Category Archives: Recipes

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Orange Soup

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One of our family’s favorites, Orange Soup (mah-RAHK kah-TOME), is a recipe that I have shared in the past. I have found that no matter how large a pot you make, it is always gone within a couple of days. In other words, this recipe makes a lot of soup, but it still won’t last very long. It’s quintessential comfort food.

In case you happen to like words and their derivations, marak katom is named for its vibrant orange color, which happens, in Hebrew, to be a completely different word (kah-tome) than the fruit (tah-pooz). Its many constituent orange vegetables, coupled with deeply yellow-orange spices, turn this soup into a phytonutrient party. 

Please note that you will need an immersion blender to make Orange Soup.

2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
approx 2 lbs. (1 medium) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
3-4 large carrots, peeled and sliced into thick rounds
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
6-8 cups water
2 tsp. Kosher salt
2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
3 Tbsp. coconut cream

In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat until fragrant and swirling. Add the onions and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are browning at the edges. Browned onion edges contribute a lot to the depth and flavor of soup, but burnt onions are a bummer. So keep a close eye on the onions as they near the end of the ten minutes. Add garlic, ginger, cumin, turmeric, and cinnamon, and stir well for 30 seconds to allow the flavors to bloom. Add the cubed squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, and 6 cups of water. 

Bring soup to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook 45 minutes until vegetables are all very soft. Remove the pot from the heat, and stir in the salt and pepper. Allow to cool for a little while, and blend until smooth with an immersion blender. Then stir in coconut cream. 

If you would like the soup to be a little thinner, you can add another cup or two of water. Serve immediately, or leave it on the counter for several hours, and then reheat just before mealtime. Serves 8-10 in bowls or 10-12 in cups. 

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Yellow Eye Heirloom Bean Soup

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Today was a lovely day, temperatures notwithstanding. School was cancelled, of course, because no one in their right mind could require children to stand outside in these temperatures waiting for school busses. This is why, having received the text from my daughter late yesterday, family camp was in session today. 

The children unrolled our many yoga mats end-to-end all over the living room, and then raided the pantry to build a long winding row of mostly dry and canned beans that they subsequently climbed over and among for close to an hour. In the meanwhile, I put up a pot of soup in my beloved 5.5-quart Staub Dutch oven (cocotte). Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Butternut-Peanut Soup

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Make this one cold evening with a couple of friends, light some candles, and sit back with a glass of wine while you wait for the soup to cook. Then ladle the soup into mugs and pass them around. This soup will warm you from the inside out. Remember that peanuts are a legume, so that makes it nourishing and a good source of protein. Also, be forewarned: the peanut butter and coconut milk make it quite rich, so one cup goes a long way. If you’re up for it, you can add a simple green salad, and call it a meal. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Red Lentils & Sweet Potatoes

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I think that it might be exactly the right time of year to have this recipe in the refrigerator. You can make this recipe over the weekend, and then have it ready to eat on the days between the endless holiday parties, celebrations, after-work stopovers, and other seasonal social events. It’s incredibly flavorful, it’ll give your mind and belly a well-deserved rest, and you’ll be glad not to have to think too much about what to make for dinner. Or lunch.  Continue reading →

About Manufactured Crackers, plus Recipe

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My book group makes the most amazing meals. There are never any assignments; creativity runs wild. A while ago, I took the time to write down one particularly memorable meal: That night we ate roasted eggplant appetizer; spinach salad with roasted beets, pomegranates, red onions, and golden raisins; sweet corn pudding; grated Jarlsberg cheese and red onions on whole-grain crackers; squash soup; and chocolate-covered strawberries. I remember once Lynne made us affogato, black coffee poured over a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Wow. Once in a while, we all bring salad. Or dessert. Or baba ganoush and crackers. We deal. I mentioned the last bit because today I would like to talk about crackers.  Continue reading →

Fall at its Finest

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This is the time of year when the pomegranates ripen and come to market. While I was growing up, my mom always put pomegranates on the grocery list at this time of year, and we children eagerly volunteered to unpack them when she arrived home. That night, after the dinner dishes were cleared, we would each take a seat at the circular kitchen table. My mom made a ceremony of opening a single perfect pomegranate to reveal its layers of shiny, shimmering red rubies. She separated the pomegranate into sections, saved one for herself, and then distributed the rest among the children. Together, we shared the pomegranate, appreciating the fruits of our table, eating up all the seeds, and counting our blessings. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Spicy Roasted Cabbage

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This is the story of a recipe that begins with the simplest, most humble of vegetables, a single whole cabbage. Cabbages tend to be underrated when in fact they are quite remarkable. They remind me of chameleons, with the ability to camouflage themselves in all kinds of surroundings. Fermented pickled sauerkraut, sweet acidic cole slaw, toothy grilled cabbage “steaks,” comforting colcannon (potatoes & cabbage), fried with eggs, braised, roasted. I think I’ll stop here. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: A Taste of Fall — Sweet Potatoes, Sage, & Rice

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More than any other time of year, I have always loved the summer’s end and early fall most of all. I love the chill in the air on late August and early September evenings, the feel of cozy scarves for the first time in months, the smells and sounds of soups and stews bubbling away on the stove. I never get tired of sweet potatoes, and I continue to love experimenting with new recipes for all kinds of squash, like butternut, delicata, acorn, and hubbard, not to mention pumpkins and spaghetti squash. The ingredients in this recipe hit all the right aromatic flavor spots, and I hope you get a chance to try it soon. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: August means Tomatoes!

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When a former Jersey girl tells you that she likes tomatoes, there’s a good chance she is not kidding. I would go so far as to say there’s just one time of year when tomatoes are truly worth eating, and that time is now. This is when I celebrate tomatoes; the rest of the year I just go through the motions. 

If I had a saying for this time of year, it would be something like this: “Thank you, sun; thank you, rain; thank you, farmers; and thank you, Vitamix.” Everything ripening, with celebrations of local peaches and tomatoes wherever you turn. A season of gratitude. Here are two recipes from a collection I make only at summer’s end, one requiring a high-speed blender, and the other just a good sharp knife. Continue reading →