Soup & Salad, please!

We're big soup eaters. I think soups and stews make family meals much simpler. How else can you put so many nutritious things into one dish (ex: vegetables, legumes, whole grains)... and have leftovers to refrigerate or freeze for another meal? Brilliance in a bowl, I say!

Not that our kidlets like every soup that I make, mind you. When I want to get experimental with flavors and textures, they aren't always ready to join the party. But, hubby and I enjoy the culinary adventure, and I keep the faith that eventually our girls' tastebuds will follow suit. (Instead of "something's spicy in here"... "ew, is that pepper?"... "there are funny seeds in here" ((cumin seeds))... "can I have bread to put it on?")

Yep, the complaints can be plenty! I've started repeating something my mom used to say when we were kids - "Like it, or lump it!" Really, with six quibbling girls at the table, I'm surprised our mother was this polite!

This was a soup our girls were "okay" with. Just okay. But, hubby and I really enjoyed it - so there, kiddos! :) It's a Pureed Apple, Celeriac, and Sweet Potato Soup that I finished testing during the winter. I use yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes, and love the sweet creaminess they give to the soup. Celeriac gives a mellow celery flavor with better texture than celery - and for this soup, just the right color! And, fresh thyme adds a herby earthiness to round out the flavors.

We typically have bread and a salad with soup, and this is a very simply prepared green salad with a "raw" ranch dressing. I'm temporarily calling it "Raw-nch" Dressing, but it sounds a bit hokey, so that might change. (Not that some of my other recipe names aren't hokey - ha!)

Oh... and as for salad and the kids? That's another mountain to climb! Actually I'm noticing our older girl now starting to enjoy small (ahem, small) portions of salad - with the right dressing. As for our younger girl... fuggedaboutit!

Comfort Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

This Pureed Squash and Sweet Potato Soup is a recipe from my early-vegan days, and remains one of my very favorite soups to this day. I always rely on it this time of year, it's a comforting soup perfectly suited to the colder months when winter squash and sweet potatoes are plentiful. Plus, it's simple to make, and yields fairly big batch, which means leftovers go into the freezer for another night - meaning an even easier meal to follow!

I adore soups and stews during the fall and winter. I don't know if there is a more cozy meal on cold days than a warm soup with crusty bread. As I said, this was an early recipe for me, from The Everyday Vegan. I don't post recipes from TEV often, simply because I don't have the electronic version of the final manuscript, and so posting recipes from this book requires retyping. When I made this soup again last week, though, I decided I'd take on the typing task to share it with you (ah, the sacrifices I make for you lovelies). :) So, please link through to find the recipe for this Pureed Squash and Sweet Potato Soup from TEV.

Here's a few extra tidbits about the recipe:

• First off, the original title uses "yam" instead of "sweet potato". Oh boy, I've talked about this before in my posts... essentially in the US use what you know as sweet potatoes - the orange-fleshed tubers. In Canada, our 'sweet potatoes' are labelled as yams - either garnet or jewel yams. I know that yams mean something different in the US, but in Canada, this is what we find in our grocery stores, and then sweet potatoes are the yellow-fleshed tubers much like a garnet or jewel yam, but with a yellow (and drier) flesh. So, the short of this explanation is use the orange-fleshed tubers, whether you know them as sweet potatoes, or yams. Got that? Okay. whew. On to the next tip...

• For this recipe, I prefer to first bake the butternut squash and sweet potatoes whole. Yep, stick 'em on a baking sheet lined with parchment and bake the suckers at 4oo for about an hour or until they can all be easily pierced with a skewer. Now, depending on the sizes of squash and sweet potatoes you use, one may bake more quickly than the other. I typically find the squash bakes quicker because I use fairly large sweet potatoes. If this is the case, you can either leave them baking together (if you estimate there's not much time left in the baking for both)... or remove whichever is baked throughout, and place on a plate to start cooling. Why do I use this method? First, I find it easier to use the softened squash/potatoes than to peel and cut through so much very hard veg. Second, I like the taste roasting gives the vegetables, and also the smell it brings to the kitchen. Whenever I make it, hubby says "it smells like Christmas in here"! And it does, because I roast squash for an entirely different dish that I make for our Christmas dinner.

• After roasting, you let the vegetables cool enough to handle, and then scoop the flesh away from the peel to add to the soup. (Bonus tip: use butternut squash - the flesh separates easily from the skin, and there are very few seeds to scrape away!) With that, you simply puree your soup with an immersion blender and you're done! (Anyone that has followed my blog knows my affection for the ever-handy immersion blender. Really, it's a must in your kitchen for pureeing soups, making salad dressings, sauces, and even smoothies. Get yourself one! You know, Santa is listening!) :)
  

I love this soup also for its flavors and texture. The sweet potatoes add a thick, velvety smoothness that you cannot get from the butternut squash alone. The spices are not heavy, instead they give enough of a savory balance to the sweetness of the squash and potatoes, and with notes of cinnamon and fresh ginger that are natural matches for these winter vegetables. Here it is again, with a piece of fig and fennel bread from a local bakery. Simplicity and comfort all in one. Yes, life is good with a great bowl of soup.