Melissa's Cooking!

This soup is very tasty and light. It’s pretty quick to make and has lots of nutrients in it.

Ingredients include:
(Try to use organic!)

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup diced yellow onion
• 4 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 (32-ounce) box reduced-sodium vegetable broth
• 4 cups packed chopped kale***
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can Italian-Style Diced Tomatoes
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• two large carrots, peeled and sliced

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes longer. Add broth, kale and tomatoes and fresh carrots and cover. Cook 5 minutes or until kale is tender. Add beans and heat thoroughly. Serve hot.

Add fresh Parmesan cheese and extra salt if wanted. Enjoy!

***I’d like to add a note after having the leftover soup sit overnight in the fridge. You might want to add only enough Kale that you will be eating the evening that you cook up the soup. If you have leftover Kale, it will turn brown on you and then it’s just gross to look at, not to mention, I’m sure all the nutrients are probably gone.

My suggestion: Add only the amount of Kale that you will need for your first batch, and then if you have leftovers for the next night, cook up new Kale for that next batch.

So I wanted to try a couple recipes to maybe make to contribute a dish for Thanksgiving dinner, so I tried the Butternut Squash Apple Cranberry Bake. It turned out to be quite a yummy dish. Watch out on the amount of Cranberries you use, because they can be rather tart. So with each bite, limit the cranberries and you will get a very seasonal and delightful taste in your mouth! This is almost appetizer like, but can definitely be used as a side to your meal.

Ingredients include:
(Try to use organic!)

• 1 large butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 3 large tart cooking apples cut into 1/2-inch thick slices (I used Granny Smiths)
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup (half a stick) butter
• 1 Tbsp flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350°F. Slice and peel squash and apples.

Put squash cubes in ungreased 7×11-inch baking dish. Place apples on top and then cranberries. Mix the flour, salt, sugar, and nutmeg and sprinkle on top. Dot with butter. Bake 50-60 minutes.

Plenty for everyone! It kept well in the refrigerator over night, so it can be eaten the next day too.

I have to say, I had a Butternut Squash Risotto the other night at a local restaurant and I was highly disappointed. It was overly cheesey (fake cheese-like even), and compared to the amount of melted cheese in it, there was hardly any rice. I told my husband that I can make it SO much better, so Sunday I tried and totally succeeded. It turned out SO good. I am thinking I will make this dish for our family Thanksgiving…

Ingredients include:
(Try to use organic!)
• 6-8 cups  reduced sodium vegetable broth
• 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided into 4 Tbsp and 1 Tbsp
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cups butternut squash, peeled, and finely diced
• 2 cups arborio rice (can substitute medium grained white rice, but arborio is preferred)
• 1 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc)
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 Tbsp chopped chives or garlic chives
• Salt

Heat broth in medium sized saucepan and keep warm over low heat. Melt 4 Tbsp of butter in a large saucepan; add onion and butternut squash. Cook over medium heat until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add rice to onion and squash. Cook 1 to 2 minutes. Add wine. Cook, stirring constantly until wine has been absorbed by the rice or evaporated. Add a few ladles of broth, just enough to barely cover rice. Cook over medium heat until broth has been absorbed. Continue cooking and stirring rice, adding a little bit of broth at a time, cooking and stirring until it is absorbed, until the rice is tender, but still firm to the bite, about 15 to 20 minutes.

During the last minutes of cooking, add remaining tablespoon of butter, 1/3 cup Parmesan, and chives. At this point the rice should have a creamy consistency. Add salt to taste. Serve with remaining grated Parmesan.

This will definitely serve a family plenty, but if it’s the 2 of you, be prepared to eat for lunch and dinner the next 2 days!

Now these veggie burgers, I have made quite a few times because they are good and good for you, filled with protein, fiber and nutrients. Each time we have them, we love them, however, a few times, they’ve been bland. So to try to make them tastier, I decided to try a few things different. It used to have celery, which I didn’t use this time…and I added a lot more seasoning/spices than I did previously.

Along with the burgers, I made the quick-boiled spinach which you can find under the Yummy Veggie Wrap here, as well as some roasted some sweet potatoes (described below).

Lentil Veggie Burger ingredients include:
(Try to use organic!)

• 1 cup canned lentil beans
• 1 cup carrots, shredded or finely diced
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup red bell pepper, finely diced
  
• small zucchini, finely diced
• 2 cups quick oats
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup tomato paste (1 6 oz. can)
• 1 TBS Italian seasoning
• 1 TBS Basil
• 1 TBS Oregano
  
• 2 tsp to 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• Ketchup (optional)
• Guacamole (optional)
• Cheese of your liking (optional)
• Sliced tomatoes (optional)
• Sliced whole wheat bread (optional)
  

Turn on the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your vegetables. (For the dicing of the vegetables, I used a food processor. This totally saves a lot of preparation time.) I mixed all the ingredients together and formed into patties. Place the patties on an oiled baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes on each side until a golden brown.

Place your burger on your bread and serve with ketchup, guacamole, cheese and/or sliced tomatoes. This will make about 8-10 patties.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes ingredients include:
(Try to use organic!)

• 1 very large or 2 large sweet potatoes
• Extra Virgin Olive oil
• Rosemary
• Pepper

Cut up the potatoes into about 1 inch cubes. Mix together the potatoes with the olive oil, rosemary and pepper. Spread out on an oiled baking sheet. Pretty much the amount of time the burgers are baking at 350 degrees, the potatoes can take just as long to roast. I like my potatoes a bit crispy, but definitely take yours out sooner when you see that they are done to your liking.

Serve with the burger and spinach and ENJOY!

I think one of the main reasons we got a pumpkin this Halloween was so that we could roast the seeds…haha.

Ingredients include:
• Pumpkin seeds
• salt
• 2 spoonfuls of butter

Once we got the pumpkin seeds out of the pumpkin and got the orange goo off them, I rinsed them off well. I didn’t have time to roast right away, so I kept them in a bowl soaking over night. When you’re ready to roast them, turn the oven to 300 degrees. Melt your butter. Mix the seeds with the melted butter and salt. Spread on a baking sheet (which I also lined with olive oil, just to make sure they don’t stick to the sheet). I added more salt…add as much salt as you like. Roast the seeds for about 45 minutes in the oven or until brown. Enjoy!