New Fall Recipes

I'm not much of a cook, but I am learning and getting better. I have made two particularly successful recipes lately so I thought I would both document them for myself for future use, and share, in case anyone is looking for some vege dinner inspiration. I'm such a domestic goddess, aren't I? 

I saw a similar recipe as the one below on Pinterest, but I changed it up a bit - made it vegetarian, added some seasonings and additional vegetables. It was mildly successful at a potluck dinner with friends, so I will count that as a +1 to me.

Might I make a plug here for local and organic vegetables? I know sometimes buying them hits the budget hard; I totally get that. I will say though, when you are making a soup or any dish where there are no meat products - no meat broth, no meat added - to have a full enough flavor that vegetarians and meat eaters both will enjoy it, the vegetables must be VERY flavorful. I guarantee if you tried a beautiful organic carrot (better yet from a local farm) and compared it to a perfectly packaged carrot, you would be blown away by the flavor difference. Just food for thought.

Ok - Here it is without a picture because 1. I didn't take one and 2. we all know what Cheesey Vegetable Chowder would look like, no?:

Cheese and Vegetable Chowder

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped shallots

1/2 cup chopped carrot

1 stalk chopped celery

1.5 tablespoons minced garlic

4-6 cups organic vegetable broth

1.5 - 2 large baking potatoes, peeled and chopped (depending on taste)

1 tablespoon flour

1/2 cup water

2/3 cup plain soy milk or regular milk if you prefer

1 cup chopped broccoli

1/2 cup chopped yellow squash

1/2 cup chopped zucchini

2-4 large handfuls shredded cheddar cheese (depending on taste)

ground black pepper
red pepper flakes

Melt the butter in a large soup pot.  Add onions, shallots, carrots, and celery and saute over medium heat until tender.  Add garlic and cook 1 or 2 additional minutes.  Add 4 c of vegetable broth and potatoes, bring to a boil, and cook until potatoes are tender.  Continue to add vegetable broth until the soup has enough broth for your consistency taste. (I used about 6 c total). Mix flour with water, add, and simmer until soup is slightly thickened.  Add milk, broccoli, squash and zucchini and cook until broccoli, squash and zucchini are just tender and soup is heated through.  Stir in cheese to taste, allow to melt. Add some black pepper and red pepper flakes to taste, and serve.

Ok the second vegetarian recipe comes with a little history and culture lesson. A tajine is a traditional method of cooking that I ate a lot in the Middle East. It's basically a slow-cooked stew and when it includes meat, which it usually does, it braises for hours. Tajines are named after the specific type of earthenware dish that they are cooked in. The dish looks like a chimney attached to a dish and then it is cooked in coals. I thought it would be difficult to recreate since I have none of the above cooking supplies (although you can buy tajines in America, I don't have a fire pit...). I had a recipe that I brought back with me from the Middle East but I wanted to find a way to use more Americanized (read: affordable and accessible) ingredients and to cook it on the stovetop. I did some research online on how to adapt cooking methods with American stoves. Turns out it was way easier than expected. I figured out some vegetables we had in season and made a stew recipe, and it was a hit with the Beast. This could very easily be adapted to include lamb or chicken (or a combo), but obviously I made ours vegetarian. Oh and I'm thinking about using the same base flavors and seasonings, and cycling through different vegetables as they come in and out of season.

google image since I didn't take a picture of mine. here is one being cooked in a real tajine.

Fall Tajine

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped
• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained (I think the can is 15 oz)
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 medium zucchini chopped
• 1 can diced stewed tomatoes with juice (Again, about 14-15 oz)
• 2 cups organic vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice or sumac if you have it
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon tumeric 
• 1 dash cayenne pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook onion and garlic until slightly caramelized and browned. Mix squash, zucchini, garbanzo beans, and carrot with the stewed tomatoes, broth, and lemon juice into the skillet. Bring the mixture to a boil and continue cooking for 10 minutes. Season with spices and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until ready to eat.

Serve over couscous.