Is there anyone in this hemisphere that doesn’t want soup right now?  This garlicky beans & greens combo has an ingredient list that you can count on your fingers…on one hand (well, almost).

You could use any white bean (cannellini, great northern, butter bean) or green (kale, chard, broccoli raab) but the silky texture of cooked escarole is so appealing and it has just enough bite to give some punch to soup.  But feel free use whatever green catches your eye at the market.

This soup could be made really simple by using canned chickpeas, but cooking your own from dried creates a tasty broth and saves a few cents in the process.  Please note that if you do use canned chickpeas be sure to buy a reputable organic brand (I use Eden) that lines the aluminum cans so the tin flavor and other strange elements don’t leach in - it’s especially important since you’ll be using the bean liquid in the soup.

Now, since I’ve made this so easy on you, unless you’re anti-breadbowl (like this guy, sheesh) go ahead and buy some nice solid loaves of sourdough bread and get to work.

serves: 6
time: 25 minutes for canned chickpeas, cooking chickpeas from dried is an additional 45 minutes – 8 hours

Chickpea and Escarole Soup in a Breadbowl

1 bag dried chickpeas (or 4 cans organic chickpeas, with liquid)
olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, sliced
about 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, stems removed and chopped
2 veggie bullion cubes (or stock)
2 large heads escarole, washed, cored and roughly chopped
cracked black pepper
sploosh of olive oil
bread for breadbowl - crusty sourdough works well
To top: olive oil, parmesan or romano cheese (optional)

Soak your dried chickpeas one of two ways:

1) Overnight or 2) using the quick-soak method of bringing the chickpeas to a boil and then letting them stand for an hour or two.  Drain and rinse.

Add enough water to cover the beans by an inch or two.  Cook the beans; You could do this in a crock-pot for on high for 4 hours or low for 8 OR on stove for one and half hours OR in a pressure cooker for 45 minutes.

In a large soup pot, sauté the garlic in a large glug of olive oil for a few minutes over medium-low, heat until they start to turn golden.  Add the cooked beans and liquid (or canned beans and canning liquid + 1 can water) and the bullion cubes.  Taste and adjust for salt/pepper.  If you prefer a thicker soup (especially if you are using a breadbowl), at this point you can take out a cup or two of soup and puree in a blender, returning it to the pot to give the soup more body.

Add the escarole and simmer for about 10 minutes until dark green and wilted.

For the breadbowl, cut a crusty sourdough loaf downward in a circle (or rectangle, if you bread is rectangular) ¾ of an inch away from the sides of the loaf. Remove the top crust and pull away the interior of the loaf, reserving it for breadcrumbs or croutons.  Try pull out as much bread as possible without creating a hole anywhere.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 - 25 minutes, until hot and crusty. Pour your soup in the breadbowl and forget about the dishes.

Between my CSA takings and my weekly farmers market ritual buying spree, I end up spending a lot of time thinking of how to turn seasonal veggies into dinner. So why not turn them into dessert?

Inspired by this fascinating vegan Chocolate Beetroot cake from Kathryn’s information-rich blog Limes & Lycopene, I designed a lively-tasting vegan cupcake - with beets - that lives up to it’s party pink exterior.

There’s a really cool (geeky?) science-experimenty situation happening in this recipe; the uncooked batter is a murky magenta from the grated beets but when baked it turns to a gold flaxen color. More beet research suggests that if left uneaten long enough the pink icing will turn back into white in a magic-disappearing ink sort of way but I suspect that these cupcakes won’t last long enough for you to test this hypothesis.

I’m entering these cupcakes to Minko’s (another Aussie!) Think Pink for Pinktober event over at Couture Cupcakes - she promises to send $1 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation for every pink recipe. Check out her Pinktober Pomegranate Turkish Delight Cupcakes - um, wow! I also can’t wait to try her vegan Lime Zucchini Pistachio Cupcakes - another creative veggie-packed dairy-free dessert!

Time: 25 minutes plus 20 minutes to bake plus cooling time before frosting
Makes: 12 cupcakes

Vegan Ginger-Beet Cupcakes with Very Pink Frosting

Cupcakes
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup plain or vanilla soymilk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup of raw grated beet (a bit less than one medium-sized beet)
3 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1/2 cup coconut oil (or any mild-tasting veggie oil)
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
spray oil

Frosting
1/4 cup vegan margarine
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup soymilk
splash beet juice (extra grated beet mixed with water)
squeeze of lemon
dash salt

Preheat the oven to 350º.

Fill a cupcake tray with 12 cupcake liners (I like to spray the inside of the muffin papers with spray oil to help the cupcakes release). Set aside.

Mix the vinegar with the soy mix well and set aside (the mixture will curdle).

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

In another mixing bowl whisk together the soymilk mixture, beet, ginger, coconut oil, and vanilla. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and beat until smooth using a hand-held mixer, stopping once to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full with batter. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.

