Tex-Mex Butternut Squash Soup

Today's post is short and sweet because I want you to get out and enjoy the FIRST DAY OF SPRING!! Can you tell I'm extremely excited?! It's cause I am. I'm ready to say goodbye to winter, and this soup is the farewell. It might just been the last comforting, warm soup you'll see on the blog for a while. I'm ready for cold soups, salads, sandwiches, and lobster rolls! I'm ready for feeling gritty sand between my toes and the warm sunshine on my face. So, are you ready to say goodbye to winter with me? Keep reading!

This soup fulfills that craving, layering sweet potato, earthy squash, constant heat from dried habanero, and starts off with a great mirepoix. You can use homemade stock or store bought, whichever you have on hand. Why Tex-Mex? I have no clue. What makes a dish Texan-Mexican? Just because I added hot peppers, corn chips, hot sauce...it might not be real Tex-Mex, but it's close enough for me!

Tex-Mex Butternut Squash Soup

Makes 6-8 servings

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped

2 small carrots, peeled and chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 liters stock (chicken, beef, or vegetable)

1 dried habanero pepper

1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1 small sweet potato, peeled and chopped

salt & peppers to taste

Garnishes: Cheese, Blue Corn Chips, Hot Sauce

1. In a medium sauce pot,  heat olive oil and add onions, carrots, and celery. Make sure they are consistent in size, but shape does not matter, as everything will be pureed. 
2. Cook until onions are translucent. 
3. Add stock and dried whole habanero pepper (you can omit this for less heat). Simmer for 10 minutes, until it comes up to a slow boil. 
4. Add squash and sweet potato. Cook for 20-30 minutes, until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Taste! Remove the dried habanero. If not, it will get pureed and be overwhelming in the soup.
5. Using an immersion blender or regular blender, puree the soup while hot. Transfer back to pot and slowly simmer until ready to serve. Re-season if needed.
6. To serve: Serve in deep bowls and top with your favorite cheese, blue corn chips for color and hot sauce for another layer of flavorful heat. 

Share with us: How do YOU say goodbye to winter? 

SoupaPalooza: Cream of Cauliflower

Sometimes, all you need are a few ingredients to make a comforting and creamy soup that sticks to your ribs! This is what this soup is: rich, flavorful and so good for you! Sure, it has cream in it, but you can definitely substitute cream with almond milk, soy milk or even omit it all together and have a hearty cauliflower puree.

Like I said, it's healthy for you and while researching why, I came across these health benefits of Cauliflower:

• Very low in calories. 100 g of fresh cauliflower has only 26 calories. However, it is very low in fat and contains no cholesterol.
  
• Its florets contain about 2 g of dietary fiber per 100 g; providing about 5% of recommended value.
  
• Cauliflower contains several anti cancer phyto-chemicals like sulforaphaneand plant sterols such as indole-3-carbinolwhich appears to function as an anti-estrogen agent. Together these compounds have proven benefits against prostate, breast, cervical, colon, ovarian cancers by virtue of their cancer cell growth inhibition, cytotoxic effects on cancer cells.
  
• Also,Di-indolyl-methane (DIM), a lipid soluble compound present abundantly in brassica group of vegetables has found effective as immune modulator, anti-bacterial and anti-viral compound by potentiating Interferon-Gamma receptors and its production. DIM has currently been found application in the treatment of recurring respiratory papillomatosis caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and is in Phase III clinical trials for cervical dysplasia.
  
• Fresh cauliflower is excellent source ofvitamin C; 100 g provides about 48.2 mg or 80% of daily recommended value. Vitamin-C is a proven antioxidant helps fight against harmful free radicals, boosts immunity and prevent from infections and cancers.
  
• It contains good amounts of many essential B-complex group of vitamins such as folates, pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), pyridoxine (vitamin B6) and thiamin (vitamin B1), niacin (B3) as well as vitamin K. These vitamins are essential in the sense that body requires them from external sources to replenish and required for fat, protein and carbohydrates metabolism.
  
• It is also good source of minerals such as manganese, copper, iron, calcium and potassium. Manganese is used in the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase. Potassiumis an important intracellular electrolyte helps counter the hypertension effects of sodium.
  

Cream of Cauliflower

Makes 2 quarts

2 strips of bacon, diced

1/2 yellow onion, diced

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 medium carrot, chopped

1 head cauliflower, florets and stems

4 cups broth (chicken, beef, vegetable)

2 cups cream

to taste: salt and black pepper

garnish: cheese

1.  Over high heat, render the fat from the bacon until halfway cooked and add onion, celery, and carrots. 
2. Cook over medium heat from 4 minutes and then toss in cauliflower. Saute for 4 more minutes and quickly add broth of your choice. 
3. Simmer until cauliflower is tender. Blend (using a regular blender or an immersion blender) until smooth.
4. Strain into new pot and add cream. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve alongside crusty bread or garnish with cheese. M. made a garnish of finely chopped apples and onions, cooked down to a sweet chutney-like texture.

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Kale & Chorizo Soup

Finally, we got on the Kale bandwagon! Kale chips, Kale soup, Kale casserole, Kale everything! Next thing we know, some food blogger is whipping up Kale brownies! Over at the Murrays, we wanted to keep it Kale simple, so we made Kale & Chorizo Soup, a fantastic winter comfort food!

The fantastic thing when making a pot of soup is that you won't have to cook much for the next few days. This large pot lasted us about 5 days, and each day we made a variation of the soup, serving it with different sides. At first we had the soup on its own, with a slice of crusty bread. The next day, we topped it with quinoa and mozzarella. Third day, it was served with a side of wild rice. And so on...until the pot dwindled down to a few drops. 

Large pot of Kale goodness!

Kale & Chorizo Soup

Makes 4 quarts

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 chorizo links, diced

1 medium white onion, diced

4 celery stalks, diced

2 medium carrots, peeled and diced

3 medium cloves garlic, minced

1 large bunch fresh kale, stems removed, chopped

2 quarts water

1, 28 ounce can diced tomatoes 

2, 5.5 ounce cans V8 (or your favorite tomato juice)

to taste: salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, cumin

1. In a large pot over medium high heat, warm olive oil and sear chorizo until fat is rendered. Do not remove the fat, this will add flavor to the end result. Cook for 3-4 minutes and add onion, celery, carrots and garlic. 
2. Sweat the vegetables until translucent and add chopped kale, tossing with all ingredients. Reduce heat to medium low and allow kale to cook. 
3. Add water, diced tomatoes, tomato juice and simmer for one hour. Taste and season during cooking. Re-season before serving if needed.
4. Serve topped with cooked quinoa and shredded mozzarella.

Kale & Chorizo Soup topped with Quinoa and Mozzarella

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What's YOUR favorite way to cook kale?