There was a huge selection of peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, squash of all varieties, pumpkins, beans, beets, garlic .... and all kinds of bread, sweets, honey, jams and more. It was incredible. The dilemma, of course, is picking something to fix for today's post... when there are so many good options out there.
The weekend was cold and wet; for the most part... and feeling achy and sore from so much activity... I decided to make soup.
I sliced up a big Hubbard squash... took out the seeds... and roasted it in the oven for about 30 minutes along with a patty-pan squash, a small acorn squash, 2 striped squash, and a small orange pumpkin-like squash.
While they were cooking, I chopped up 3 medium tomatoes, 2 zucchini and 1 yellow squash, 3 small onions and some garlic, and 2 peppers that were looking a bit wrinkly. I added them all to a large stockpot with some water (about 6 cups)... and cooked them all for about 30 minutes as well. This is a great way to use up some veggies that might be slightly past their peak... or things you want to use up.
I let everything cool off for a bit before I proceeded.
((this photo shows: tomatoes and zucchini, onions and garlic cooking... some of the squash as it goes into the oven...
after it's all been pureed a bit... and with the spices and soy milk added in))
after it's all been pureed a bit... and with the spices and soy milk added in))
After things had cooled, I cut the cooked flesh away from all the various squash, and pureed them... along with all the other cooked veggies. It took several "rounds" to get it all done... because I have just a small Magic Bullet blender... but I got it done. As I was pureeing this; I put the finished mix into a large pot on the stove top, then I added some spices --Thai basil, thyme, some chile pepper flakes (just a few), course sea salt and some fresh ground pepper. The final touch was to add some soy milk to make it all creamy -2 cups in total, and to let it all simmer for another 20 minutes or so.
I served it with some rustic bread (that I had also picked up at the Farm Market), and some optional shredded cheese and fresh parsley on top. This soup is completely vegan; as I used soy milk instead of cream or whole milk.
((Today was my last "foodie" post featuring fresh produce from the Potter County Farmer's Market. I want to give them a HUGE round of thanks for consistently providing awesome local grown goodness and handmade items to this community week after week.... and look forward to next season.))
