kitchen creations: roasted acorn squash and sweet potato soup

Let me start with there is never a dull moment in the Lindsey home. One of Bryan's goals for 2012 was to use every appliance we were gifted for our wedding, and one of my goals was to eat even healthier and incorporate new recipes into our weekly meals. So, I found this lovely Roasted Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato recipe on The Little Red House's Blog and decided what better way to combine two of our goals for 2012 together!

Well, let's start with the fact that I should learn what my vegetables are in the grocery store because as we began to prepare to make this recipe on Sunday evening, Bryan starts to laugh a little and informs me that what he was holding was not a butternut squash. Apparently they come in a long, cylinder shape and in a light yellow hue. What he was holding was round and green with a hint of orange otherwise known as an acorn squash. Lovely. Just lovely. Bryan being the most optimistic of us both in the kitchen, shrugged his shoulders and said we would improvise and use the acorn squash. So, we proceeded to follow the recipe and began roasting the vegetables and fruit.

Now, here is why things I create in the kitchen tend to burn or not turn out right. I have a tendency to not read directions. Something that has been a troubling factor since I was in elementary school. Apparently I have not learned by 27. So, when it said to roast the smaller vegetables and fruit for only 30 minutes and NOT 60 minutes, it tends to burn the little guys. At this point, I am nearly in tears and spouting out words like I did not inherit my mother's cooking genes and I am going to be THAT mum who feeds burnt dinners to her little ones. The next thing I know, Captain Optimism swoops in with his let's use this golden delicious apple instead. More improvising and two hours later, we made a pot of soup topped with Gorgonzola crumbles that had our insides begging for more. Moral of this story: cook with an optimistic approach (or a Captain Optimism), keep an open mind, learn to improvise and READ THE DIRECTIONS!

Without further ado, our very healthy and delicious GLUTEN-FREE rendition of Roasted Acorn Squash and Sweet Potato Soup (of course this recipe is mostly from The Little Red House with a few changes of our own)!

Ingredients:
1 acorn squash (or butternut squash), cut in four quarters
1 sweet potato, peeled and halved
1 shallot, halved
2 cloves of garlic
1 golden delicious (or granny smith) apple, cut in four quarters
2 onions, halved
1 tsp of sage
1 tsp of cayenne pepper (or less if you do not like heat in your soup)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
5-7 cups of vegetable (or chicken) broth
Gorgonzola cheese crumbles (topping for the soup)


Directions:

1. Line a baking or cookie sheet with foil
2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
3. Cut up all the vegetables
4. Pour olive oil in a bowl and use a brush to coat the vegetables. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper



5. IMPORTANT: bake the big vegetables for 40-45 minutes and the small vegetables/fruit for 20-25 minutes
6. Break out the food processor (Bryan's favorite part!)
7. Place all the vegetables/fruit into the food processor (if it is too much, place in batches)


8. Pulse and puree until it is a smooth consistency


9. Place the puree from the food processor into a big soup pot and add 5-7 cups of broth(depending on how much puree you have...since we used acorn squash, we had less puree, so we used 5 cups of broth)


10. Bring soup to a boil
11. Place lid on the soup pot and let it simmer for 30 minutes so it can thicken up
12. Pour some soup into bowls and add Gorgonzola cheese crumbles and other toppings such as croutons or tortilla strips for an added crunch


Accompanied with the soup was some gluten-free bread with Italian seasonings and red pepper flakes (for me only...Bryan thinks red pepper flakes are for people who are asking for their death sentence) and some sparkling grape juice to complete our Sunday evening meal! If your insides are not asking for more after you try the first bite, please contact me. We will need to chat.

Happy gluten-free eating, friends and many thanks to The Little Red House for this delicious recipe!!!