Healthy Zucchini Summer Vegetable Bisque with shredded cheese

Since I haven't done enough complaining to people in person about how overloaded we are with zucchinis, I thought I'd share my woes with you. Before I made this soup today, I already ate eggplant and yellow summer squash. Even the dog, who is ecstatic to receive anything edible, has started getting suspicious of the large chunks of it that keep showing up in his dish. I'm starting to worry that 95% of my DNA is going to be zucchini - though Wikipedia tells me zucchini is the same species as pumpkin (what??), so I'm basically okay with that. But I digress to potential horror stories when I'm supposed to be writing about soup.

Oh, fascinating soup.

*cough*

This is a flexible recipe. Besides the zukes, I used stuff that was threatening to rot, but there are LOADS of other options here. More root veggies would work, different greens, you get the idea. It's good at using stuff up in a way that gives you a different flavor and texture than the one you've been eating eight hundred times per day all season. So take the ingredients list with a grain of salt (pun intended), and toss whatever you like in the pot.

Ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped
3 large or 4 small zucchinis, sliced, chopped, or cut up in some way 
A few large greens, cut into pieces. I used swiss chard and beet greens, stems, and all.
2 carrots, sliced
Several cloves of garlic, chopped
6 cups stock (roughly)
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups regular or dairy-free milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
large handful basil
few sprigs parsley
couple sprigs cilantro (or just more parsley)
1 TBS dried oregano
Shredded cheese of choice

Directions:
In a really large pot (seriously, this makes about 1.5 gallons), saute onions 2-3 minutes in some oil or cooking spray. Dump in all your other veggies. Saute a few more minutes to get the veggies to wilt and start releasing juices. Cover veggies with stock, throw in bay leaves, and bring to a boil. Cover and turn down heat. Simmer 15-20 minutes, or until everything is nice and squishy. Turn off heat, taste, and add salt and pepper as needed.

Slowly pour in milk and cream. Stir in yogurt and add basil. Now take your lovely, fabulous immersion blender and Amalgamate! Amalgamate! If bisque is too thin, add more yogurt or cook longer. If too thick, add more stock.

If you do not have an immersion blender, get off your computer, go to the store, and buy one right this second. Or order one online and select one day shipping. I'm not kidding. They are inexpensive and you will hate yourself for having to do this with a blender.

Perform taste test. If satisfactory, you're done! If it tastes like it's missing something, add the other herbs, adjust salt and pepper, and blend again. This will likely depend on the quality of your stock. Nice stock will already have the flavors of parsley, etc. The stuff I used tasted like salt and food dye. Delicious.

When seasoning is satisfactory, ladle into bowls and top with cheese. Really any cheese would be fine. I used Parmesan because that's what was in the fridge. Serve with toast if desired. Voila.

Smoky chili kielbasa and chickpeas with avocado mint zucchini noodles - VEGAN

This was an unusual creation, whose existence I blame on the fickle weather. It's winter. And then it's spring. And then it's winter again. And then it's summer for a day. Now back to winter. So do I want something warm and hearty or do I want something light and cool? I don't know anymore. Here's both! Bonus: the cool avocado offsets the intense smoked chili. It takes a couple of bites to get used to, but then is quite tasty. At first I wasn't sure whether Justin liked it, but then he went back for seconds.

Ingredients:

4 zucchinis, julienned into long strips (noodles)

1 onion, sliced thin

8 oz portabella mushrooms, sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced (divided)

1 package Tofurkey kielbasa (or other veggie sausage if you can't find this)

1 can chickpeas

3 smoked, dry chilies, sliced thin or crushed

Additional chili powder, to taste

Pinch cayenne

Few drops liquid smoke

2 avocados

2 TBS miso

1 TBS tahini

Handful of mint leaves, finely chopped

2 TBS lemon juice

Salt, to taste

Directions

In a large saute pan, cook the onion over medium heat until starting to brown. Add zucchini and a pinch of salt, stir, and continue cooking until the zucchini just starts to wilt. Remove from heat and put a lid or plate over it to keep warm.

In another pan, saute three of the garlic cloves with the mushrooms until the mushrooms start to release their water. Add the kielbasa, chickpeas, chilies, chili powder, cayenne and liquid smoke. Stir and continue cooking until everything is cooked through.

In the mean time, combine the avocados, miso, tahini, mint, lemon juice, salt, and reserved clove of garlic in a blender. Puree. Add a trickle of water at a time and continue to pulse until it thins out enough to make a sauce.

Pour avocado sauce over zucchini noodles and mix. Put onto plates and top with kielbasa mix. This makes about six servings and reheats well. The avocado puree does not turn brown immediately either, so you can keep it in the fridge in tupperware up to about 3 days.