Tag: sage

Categories
Main Dish Side Dish Soup

Winter can’t squash my love of fall vegetables

Roasted butternut squash soup is a fabulous combination of warm, late season flavors that create a delicious side dish for any fall or winter meal.
Roasted butternut squash soup is a fabulous combination of warm, late season flavors that create a delicious side dish for any fall or winter meal.

I know now that we’re in post-Thanksgiving life, I’m supposed to transition to only Christmas-y flavors and foods with tons of sugar and peppermint and red and green food dye, but I have to be honest, I’m still not ready to be finished with fall vegetables.

Luckily, our local grocery store isn’t, either, because I was able to get a huge, beautiful butternut squash this week that I immediately knew needed to become some kind of soup.

I did a search and found a recipe from the blog “Little Spoon Farm” by Amy Duska that was just what I was looking for. You can find the original post at https://littlespoonfarm.com/roasted-butternut-squash-soup-recipe/. I added extra garlic and seasonings in my version.

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Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Roasted butternut squash soup is a fabulous combination of warm, late season flavors that create a delicious side dish for any fall or winter meal.
Course Main Course, Side Dish, Soup
Keyword butternut squash, fresh garlic, garlic, pureed soup, roasted vegetables, sage, thyme, vegan, vegetarian, yellow onion

Ingredients

  • 1 butternut squash 3 to 4 pounds
  • 1 medium yellow onion
  • 2 heads fresh garlic
  • 2-4 tablespoons olive oil divided
  • 2 teaspoons dried sage
  • 2 teaspoons dried thyme
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 3 cups vegetable or chicken stock
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream or coconut milk

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Cut the butternut squash in half, lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds, but don’t throw them away.
  • Cut the onion into quarters, and cut just the tops off the heads of garlic.
  • Put the squash, cut side up, and the onions on the baking sheet. Pour just a touch of olive oil over the top of each head of garlic, sprinkle them a little sage, thyme, salt and pepper, and wrap them loosely in foil. Place them on the baking sheet, too.
  • Rub a coat of olive oil over the squash and onions, and then sprinkle them with sage, thyme, salt and pepper, too.
  • Roast the vegetables in the oven for 45 minutes or until the squash is fork tender.
  • Remove the baking sheet from the oven and set aside so the vegetables can cool enough for you to handle them.
  • In the meantime, rinse the seeds you removed from the squash to get rid of all the goopy strings. Dry them with a paper towel, and then put them in a small bowl, along with one tablespoon of olive oil and salt, to taste. Stir well to coat the seeds in oil and salt.
  • Heat a small skillet over medium heat. When it’s hot, add the seeds and let them brown, stirring regularly (be aware that they might try to jump out of the pan as they roast). Once they are lightly browned, remove the seeds from the heat, and set them aside.
  • If you have an immersion blender, heat a stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat at this point. If not, you’ll want to have the pot ready but first add the ingredients to a blender and then transfer them to your pot after you puree them. (Remember to add a little stock to the blender with each batch so there’s liquid to help the blending process.)
  • Add the vegetable stock to the pot. Scoop out all the squash, discarding the skin, and put it into the pot, along with the roasted onions. Carefully squeeze as much of the roasted garlic out of each bulb as you can into the pot. Using your immersion blender, blend the soup until everything is smooth, and continue stirring regularly until the soup is hot. Stir in the cream, add any more seasonings, and serve with the roasted seeds sprinkled on top.

This was absolutely delicious. It would make for a perfect meal with a sandwich, but we opted to put ours alongside some steaks. It was one of those soups that warmed you all the way through with all the flavor of roasted vegetables and herbs, and it reheated well as leftovers, too.

Also, this recipe taught me that you can roast squash seeds. I have done pumpkin seeds many times, but I never thought about doing the same thing with the other members of the gourd family. They were a great add, creating just a little crunch and nuttiness in the bowl.

I’m so happy there is still squash on the produce shelves. I’m crossing my fingers they’ll be there through the rest of winter, too, because I definitely want to make this soup again. There are some parts of fall that even Christmas can’t beat.

This piece first appeared in print on Nov. 30, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

Combination of chicken, veggies, herbs more than just fair

Crescent roll chicken pot pie casserole comes together quickly and features lots of great flavors from some fresh vegetables, along with plenty of herbs. It makes for a fantastic weeknight meal.
Crescent roll chicken pot pie casserole comes together quickly and features lots of great flavors from some fresh vegetables, along with plenty of herbs. It makes for a fantastic weeknight meal.

We have a friend we lovingly refer to as “the human jukebox.”

He has a ton of songs floating around in his head, and all it takes to get him to launch into one is to subtly mention a lyric.

Joey and I sometimes make a game of seeing if we can make a comment that will result in him humming, whistling or singing the song later on, after it’s invaded his subconscious. He always rolls his eyes and feigns annoyance when we bust up laughing at the outset of his tune.

