cooking – Page 27 – GUTSy Performance Nutrition

Autumn Bean & Sausage Acorn Squash Bowl Soup

October 20, 2013by Rebecca2 Comments

When W and I first became engaged, back in the winter of 2011, I was dreaming of an Autumn wedding. Every vision for the day included a leafy branch framing the splendor of the season, billowing in dramatic shades of red, orange, and gold. I envisioned the colors and weather exactly as we have been enjoying these last few days. And when I planned the wedding menu, it involved all of our favorite soups and stews: Hearty Beef & Mushroom, Creamy Fennel, Irish Vegetable, and this savory combination of white beans, sausage, red potatoes, and autumn vegetables, served in a lovely winter squash. The wedding soup menu, a break from the tradition of a formal catered meal, was prominent in my mind as I formulated a blueprint. I wanted our day to be unique to us, and I am happy to eat soup in any season, on any given day, hot or cold. Why not soup on our wedding day, in the crisp autumn when it is a welcome comfort?

Then all my dreaming went askew as we decided to jump our wedding day back to the beginning of June, and all the favorite soups, so fitting for fall were out of place. No one wanted to eat soup served in a winter squash in June. Believe me, I asked. Our venue was confirmed and though perfect in every other way, the location wasn’t conducive to preparing our wedding meal. I gave in. Soup was no longer an option. There would be no red and golden leaves framing our photos.

Though the day did turn out perfect, it was in a different way, celebrating the beginning of a beautiful summer. The soup waited. And now here it is.

This soup is part of The Recipe Redux October challenge, which is to create a No-Casserole Crock Pot recipe. Though I have made this recipe on the stove top in the past, the slow cooker really is a less-intensive option, and after testing the results, I will definitely be saving myself some time by preparing it in this way into the future.

Autumn Bean and Sausage Acorn Squash Bowl Soup, adapted from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook

2 cups dried white beans, soaked overnight

2 bay leaves

1 tsp. dried thyme

2 tsp. dried sage

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

5 cups water or vegetable stock

5 tsp. vegetable stock bouillon powder (omit if using stock above)

1 large onion, diced

8 large carrots, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds

1 celery stalk, diced

12 oz. red potatoes, chopped into 1-inch pieces

8 oz. cremini mushrooms, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces

1 lb. pork sausage

1/4 cup gf all-purpose flour

1 large acorn squash

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 cup frozen peas

In a large slow cooker, add the soaked and drained beans, bay leaves, thyme, sage, black pepper, stock, onion, carrots, celery, potatoes, and mushrooms. Turn to the highest setting.
While the beans and vegetables are beginning to heat, sauté the pork sausage in a medium skillet, until browned. Drain off the fat, and add the sausage to the slow cooker. When the mixture begins to bubble, turn it down to medium. It can bubble away for the better part of a day (mine cooked for 10+ hours).
About an hour before serving, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cut the acorn squash in half and remove the seeds and string. If necessary, cut off a small slice from the top so it will set flat on a plate. Dabble a bit of olive oil into the squash halves and rub it all around with your fingers. Then season the squash with salt and black pepper. Place the squash upside down in a glass baking dish and bake for approximately 60 minutes, or until soft.
Thirty minutes before serving, stir in 1/4 cup flour and frozen peas into the soup. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Cover again and continue cooking until ready to serve and the squash is soft.
Remove squash from the oven. Flip the halves onto a plate. Break up the center and edge of the squash with a fork; this way it will melt into the soup better, as you’re eating it. Ladle the soup into the squash bowl, and serve.

Summertime

Blackberry Lemon Coconut Cream Bars

September 21, 2013by Rebecca2 Comments

Friday morning, summer ended. From my office window, I watched dark clouds blow in and with them came all autumn’s wet and windy glory, leaves swirling through the mist. I trudged through the garden after school, feet tingly wet, and with muddy fingers, pulled fallen cornstalks, bolted lettuce, and withered melon vines. I reminisced back to July and August, and even the day before, Thursday, when I was still picking blackberries, knowing all too soon, the weather would change.

Each year I hoped they’d keep, knew they would not. – Seamus Heaney

Blackberries. Blackberry picking. Our new apartment complex cozies up to the forest on this edge of town. Wild briers take over here, and to my delight, I have noshed on blackberries for weeks. While not many have found their way into a bucket for later, I’ve made it a mission to send summer off proper like with lemony-coconut cream blackberry bars. They just so happen to be raw, vegan, gluten-free, and super easy.

