Butternut Squash Soup and Pesto Gnocchi & Meatballs

This is a wonderful warm, hearty meal for a cold day. Meatball recipe adapted from here and soup recipe here. The soup probably would’ve benefited from being topped with cream of some kind, but we didn’t have any.

Soup Ingredients

• 1 (2-3 lb) butternut squash, peeled and seeded
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 6 cups chicken stock
• nutmeg
• salt and freshly ground pepper

Soup Directions

1. Cut squash into 1-inch chunks.
2. Melt butter in large pot. Add onion and cook until translucent.
3. Add squash and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until squash is tender, about 15-20 minutes.
4. Puree mixture in blender (immersion blender didn’t work too well for me here).
5. Return to pot. Stir and season to taste with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Gnocchi & Meatballs Ingredients

• 1 package gnocchi
• pesto
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, divided (I used panko)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 egg
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp. dried basil

Gnocchi & Meatballs Directions

1. Combine breadcrumbs through basil and mix thoroughly. Roll into balls of a similar size as the gnocchi.
2. Place in boiling water and cook for 10-15 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside, keep warm.
3. Cook gnocchi according to package directions, drain.
4. Mix gnocchi and meatballs, toss with desired amount of pesto.

Stuffed Zucchini

This was a great concept but something was wrong with the execution. If anyone has suggestions, please leave a comment! The zucchini itself was amazing even if we didn’t like the stuffing very much.

I scooped out the insides of the zucchini and sauteed it with onions, bacon, tomatoes, cheddar, salt, and pepper. I then scooped it back into the zucchini and grilled for about 30 minutes.

Served with Heinz BBQ chicken.

Garden Vegetable Soup

As a general rule, I don’t like vegetable soup.  This is an exception.  From Food Network.

Ingredients

• 4 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 cups chopped leeks, white part only (approx 3 medium leeks)
• 2 Tbsp. finely minced garlic
• kosher salt
• 2 cups carrots, peeled and chopped into rounds (approx 2 medium)
• 2 cups diced potatoes
• 2 cups fresh green beans, broken or cut into 3/4 inch pieces
• 1 quart chicken or vegetable broth
• 4 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp. fresly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup packed, chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat.  Add the leeks, garlic, and a pinch of salt and sweat until leeks begin to soften, approximately 7-8 minutes.
2. Transfer to slow cooker, add remaining ingredients, and cook on low for 7-8 hours.

If you would rather cook it on the stove, see the original recipe.  I love the simplicity of cooking it in the crock pot.

Glazed Carrots

The chili powder in this was a bit weird for me at first, but it grew on me as I ate more.  And more.  I had about 3 servings.  Guess I’m good on veggies for today!  Alton Brown recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 pound carrots, approximately 7 medium, peeled and cut on the bias 1/4-inch thick
• 1 oz. (2 Tbsp.) unsalted butter
• heavy pinch kosher salt
• 1 cup good-quality ginger ale
• 1/2 tsp. chili powder
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions

1. In a 12-inch saute pan over medium heat, combine the carrots, butter, salt, and ginger ale.  Cover and bring to a simmer.
2. Once simmering, remove the lid, stir, and reduce the heat to low.  Cover again and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Remove the lid, add the chili powder, and increase heat to high.
4. Cook, tossing occasionally, until the ginger ale is reduced to a glaze, approximately 4-5 minutes.
5. Pour into a serving dish and sprinkle with the parsley.  Serve immediately.

Zucchini Soup

Inspired by Iron Chef to experiment with food, and having seen battle zucchini last night, I decided to see if I could make a soup out of zucchini.  No recipe, nothing aside from checking to see if it’d been done before (if it hadn’t, I’d be wary but still try it).  So I bought a few things that I thought might go well in a creamy vegetable soup and had a go at it.  After several taste tests and much tweaking, it turned out even better than I expected.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1 pound of young zucchini (a little more is fine, i used about 1.1 lb)
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 tsp. minced roasted garlic (or about 6 cloves, but less if you don’t want the garlic flavor so strong)
• 1 cup (1 pint, 8 oz, different brands say different measurements) heavy cream
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 7-8 oz. fire roasted tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• chicken or vegetable broth (I don’t know the amount on this, but the soup turned out heavy and I would thin it next time – I’ll update this when I make it again)
• parmesan cheese and bacon for garnishing

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Put paprika in  a small pan on the stove on medium heat to toast for about 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, slice zucchini.
3. Toss sliced zucchini with 1 Tbsp. olive oil and the toasted paprika.  Spread on a baking sheet and cook in the oven for 10 minutes.
4. Put zucchini in a blender and blend until smooth.
5. Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a soup pot on the stove.
6. Add garlic and cook, stirring continuously, for about 30 seconds.
7. Turn heat to between low and medium (3 out of 10 on my stove).  Add zucchini then heavy cream, mix.
8. Once thoroughly heated, add cheese.  Stir, continue heating until melted.
9. Add onion powder and fire roasted tomatoes (chopped up to whatever size you’d like).  Stir, cook until all heated through.
10. Add broth, stir, cook about 5 more minutes.
11. Serve topped with parmesan cheese and bacon crumbles.

Even my bf (who I’ve never seen enjoy zucchini, even though he tries it each time I make it) loved this soup.  We both agreed it was too heavy, but the addition of the broth will solve that no problem.  Make sure you taste the soup throughout if you change anything (or even if you don’t, to make sure your personal tastes don’t dictate any changes) because until the addition of quite a bit of extra garlic and cheese it had a bitter aftertaste.  I’ve gotta say, this is one of my original recipies that I’m most proud of.  I served it with pasta.  A nice filling meal.