My secret, though, is I tend to be a bit of a human jukebox myself, especially when I’m cooking with a particular set of herbs as I was this week: parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

Simon and Garfunkel get me every time.

Getting “Scarborough Fair” stuck in my head this week was completely my own fault, though, as I decided to add a ton of seasonings to a chicken crescent roll casserole recipe I found in order to transform it into a chicken pot pie-inspired dish.

The recipe I started with comes from the blog “The Seasoned Mom” by Blair Lonergan. You can find the original post at https://www.theseasonedmom.com/crescent-roll-chicken-casserole. I added quite a few ingredients in my version.

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Crescent Roll Chicken Pot Pie Casserole

Crescent roll chicken pot pie casserole comes together quickly and features lots of great flavors from some fresh vegetables, along with plenty of herbs. It makes for a fantastic weeknight meal.
Course Main Course
Keyword carrots, celery, cream of chicken, crescent roll dough, garlic, garlic powder, garlic salt, onion powder, parsley, peas, rosemary, sage, shredded cheese, shredded chicken, thyme, yellow onion

Ingredients

Filling Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 3 celery stalks diced
  • 3 medium carrots diced
  • 1/4 yellow onion diced
  • 6-8 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/4 cup frozen peas
  • 1 cup chicken shredded
  • 1/4 cup shredded cheese
  • 1/2 teaspoon rosemary
  • 1/2 teaspoon thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon parsley
  • 1/2 teaspoon sage
  • garlic salt and pepper to taste
  • 8 ounces refrigerated crescent roll dough

Sauce Ingredients

  • 10.5 ounces cream of chicken soup
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 3/4 cup shredded cheese
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • garlic salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray an eight-by-eight-inch baking dish with cooking spray and set it aside.
  • In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the celery, carrots and onion, and saute until the vegetables are soft.
  • Add in the garlic and peas, and saute for another couple of minutes or until the garlic is fragrant.
  • Remove the skillet from the heat and add in the chicken, cheese, rosemary, thyme, parsley, sage, garlic salt and pepper, and stir to combine.
  • Roll out and separate the triangles of crescent roll dough, and place a spoonful of the chicken mixture into the center of each, loosely rolling the dough around it, and place the filled dough into the prepared baking dish. It’s OK if they are touching. (If you have extra filling after you’re done with the dough, just sprinkle it around in the pan.
  • Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until the crescent rolls are golden brown.
  • While they bake, add all of the sauce ingredients to a saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk or stir until the cheese melts.
  • When the rolls are baked through, pour the sauce on the top, and place the casserole back in the oven for five to 10 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly.
  • Serve immediately.

This is really saucy. You could easily get away with doubling the filling, getting an extra can of crescent rolls and using a nine-by-13-inch dish instead—while using the same amount of sauce.

I didn’t mind the extra creamy sauce along with the vegetables and buttery dough, though, so it’s all about what you like.

Of course, the addition of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme complimented the chicken and veggies nicely, too. That combo is a true love of mine.

This piece first appeared in print on May 18, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Side Dish

I ‘corn’not believe how delicious this savory pudding is

Corn pudding uses lots of herbs, along with corn and yellow onion to create the perfect mashup of sweet and savory in a delicious side dish.
Corn pudding uses lots of herbs, along with corn and yellow onion to create the perfect mashup of sweet and savory in a delicious side dish.

We have a serious love of cornbread at our house.

When we discovered the goodness that is cornbread dressing to go with our holiday turkeys, we were understandably excited.

But, being more of a traditional mindset, the rest of the extended family missed the conventional holiday stuffing at our big meals, so I went back to it this year.

Not being completely dissuaded, though, I started looking for other cornbread-like dishes we could try and stumbled on a recipe for corn pudding.

Before you recoil at the pudding idea, trust me. It’s delicious. It’s a fabulous, non-jiggly texture, and it’s savory and belly warming. It is definitely worth a try—especially if you love cornbread like I do. And it’s also worth a try if you normally find cornbread a bit on the dry side, because this is moist and delicious.

This comes from the “Southern Living” magazine. It’s by Karen Schroeder-Rankin. You can find the original recipe at https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/savory-corn-pudding-recipe. I added lots of extra seasonings in my version.

