Roasted Tomato and Butternut Squash Soup

November 1, 2016July 10, 2017 / peanutbutterandbicycles / Leave a comment

(Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Meat Free| Whole30 & Paleo-Friendly) I’ve always wanted to be that person who whips out fresh, homemade and healthy soups on the reg(ular). But, I’m not. I rarely make soup because I basically have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to creating delightful soup that fills you up for a meal without bread. The other day, though, I had so much veg to get through before I went away for the weekend that a friend recommended I make soup. Great idea! But how? I turned to my old friends Hemsley and Hemsley who showed me the light to this gorgeous, easy recipe that’s also very filling. My boyfriend described the soup: ‘if it was packaged in M&S, I would have bought it’ –which I see as a real win, since M&S do know what’s up in the world of soup!

Ingredients

3 kg (6.5lb) butternut squash (I didn’t have this so I used a small pumpkin and two sweet large sweet potatoes instead!)
2 kg (4lbs) fresh tomatoes or passata or 3 tins of chopped or plum tomatoes
3 large onions, roughly chopped
1 whole garlic bulb
2 tbsp ghee or coconut oil
4 tsp of fresh rosemary or 2 tsp dried rosemary
5 litres vegetable stock (more or less depending how thick you like your soups)
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) or flaxseed oil, to drizzle
Sea salt and black pepper
Parmesan shavings (if you’re not going dairy free) and extra finely chopped rosemary leaves, to garnish (optional- if you’re feeling fancy)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 220C (400F)
Halve the squash (or pumpkin in my case –along with sliced sweet potatoes) and fresh tomatoes, if using, and lay on one or two baking trays, flesh side up. Don’t bother removing seeds of squash (or pumpkin)! Add the chopped onion and whole garlic bulb. Bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes until the squash (or pumpkin) is tender.
Gently heat the ghee (or coconut oil) in a large saucepan (big enough for all soup ingredients to be in) and fry the rosemary for a few minutes. If you’re using tinned tomatoes or passata, add them now and let the tomato sauce simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the roasted onions, roasted fresh tomatoes, if using, and any juice to the saucepan. Scoop out the squash flesh (and seeds), squeeze 6 cloves of roasted garlic out of their skins (you can use the remaining roasted garlic in sauce or dressings) and add to the pan too.
Cover with broth, starting with just over litre, turn up the heat and bring to a medium simmer. Simmer with the lid on for 20 minutes to let the flavours combine, adding more bone broth if it seems too thick. Blend until smooth with hand mixer and season to taste.
Drizzle each bowl with EVOO or flaxseed old and ad d a few parmesan shavings and some finely chopped rosemary leaves.

Tip: I froze this soup and ate it when I was back from the weekend; it worked great!

Source | Hemsley Hemsley, ‘The Art of Eating Well’

Butternut Squash Mac ‘n Cheeze

October 21, 2016July 10, 2017 / peanutbutterandbicycles / 1 Comment

(Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Meat Free | Vegan Option) I’ve had the type of week where I’m craving comfort food. This recipe is one of my go-to favs when I’m feeling like I need a little food hug. Everyone I’ve ever served this dish to loves it so tuck in and enjoy this little comforting treat to celebrate Friday!

Ingredients

1 fresh butternut squash (peeled and chopped) OR 1 cup canned butternut squash OR canned pumpkin (I had an acorn squash hanging about so I just used that)
Extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper
1 tbsp Earth Balance (or other non-dairy butter replacer if you’re making this vegan, but I just used butter)
3/4 cup unsweetened & unflavoured almond milk
1 tbsp arrowroot powder or cornstarch (I just used gluten free flour)
6 tbsp nutritional yeast, or more to taste (you can buy at most all health food stores in London like Holland & Barrett)
2 tsp Dijon mustard (this is really bad, but I didn’t have this so I used wholegrain mustard instead. It wasn’t as good as using Dijon mustard, but it was still yummy!)
¼ – ¾ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
½ -1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
½ -1 tsp kosher salt (to taste) & ground black pepper, to taste
4 servings brown rice macaroni (or any gluten free pasta)
Mix-ins of choice (e.g., kale, spinach, broccoli, peas, pumpkin seeds, etc)

Directions

Preheat oven to 200C (400F). Line a casserole dish with tin foil. Mix chopped squash with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for about 40 minutes, uncovered, or until tender.
Prepare the sauce in a pot on the stovetop. Add Earth balance (or butter) over low-medium heat. In a bowl, whisk together milk and arrowroot powder (or cornstarch or flour) until clumps are gone. Add into pot and whisk. Stir in remaining ingredients (nutritional yeast, Dijon, garlic, lemon, Salt & Pepper) and whisk over low heat until thickened (about 5-7 minutes or so).
Cook your pasta according to package directions. The sauce makes enough to cover 4 servings of pasta.
In a blender, blend the sauce with 200g (1 cup) of roasted squash -or if using canned, simply stir 200g (1 cup) into the pot (our blender wasn’t working so I just mashed squash with a potato masher by hand, which was also fine!)
Add cooked, drained, and rinsed macaroni into pot, along with sauce & mix-ins. Heat and serve.

Source | Oh She Glows Butternut Squash Mac’N Cheeze

Autumn Kale Salad

October 11, 2016September 10, 2017 / peanutbutterandbicycles / Leave a comment

(Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Meat Free | Whole30 & Paleo-Friendly) I really, really love autumn…mostly because of the rich, comforting foods of the season. The other day I needed to use up some veggies so I came up with this tasty autumn salad that was an absolute treat. I didn’t actually make it with the intention of sharing it on the blog, but it was too good not share! The ingredients are more of a guide than anything so feel free to trial some different autumn ingredients based on what you have in your fridge. Enjoy xxx

Serves 2 (as a main) or 4 (as a side)

Ingredients

4 handfuls of fresh kale (use spinach if you’re not a kale fan)
2 large beetroots
Half of Roasted Honey Balsamic Cabbage Chips recipe (you can make full recipe – you just won’t likely need it all for this salad so maybe have the other half of chips as a side for dinner tomorrow?)
2 tbsp of coconut oil
3 sweet potatoes, sliced (butternut squash or acorn squash would also be delicious)
1 red onion, chopped
1 handful of nuts (I used slivered almonds because it’s what I had, but walnuts or pecans would be better)
2 apples, sliced and diced
Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for Dressing

4 tbsp of olive oil
2 tbsp of balsamic
1 tbsp of honey (Skip this if you’re doing Whole30)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 170C(350F).
Boil beetroot until cooked (or buy pre-cooked!) –if you’ve never cooked your own beetroot, this article is quite helpful (cooking beetroot takes 20-30 minutes so I cooked a bunch, peeled them and then stored them to slice into other salads throughout the week).
Bake Savoy cabbage according to Roasted Honey Balsamic Chips Recipe.
Put coconut oil, sweet potatoes and onion into baking dish. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 30 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender and a little brown around edges.
To make one salad: put two handfuls of kale on plate and top with half of savoy cabbage, half of sweet potato/onion mix, one apple, nuts and a few tablespoons of dressing.

Tip: This makes an awesome packed lunch that you can prepare the night before. Kale is awesome for staying crunchy and fresh overnight –even with dressing already added!