Adventures in Cooking.

Here's the thing: I often like to eat vegetarian (but don't call myself one), and Johnny covets his meat-eating status. So tonight, when I declared that we were cooking a healthy vegetarian soup at home, and he pushed for something more, er, meaty, we ran into conflict.

So, without a solution, we walked over to our beloved Olivia's Market and wandered. And then, wandered some more. I perused the veggies, while he examined the meats and cheeses. I grabbed a butternut squash and he asked me what we were going to do with that?

The real truth is that cooking dinner at home is indeed one of life's simple pleasures for both of us, but at the same time, it's rarely easy for us to come to a consensus about what to eat for dinner on any given weekday come five o' clock.

Standing in the market with a butternut squash in one hand and a produce bag in the other (with the sweet lady at the register looking at me like I was crazy), I decided to take matters into my own hands. I walked over to the canned goods and grabbed a can of chunky tomatoes, organic kidney beans, and asked Johnny if he'd be okay if we added red and yellow pepper. We were going to make a basic vegetarian chili. Easy enough, right?

Not so fast. I must admit that sometimes Johnny and I don't work so well when trying to cook in the kitchen together. He has one idea (and he's usually right) and I have another. We're both just stubborn about how we want to contribute to the dish--what we want it to become. When we got home, Johnny went into the kitchen, and chopped the onions, pitted the peppers, and began cutting the squash while I was doing some work on the computer. Then, he left. I finished the chopping, and started putting the pot together. First I roasted the squash (Johnny's suggestion), sauteed the goods, played with adding spices, and so forth. I left the room, and Johnny came in and added his version of this and that to the meal.

This isn't the perfect way to cook, I know, and could end in a total disaster, but tonight, it worked. Often times, simple accomplishments feel huge.

The real intention of this post is really just to say that Johnny liked this makeshift version of vegetarian chili, and so did I (even though he added a bit too much extra cayenne pepper when I wasn't looking). I should note that Johnny is perfectly willing to eat a meatless meal, but when it comes to a hearty dish like this one, he craves all the fun fatty meat that could play into the creation. I almost didn't add the butternut squash, but decided to go for it anyway. It's this one hearty ingredient that gave the dish life. I'm now asking myself what other vegetables might play into a vegetarian chili well this winter? I'm dreaming up a butternut squash white chili of sorts in my mind-- who has some ideas?

And--tell me friends, what veggie-centered soups do you love to eat in the winter months? Oh, and, what's your favorite vegetarian side dish at Thanksgiving? :)

photo from james m's photostream