Let cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes from the pan and place on a wire rack. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, first cream together the vegan margarine and shortening. You want to cream these together REALLY well, so mix vigorously with a fork for 5 minutes, until your arm is very tired.

Beat the powdered sugar into the margarine mixture until well combined. Then add a splash of beet juice for color and a squeeze of lemon and pinch of salt to help balance out the sweet. Mix for another few minutes until the frosting is pink pink and fluffy fluffy.

I know I’ve presented mini-blitz of squash recipes lately, but I’m following a new cooking mantra (and trying to clear my fridge, windowsill, and veggie bins of CSA veggies) to only cook seasonal fruits and veggies. Sometimes inspiration comes from the strangest places. I was doing my obligatory CSA hours at the farmer’s market and I noticed a customer checking out the produce with the time and attention that a curator might take to inspect a potentially fraudulent painting. When he paid for his items I asked him what he was considering so carefully – he was choosing just the right butternut to make squash gnocchi. “Squash Gnocchi!,” I thought with an exclamation point, “boy, I’ve got to try that at home.”

What I found is that this is not, sadly, the simplest dish to make. But it’s very satisfying in a this-is-want-I-want-after-a-long-day-of-raking-leaves sort of way. I followed gnocchi making directions that suggested to roll a piece of already labor-intensive dough down a fork in such a way that it had tine-marks on one side and an indentation on the other side. I couldn’t quite figure this out, even though I practiced about 80 times. And if I ever had to do it again I’d probably impale myself on a rake. I’m suggesting the diagonally-chopped log approach to you folks - it will save a lot of time and frustration and I suspect that your gnocchi will be more tender to boot since you won’t be handing them as much.

With all the care that goes into making these gnocchi you’re not going to want to disguise your work with a bulky sauce. So this one is just butter and mellow roasted garlic laced with crispy sage leaves. Perfect for the season.

Serves: 4
Time: 3 hours (2 hours to cook and cool the squash, 1 hour to make the gnocchi and sauce)

Squash Gnocchi with Roasted Garlic and Sage Brown Butter

1 medium squash (try a drier variety like butternut or buttercup)
2 heads garlic
olive oil

Pasta
2 eggs
1 1/2 - 2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt

Sauce
1 stick butter
20 or so whole fresh sage leaves, stems removed
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Halve the squash lengthwise and place it cut side down on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 to 1 ½ hours, or until soft to the touch. Cool and set aside.

Discard any loose leaves on the garlic heads and brush off any dirt. Slice the top off the head of the garlic so it exposes the interior of each garlic clove. Place on a baking sheet cut side up, drizzle with a little olive oil, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the garlic is golden and fragrant. When garlic has cooled sufficiently, pop the cloves out of the skins by squeezing the root side of bulb. Set aside for the sauce.

When the squash has cooled, scoop out the seeds and surrounding stringy matter with a spoon. Extract the flesh from the skin and whip with a fork, or pass through a food mill if you happen to have one of these contraptions. What I’ve found is that watery squash makes for a less flavorful gnocchi so simmer the squash pulp over medium heat until reduced and dry, but not browning or burnt. You want to work with ¾ cup of squash.

Beat eggs in a small bowl and incorporate ¾ cup of condensed squash pulp. In a different larger bowl mix 1 1/2 cups flour with salt.

Start water boiling in one or two large pots. Be sure to salt the water quite a bit.

Slowly fold the squash/egg mixture into the flour, working as little and lightly as possible. Depending on the consistency of your squash you may need to add more flour until the dough stops sticking to your hands.

Break dough into a few pieces and on a lightly floured surface roll the dough out into a snake shape with the width the size of a nickel. Dust the top of the snake with flour and cut 1/2 inch slices on a diagonal to make the gnocchi. Keep the gnocchi on lightly floured baking sheet while you are rolling and cutting the rest of the dough, but it’s best to get them cooked as close to their creation as possible.

Gently ease the gnocchi into the lightly boiling water. You will probably not be able to fit them all in at once, so do them in batches. Stir to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom. With a slotted spoon, take them out when they start to float, 2-3 minutes.

In a large pot melt the butter over medium heat. When it starts to foam add the sage leaves and cook until the butter starts to brown and the sage gets crispy. Add the whole roasted garlic cloves and cooked gnocchi and mix until the flavors meld together.

Serve immediately with a side of sautéed greens, maybe a warm beet salad, and definitely a glass of crisp white wine.

This recipe is a complete rip-off of homage to SusanV’s Vegan Peach Upside Down Cake that, like pretty much all other FatFree Vegan recipes, is just knockout. It’s a simple but beautiful idea; the glossy caramel showcases the peaches, the real star of this dessert, and the cake plays backup to the beautiful fruit.

