Coconut Curry Roasted Fruit and Vegetable Soup

1 med. butternut squash

1 lg. sweet potato

3 carrots 

EVOO, garlic salt and fresh ground black pepper

3 stalks of celery

4 cloves of garlic

1 med. purple onion

EVOO, garlic salt and fresh ground black pepper

Today I prepped then roasted the orange vegetables for 40 minutes at 400° Once the squash was cool, I peeled that then added the roasted vegetables to the pot where the others were simmering.

1T curry powder

1t coconut sugar

1t pumpkin pie spice

3T Better Than Bouillon 

3 very ripe, seeded, unpeeled pears (not shown)

20oz ± cold, fresh water

Blend this with an immersion blender and when slightly cooled, add 1 can coconut milk or coconut cream.

Serve this garnished with chopped nuts or seeds and a drizzle of seasoned, thinned, sour cream.

You could easily omit the coconut milk if you'd rather, but I like the way it brings all the flavors together and adds depth to the soup. . .Lin

Peppery Pear-Pecan Sour Cream Muffins

Yes, Peppery!
Pepper and pears (and apples) go together nicely!

I bought a big bag of ripe pears. The only yellow ones there - and they were perfect - right then. It's two days later, and I see why buying the green ones might have been smarter. I really love pears, so tonight I'll have some with cottage cheese, cinnamon, pepper and grated parmesan cheese. Mmmm!

But for now, I need to use a few of these.

Pears, pecans and sour cream sounded like a good idea -and- in muffins it would be delicious! This is a variation of a recipe I've used before, but the main ingredients always vary.

In a big bowl, whisk the following together:

3c unbleached all purpose flour

3T ground chia and flax seed

1T pumplin pie spice

1t baking powder

1t baking soda

1t Himalayan pink salt

1t finely ground black pepper

In another bowl, combine the following:

3 lg. pasture raised eggs

1T Mexican vanilla

1/2c coconut sugar

1c brown sugar

2/3c sour cream

2/3c melted coconut oil

2c finely chopped unpeeled pears

Preheat your oven to 350°F. When thoroughly mixed, with a big wooden spoon, add half at a time to the flour mixture. Stir to combine then use a big serving spoon to fill lined muffin cups. I sprinkled them with a mix of turbinado sugar, coconut sugar, and pumpkin pie spice.

These baked for 15 minutes, sharing the oven with a tiny coffee cake made from the extra batter. Total 24 muffins + the little coffee cake, or 30 muffins. The coffee cake needed to bake an additional 8 minutes. 

Mmmm, the house smells good! . . Lin

Cinnamon-Pepper Fruit and Cheese

• 1 MacIntosh apple
• 1 ripe Bartlett pear
• 1-2t turbinado sugar
• 1±t ground cinnamon
• a big grind of black pepper
• ⅔c cottage cheese
• ¼-⅓c grated Parmesan cheese
• fresh orange zest
• more ground black pepper

Peel and core the apple and cut it into a small-medium glass bowl. Cut up the unpeeled pear and add it to the bowl. Sprinkle the fruit with the sugar, cinnamon and pepper, mix then add the cottage cheese and Parmesan. Stir this in just a little. Top with orange zest and another couple grinds of fresh black pepper. This makes 2-3 small servings. It would be so good with pancakes, grilled fish, chicken, or just by itself. . .Lin