Spinach, Squash, and Black Bean Soup

Ok. So, I know I already posted once today, but it was lunchtime and I was hungry... so it was back to the Vitamix. Babe had just woken up from his nap, and I'll be honest, I had been waiting for him to get up, scheming about what deliciousness I could make with the food in my kitchen...

1:30pm. He's finally up. I pop open the fridge and find Dave has used up all the heavy whipping cream. And I had used the rest of the milk for gluten free pancakes for breakfast (they were sooooooo good!!! Made the batter in the Vitamix too btw.) But yeah. Unfortunately, no dairy products to be had for soup-deliciousness.

Not to be deterred, I pulled out the squash I cooked yesterday in the crock pot and went to search the pantry to see what kind of canned goodness I could toss into the Vitamix. Honestly it's a bit picked over, but I came up with a can of black beans and corn. Further fridge-raiding brought up some fresh spinach and queso fresco. Now for the liquids. Since we had no dairy left to use, I decided to use chicken bouillon and grabbed some cumin for spice.

I'm horrible at measuring, but here's a rough estimation of what all was tossed in...

Spinach, Squash, and Black Bean Soup 

3 or 4 cups mystery squash (best we can determine it is buttercup squash, already cooked)
a bit of frozen onion and peppers (got a mixed bag from Aldi, maybe 1/2 a cup?)
couple handfuls of fresh spinach, steamed quickly on the stove with a bit of water
2 cups of water & 2 chicken bouillon cubes (or chicken stock/broth if you have it)
couple dashes of cumin
a pinch of fresh thyme (not sure if it even made a difference)
splash of heavy cream (all that I had)
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of corn, drained
Queso Fresco

I started with the squash in the mixer with the chicken bouillon, and turned that onto high. got it so it was moving and tossed in the onion and peppers. While the squash was heating ( did you know the Vitamix can heat whatever you're making through friction!?! Totally bad ass.) I tossed the spinach in a skillet with a spot of water and got it cooking down. A few minutes later I turned down the mixer, added in the spinach, 1/3 of the can of black beans, a bit of corn, and the cumin. Tossed it back on high, and blended the ingredients until super smooth, then turned it back down again. Quick taste test, tossed in more beans and a bit more squash and it was pretty good, just needing a pinch of salt. Dave liked it as it was, so he got his out and I dished some for the Babe, but I wanted to have a bit more body to it so I tossed in some more corn and the rest of the beans. Gave it a quick bit of blending, and called it good. Was still pretty smooth, haven't totally gotten the hang of keeping the ingredients chunky, but it was delicious!

To top it all off, we put the queso fresco on top. I put some more corn on mine too. Perfect.


Of all the meals I've made for Babe, this one he had seconds! And not little seconds, but decent sized portions! I even gave him some with the queso fresco on top and he was so excited waving his arms around and hands going in circles. It was awesome seeing him so excited.

Although he definitely needed a bath afterward.

Week 1 recap... How it all began

September is an eventful month for my family. My husband's birthday. My birthday. Wedding Anniversary. It seems like everything happens in September.

And it's the start to the best time of the year... FALL!

Honestly, I like winter better but I like summer the least, so I'm very excited when September rolls around and so I can start doing the fall/winter type activities I would rather be doing all the time.  And I can do them without the weird looks I usually get!

Anyway. Back to September. Busy and important month for us. And this year, my wonderful mother-in-law gave us a fantastic gift for an anniversary gift... A VITAMIX!

Never in my life have I been so excited and surprised and did I say excited?! (think screaming with joy) about a gift. At the beginning of summer I was going to buy one, buy things didn't work out, and now I have one just in time for fall! Which is perfect timing for making fantastic soups and purees from our garden.

It took all of my willpower to wait until we got home before I opened it. Babe and I spent all morning Monday cleaning the kitchen so it would have a perfect spot on the counter... but once I opened the box and put it on the counter.. I discovered it won't fit under the cupboard when its assembled. Kinda sad.

A little tall for our kitchen, but it's in MY kitchen!

But who cares! I have a Vitamix! I feel as though the power of the world is in my kitchen. I can make ANYTHING!


So what to make first?

We started out with a fresh broccoli cheese soup from the recipe book that came with it. tossed in some steamed broccoli, milk, cheddar cheese, onion, bouillon cube. All good stuff. blended on high for 6 minutes and Babe and I had fresh soup (all made in the Vitamix). And there was even some left over for Dave when he got home from work!

 Babe tested out the soup... first few bites were a bit more than his cute little mouth could handle. Lots of wincing as we started, though he got used to it a few bites in.

Mama and baby broccoli cheese soups. Delicious!

And cleanup was super quick. Soap and water right in, blend for a bit, rinse and done. Definitely my kind of operation!

Next up. We made smoothies! You can't just get a sweet blender and not make a smoothie! We made a huge veggie smoothie (carrots, spinach, onion, ice, Worcestershire, salt) that wasn't too bad. We've also made a raw beet smoothie, as wells as a few fruit smoothies with whatever looked good.

Another recipe of note we tried this week was strawberry lime sorbet (strawberries, lime, sugar, ice). Fantastic dessert, and Dave and I really enjoyed it though the Babe was wincing as he ate it.. must have been too cold for him.