I've made it with pumpkin and butternut squash - both are delicious. 

Warning - the recipe is SPICY! The ginger sneaks up on you. If you are sensitive to spice, dial it down to your needs.

Your shopping list

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cups uncooked peeled pumpkin, cubed
• 2 Tbsp anchovy paste
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 freshly grated ginger
• 3/4 Tbsp red chili flakes
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup 5% cream
• 1 litre low sodium chicken broth
• salt, to taste

Garnish

• 1 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 cup raw shelled sunflower seeds

What to do with it

Perfect soup for a fall day

1. Heat the oil in a stock pot over medium-high heat
2. Add pumpkin and cook, stirring often, until lightly golden, about 10 minutes
3. Mix in anchovy paste, onion, and garlic and cook for an additional 5 minutes
4. Stir in red chili flakes, ginger, and brown sugar and cook for 2 minutes
5. Add liquids, along with a cup of water, and bring to a boil
6. Lower heat and simmer, uncovered for 45 minutes
7. Using an immersion blender, blend soup until smooth
8. Add salt and simmer for an additional 20 minutes
9. Meanwhile, heat a dry pan over medium heat
10. Add seeds and toast, until just smoking
11. Add cayenne and toss seeds for about a minute
12. Transfer sunflower seeds to a plate to cool
13. Serve soup with toasted seeds

Gone boating

Spaghetti Squash Boats

One small squash serves two
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes

If you're looking for an easy and impressive looking meal to serve to guests, look no further! This is a great substitute for pasta. If you don't feel like getting fancy, skip the part where you melt cheese in the squash skin and just serve it. Enjoy :)

Your Shopping List:

• 2 cups of your favourite pasta sauce (I make my own that has lots of veggies and either turkey or beef)
• One small-ish spaghetti squash
• a handful of grated cheese (I used Mozzarella)

What to do with it:

1. Preheat your oven to 400
2. Cut spaghetti squash length-wise and remove seeds (set them aside to roast later)
3. Place squash cut-side down on a greased or lined baking sheet
4. Bake in pre-heated oven for approximately 35-40 minutes
5. When the squash is cooked, shred with a fork
6. Mix shredded squash with your pasta sauce in a bowl then return it to the hollowed squash skins
7. Top with cheese and bake the squash boats for another 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted
8. Serve with a garden salad!

Blast From My Past

I really, really, really love pasta.
I really, really, really love cooking.
I really, really, really hate doing dishes.

This recipe is perfect because it only incorporates two of those things: Pasta & Cooking.

This one-pot meal is great because you don't wind up doing dishes for meat, sauce and pasta. It's one of my favourite meals and reminds me of living at home when my step-mama was doing some of the cooking. I've taken the recipe and modified it to suit my taste buds & hatred of doing dishes.

"Blast From the Pasta"

Adapted from Crazy Plates Cookbook

Your Shopping List:

1lb or so of Extra-lean ground beef or turkey
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 tray of sliced mushrooms, or a handful that you will slice yourself
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes, no salt added
1 can cream of mushroom soup (look for some without MSG)*
1 can of tomato soup (no msg)
1/4 cup of milk*

1 tsp chili flakes

1/2 tsp paprika

3/4 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp chili powder2 handfuls of washed baby spinach
any other vegetables you like in pasta
3 cups of dry pasta such as penne or fusili

*if you don't have any cream of mushroom soup, you can use extra mushrooms, milk and a bit of plain yogurt or sour cream. The flavour isn't as rich, but it's still tasty!

What to do with it:

1. Cook the meat in a large non-stick pan over medium high heat (I use a deep lagostina pan that a lid)
2. When the meat is cooked through, add in the veggies and cook until they start to become tender - about 5 minutes
3. Add the canned tomatoes and soups; stir well
4. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil
5. Lower heat to a simmer, and cook, lid on, for 30 minutes - stirring occasionally
6. Serve, allow to cool slightly, and enjoy!

Colder Times Call for Warmer Dinners

I hate fall.

Okay, I don't hate it. I just hate that idea that fall means that winter is coming. I know it's not as serious as it is in Game of Thrones, but it still sucks. I lost my love of winter when I stopped participating in any sort of winter sports. My goal for this year - ski at least once!

My new found love is my 6 qt slow cooker. When Matt and I first bought it last summer I started looking up recipes for delicious meals, but was disappointed to see that most of them weren't quite right for hot weather. I did find inspiration for the most amazing ribs in the world (recipe to come later) but overall, I gave up on slow cooking for the summer. Now that the weather has cooled down a great deal, I'm finally able to pull it out and try all sorts of recipes to warm us up.

I've made this two times and I've got to say - it's delicious. It's not the healthiest recipe because of the skin on the chicken, but it's all homemade which is saying something!

The Best Slow Cooker Chicken in the Whole Wide World

Inspired by Thekitchn.com's recipe

Prep time: 10-15 minutesCook time:  up to 8 hours 

Your shopping list:

Rub:
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Salt & pepper to taste

The original recipe called for 4 tsp of salt - the most I've used is about 1 tsp. I forgot to add it to the rub last time so I just added a few twists of my salt grinder on to each side and it turned out perfectly.

1 whole chicken - small enough to fit in your slow cooker on top of veggies, but big enough to fill you!
1 medium to large onion, chopped
4 medium potatoes, quartered (or as many as can fit in the slow cooker)
3-4 carrots, scrubbed, no need to peel, chopped in halves or thirds
4 celery stalks, washed, cut in thirds
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced/pressed
1 lemon quartered

What to do with it:

1. Combine rub ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Arrange vegetables inside your slow cooker insert. Some potatoes may need to be shifted when you add the chicken.
3. Prepare chicken (remove from packaging, wash and pat try with paper towel).
4. Rub garlic all over outside of the chicken and then place it inside. 
5. Cover the chicken with the rub (inside and out).
6. Put the lemon chunks inside the chicken.
7. Place chicken breast-side down on top of the vegetables. Arrange potatoes as necessary.
   Options: Cover your insert and keep it in the fridge overnight to cook the following day or cook your chicken now:
   
8. Return insert to base, cover, and cook chicken on low for 8 hours (or less). Cook until the internal temperature of the leg is at 160 degrees F (or until it looks cooked, which it will!)

The original recipe now says to transfer the chicken to a glass baking dish and broil for 4-5 minutes to brown the chicken. I haven't done that since at this point I just want to eat!

If your chicken has cooked for the full 8 hours, you will barely need a knife to serve it. I use tongs to pick pieces directly from the slow cooker. 

Serve the chicken, potatoes, and carrots (I leave the celery in the slow cooker) with a mixed green salad (recipe to come).

Do not discard the bones or uneaten skin. Return all pieces to slow cooker (refrigerate overnight is necessary), add water to the brim and slow cook for another 8 hours to make great low-sodium broth.