So I must say, this new term being a locavore has got me pretty excited! My dietary trends have gone from eating Mountain Dew and popcorn pretty much exclusively as a young teenager, to my wrestling days where I was on a diet consisting of lettuce and water (maybe a bit of protein on the weekends). A few years back I began to take the food I ate and its impacts on the environment seriously; first as a vegetarian, then becoming vegan last year, and now of course taking on this newest challenge, the 100 mile diet. My first thoughts were, "this is going to be easy." After all, I left the United States along with its broken agricultural system, right? I had imagined Montreal would still apreciate qualitiy as a result of its French influence. We'll see I guess...
Anyhow, with a week before the official challenge begins it is time to start thinking critically about what's for dinner. I've learned over the years from all my failed attempts at wacky diets that shocking your system almost never works. So in preparation for when olive oil will be no more, and when I have to kiss avacado behind, it's time to say hello to lots and lots of potatoes, apples, carrots, mushrooms, onions, and cabbage. Soup recipes anyone?
2 comments:
Hey-sounds like a great challenge! What's growing up there this time of year? Ice? Snow cones? Keep us posted on your feasts ahead.
Soup recipe for you!
Unfortunately, I imagine the spices will be rather hard to find... BUT you could use butter instead of olive oil, make your own veg stock from (wilting) local veggies and water, and maybe replace the spices with more garlic and some ginger? You can also just mash the soup a bit if you don't have a blender.
Enjoy!
Spicy Pumpkin Soup Recipe
INGREDIENTS
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
Pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)
3 (15 oz) cans 100 percent pumpkin or 6 cups of chopped roasted pumpkin*
5 cups of chicken broth (or vegetable broth for vegetarian option)
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
METHOD
1 Melt butter in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add spices and stir for a minute more.
2 Add pumpkin and 5 cups of chicken broth; blend well. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
3 Transfer soup, in batches, to a blender or food processor. Cover tightly and blend until smooth. Return soup to saucepan.
4 With the soup on low heat, add brown sugar and mix. Slowly add milk while stirring to incorporate. Add cream. Adjust seasonings to taste. If a little too spicy, add more cream to cool it down. You might want to add a teaspoon of salt.
Serve in individual bowls. Sprinkle the top of each with toasted pumpkin seeds.
Serves 8.
*To make pumpkin purée, cut a sugar pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff, lie face down on a tin-foil lined baking pan. Bake at 350°F until soft, about 45 min to an hour. Cool, scoop out the flesh. Freeze whatever you don't use for future use.
Toasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe
INGREDIENTS
• One medium sized pumpkin
• Salt
• Olive oil
METHOD
1 Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut open the pumpkin and use a strong metal spoon to scoop out the insides. Separate the seeds from the stringy core. Rinse the seeds.
2 In a small saucepan, add the seeds to water, about 2 cups of water to every half cup of seeds. Add a tablespoon of salt for every cup of water. Bring to a boil. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and drain.
3 Spread about a tablespoon of olive oil over the bottom of a roasting pan. Spread the seeds out over the roasting pan, all in one layer. Bake on the top rack for 20 minutes or until the seeds begin to brown. When browned to your satisfaction, remove from the oven and let the pan cool on a rack. Let the seeds cool all the way down before eating. Either crack to remove the inner seed (a lot of work and in my opinion, unnecessary) or eat whole. Delicious!
This recipe originally from somewhere on the internet...
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