Fall Bounty (Cooking from the Garden)

How do you pick a recipe?  Do you look thru cookbooks at the pretty pictures?  Do you go for the fewest steps or least ingredients?  Or maybe you are like me and just google a few ingredients you have on hand…

Fall…such a time of bounty and harvest.  Sometimes it seems that everything comes ripe at the same time and you just cant eat it all fast enough.  The tomatoes are like that this year.   Cherry, yellow pear and heirlooms are all sitting on the kitchen counter just waiting to be eaten.  I cant eat then all, cant give them away fast enough.  There is a butternut squash waiting on the counter too….hmmmm

Bill loves butternut squash soup but what about the tomatoes? 

As I start chopping tomatoes and putting them into a big pot to cook down I am contemplating what might be good with these tomatoes…and so I go to my i-pad and google vegan butternut squash and tomato. Lots of choices. I couldmake a Mexican soup or a curry dish or even add some of the basil growing like wild on the tower garden. 

Chop chop chop, simmer simmer simmer.  As the tomatoes soften I decide to put them through the strainer and set the juice aside until tomorrow.  Next day between massage and a coaching call I peel and chop the squash.  Never my favorite job but so worth it when it is done!  I gather an onion, some garlic and ginger, several spices, a can of garbanzo beans and a can of lite coconut milk.  Oh and a little cilantro might go well.  We will see. 

Now how to combine, roast the squash or just simmer in the tomato and coconut milk…cook down the tomato juice or use as is! 

I love using my rice cooker/crockpot for this.  It is a deep pot and when I put it on quick rice it sautes very nicely.   Saute garlic ginger and onion in 2 Tbsp water.   Add the spices and stir for a few minutes.  Add the coconut milk and the heated tomato juice, decided not to cook it down.  Add half the squash and cook for 20-25 minutes meanwhile roast the remaining squash at 425 on parchment paper for 20-25 minutes .  when squash in soup is tender, blend with immersion blender.  When squash is roasted add along with cilantro to the pot.  Stir together and serve.  

Fresh tomato butternut squash coconut curry soup (vegan gluten free and oil free)

One colander full of tomatoes, washed cut in chunks, cooked and put through strainer. Discard skin and seeds(3-4 cups liquid)
1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped in 1” cubes (about 7 cups)
1 can lite coconut milk
1 onion diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 inch ginger root, minced
1 Tbsp curry
½ tsp coriander
½ tsp turmeric
¼ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
salt to taste
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped

Serve over brown rice or quinoa or as is!   Another option is to add 1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained, along with the roasted squash.  Heat through. 

If you are not overflowing with Tomatoes from your garden, you could use a vegetable broth free of MSG plus a can of diced fire-roasted tomatoes.  Adjust liquid as necessary.