Recipe + Vintage Apron: Tortellini Soup

It has been quite a cool, cloudy, dreary day, so I decided some red wine, a colorful vintage apron, and some warm soup would brighten my spirits. I love this tortellini soup recipe, it tastes rich, but has so many vegetables in it, that it is actually quite light. It also makes enough for a weekend of leftovers.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound sweet or spicy crumbled Italian turkey sausage (about three links with casings removed)
3 cloves minced garlic
1 cup shredded carrots
4 tomatoes, seeded, and chopped
2 zucchini, 1 yellow, 1 green
2 cups finely chopped spinach
1 10 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 cup red wine
6 cups beef broth
Handful fresh basil, chopped
Dried oregano to taste
Frozen cheese tortellini
Parmesan cheese for garnish

Crumble sausage into pot, cooking until it is no longer pink. Add garlic, stirring for about a minute. Stir in vegetables, cooking until crisp-tender. Add spinach and cook until wilted, then add wine, tomato sauce, beef broth, oregano, and basil, and bring pot to a boil. Turn the heat down and let simmer for about 30 minutes. Add desired amount of tortellini to each bowl, then pour hot soup over them, letting sit for about 3-5 minutes, or until tortellini is al dente. Garnish with more basil and parmesan cheese. It's great with a glass of the red wine you used in the soup!

-Heather

Recipe + Vintage Apron: Red Kale Tortilla Soup

This recipe was passed down from my father, an amazing cook who hails from Mexico. Even though I have been vegetarian for ten years, he still insists that it needs to be made with chicken and chicken stock. So for your meat eaters out there, feel free to follow his advice. I make this soup a lot in the winter, it is my family's version of chicken noodle soup. To me this is comfort food to the max, I had it when I had my wisdom teeth taken out, when I would get a cold as a kid, or just to warm up from the below freezing weather.

My take on my dad's tortilla soup! Enjoy.

Ingredients:
One carton of organic vegetable broth, low sodium
Baby Bella mushrooms about 20 chopped
Half a bunch of red kale
One bunch of celery chopped
Half a bunch of fresh cilantro chopped
3 cans of diced tomatoes (with basil or oregano is great too)
6 limes (fresh is a must, do not use lime juice from a can, yuck!)
Cumin to taste (about 2 tablespoons)
Olive oil
2 Bay Leaves
Garlic (1 or 2 cloves)
A little sea salt to taste

The Fixins'
Corn tortillas
Olive oil
Avocado

Saute the garlic and mushrooms in olive oil for about 8 minutes












then just add the rest of the chopped ingredients and bring to a boil

While the soup is cooking, cut your corn tortillas into strips, brush with olive oil and put on a baking pan. Let bake until crisp for about 12 minutes at 375.

Serve hot with tortilla crisps and avocado chunks.
-Ladybird

Recipe + Vintage Apron: Butternut Squash Soup Deux

Autumn is one of my favorite seasons: the abundance of food, the colors and the smells make my senses dance. Butternut squash soup is one of my Autumn staples.  It is packed full of nutrients and uses seasonal and local produce.

I noticed that Twill made a similar soup last week. Two soups, two cities, two aprons, one main ingredient! How great lovely minds think alike!

This recipe is so simple, perfect for a lazy Sunday.  Today this soup was especially apropos, being that it is Halloween!

***A note about my cooking. First of all, soups to me, are a lot about what I have on hand, or mixing interesting combinations. So I hardly ever measure things out, if I have more carrots, I use more, if I am feeling spicy I will amp up the ginger or cayenne. So although I have a list of ingredients, I hope this doesn't limit you. Second, this soup is so flavorful, that I don't use any vegetable stock, just water.  I am a vegetarian, so I of course do not use animal stock, but feel free to use what you like. 
 Using water also cuts down on the sodium.

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash
10 carrots
1 small apple
1 red pepper
fresh ginger root
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
curry powder
cayenne pepper 
sea salt
salty cheese
cashew nuts
water


First, I wash and chop all the ingredients, the squash is rather tough, using a really sharp knife helps. I love when you cut into the squash and the moisture starts to bead up on the surface. Beautiful! Today, I only had a very large apple on hand, so I used about 1/4 of it. I don't bother peeling it, because it softens in the boil. I love ginger so I used a lot, but my suggestion if you are unfamiliar with the strength of this root, is to just chop up about 2 quarter sized chunks.

Once everything is chopped, I throw in a drizzle of olive oil into a large soup pot and lightly saute the garlic. I always buy a big head of garlic and then mince it and put it in a glass jar for later use, this way it saves me time and my hands don't smell like garlic every time I need some. Then add in all the ingredients, water to just about cover all the produce, add some curry and cayenne (not too much, you can always add more later). Then let simmer until the carrots are tender enough to stick a fork through them with ease.

Once everything is tender, add a little salt, and blend it, I love my immersion blender for soups.

This soup looks, smells, and tastes like autumn, serve hot with crumbled salty cheese and cashews. I used feta because I had it on hand, but I also like cotija.  Enjoy!

-Ladybird