Carrot Soup

It has finally started to get cold here.  It even snowed for the first time since Halloween this weekend.  I have been on a bit of a soup kick and I like to have it for lunch since I spend most of the morning in my office typing in mittens.  I have been wanting to try a carrot soup for a while, but have never got around to it until last weekend.  Big Girls Small Kitchen posted up a recipe for Roasted Carrot Red Curry Soup and it sounded delicious and not too time consuming.   

I personally did not think the recipe had enough curry paste in it.  After I doubled the amount, I just keep tossing in teaspoons until I decided it was enough- I think I probably quadrupled it.  That was the only thing I really changed in the recipe.  It was a bit cool for my liking, so I would suggest warming it more before serving, or at least testing it before hand. I also have to keep stealing the neighbors blender/processor since mine broke and then I have to repay them in soup.  I might need to invest in an attachment for my Kitchenaid sooner than later...


Roasted Carrot Red Curry Soup
Makes 4 servings

• 1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 2 small red onions, quartered
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 inch ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves roughly chopped
• 1 to 2  tablespoons Thai red curry paste (some of you may want to start with less and do taste test as you go adding more. 
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• One 15-ounce can coconut milk 

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, toss carrot and onion with oil, sugar, and salt. 
3. Spread the veggies evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until browned and tender, stirring once halfway through.
4. Transfer the vegetables to a food processor or blender along with the ginger, 1 teaspoon curry paste, and the stock.  Blend until incorporated. 
5. Add coconut milk and blend until smooth. Taste for seasoning and add salt and additional curry paste if you like. 
6. Reheat and serve. 

Enjoy! 

Butternut Squash Soup

• I avoided this recipe and ones like it for awhile because of time.   Sure it came from Great Food Fast so one should think it's quick but the time says 45 minutes, if its more than 30 minutes, the recipe is probably on the shelf for some weekend task.  Silly? Probably, but when I get home from work and it's already 7 PM I really don't feel like spending much time on dinner, so I can get to all the other random stuff I need to do.  I actually made this last Monday night. Given that I didn't need to stand over it the entire time, it really wasn't much of a pain in the butt to make.  I need to stop thinking that just because the recipe says 45 minutes, means I am chained to the stove or something. 
• The soup was great even though I forgot the orange juice and didn't make the pumpkin seeds.  The juice was an accident and the seeds were on purpose.  Instead we added our own spices.  My newish roommate is from Louisiana and had some Tony Chachere's Seasoning, (mom used to have this stuff. It shocks him that some one from South Dakota knows what it is.), which we sprinkled on top for a little spice.  I would have like it to be more cream based, but the sour cream helped take care of that.  It was also nice that my gluten free friend/neighbor could join in on the meal and after feeding 4 people there was enough left over for a few lunches. 
• Next time I will try it with the orange juice, but I still recommend it the way I made it. 
• Butternut Squash Soup (Serves 4 to 6)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 piece (2 inches) fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 3/4 pounds small butternut squash, prepared and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• Tony Chachere's Cajun Seasoning
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• Sour cream

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add ginger, garlic, and squash; cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, 6 to 8 minutes. 
2. Stir in 4 cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer until squash is tender, 20 minutes.
3. Puree soup in batches. When blending hot foods, allow the heat to escape to prevent splattering. Remove the cap from the hole of the blender's lid, and cover with a dish towel or paper towel.
4. Serve hot, with sour cream, pepper, and any other seasonings.

Enjoy! 

Gingerbread Rhubarb Pots

Once rhubarb is in the farmers market, it is the one thing that drags me from my comfy bed early on Saturdays to trek up to the park.  I tried to plant one in my garden, but it didn't take.  Sad.  Anyway, I made the trip to the market and brought home plenty of rhubarb and some zucchini planning to make something with one or the other for the barbeques this weekend.  I also wanted something that would be transportable to the beach. 
After flipping though most of the recipes I have, I decided to go with the rhubarb version of the Gingerbread pots in my 500 Cupcakes cookbook.  I had intended to follow the recipe completely, but I was out of wheat flour and I wasn't completely sure about the rhubarb prep.  They turned out well either way.  The rhubarb flavor was subtle and and the ginger was not overwhelming.  The lemon glaze was the perfect topping to balance out the gingerbread.


Ingredients
The cupcakes:

• 1 cup chopped rhubarb
• 2 tbsp white sugar 
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 4 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs 
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tbsp roughly chopped candied ginger

glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 5 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line small terracotta pots with parchment paper (or a cupcake tin with liners). 
2. Mix rhubarb, white sugar, and water in small sauce pan over medium low heat. Stir frequently until the rhubarb has broken down and is soft.  Set aside.
3. Sift the flours, baking powder, ginger and cinnamon in a large bowl.  
4. In a medium bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and beat with an electric mixer until smooth.  Mix in rhubarb until combined. 
5. Stir into dry ingredients. 
6. Spoon batter into pots until about 3/4 full.  Place pots on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. 
7. Remove pots from oven and cool on a rack for a few minutes before removing from pots and cooling for 10 minutes.  
8. To make glaze, combine the lemon juice and powdered sugar in a small bowl.  Drizzle over the tops of the cupcakes.  Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. 

Makes 18 cupcakes.
Enjoy!

Pumpkin Ginger Scones

I have had this recipe in my binder and there is a recipe for Honey Wheat Bread on the same page.  I am not sure if I ripped it out of the magazine for the scones or bread but the scone beat out the bread because of my mom's baking adventures today.  She decided to make her pumpkin dessert, which is amazing, and had left over pumpkin.  I decided to use the extra pumpkin to make Pumpkin Ginger Scones.  

I have heard the scones are easy to screw up and have never made them before.  These were super easy to make, although have a pastry cutter would have been nice when I was cutting in the butter, and to top it off I didn't mess them up. They are really yummy and not heavy like some scones are, I highly recommend trying them out. 

These are really the ones I made!

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 7 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon sugar, divided
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 5 tablespoons cold butter, divided
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup sour cream

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, 7 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, ginger and baking soda. Cut in 4 tablespoons butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (this was really not coarse at all, I just mixed it with a fork until the butter was in small pieces with a lot of flour mixture that appeared unmixed)
2. Combine the egg, pumpkin and sour cream; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. (the mixture was still pretty crumbly until I started kneading it)
3. Turn onto a floured surface; knead 10 times. Pat into an 8-in. circle. Cut into eight wedges. Separate wedges and place on a greased baking sheet. Melt remaining butter; brush over dough. Sprinkle with remaining sugar.
4. Bake at 425° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Enjoy!