Roasted Bell Pepper and Tomato Soup

INGREDIENTS

2 bell peppers, sliced and with seeds removed

olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 or 2 carrots, chopped

2 or 3 stalks celery, chopped

2 to 4 cloves garlic

1 clamshell cherry tomatoes (or 2 to 3 large tomatoes, or 4-6 smaller ones)

1 1/2 quarts vegetable broth or water plus 2 cubes bouillon

herbs, fresh or dried—try any combination of basil, thyme, oregano and/or marjoram

salt and pepper to taste

TOPPINGS— Try serving with croutons, tortellini, crusty bread or even tortilla chips, and of course, pile on this week’s purple kohlrabi microgreens (or any microgreens you’ve got around) and parsley (or other chopped leafy greens like kale or arugula) to feed the good stuff to your gut microbiome! Don’t forget the slice of lemon or lime on the side.

INSTRUCTIONS

Pan roast the bell pepper in a bit of olive oil for a few minutes, until the skin starts to blister and it gets brown in spots.

Add the onion and saute for a few more minutes until it’s a bit transparent and also starts to brown

Add the carrots, celery, garlic, salt and pepper with a bit more olive oil and saute a couple more minutes

Add the tomatoes and stir fry another minute or two.

Add the broth or water and bouillon and herbs and cover and let simmer for 10 to 20 minutes.

Use an immersion blender to puree the soup or remove from heat, let cool a bit and then puree in a blender.

Serve with your choice of croutons, crusty bread, tortellini or tortilla chips (so many directions to take it!) and top with microgreens, parsley or other leafy greens, and a slice of lemon or lime on the side.

My Mom's Colache Recipe

Colache is a comfort food in our family. It’s what you do when you have a calabacita (zucchini or other summer squash) that’s really big, or your harvest is just so abundant…in short, it’s a great way to use up your summer squash. My mom just moved in with us and my kids are so lucky to have their abuelita around to play, teach and make yummy food. I am so lucky that she’s embracing retirement and spending her time with us. For the first time in my almost forty (!) years, I am getting her to write down some of her recipes for me. Here’s the first:

3 medium zucchini or other summer squash (or 4 smaller ones, or one HUGE one…), grated

1 tomato, chopped

1/2 - 1 cup chopped onion

1 chile (anaheim, or bell pepper if you don’t want it to be spicy), finely chopped (you can also skip the chile entirely to make it more kid-friendly!)

4 tbs olive oil

2 garlic cloves

2 cups corn (optional)

1 cup queso fresco, crumbled or grated (optional)

1 cup water

2 cubes veggie bouillon

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil for a couple of minutes.

Add tomato and chile and saute for a couple more minutes

Add water, bouillon cubes, corn and grated zucchini or other summer squash and cook over low medium-low heat for a few more minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and top with queso fresco, if you like.

Cover and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Honey Citrus Roasted Sheet Pan Dinner

Click here for the original inspiration for this recipe.

Inspired by this Salmon Sheet Pan recipe, I am taking this quick and easy (and beautiful) recipe and simplifying it to be quicker, easier and more flexible. Oh, and maybe even better for you since I’m cutting the honey in half and replacing some of the sweetness with orange juice. If you have the time and ingredients, I recommend you try the original recipe linked above. If you’re feeling like me, this week, thinking “a glaze AND a marinade—there’s no time for that around here”…then maybe you’ll want to try this one better. You can adjust proportions of ingredients based on your preference or what you have around.

Ingredients:

to roast—-

bok choy (whole if it’s small enough, chopped into big pieces if you’ve got a large one)

bell pepper (seeds removed and sliced into wedges)

cherry tomatoes (whole or cut in half)

onion (green onions roughly sliced or any other kind, chopped into wedges)

protein of choice (the original calls for salmon, tofu, tempeh or, even more exciting, a combination of mushrooms and cashews are good vegetarian substitutes)

the marinade/glaze—-

1/8 cup honey

zest and juice of 1 orange

4 tbs freshly squeezed lime juice (and the zest of one lime)

1/4 soy sauce

3 cloves garlic (pressed or finely chopped)

3 tbs oil (try roasted sesame oil or olive oil)

pepper to taste

sesame seeds

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Line a baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper.

Mix marinade ingredients in a cup.

In a large bowl, toss the veggies with half of the glaze mix, then arrange in a layer on the lined baking sheet.

Place the protein on top of the layer of veggies and drizzle with 1/4 of the glaze.

Bake for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on how long your protein needs to cook (mushrooms are usually done in 10 minutes, tofu is safe to eat undercooked so it just depends on how crispy you want it, but maybe the salmon doesn’t have that flexibility) and how well-cooked you like your vegetables.

Save the last 1/4 of the glaze and add it as you pull it out of the oven just before serving.