Though the photos are a delicious mess, I’d still like to tell you about all the layers of goodness. Dates, nuts and spices make up the salty-sweet bottom layer, followed by fluffy coconut cream with a hint of lemon. The topping, so simple and divine, is pureed berries mixed with a bit of chia seeds to help it set. If they fall apart coming out of the pan, that means you were like me and in being overly anxious to taste, weren’t patient. That’s fine. As is running to snag some frozen berries from the store if all the wild ones in your area are long gone. Relish the last day of summer with me before snuggling into that sweater and pumpkin spice latte.

This recipe is part of September’s Recipe Redux challenge to create a healthy no-cook dessert.

Lemon Coconut Cream Blackberry Bars {raw, vegan & gluten-free}, inspired by Sprouted Kitchen

4-5 medjool dates, pitted

1/4 cup raw walnut pieces, toasted

1/4 cup raw almonds, toasted

1/2 cup almond meal

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. coconut oil

pinch of salt

1 15 oz. can full-fat coconut milk, chilled

2 Tbs. powdered sugar

zest from 1/2 a lemon

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups blackberries

1 Tbs. chia seed

Stevia extract, to taste

In a food processor, combine dates, nuts, cinnamon, oil and salt. Puree until finely chopped and the mixture sticks together when pinched with your fingers. Turn out into a square baking dish (I used a 6 x 8 glass container).
Open the chilled coconut milk and without stirring, spoon out the cream layer into a medium bowl. With a fine mesh strainer, pour out the remainder of the can and keep all the cream that is in the top. Reserve the watery milk for another use.
Whip the coconut cream along with the powdered sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla. Pour atop the nut layer.
In the food processor, puree berries and chia seed until smooth. Add stevia or sugar to taste. Pour atop the cream layer, and set into the refrigerator to set for at least 2 hours. (Or dig in and make a mess, like I did!)

Summertime

Eggplant & Olive Caponata Pasta

September 15, 2013August 25, 2017by RebeccaLeave a Comment

I grew up eating a lot of meat and potatoes. Both sides of my family have strong Irish heritage, and spilling over from generations who cooked to feed many on less, those meat and potato dishes didn’t come with much by way of seasoning. My dad refused to eat rice without first spewing a gazillion complaints. Spicy food meant a dab of medium salsa and worldly cuisine meant eating tacos with corn tortillas (instead of flour) from the taco wagon, a feat that did not happen until high school.

During my sophomore year in college, the first year alone and off a meal plan, armed with loads of curiosity and roommates willing to branch out, I learned much of cooking, seasoning, and by trial and error, how to eat healthily. I learned to eat and cherish vegetable meals without meat. I discovered new cuisines.

It was then that I stumbled on a recipe in the food section of the Oregonian for Sicilian Caponata. My love for eggplants, kalamata olives, and Italian cuisine was firmly cemented.

Over the years, this slightly unusual take on caponata has become my favorite pasta dish. It’s the one I talk about when people ask me what to do with eggplant. It’s the one I think about in February when tomatoes and eggplants are all out of season, but the rich combination of heat-loving vegetables, balsamic vinegar, cinnamon and cocoa, capers and olives all stewed into a lovely sauce make me long for summer again. This is the dish I have made over and over this summer, eating it day after day, skipping a week, and then making it all over again. And it is perfect in this month when the garden (and markets) are teeming with eggplants and tomatoes in their end-of-summer glory.

My parents have come a long way since those adolescent days, and though I haven’t made this dish for them, I know they too, would eat it right up.

Caponata Pasta, adapted from the Oregonian, serves 4
olive oil

1/2 a large onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbs. raisins

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1 medium eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/2″ cubes

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 Tbs. cocoa powder

1 tsp. fresh minced thyme

3 to 4 very ripe tomatoes

1/4 cup pitted and sliced kalamata olives

2 Tbs. capers, rinsed and drained

2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

8 oz. tubular pasta (I used Ancient Harvest Gluten-Free rotelle)

In a large pan, saute onion, garlic, raisins, and pepper flakes for about 10 minutes or until the onions are soft.
Stir in eggplant, sugar, cinnamon and cocoa powder and cook 5 to 10 minutes more over medium-high heat. You may have to add a drizzle of water to soften the mixture up.
Add the thyme, olives, capers, tomatoes, and vinegar. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes more.
While the sauce is simmering, cook the pasta, taking off the heat and draining just before it is done.
Toss pasta with sauce until thoroughly combined and the pasta is al dente. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve!