Soup!

The other day when dh and I were at the grocery store we went a little crazy in the produce department. We picked up a ton of fall veg, squash, potatoes, yam, turnip etc. My dh begged me to make him some yummy soups to warm his cockles on these cool fall evenings. I am not so great at following a recipe, I like to read them for inspiration and then come up with my own concoctions. I cook by sight, feel, taste, but most of all smell. I NEVER use a timer, my nose always knows when the food is done. I do occasionally burn garlic toast or what-have-you when I have a cold, but other than that I trust my sniffer.
Here are a couple of yummy recipes I came up with.

Butternut Squash Bisque?
2 medium Butternut Squash ( I am sure acorn would be great too, although it is a bit sweeter)
1 onion chopped
1/2 bulb(about 5 cloves) garlic, minced (I used a whole bulb, it was VERY garlicky)
2.5 to 3 c. broth (i used chicken)
2 tsp. curry powder or to taste
pepper to taste
1 can lite coconut milk

1. Roast Butternut Squash in oven: cut in half, place on cookie sheet, add a bit of water to pan and put in 350 degree oven for about an hour
2. Saute onion and garlic in butter or oil
3. Add cooked squash, broth, pepper, curry powder, 1 can lite coconut milk and stir together
4. Run soup through blender in small batches on puree
5. Put back in pot and heat through.

So tasty!

Potato Leek Soup
most of the recipes I found for this were full of fat, using 1/2 c butter and full fat cream! I trimmed it down quite a bit.

2 slices of bacon, diced (bacon can easily be skipped, but then you need to add at least a tbsp of fat to fry leeks and onions in)
2 good sized leeks, white bulb only, sliced
1 onion, diced
2 tbsp white flour or cornstarch
5 medium potatoes, diced
4 cups of broth (I used chicken)
2 cups of milk (I use skim, but any will do)
pepper to taste, a dash of celery salt if you like
chopped chives or green onions or parsley for garnish

1. Start to fry up the bacon in your pot.
2. Add the leeks and onions, fry til softened. (you may need to add a bit of fat here)
3. Stir in flour to make a roux.
4. Stir in broth, bring to a boil
5. Add potatoes, cover and simmer til cooked, approx 13 minutes
6. Stir in milk and seasoning, heat
7. a)Optional step: run through blender for a few seconds on puree, in small batches
b) if you do not blend, then let simmer til the broth thickens a bit, stirring lots, but do not let it come to a hard boil.
8. After pureeing, put the soup back in the pot and reheat.
9. Garnish and serve.

This recipe for Potato Leek soup can easily become Corn chowder by skipping the leeks, adding a couple cups of frozen corn with the potatoes and skipping the blender. Traditionally we use a bit more bacon in our corn chowder and remove it while the potatoes are cooking. Then we put it back in at the very end. Very yummy with some fresh biscuits.

I hope these recipes make sense! If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will try to clarify. I really cook intuitively so it is not easy for me to spell it all out in a technical manner:p
Happy slurping!