apple squash soup

"this sweet, silky and uplifting dish is the quintessential fall soup. i serve it to friends and family and even send it to school for my children's lunches. pair it with a salad or some sauteed greens and grains for an easy and satisfying meal."
excerpt from Clean Food

1 large butternut squash
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2T grapeseed oil
4 large apples, peeled, cored and quartered
4 cups vegetable stock
1 cup rice milk
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2t ground nutmeg
sea salt

peel squash, cut in half and remove seeds. cut into 2 inch pieces.

in large pot over medium heat, saute onion in oil until soft (about 5 minutes). add squash, apples, stock, rice milk, coconut milk and nutmeg. cover, bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes or until squash is soft. puree with handheld blender and remove from heat to cool slightly. season to taste with salt and serve.

quick boiled broccoli and stems with toasted sesame seeds

yesterday i ate a terrible breakfast and lunch, so i figured dinner should call for some clean food!

1 bunch broccoli

2T flax seed oil

1t ume plum vinegar (i substituted with rice vinegar because i could not find the ume plum)

2T toasted sesame seeds

cut broccoli florets from stems. chop florets into pieces and place in pot. trim and discard dry ends from broccoli stems. peel, discard outer skins, chop stems and add to pot with florets. add 2 inches of water, cover, bring to boil and cook 2-3 minutes or until bright green and just tender. drain water and toss broccoli with flax seed oil and vinegar. sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

i served this over a bed of quinoa.

give credit: clean food

refried pinto beans with chiles

i figured it safest to start easy and familiar, so this is the recipe i chose to kick off my "quest to clean food eating":

3 garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion, diced
2T grapeseed oil
4 cups cooked pinto beans
2 4oz cans chopped green chiles
1t chile powder
1t gound cumin
1/2t sea salt
2T lime juice
chopped fresh cliantro for garnish

in saute pan or dutch oven over medium heat, saute garlic and onion in oil until soft (about 3 minutes). add beans and remaining ingredients except cilantro and saute another 3-4 minutes. with the back of a wooden spoon, gently mash the beans to your desired consistency. i like my finished product to be fairly chunky so i mash only half the ingredients. remove from heat, top with cilantro and serve.

serves 6

i served this with broiled tilapia and guacamole.

give credit: clean food

a quest

i recently told gustavo that we don't eat unhealthy, but nor do we necessarily eat healthy. he was surprised, assuming he ate quite healthy. since then, we've been talking about about changing our eating habits.

we went to barnes and nobles today and this book was displayed front and center. it called my name, mostly because i like the name of the book and i liked the clean design of the book cover. (marketing victim!). i bought it. my goal is to educate myself a bit (which is what the first 30+ pages will do), then try some recipes....one a week. other than the cover of the book, i was also drawn to the layout. the recipes are divided into seasons. so happy autuum, i'll begin tackling some of those recipes and report on my progress.

autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
-albert camus