It seems to be peach season in New York - white peaches came in my CSA share and I’ve been buying up all the ripe yellow ones from my farmer’s market in Brooklyn. They are just too good to share and quite frankly it’s going to be apple season for a looooong time. In other words, get your local peaches now; you can always get apples later.

This is my first foray into Gluten Free Baking. I read Karina’s gluten-free baking guidelines at Gluten-Free Goddess (I’m also a big fan of her blog in general) and felt empowered enough to give it a try. Instead of buying 10 different kinds of flour I simply purchased a mix of gluten-free flour (I used Arrowhead Mills brand baking mix, but there are other ones out there too.) I added oats for texture and used agave nectar, which has a great fruity taste and a low GI index, instead of sugar. If you don’t have gluten concerns, try replacing all or some of the flour with whole wheat flour and even adding some ground flax seeds for a more rustic tart with bonus omega-3s. Down-sided up with sliced peaches shimmering in caramel, I see this cake being a hit no matter what.

Serves: 6
Time: 1.5 hours: 45 minutes to prep, 30 to bake, 15 to cool

Gluten-Free Peach Upside-down Cake

1/2 cup gluten-free rolled oats
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp lemon juice
3 cups peeled and sliced peaches (about 5-7 peaches. I used a mix of white and yellow peaches)

Dry Ingredients
1 cup gluten-free flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp salt

Liquid ingredients
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest (or 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract)

For Caramelizing
spray or vegetable oil
1/4 cup natural granulated sugar
2 Tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350.

Soak oats in the soy milk with lemon juice while you slice and skin the peaches. See an excellent tutorial, also inspired also by SusanV’s cake, on slicing and skinning peaches at VeganYumYum.

Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix together the wet ingredients and set the two bowls aside.

Spray or wipe a 10″ cast iron skillet with oil. Heat the sugar and water over medium-low heat until it turns brown and reduces, but can still fully coat the bottom of the skillet - about 5 minutes.

Lay the peaches in a single layer in the caramel. You can make a pretty design by getting them to face all one way on the outside loop and the other way on the inside loop. I alternated white and yellow peaches and that ups the aesthetic ante too.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together briefly, until just combined. Pour the batter slowly over the peaches and put the skillet in the oven. Cook for 25 - 35 minutes or until the toothpick test comes out clean.

Cool the cake for 15 minutes or more and cut carefully along the edges of the cake between the pan to help loosen the cake. Place a plate over the skillet and clamping the long handle part of the skillet to the plate with one hand, and the short handle part of the skillet to the plate with the other hand, invert the skillet over the plate. Carefully remove the skillet from the cake.

The night before my volunteer farming duties officially started at Pennypack, I was given a tour of the grounds. Toward the end of the tour I was shown a very large, very tall area of weeds dubbed something like “the squash beds.” I didn’t think too much about it, other than for an otherwise unremarkable weed patch the weeds seemed remarkably healthy.

I guess the squash were robust too because, as I later learned, the snakey squash vines plain busted out of their their narrow beds, fruit bursting off any old place. The area couldn’t be weedwacked in fear of clipping a renegade squash vine, so the weeds were allowed to grow as wild as the squash.

The task of harvesting the squash itself was a guerrilla-like operation. The harvesters (that’s me!) waded through uneven ground stomping back heavy weeds to procure our bounty, rather like Che Guevara and pals went searching through South America for socio-economic inequities. Or something like that. It was poetic, trust me. Imagine stumbling upon a startlingly red kuri squash or a blue hubbard as big as a small child. Pretty dramatic.

What I acquired from all this, other than a refreshed love for this humble fruit and a scratched pair of forearms, was the knowledge that my co-harvesters cherish squash soup above all foods. So come Friday, my last day at the farm, the squash wrangled and my duties done, I decided that my final lunch at the farm would be something I was sure everyone would love.

Serves: 5 as a side dish
Time: 1.5 hours for baking the squash, 20 minutes to prepare

Squash & Coconut Soup

1 large butternut squash
1/2 jalapeno, minced (can be deseeded)
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 inch fresh ginger, minced
small handful basil, chopped (preferably Thai basil)
small handful mint, chopped
small handful cilantro, chopped
1/2 - 1 can coconut milk, well mixed
salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the butternut squash in half legnthwise and place it cut side down on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Bake for an hour to an hour and a half, or until tender. Let cool.

Once the squash is cool enough to handle, cut the flesh away from the skin. Discard the skin.

Toss the jalapeno, garlic, ginger, basil, mint, and cilantro in a blender. Pour in a bit of the coconut milk and blend well. Add the squash and enough coconut milk to blend into a liquid, about 3/4 of a can for a medium butternut squash. You may need to blend in batches if your squash is big and your blender is small.

Heat the soup on the stove until at a low simmer. Add more coconut milk or water if the soup needs to be thinned down.

Serve in individual bowls and garnish with a sprig of mint, basil, cilantro, or a thin slice of jalapeno.