cooking evolution

There has been some progress in the kitchen that I wanted to share.  This time of year is rainy and chilly here on the west coast, the perfect time to indulge in soups that warm us up and keep the damp out.  My staple go to soup is Red lentil and carrot.  It is colourful and I can use local carrots that are still available from my grocery store.

The ingredients are simple enough and this goes well paired with burgers, sandwiches or the kale & corn griddle cakes from Cooking Like a Goddess: Bringing Seasonal Magic into the Kitchen.   I also made my family's traditional Shepard's pie this week with a slight twist on the mashed potatoes, creamed corn and beef trifecta by using the Kale Mashed Potatoes recipe from How It All Vegan!: Irresistible Recipes for an Animal-Free Diet.  (Ironic or sacrilegious  for all the vegans out there I'm sure but I love that recipe and still use several others despite the fact that we are not vegan.)
The dinner that I was most proud of however was my own creation of Butternut Squash Coconut Milk Soup that accompanied, salad, and a cheesy garlic bread from A Bread Affair (who are my favorite bread makers in the Lower Mainland by far)  This was a first in my evolution as a cook.  I saw the bread at the store, thought we needed a soup to go with it.  I noticed organic coconut milk on sale and then found a yummy butternut squash.  I added a couple of potatoes, an onion, garlic, some some stock and to give it a slight kick some mild curry powder and voila...a very tasty soup.  I used a similar recipe in Vegetarian Perfection (Hinkler Kitchen) as a guide I must admit and that is also where you'll find the recipe for the Carrot Red Lentil soup.  It gave me quite a bit of satisfaction  to know that I can put ingredients together with taste and memory rather than needing a recipe.  Kyan and I also made some banana bran muffins with walnuts and chocolate chips this week. We froze half for breastfeeding snacks for me down the line and enjoyed the rest.  All in all it was a good week in the kitchen.