Carnival of Recipes: Cooking for hurricane victims edition

(Whoa.. 43 comments, including a couple of trolls equals $215.00! Way cool! Comments are now closed as of 9/11/2005 at 9:55pm EST... My profound thanks to all commenters [except the trolls], and may God bless you for participating!)

As a note to any visitors to this post: for each comment left (so long as it's polite), I will donate $5.00 to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina Relief. [edit - I suppose, just being wildly optimistic, that I ought to put a limit so I don't bankrupt myself. I will donate $5.00 per comment up to a $300.00 limit]

So please, just drop a quick note just to say "Hi!" It takes only a little of your time, but a) it encourages me, and b) I can use it to help others. (For those who think I'm simply trolling for traffic, I've already given to the Red Cross, Samaritan's Purse and Soldiers' Angels - I just wanted to do something more interactive as well.)

(UPDATE, 2.0 - Well, it seems I've got an imitator! I'm very flattered, and ask you to go on over to InsoluBlog and post your comment or send a trackback to Grow another Cat for Katrina. Go on, shoo! Get over there and get him to pony up some bucks! ;-)  )

This week's Host for the Carnival is the Glittering Eye, so make sure you go over and visit for lots of yummy stuff! (Link --->here<--- when the Carnival is posted)

Curried Winter Squash Soup

This is a thick, spicy soup that's completely vegetarian. It's great hot, but I suppose if you wanted you could add milk or cream (perhaps soy or rice milk if you wanted to keep it vegan? I've never tried that...) to thin it and serve it chilled like vichysoisse. This is also a fairly spicy version, so you may have to adjust the seasonings to adapt to your tastebuds.

This also makes a huge amount (10-12 servings), so if that's too big, play around with the amounts.

• 1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil
• 3 cups chopped onion
• 3 cups seeded and chopped zucchini
• 1 1/2 cups cleaned and sliced leeks
• 3 (or more - I looooove garlic!) cloves of garlic, peeled and minced (or pressed)
• 2 large butternut squash (about 5 lbs, total), peeled, seeded and cut into large chunks
• 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 tablespoons Hot Curry powder (I love Penzey's, but the supermarket brand will do)
• 1/2 - 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• salt, to taste (go easy - this is spicy and you won't need much)
• 28 oz. vegetable broth - plus extra water if needed

In a large stockpot, heat the oil over med-high. When hot, add the onions, then the garlic, and sauté until transluscent, about 5-8 minutes. Add in the zucchini and leeks, stirring well. Stir in the curry, ginger, and pepper and coat the vegetables. Keep sautéing the vegetables and spices together until the spices are fragrant, again about 5-8 minutes.

Add the squash, broth, and any water you feel is needed - go easy: you can always add more. Bring the mixture to a boil, lower heat to med-low and cover. Cook for about 40 minutes until the squash is completely tender.

Puree the mixture - I use one of those stick blenders right in the pot, but you could use a Cuisinart or a regular blender by doing it in batches. Remember to be careful of splashes, this is hot!

Serve with good, crunchy fresh bread and a salad!

Technorati Tags: flood aid, Hurricane Katrina

Comments

[Jay]

1.

sounds delicious and for a wonderful cause. So I have to leave a comment worth $5. I've also donated to http://www.mercycorps.org/. Keep up the good work.

[Ogre]

2.

Yay, money! I shall go find some people to comment here for you!

[Oddybobo]

3.

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy! Whoo Hoo, Great Job!

[David]

4.

Gee... like squash. Love curry. Garlic? I'd eat garlic ice cream.

This one is right up my alley!

(Now, if only I can keep WW from knowing it's squash before she tries it... :-)

[GM Roper]

5.

I have a similar recipe, not as spicy and made with Acorn, butternut and zuchinni as well as yellow crookneck and the little white squashs. One third of the cooked squash is reserved and put in (sliced but not pureed) after the rest is blended. Your's sounds delicious and now I've got to try it.

[FreeWine]

6.

Hi! Hope you get loads of comments!

[Nicole N( from lafayette)]

7.

I think that you are doing an amazing thing.
I am seeing the devastation firsthand and this is a once in a century disaster,

[bheagle]

8.

It's very nice that you are doing this. Interesting recipe!

[Janette]

9.

Nice idea! I'll do my best to find people to help bankrupt you!

[Jamilyn]

10.

I love squash soup. There's a restaurant around here that has the best butternut squash soup...I get it like once a week!
(by the way, I got here by a link on Janette's page...blame her!)

