Impromptu Soup

The little plastic thingy on my coffee maker broke again!  Nooooooooo.

I am thankful for two things:  1) that plastic thingy has broken before and I now keep Crazy Glue on hand at all times.  2) Becki gave me a Bodum for my housewarming.

Crisis averted.

After a weekend of mucho indulgence it was nice to eat yogurt, Kashi and extremely tasty strawberries for breakfast.

Lunch was what I’m calling Impromptoup.  Impromptu Soup!

As I often do on Sunday evenings, I was cleaning out the fridge and assessing what I had to work with this week for meal planning and such.

What I found:

• 2/3 of a carton of Chicken Broth
• 1/2 of a large cauliflower on it’s very last legs
• 1/2 of a butternut squash screaming to be used up

As I was organizing everything to go into the freezer for use at a later date I realized these three ingredients would be perfect for a quick and easy soup.  So I chopped up the cauliflower and peeled and diced the squash.

All I added:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/4 of a red onion, diced
• 1/5 cups of water

Secret ingredient:

• 1 tsp of garam masala (curry powder would work too)

Directions:

1. In a large soup pot heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion, stir few a few seconds, then add the garlic and stir another 30 seconds.  Add the cauliflower and squash, stir around to lightly coat with oil.  Sprinkle with the garam masala, stir around to coat the veggies then let cook for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally until spices are fragrant.
2. Add the chicken broth and top with water until veggies are submerged.  Raise to a boil, then simmer until veggies are tender.  Stir occasionally.
3. When cauliflower can be poked through with a fork, remove soup from heat.  At this point you can either let it cool enough to puree in a blender, or if you are like me you’ll have a good time pureeing it right in the pot with an immersion blender.  I like a few lumps, but feel free to puree til your heart’s content. :)
4. Taste and season with salt & pepper if desired.

Last night I ate a bowl with cheddar cheese sprinkles.  Today I ate it straight up with fresh parsley…

Veggies, crackers and Laughing Cow on the side.  Nom.

Dried cantaloupe…

Homemade vanilla soy misto…

Snackeroo:  unpictured bag of snack mix I totally plowed through for absolutely no reason. 

Quick din-din. 

Leafy greens dressed with olive oil & lemon juice, topped with leftover Lemony Quinoa Salad, topped with garlic shrimpies!

Mmmmmm….shrimp: pan cooked with butter, garlic, red pepper flakes and a pinch of salt.  I die. 

After dinner Chibi and I met the other Jamie for a Starbucks visit (grande non-fat vanilla Rooibos tea latte) and to receive a doggie giftie.

It’s about time this little girl got herself a more feminine outfit.  She wasn’t in a paparazzi mood so you can’t see the flower on her new top, but she’s pretty darn cute no? :)

Lordy, I’m going to have to change the header of my blog to “a food AND DOG lover’s blog…”!  What is going on around here?!