Roasted Nutty Squash Soup

1 lg. butternut squash

2 big sweet potatoes

6-8 cloves of garlic

½ lg. onion

2-3T Tuscan olive oil

¾-1c sunflower seeds

fresh ground lemon pepper

water - white wine - broth

1t-1T pumpkin pie spice
½t cayenne pepper

8 oz. coconut milk

Peel the squash, which is no easy task!  Cut the squash in half, crosswise.  Cut up the top - skinnier neck half - into small chunks.  Quarter the bottom, scoop out the seeds and dark stringy membranes.  Cut these pieces into small chunks as well.  Scrub, then peel the bad spots off the sweet potatoes.  Cut them into small chunks. . .and a pattern emerges!  😁 

Peel and chop the garlic, slice-chop the onion.  Combine all this in a medium-large bowl with the oil, sunflower seeds and lemon pepper.  Spread out on one or two jelly roll pans lined with parchment paper. 

Roast-bake at 400° for an hour or more, checking-turning-tossing the vegetables every 20 minutes.  I only used one pan, which is why the vegetables took an hour and 20 minutes to get to the stage of 'doneness' I wanted.  If you use two pans, this would go quicker.  The vegetables should be a little brown and dry, to be well roasted.

At this point, put all the vegetables into a 5 quart pot, mash with a potato masher, add liquid, stir and check flavors.  Add spice, more lemon pepper, and any other seasoning needed, and simmer for about 45 minutes.  Leave as is, if you want the soup chunky, or blend now with your immersion blender to smooth it all out.  At the very end, stir in coconut milk, just before serving.  Garnish with a dab of sour cream, a sprinkle of smokey paprika, dill or croutons. . .Lin

Curry-Garlic Vegetables

3 med. zucchini

3 med. sweet potatoes

6 lg. garlic cloves

1/2 purple onion

1c± pumpkin seeds

12-16oz. curry sauce

~ cilantro ~ optional

Spiral slice the zucchini and scrubbed sweet potatoes (no need to peel them if the skin is free of spots and bruises.)  Add finely chopped garlic, sliced onion and curry sauce.  This would have been so much better if I hadn't over-baked it!  The flavors are wonderful, but the texture is just too mushy.  I adjusted the cooking time here based on my mistake.

Bake at 300° for 30 minutes then check doneness, baking a bit longer if needed.  Sprinkle with fresh snipped cilantro and serve. . .Lin

Tomato Pesto, Beans, Greens and Pasta

1/2c sunflower seeds

1 can garbanzos

beet greens

dandelion greens

1-2t Hot smoky Hungarian paprika

10oz. water ± - adjust as needed

2 chopped tomatoes

4-6oz. sun dried tomato pesto

ground garlic, salt and fresh ground pepper

1-1/2c corn rice pasta cooked 

This is one of the best things I've made in a long time.  Ohhh, so good!  Dry toast the sunflower seeds in a big pan for 5-10 minutes.  The heat will bring out the oils, browning them very nicely.  Add the remaining ingredients except the pasta.  Stir, simmer until the water evaporates, greens are cooked and there is a remaining, nice sauciness.  Add the pasta, stir and serve.  This was just excellent!  You could also add some chopped Kalamata olives or capers for a bit more flavor.  Comfort food! . . . Lin

Thai Shredded Vegetable Pasta

1 med. zucchini

2 med. carrots

2T butter

6 cloves garlic - minced

a big handful of spinach

1/3c sunflower seeds

3T crunchy peanut butter

a little soy sauce

a big handful of cooked spaghetti

This was fun.  I had leftover spaghetti that had been rinsed, drained and stored in a plastic bag.  I decided to shred up some vegetables, combine everything and keep it simple tonight.  It was so good!

Into a big non-stick pan, shred the zucchini and carrots.  Simmer in the butter, on low heat, covered, for about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and finely sliced spinach.  Cook until the spinach wilts.  Add all remaining ingredients, stir a little to melt the peanut butter and coat the vegetables and spaghetti. . .Lin