[Maggie]

11.

Add another $5 to that pot!

[Chris]

12.

Hi.

[Logan]

13.

Kudos on your efforts to bring relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. There is another way bloggers and other thoughtful people can help:

I have opened forums at www.DisasterReliefIdeas.org for the discussion of ideas to aid disaster relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I am not soliciting donations, only ideas. Experts in aspects of disaster relief (housing, healthcare, rebuilding, etc.) are also able to rate these ideas, giving us a means of identifying the most promising ones, which will be shared with disaster relief professionals and persons in authority. Please help our society by contributing your ideas, especially if you are unable to contribute financially to relief efforts.

[Nettie]

14.

This is a neat way to give; I have a soft spot for the Red Cross too. Keep up the good work!

[Esther]

15.

I'll do anything to help those poor people! I live near Tampa, and I think conditions would've been the same ... big cities make very bad targets!

[Deborah]

16.

Wonderfull gesture...I will also donate... (put my money where my mouth (fingers) are....)

[Jennifer]

17.

Add another $5 to that bag of yours. I'm contacting as many people as I can about this site!!!! Great Job! I donated $10 was all I could do. But HEY! anythings better than nothing!

[NYgirl]

18.

Sounds deliciouse:) I am doing a post on how people are coming together to help out the victims of Katrina.

I will link this to it. Thank you for this creative idea.

[loboinok]

19.

Donated to Samaritan's Purse. This is a great idea and the recipe sounds delicious.
Bloggers are really getting it done!
Add another 'Lincoln' to the pot!

[Abbie Gonzalez]

20.

Thats a great idea.
We were trying to do something similar, but ran out of funds (just for the month), so...
We are offering free web hosting for people to host Katrina related projects. We thought it would be a good incentive, and someone might have a really great idea.

So... for this 5$ post,
you can e-mail us at [email protected] with a spiffy idea to get the free hosting. Already hosting one project! :)

[Marianne]

21.

I'll send your recipe to my daughter and comment as well! You may add this to your donation fund -- Good show & thanks for caring!

[Moira]

22.

Mom did send me the link, and I like your style. I'm definitely going to try this recipe. I sent my donation to the Red Cross, and bought one of their emergency preparedness kits while I was at their site.

[Nancy]

23.

Way to go girl!! Nice site...I like the way you think!!

God bless all those in the affected areas and God bless those in Texas...way to step up!!

=) Nance in CA

[melanie]

24.

Thanks for your contribution. I'm scouting around looking for cheap ways to help out, which brought me here. I'm glad some of us have cash to lend!

[Lori Fuller]

25.

Excellent recipe! I'm definitely going to try that sometime soon. :)

(And thank you for your donation to the Red Cross. I only wish I could do the same.)

[Opal]

26.

Sounds delicious. I'll have to try it.

[Carrie]

27.

How would it be without curry? Or what could you substitute. I love squash, but not curry! Thanks for the recipes - I love the carnival!

[Brett]

28.

Thanks for your generosity. I'll be checking back and hopefully learning how to cook something beyond pasta!

[Harvey]

29.

Yay! Bankrupt-a-Blogger :-)

Bless you for doing this.

[caltechgirl]

30.

Thanks for doing this!

[vw bug]

31.

Another yipee!

[Jim]

32.

Harvey said you're giving away $5 bills? Sweet! Send mine to my PayPal account please.

[Jim]

33.

And please let me know if I managed to get Harvey in any trouble whatsoever with that last comment. It's one of my life goals.

On the serious side, this is a wonderful thing you're doing and I'm happy to be a tiny little part of it.

[songstress7]

34.

Hmm, int'resting! It's a bit on the hot side in Phoenix, so soup isn't all that appealing right now, but I'll keep this one in mind for the fall (when it arrives... long about November).

[Teresa]

35.

$5... where do I get mine? *grin*

[Sticks]

36.

Harvey suggested we come over so you could go bankrupt for a good cause. Put $5 in for me.

[Chris]

37.

#37 so a total of $185 so far!

onward to 60 comments!

[Sean]

38.

Awesome idea! I sent the link to LGF, hopefully they'll link you for some more coverage :)

[GunnNutt]

39.

Very cool idea!!!

[Sarah]

40.

Wonderful thing you are doing here! Hope the idea takes off and more generous people do this!

[jimmyb]

41.

Thanks for the donation and the great idea!!! :)

[Gary Fuller]

42.

Thank you for doing this, it is a great idea.