lazy. hungry. vegan. (WWFD)

So, I got kind of depressed today, and I was wandering around Whole Foods and got looking at all of their sexy sexy produce.
(hey, you cheer up your way, and I'll cheer up mine, ok?)

And I found some REALLY hot vegetables. Butternut squash, cauliflower, all kinds of kale...
but when I got home, I discovered that we barely had enough space for it all in the fridge, which, in turn, spawned - WWFD!

This required under 5 minutes of prep. The trick to speed here was a pressure cooker.


Lazy person's very low fat vegan squash soup with Asian pear and "sausage"

ingredients:
one butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 2-3 inch hunks

3 cubes of frozen minced ginger (mine is the Dorot brand)

salt and pepper

one tablespoon of vegan "butter" style spread (no partially hydrogenated fats. ever.)

one Asian pear (I had this in the fridge and it was about to go bad. a crisp apple would also do very nicely)

2 "apple and sage" style vegan sausages (or whatever you happen to have)

I served this with some oven roasted cauliflower. If you want to know how to make it, e-mail me. (This is amongst the only ok ways to prep the otherwise often vile flower of cauli, IMO)

here's what to do:

put the squash in the pressure cooker, along with the frozen ginger, about a half cup of water, salt and pepper. Put the lid on it. Set to high pressure for 3 minutes. (no that is not a typo, THREE MINUTES is all that is required).

meanwhile: roast the cauliflower, cut up the apple (or pear, in this case), and slice the "sausage' into coins. put the sausage in a skillet with a spritz of nonstick spray over medium-high heat and get it caramelized on the outside, tossing gently until evenly cooked.

when the pressure cooker has achieved pressure, keep it there for three minutes, and then vent the pressure (carefully, using tongs, since high pressure steam is HOT, hello!) - do not let the pressure out "naturally" as this will overcook the squash.

assemble:

remove the lid, and using a stick blender (or in small portions I suppose, with caution, you could do this in the blender or with a handheld masher), blend it into a smooth soup texture.

thicken and enrich the texture, if desired, with a little vegan "butter" (I like Earth Balance).

top with the pear (or apple, or whatnot) and the "sausage" and eat.

This could very easily be changed up by using different vegetables, different spices, or different add-ins to the squash-sauce (like with some red chilis, chickpeas, and finished with coconut milk instead of butter and maybe some lemongrass, topped with fresh cilantro and minced tofu... a totally different yet equally speedy and yummy dinner).

I am in love with my electronic pressure cooker.