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Corn Pudding

Corn pudding uses lots of herbs, along with corn and yellow onion to create the perfect mashup of sweet and savory in a delicious side dish.
Course Side Dish
Keyword Christmas side, corn, cornbread, fresh thyme, frozen corn, garlic, sage, Thanksgiving side, yellow onion

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
  • 6 cups frozen corn thawed
  • 1 medium-sized yellow onion diced
  • 4-6 cloves garlic minced
  • 6 eggs
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup butter melted
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 4 teaspoons thyme
  • 2 teaspoons sage
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • black pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a nine-by-13-inch baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray and set it aside.
  • Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
  • Add the onion to the skillet. Saute until it is soft.
  • Add in the corn, and continue to saute until it is just a bit browned.
  • Toss in the garlic and saute for another minute or so, or until it becomes fragrant. Remove the skillet from the heat.
  • In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, cream and butter until it is well combined. Add in the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, thyme, sage, onion powder, garlic powder and black pepper. Stir to combine.
  • Stir in the corn mixture and then pour everything into the baking dish, smoothing it out evenly.
  • Bake for about 40 minutes or until the pudding is set and the top is golden brown.
  • Let it stand for five to 10 minutes before serving. Top with a little more thyme, if desired.

The flavors in this paired amazingly well with our turkey. The herbs along with the slight sweetness of the corn and onions just put it over the top.

It also reheated really well as leftovers, which was good, because this made a ton of food.

I’m hoping that I’ll be able to bring the rest of the family over to my side on the subject of cornbread dressing at some point. They didn’t seem to complain about this recipe, so I think they’re well on their way.

Sometimes you just have to start your own traditions.

This piece first appeared in print on Dec. 29, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Soup

Leftover potato soup a f‘root’ful experiment

Sausage and potato soup is a hearty meal and a good use for leftover baked and mashed potatoes.
Sausage and potato soup is a hearty meal and a good use for leftover baked and mashed potatoes.

I know that we’re quickly moving out of what most people would consider “soup weather,” but I tend to like it no matter what time of year it is.

I especially like to have containers full of it in my deep freeze at all times for evenings when Joey and I are far too busy (or tired) to make a home-cooked meal.

Recently, Joey was at an event where both baked and mashed potatoes were served. At the end of the evening, someone bagged up both and asked if anyone wanted the leftovers or they were going in the trash.

Joey snapped them up, figuring we could do something with it at home.

We brainstormed together and came up with what ended up being a delicious soup. We were pretty proud of ourselves, and I couldn’t help but think we weren’t the only ones who sometimes come across lots of leftover potatoes after a get-together, so I thought I’d share it with you. It also wouldn’t be hard to get a big bag of taters and just do this on its own.

I don’t have a source for this week’s recipe, since it came from Joey and I experimenting in our own kitchen, but I will say that you may need to adjust the amounts based on how many potatoes you have or how thick you like your soup. It’s a very flexible recipe, so I’d recommend adding liquid a little at a time until you get it to the right consistency.

We had so many potatoes that I doubled this and made two big pots full.

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Sausage and Potato Soup

Sausage and potato soup is a hearty meal and a good use for leftover baked and mashed potatoes.
Course Main Course
Keyword baked potatoes, fennel, mashed potatoes, potatoes, sausage, soup

Ingredients

  • 1 pound sage sausage
  • 1 medium yellow onion diced
  • 3 to 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 4 to 6 tablespoons flour
  • 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • About six medium-sized baked potatoes
  • About one pound mashed potatoes
  • 1/4 teaspoon fennel
  • garlic salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 1/2 to 2 cups milk I used skim
  • 4 ounces sharp cheddar shredded
  • 4 ounces pepper jack shredded

Instructions

  • In a large Dutch oven, combine the sausage and onion, breaking apart and browning the sausage until it’s cooked through and the onions are soft.
  • Once the sausage is done cooking, stir in the minced garlic and cook for two to three minutes or until it browns slightly and starts to smell nice.
  • Start sprinkling in the flour, mixing it into the sausage to that it soaks up any grease. Keep adding it, a little at a time, until the grease is completely incorporated into the flour. Let it cook, continuing to stir, for about two minutes to cook the flour taste out.
  • Stir in the chicken broth and let that cook for a couple minutes as well.
  • Cut the baked potatoes into bite-sized pieces (we included the skin in ours) and add them to the pot along with the mashed potatoes (Both can be cold at this point. No need to heat them up beforehand.). Also toss in the fennel, garlic salt and pepper.
  • Stir the mixture well. Start by mixing in about one cup of milk and let the soup cook, stirring regularly so it doesn’t scorch on the bottom, for five to 10 minutes or until it begins to thicken. If it’s too thick, add more milk until you reach your desired consistency.
  • Once the soup is heated all the way through (probably another 10 minutes or so), dump in the sharp cheddar and pepper jack cheeses and stir until it’s melted.
  • Serve hot with a bit more cheese on top if desired.

We were head over heels in love with this recipe. It definitely fills you up quickly and has tons of great flavor.

It was also pretty satisfying to not see so much food tossed in the trash and instead be transformed into a wonderful meal (actually, several meals).

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Americans toss about 30 to 40 percent of our food supply every year, which is a staggering amount. If we can come up with more ways to keep good food out of the garbage and back in our fridges, we could begin to solve a lot of issues in this country.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt when there’s sausage and garlic involved, too.

This piece first appeared in print on April 19, 2018.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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