First Anniversary Road Trip

We have been married for one-whole-year! Are we not newlyweds anymore? We celebrated our anniversary with a weekend away in Ithaca, NY. We stayed at a beautiful, historic B&B and enjoyed the fall foliage with the locals. We sipped wine at vineyards, hiked to the base of a waterfall, and of course filled our bellies with fantastic eats. Our favorite food stop was the famous Moosewood Restaurant. Moosewood is an internationally-renown vegetarian restaurant that has produced over 13 cookbooks! Having cooked from Moosewood since I was a high schooler, it felt dreamy to be eating in the flagship (only) restaurant. We came back from vacation refreshed, and brought home 3 new cookbooks (oops?), even more inspired for tasty vegetarian fare!

Salad boredom was officially busted with the construction of THIS salad. Roasted squash adds a different texture to the same salad bowl I eat almost every day for lunch. Thanks Moosewood for the inspiration!

best-ever fall salad

Best-Ever Fall Salad
Ingredients:

• Field greens of choice
• Butternut (pictured) or delicata squash, roasted in walnut oil @400 degrees for 20-30 minutes
• Red pear, perfectly ripe, sliced
• Gorgonzola cheese
• Pumpkin seeds
• Dried currents (or dried fig, chopped)

Directions:

Arrange on a lovely, simple plate and drizzle with pumpkin seed oil and red apple balsamic. Also delicious, a Moosewood classic dressing, Lemon-Tahini.

Lemon-Tahini Dressing, from Moosewood Restaurant

• 1/2 cup water
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup tahini
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Generous pinch of ground black papper or cayenne
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin seeds

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth and creamy. Dressing keeps in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

After we arrived home late Tuesday evening, we were not ready to give ourselves back to the real world just yet. With a few hours of vacation remaining, I did the only thing I could think of that was wild and crazy for a work-night... baked scones!

The Pumpkin Drop Scone recipe I used came from one of my new favorite blogs, Healthy Living How-To. (You should check out her real-food, lower-carb menu for Thanksgiving, it looks amazing!) I changed a few things in my scones, but if you click the link you can see Vanessa's original recipe. Instead of xylitol, I used maple syrup, and I skipped the crushed walnuts and opted for... mini chocolate chips (WHAT!)...

pumpkin chocolate chip drop scones

I would say we are adjusting to the non-newlywed world just fine. Here are a few more pictures from our trip!

the william henry miller inn.

a little appetizer we enjoyed while wine tasting (yes, honeycomb!)

this waterfall is higher than niagra falls

smiling because we are about to enjoy pre-ssert!

More good eats coming your way soon! Go do something crazy like bake scones on a Monday!

Butternut!

Hello again!

The best season of all is here, and the best soup of all is here:

Curried Butternut Squash

I think butternut squash soup is this decade's Italian marinara sauce... everyone has their own recipe and swears it's superior to all others. Well, here is my recipe, and yep, I think it's awesome. You can agree or disagree, and I'll still share! Curry and cinnamon give it warmth and sweetness. We enjoyed this batch over a French film rented from the library.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped (~3 cups)
• 3 apples, peeled and chopped
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 quart vegetable broth
• 1 15-oz can coconut milk
• ½ tablespoon cinnamon
• ½ tablespoon curry powder
• ½ tablespoon salt
• Black pepper, to taste
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions:

Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add olive oil and saute onion for 5 minutes. Add garlic, saute for 2 minutes. Add squash, apples, sweet potatoes, vegetable broth, coconut milk, cinnamon, curry, pepper, and cayenne. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until squash is soft. Let stand 10-15 minutes to cool slightly. Puree with immersion blender. Bring back to a simmer, adding salt and pepper to taste. 

Serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt, swirl of pumpkinseed oil, and maybe some toasted coconut!

A new favorite seasonal recipe we've been into recently is my pumpkin smoothie. Mark even said, and I quote, "This is as good as pumpkin pie." (Did you know one of his top-5 favorite foods is pumpkin pie?) Now whip this up:

Pumpkin Power Smoothie

• 1/2 banana, frozen in slices
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tbsp cashew butter
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (alternatively, 1/2 cup plain yogurt and a tsp of stevia or honey)
• 1 cup unsweetened almondmilk
• Lots of cinnamon
• Pinch of nutmeg

Blend. Eat!

I can't believe we will be celebrating our 1-year anniversary next weekend! We are off to upstate New York for a long weekend to enjoy the gorgeous season.

Until next time, eat well!