squash? soup? yes!

i was once afraid of squash. very afraid. i let it pass by my plate every thanksgiving year in and year out. strategically seated adjacent to my aunt joanie, who was a notorious squash hater, it was easy to keep it moving right along as the serving dishes of vegetables made their way around the long dining room table. and thus i cheated myself out of the glory of squash for at least the first 10 years of my life. luckily, i am not the girl i was back then - and i say that for many reasons, my neglection of squash and other weird eating-isms just a small fraction of my many childhood regrets, let's just hit the tip of the iceberg and say there are a lot of pin-rolled jeans and curling iron bang mishaps i am a better person without. so, now, here i am, by no means perfect, but no longer getting up at 5:30am to shower, scrunch my permed hair, curl my bangs, and then shellac the whole affair in a crap ton of cfc-rampant hair spray, so i'm going to have to claim a significant degree of self-improvement. and i am proud to say that in my *maturity* i love squash and no longer believe that soup only comes out of a can. and those two factors made tonight's early bird venture in the kitchen possible.

it is late october. even in berkeley, california that means pumpkins, squash, gourds, squash, pumpkins and more pumpkins. edible, decorative and everything in between. so i decided to pick out a lovely butternut squash and make a hearty fall soup. it met with the tiger's approval, which is good because we will be eating it for days. soup is simple and fast and satisfying. and it seems no matter how hard i try to streamline a recipe, always makes a metric ton. the key to the success of this soup came in reserving about a cup of butternut squash and steaming it separately while the soup simmered so that i could mash it (using a potato masher) with fresh sage, fresh thyme, coarse sea salt and pepper. adding the mashed squash mixture to the soup thickened it and really distributed and intensified the flavors from the herbs, so it didn't matter that i didn't have the time or inclination to let it simmer for hours.

butternut squash, kale and white bean soup

4 cups vegetarian broth + 4 cups water

4 cloves garlic, chopped finely

sea salt

pepper

fresh sage

fresh thyme

1/2 onion, diced

1 butternut squash - peel & cube: 3 cups for soup, remainder set aside to steam & mash

2 cups chopped fresh kale

1 can navy beans

in large pot, bring broth, water, garlic, pepper, sea salt and some sage & thyme to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer.

add 3 cups of the cubed butternut squash and the diced onion, allow to simmer until squash is tender.

meanwhile, steam remaining squash separately.

once squash is tender, add kale and beans (including liquid), continue to simmer.

season simmering soup with sea salt, pepper, sage and thyme.

mash steamed squash with coarse sea salt, black pepper, chopped sage leaves and thyme. add to soup once kale is tender and cooked through.

stir. allow to sit for a few minutes before serving.

enjoy.

rainbow roots.

roots are in season. and i am not just trying to justify the fact that i haven't highlighted my hair since before summer started. i am talking about vegetables. it is fall, even if berkeley somehow always feels like heaven outside and there are no leaves changing color and no threat of the first frost, and that means the roots have it. carrots, turnips, potatoes - it is indeed your time to shine. so tonight i let rainbow colored carrots take the driver's seat and we enjoyed ginger garlic carrots with baby bok choy, black beans, and rice noodles in a rice wine vinegar and blood orange reduction.

rainbow carrots are so so good. and what is the sweetest part of cooking with them is that they provide such a wide range of antioxidants. we normally eat carrots for their vitamin a and beta-carotene. which, yes, in and of itself is a good enough reason to include them in the diet. (i mean mr. magoo is cool and all, but who really wants to *be* him) but! there are different compounds with different health benefits in each color of the carrot rainbow. so cook up a bunch of rainbow carrots and not only are you getting all those eye sight saving vitamin a and beta-carotene benefits in the orange carrots, you are also getting lycophene, which is what causes the red carrots to look red, and is a carotene known for its heart disease and cancer fighting properties, xanthophylls from the yellow carrots that are pigments similar to beta-carotene which also support good eye health, and the anthocyanins in purple carrots, which are powerful antioxidants in a totally different class from other carotenes. one vegetable, so many different sources of nutrition. one stop shopping that doesn't require a strip mall or concrete jungle megastore. that is an idea this bird will always get behind.

ginger garlic carrots with baby bok choy, black beans, and rice noodles in a rice wine vinegar and blood orange reduction

1 bunch rainbow carrots

2 small bunches baby bok choy

1 bundle or serving of rice noodles

4 cloves garlic

fresh ginger

3/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1 blood orange

sea salt, to taste

wash, cut tops off & halve carrots

wash & cut baby bok choy at bottom steam to separate leaves

chop garlic cloves

thinly slice ginger

open & drain 1 can of black beans

steam carrots and bok choy with ginger and garlic (save about 1/3 of the garlic and ginger for sauce). drain.

prepare rice noodles. drain.

in small frying pan, heat garlic and ginger, add rice wine vinegar and juice of the blood orange. cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer. (*since there is no thickening agent, you are technically infusing your rice wine vinegar base with the blood orange, garlic and ginger flavors, but it is still reducing as some of it evaporates in the steam. nerd alert, i know.)

mix noodles, veggies, beans, and sauce. add sea salt to taste. enjoy.