Time Management

To be able to provide whole food, plant based meals regularly at home can sure be difficult.  I work full time, and we eat most of our meals at home.  I also like to take leftovers to work for lunch most days.  That means a lot of kitchen time.  I also like to experiment with new ingredients and new recipes, which is also time consuming.  I look at it like a hobby, which just happens to result in our being able to have some good food at home. 

I cook a lot on the weekends.  Sometimes I cook ingredients which will later be used to put meals together.  Examples of this would be whole grains which take a long time to cook, such as brown rice, barley, wheat berries, etc.  I cook large batches, divide them into a few servings per container, and freeze them.  The key is to keep a running inventory of what is in your freezer, so it will get used up.  Some people post a list of what is in the freezer.  I just keep the list in my head, but I should try the posted list some day.

I also cook a single ingredient and use it in different ways, sometimes making two different meals out of it in the same day.  Yesterday was an example.  I roasted up two large butternut squashes, peeled and cut into chunks.  At lunch time we added some of the baked squash along with some other fresh vegetables that we had left over from the day before.  It made a great veggie plate.

For dinner last night, I used the recipe below to use up the rest of the squash.  I made up about 2 1/2 times the given recipe.  We had a bowl of the soup for dinner, and I froze the rest of the soup to serve when my family is visiting over Thanksgiving week. 

It takes a little more time to up the quantity of an ingredient or a recipe, but the savings in having ready made meals later more than makes it worthwhile.

Puree the mixture.

Here is the soup recipe.  It is delicious.  Be careful with the red pepper flakes, (pepperoncini).  I love red pepper flakes and put them in many of my dishes.  For some reason, the very small amount of red pepper flakes in this recipe gives much more heat than I would think possible.  The only reason I can come up with is that the blending of the soup opens the pepper flakes up more, giving out more heat.  I'm just saying, you have been warned.  If you are a hot pepper head, you might want a little more. 

 
ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

1-2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup diced carrot
1 Tbsp. chili powder
red pepper flakes, 1/8  tsp., maybe less
black pepper, 1/4 to1/2 tsp.
coriander, ground, 1/2 tsp.- optional but really nice
salt to taste
4 cups vegetable stock
1 1/2 cups roasted butternut squash
1/2 cup almond milk, or adjust to desired thickness of soup

Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium heat until hot.  Add the onion, celery, and carrot.  Saute until soft but not brown, about 10 minutes.  Add the chili powder, red pepper flakes, black pepper, coriander, and salt and cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently.  Add the chicken or vegetable stock and let simmer for about 10 minutes, or until all vegetables are soft.  Take pan off of heat.  Add the previously roasted butternut squash. 

Puree the soup in a blender.  Return soup to the saucepan and reheat gently.   Add the almond milk and heat to desired serving temperature.  Do not overheat, as the almond milk may separate if it goes into a full boil.  Adjust the salt and pepper seasoning.  

This is best served with something with texture on the side, i.e. a sandwich, croutons, or toasted baguette rounds.

 Bring on that Old Man Winter.  We've got soup!