Cooking with Dr. Monkey

Tonight's episode: Or Spicy Butternut Squash Soup with Mushroom Green Pepper Quesadilla.

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One of my goals this year is to eat less meat than I did last year. Eating meat, especially beef, is not good for anyone, especially people who have had the heart problems that I've had. The amount of resources that go into raising beef is insane and it is huge drain on the environment. So two or three nights a week we eat either vegetarian meals or we have a meatless meal, the difference between the two is the former is made with no meat products and the latter may have ingredients such as chicken broth in it. So in keeping with my new goal of eating less meat, I made spicy butternut squash soup and a green pepper mushroom quesadilla the other night.

I chopped a medium sized butternut squash, scooped out the seeds and strings, and I put it in a big pot to boil. I added a half teaspoon of sea salt and I let it boil away until it was all cooked through, i.e. soft and pliant.After it was done I drained off the water and I scooped out the squash and I threw away the skin. I then put the squash in my food processor with a cup of chicken broth and I pulsed it all together until it was nice and soupy looking.Next I poured it into a smaller pan and I added another cup of chicken broth and a cup and cup of water. Then I peeled three cloves of garlic, chopped them up, and I tossed them in with a heaping table spoon of some Thai spice rub, a table spoon of crushed black pepper, half a tea spoon of cumin, and a dash of sea salt. I ground all that up with my mortar and pestle and then I put it in with my simmering squash soup.Next I sauteed half a green pepper, four or five medium baby portabella mushrooms, and half an onion. After that was cooked through I set it aside in a small dish.
I rinsed out the pan and reheated it with a dash of canola oil and as soon as it was hot I added a flour tortilla. As it heated up I spread the green pepper mixture around on it and I added four tablespoons of Newman's Own Salsa. Then I topped that with about half a cup of low fat mozzarella and I slapped another flour tortilla on top of that. As it all melted and heated up I flipped it over when the bottom started getting a bit brown and I let the other side brown a bit. After it got browned on both sides I took it off the heat and I made some carrot and celery sticks.
Then I plated it all. The quesadilla was excellent by the way but the soup was a shade too spicy for both our tastes, next time I won't add any of the Thai spice rub and it should be perfect.