After being in a rut the last few weeks, my culinary creativity has finally come home. I’ve missed you, buddy.

Last night’s meal was semi-inspired by last week’s episode of Top Chef. One of the top recipes was a squash soup and I remember thinking how good that sounded, and how long it’s been since I’ve made it. So, here it is, my recipe for Butternut Squash and Apple Soup.

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

1 medium apple, peeled and chopped

juice of 1/2 a lemon (maybe 1 TB or so)

1 TB honey * (see note below)

1/4 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated

pinch cayenne

1 small-ish butternut squash (maybe 2-3 pounds)

4 cups veg stock

In a large stock pot over medium heat, saute the onion, garlic and carrots in about a TB of olive oil. After about 5 minutes, add the apple and cook another 5 minutes. Add the honey, lemon juice, nutmeg and butternut squash and cook for another 2 minutes before adding the stock. When you add the stock, cover the pot and let the soup simmer for about an hour, or until all of the veggies are tender. When cooked, puree the soup using an immersion blender, food processor or blender. Once blended, check for seasoning and add salt and pepper, if needed. I garnished our soup bowls with a small handful of roasted pumpkin seeds. This was so good that I had to stop myself from licking the bowl clean. We will definitely be having this again soon!

* Note: I know that some vegans don’t consider honey to be vegan and I have no particular fondness for it. The reason I use it here is because I have some that I bought probably a year ago that I need to use up. Feel free to substitute any other natural sweetener– pure maple syrup would be a good option.

To go with our soup and to use up some phyllo dough and caramelized onions in my fridge, I decided to make some Caramelized Onion, Apple and Walnut Tartlets. To make these, I piled up 3 layers of phyllo dough (brushing each layer with olive oil to “glue” them together) and cut them into quarters lengthwise. At the top of each phyllo strip, I placed a small dollop of leftover cashew cheese, a bit of caramelized onions, some spicy apples, and some crushed roasted walnuts. Fold into triangles by folding the phyllo in the exact same way that a flag is folded. Seal the edge with a dab of olive oil, and brush the entire triangle with more olive oil. I sprinkled the tops with a cinnamon-sugar mixture and some more crushed walnuts. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, until the triangles are golden brown. These were outta sight! I was really trying to duplicate a gorgonzola, walnut, caramelized onion concoction and I think I came pretty close with these.

A while back, we had the Walnut, White Bean & Spinach Phyllo Rolls from ED&BV. They were SO good that I thought it would be a great snack to make for Emma’s birthday party, which will be totally vegan. Since the phyllo roll is better suited for a sit-down meal, I thought it would be fun to make the same filling, but use the phyllo appetizer shells instead. That was, until, I was at the store and saw that a box of 15 shells costs over $3! We have about 35 people coming to the party and each person will probably eat a whole tray once they taste how good they are, so we would be spending a small fortune on those pre-made phyllo shells.

It’s not very often that I get an idea that I impress myself with, so I had to share. I took one sheet of phyllo, brushed on a little olive oil, and topped it with another sheet of phyllo. I repeated this process until I had 3 phyllo sheets all piled up and ready to go. I used a cup as a stencil on the phyllo and traced around it with a paring knife. Each stack of phyllo sheets made 6 circles, which I then stuffed into a mini-muffin tin. Bake in a 350 degree oven just until the phyllo is starting to turn golden brown. Remove them from the oven and let them cool. I don’t want to spend the morning of the party making these shells so, as an experiment, I put a few back in the freezer after they had cooled. A few days later, I removed them from the freezer, put them back in the mini-muffin tin and back into a 350 degree oven until they were golden.

I was afraid that baking and refreezing them would make them soggy, but they turned out perfectly crisp! I will probably be making these all weekend in preparation for the party next weekend, but at least we won’t be dumping a whole lotta money on the pre-made ones.