Carrot, parsnip, and tahini soup

For Christmas, my parents gave me an immersion blender, which completes my regression to infancy by virtually guaranteeing that I will not be eating any more solid foods. The first thing I made since coming back to DC was a West African groundnut stew, which I'll blog about as soon as I remember to take a picture of it before inhaling the entire thing.

The carrot soup was actually part of our Christmas dinner. But I decided to make it again so I can have all 6 servings to myself instead of share it. Yeah, it's that good. I think I'm head over heels for blended soups with nut butters. Similar to what it does for hummus, the tahini adds body and a certain smoothness to the vegetables in a way that even cream can't compete with.

butternut squash risotto

I had some leftover butternut squash from Thanksgiving. With a desire to eat something other than soup and oatmeal, both of which have taken over my diet, I opted for some risotto instead of the default butternut squash soup. Plus, in this cold weather, stirring a delicious rice and cheese mixture while standing over a warm stove was pretty appealing.

Like most risotto dishes, this one is incredibly rich. The sweet butternut squash goes perfectly with savory and cheesy rice. Next time I make this, I think I would add a small squeeze of lemon and half a handful of fresh thyme to cut the richness just a little and give it an additional layer of flavor.