Roasted butternut squash soup with Spinach, pecan, and pear salad

Roasted butternut squash (I don’t use a recipe, so the ingredients are approximate)

One butternut squash, peeled and diced
One yellow onion, sliced
Two tablespoons of butter
One carton low-sodium organic chicken broth (about 6 cups)
One container carrot puree (I use baby food carrots. You can also use carrot juice instead)
Chipotle powder
Clove
Turmeric
3 oz heavy cream
Low-fat milk
Salt
Pepper

•Put the onion and butter in a soup pot and turn on the heat on low. Add salt, and simmer until the onions get very wilted.
•Add the squash and salt, and cook on medium low. Don’t stir too much; let them sit and caramelize, then stir, then let them sit again. Do this for about 5-7 minutes.
•Add the broth and carrot puree (or carrot juice). There should be enough liquid to fully cover the squash, and come up another inch or two above the squash. If you don’t have enough broth, add water. Add a pinch each of pepper, chipotle powder, clove, and turmeric. If you don’t have one of these, omit or substitute (for example, use cayenne instead of chipotle, or nutmeg instead of cloves). Let cook on medium until the squash is mushy. If the liquid evaporates too quickly, add some water.
•Puree the soup using a blender (do this in batches). If the soup is too dense in the blender, add milk. Put the soup back on the stove, and add the cream. Add enough milk to make the soup the consistency you like. Heat through, and taste for seasoning.

Note: I am not too worried about the cream and butter in this recipe. It makes a good amount of soup, so it gets well distributed. If you want, you can substitute olive oil for the butter and only use milk (no cream), but I find the consistency and taste better if you add just a little cream and butter. Pair with a healthy, tangy salad, and your calorie count is still very reasonable.

Spinach, pecan, and pear salad

This is from Hugh Acheson’s book A New Turn in the South

For the pecans: 1 cup pecans, 1 Tbsp butter, ½ tsp sugar, 1 pinch cayenne and salt. Melt the butter in a non-stick pan, and add the pecans. Stir for 2 minutes, then add the sugar, cayenne, and salt. Cook through,stirring.

For the dressing: put 1tsp Dijon mustard, 1 tsp thyme leaves, 1 diced shallot, 1.5 Tbsp white wine vinegar, ¼ cup olive oil into a mason jar, cover, and shake well.

Baby spinach
Pear, sliced
Creamy blue cheese (Stilton or Roquefort),
diced Pecans
Dressing

Put the spinach, pear, and cheese in a salad bowl. Toss with the pecans. Add dressing and toss. You will probably not need all of the dressing – add a bit at a time, and save the rest for tomorrow’s salad.

For the dressing, I used a Dijon thyme dressing.