Winter Squash Soup

This soup is flavored with  mild spices of India
Ingredients:

1 cup Red lentils soaked and drained
1 pd. Butternut squash peeled and cubed
1 Roma tomato diced
½ cup shredded Coconut
½ teaspoon Curry
½ teaspoon Cumin
¼ cup minced Onion
¼ cup diced Red pepper
4 cups water add more if needed



Tempering:
  
2 tablespoons Coconut Oil
1 teaspoon ground Mustard
¼ teaspoon Crushed red Pepper
1 minced Garlic clove
1 ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
1 tablespoon Honey
1 Lemon juiced
½ cup minced Cilantro
Directions

In a large soup pot, combine the squash, lentils, tomato, coconut, curry, cumin  onion, red pepper and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and reduce to low and simmer for  20 min. covered.  Remove the cover and simmer another 10 min.

To temper:
In a small skillet, warm the coconut oil until simmering.  Add the mustard, red pepper flakes, garlic and salt. Stir the ingredients and cook for 10 seconds. Then put a ladle full of soup into the skillet, it will sizzle,   stir and add the contents of the skillet to the soup and stir. Finish with the honey, lemon juice and Cilantro, stir  and serve.

Mediterranean Cucumber Hors d`oeuvres

1 English cucumber sliced
1 red  bell pepper  finely chopped
Sabra Classic hummus
Olive oil
1 tablespoon Paprika 
1 tablespoon Cumin 
2 garlic cloves minced
Dried Parsley flakes

Using a vegetable peeler, peel lengthwise down the cucumber  repeated to make a striped pattern, then slice the cucumber in ¼ inch slices, pat with paper towel to remove excess water and place on serving tray.

Using Sabra Classic hummus place 1 teaspoon of hummus of each cucumber slice.

Using a small skillet drizzle with Olive oil and place the finely chopped peppers, paprika , cumin  in the pan and sautee till soft, then add the garlic and sautee for 1 min. longer.
  With a slotted spoon  place a few peppers on each of the cucumbers with the hummus and lightly sprinkle with dried Parsley flakes all over and serve

I was selected to try  Sabra Hummus to create a recipe  as part of the  Foodbuzz Tastemaker program with Sabra.

Godiva French Vanilla Turkish Inspired Iced coffee

My inspiration for my Godiva French Vanilla Turkish Inspired Iced Coffee was my passion for the flavors and spices of the Middle East, incorporating Cardamom and Orange
Makes 2 -8oz.cups

In your coffee maker, using a paper filter, add 4 tablespoons Godiva French vanilla coffee , and to the coffee add 1 tsp. of freshly grated orange zest and ½ tsp. of ground cardamom. And 16 oz. of water then Brew.

Using a medium sauce pan, add the brewed coffee and ¼ cup of fresh squeezed orange juice , and ¼ cup of sweetened condensed milk. Bring to medium high temp and gently whisked together. Use two 8 ounce glass beverage cups and fill them half way with ice, fill the rest of the way with the coffee and serve.

Double Coconut Chocolate Chip cookies

 

½ stick melted unsalted  butter

½ cup of Tropical Traditions  virgin coconut oil

¾ cup of  Organic  sugar

¾  cup of lt. brown sugar  sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 12oz bag of semisweet chocolate chips

2  cups of self rising flour

1 ½ cups of shredded coconut

   

       Preheat oven to 350, melt the butter and coconut oil
  And put in a large mixing bowl, whisk the sugars, eggs and vanilla with the butter and coconut oil until combined, stir in the flour with  a wooden spoon just until combine. Stir in the chocolate chips and coconut. Wet your hands and roll the dough into balls and place on a greased baking sheet, make sure they have room to spread. Bake cookies until just light golden brown on the bottom for a nice soft cookie, or a little longer if you like a more crispy cookie. Transfer cookies to a plate for cooling .   Makes about 48 cookies

Roasted Summer Medley

1  - cup cauliflower florets
1 - sm. Bag baby carrots
6 - sm. Red potatoes  quartered
2 - Vidalia onions quartered
1 - cup broccoli florets
1 - yellow summer squash  sliced
1 - sm. Zucchini sliced.
 1/3 cup Olive oil
Parmesan cheese
 ½ teaspoon Salt
 ½ teaspoon Pepper
Parchment paper


Preheat oven to 400 degrees
 Place parchment paper onto a large baking sheet, if have you  smaller baking sheets you can use 2 of them.

In a bowl put in the veggies, add salt and the pepper  and the olive oil and toss them to coat  the veggies then pour onto the baking sheet, make sure to spread them out and put into oven and bake about 20  min. take out and sprinkle with parmesan and place back into the oven for about 10 min. or until  veggies start to get golden brown. Use a fork to make sure potatoes are tender.   When  done place the veggies on a platter and serve.