The Queer Hipster Kitchen

I keep seeing photos of friends who are experiencing the first snow of the season.  We aren't there yet - thankfully - but it is definitely crisp outside.  You know, that magical time of year when you don't know what coat to wear, and your skin is furious despite your best attempt at moisturizer, and the static electricity is pure and strong radiating off all your sweaters... I actually like this fall/winter time, despite my grumblings above (and the annoyances of Daylight Savings Time).  As a family that does a lot of batch cooking, it gets easier at this time of year for one simple, delicious, reason: It's soup time. Soup is the ultimate easy, quick meal.  It's endlessly versatile.  Almost any soup can be made in a crock pot or pressure cooker.  And we have dozens and dozens of soup recipes, carefully curated and waiting. (There's also one recipe for a really terrible soup, lurking in one of my cookbooks.  I made it once and we hated it, but ...

This one is literally, actually the easiest soup we make.  It's a never-fail soup that could be hearty enough for lunches or make a fancy starter at some looming holiday meal. The Ingredients: 1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed 6 c. veggie stock 1-2 T spice of your choice: good options include cayenne, chipotle powder, ancho chile powder for the spicier crowd, or milder options like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg for a sweeter approach 3 cloves garlic black pepper The Process: Put all of it in a crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours or until the squash has gone totally soft. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup.  Adjust both spice and stock to taste: that is, if you need more heat, add it; if it's too thick, add more stock and let simmer a bit. That's literally it.  6-8 servings, depending on how hungry you are. Pro Tips: If this is lunch for the week, we will use 2 squashes, double the stock, and make it in the Great Big Crockpot. You can also add...

So, we've been on a short hiatus, partly because I was away on research.  (Karen did an admirable job of keeping the Queer Hipster Kitchen moving - there were doughnuts and a vegetarian shepherd's pie waiting when I got home!)  But we're back and the kitchen has been busy this week. When we travel, we are able to put a "vacation hold" on our amazing CSA, which lets us schedule a double share for a future week.  (This is an amazing feature and part of why we love this CSA.  Besides, you know, the incredible veggies.)  Due to unexpected travel, we had a forthcoming double.  I *thought* I'd scheduled it for the last week of the fall CSA, before we transition to the winter one.  But it turns out that, nope, I scheduled it for this past week. Surprise!  A double! I love a double, but it does take some planning.  Yes, that is five medium eggplant, two butternut squash, two cauliflower, two bundles of cooking greens, two bundles of kale, tw...

This soup is a house favorite because it's simple, quick, and easy - the kind of fix-it-and-forget-it meal that the slow cooker is designed for.  Ingredients: about 6 cups of chopped butternut squash 4 cups veggie stock 2 cups cooked white beans (cannellini are great - something that will fall apart!) spices to your preference (we like garlic, onion powder, and a dash of cayenne or red pepper flakes) The process: Combine squash, beans, and stock in crock pot.  Cook on low heat for 8 hours - or longer, if need be.  The contents should be easily mashable. Using either an immersion blender or a plain old potato masher, mush up the remaining chunks until soup is at a consistency you find appropriate.  (We tend to use the immersion blender and go smooth.) Add spices to your taste. Dish into bowls and add any toppings you'd like: croutons are always a good option. Pro Tips: This freezes beautifully.  The yield will vary depending on just how ...

Today is a bulk cooking day - we're a few weeks away from the start of new school years and semesters, which means it's time to start rebuilding our usual routines.  This involves setting back the alarm clock (which I hate already), getting our morning walk on, and, perhaps most importantly, picking up the batch cooking in earnest once more. One day of each weekend, our kitchen becomes an epic, delicious mess.  We take a couple of hours and do as much pre-preparing as we can stand.  This is a really crucial part of our ability to prepare healthy meals from minimally processed stuff during the week.  So today was the day to make rice ahead, pressure cook beans, whip up some hummus, make ice cream (a house staple!), and more.  It's a quiet weekend without too many other commitments, so it's also a good week to get our pasta and pizza dough on.  (Both freeze really well.) A few weeks ago, we bought carrots at the co-op that had really substantial greens ...