Easy Acorn Squash Soup

Acorn squash soup

I picked up a couple acorn squash at Trader Joes (the price was great) to make baby food for Jacob. I love these squash they look so cool - they are not that big which makes handling easier - and they have a creamy rich flesh when roasted. I roasted and pureed the squash and I ended up with quite a lot. I wanted to make a appetizer soup for dinner... I looked at the squash and thought perfect. So I heated chicken broth added the pureed squash and herbs and it was great. So easy. Tonight for dinner I was dining alone so I made this soup again and paired it with leftover bread sticks and it was satisfying as a main course too. This soup is pretty thin so it's a nice change. Soup can be SO thick at times almost a porage consistency - well this one is not. It's soup weather today... you really never know around here - one day its 60 degrees the next its 80.

Soup:
1 C roasted and pureed acorn squash (roast at 350 degrees about 1hr - use water to puree)
3/4 C water
1 packet Trader Joes Chicken broth (hopefully it's not too bad for you - if you have chicken broth on hand by all means use that and substitute for the water)
fresh herbs - any kind you like - I used chives and oregano

Boil water in a small pot - add chicken broth - add squash - heat just until simmering - pour into a bowl and top with fresh herbs.

Pumpkin Smoothie

Well fall is here but in So. Cal we still have very warm days... so how do combine fall with a hot day - a pumpkin smoothie. If you have been following my blog you will know that I love banana smoothies and we are constantly freezing banana's so we have them on hand. I used my basic banana recipe and added pumpkin and spices and it turned out great. Like cold pumpkin pie in a glass. The baby loved it too.

Pumpkin Smoothie

3 frozen bananas sliced

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp fresh ground nutmeg

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

dash of sea salt

1/2 tsp stevia - you can leave this out and use more honey if you like

2 TBS raw honey

1 1/2 C almond milk - or more

Put ingredients in blender in order listed and blend until smooth add more almond milk if necessary pour into glasses and top with cinnamon. Makes 2 glasses and a tiny glass for baby ;)

Lasagna time!

Cool weather is here and it's time to turn on the oven. There is something about waking up to a cool morning that says boil a cup of hot tea and plan a yummy warm dinner. I had not made lasagna in so long and it sounded great so I decided to take a swing at making a heathy cheese free version. I took some pics during the process in case it turned out good and it was! It didn't leave me wanting the "real" version at all.

Lasagna

1 package whole wheat noodles boiled and cooled

1 Jar Organic marinara sauce

1 lb ground turkey cooked and browned

handful or more of fresh basil chopped

dairy free bechamel sauce:

4 TBS coconut oil

4 TBS flour

2 1/2 C cashew milk

sea salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet heat coconut oil over med/high heat add flour and stir with a whisk about 1 min. quickly add cashew milk while stirring with a whisk to prevent lumps. Cook until thickened about 3 min. -I think. If too thick add more cashew milk. Add salt and pepper to taste - (1/2 tsp. salt or so). Remove from heat.

Mix marinara sauce with basil and turkey. Cover the bottom of a large glass 9x13 pan with a small amount of bech. sauce then a layer of noodles then a layer of meat sauce etc. until you end with bech. sauce. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 40min - remove foil the last 5-10min.