Citrusy Bean Salad

         A few weeks ago, my mom's work had a potluck, so we decided that something light and healthy would be good to bring in because many potlucks are centered around heavy, carb loaded dishes.  She mentioned her bean salad, so I decided to elevate it with a citrus dressing and lots of veggies.  Unfortunately, I was in a hurry and did not take pictures along the way, and then had a phone problem which resulted in my few pictures being deleted, so this is a recipe with no picture tutorials, sorry for the inconvenience.

Citrusy Bean Salad:

  Ingredients:

• 2 cans black beans
• 1 can chick peas
• 1 can red beans
• 2 bell pepper (I used 1 red and 1 orange for color)
• 2 carrots 
• 3 stalks of celery
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon habanero olive oil (could substitute with 1 teaspoon chili powder)
• 2 teaspoons paprika 
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 1 teaspoon ginger extract
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 
• salt and pepper
• 2 cups sun dried tomatoes

  Instructions:

1. Strain and rinse all of the beans and place in a large bowl.
2. Chop celery, peppers, and carrots into small pieces (about the size of the beans) and add to the bowl. Roughly chop the cilantro and add it to bowl as well, saving some for garnishing. 
3. In a small measuring cup or bowl, stir both olive oils, lemon juice, and paprika together with a fork.  Add mustard to act as an emulsifier (something to combine the oil and lemon juice and prevent separation) and combine with a fork. 
4. Add ginger, balsamic, salt, and pepper to the dressing and pour it over the beans and veggies.
5. Toss to combine, add the dried tomatoes, and garnish with saved cilantro, enjoy!

Spiced Squash Soup

         It has been a long time since I posted for multiple reasons, mostly school has become crazy so I haven't had a lot of time to type up everything I make or take pictures, but also because my moms friend hired me to cater a party for her of about 20 people. It was extremely successful and so opened a new door for me. The mom of the lady who hosted the party asked if I would be willing to make her some individual serving frozen meals.  Of course I was super excited and got started right away, I made six meals, each with a vegetable, protein, and starch.  I experimented with things that I could just under cook and have them still be food safe so that when they were defrosted and microwaved, they wouldn't be overcooked. A week ago she asked for more meals, so I made seven.
         One thing I found that worked really well to be re heated was soup, and with fall starting, I decided to use fall veggies and flavors.  This soup is one of the meals I came up with, a wonderfully sweet but healthy creamy squash soup that is super easy to make.  Because it is made in a crockpot then pureed, I was able to just put all the veggies and broth in, then leave it all day while making the other six meals.

Spiced Squash Soup:

  Ingredients:

• 1 kabocha squash, peeled and cut into one inch cubes (butternut squash works too)
• 4 carrots
• 1/2 onion
• 1 apple
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon allspice

  Instructions:

1. Roughly cut the onion into large chunks, the carrots into 1 inch pieces, and the apple into one inch cubes after peeing and coring it.  Place them and the squash into your crockpot and turn it on to high:
   
2. Pour chicken broth into a microwave safe pitcher or pan and heat until just simmering, then pour the broth over the veggies and cover the crock pot.  Cook on high for 5-6 hours, until the squash is soft when poked with a fork:
   
3. Once cooked, ladle 1/3 of the mixture into blender and liquefy, then strain through a fine mesh strainer.  Do the same with the rest of the veggies in two more batches:
   
4. Stir in honey and spices and enjoy: