Butternut Squash and Green Curry Soup

Happy Vegan Vednesday! There were two opinions in my household about "Butternut Squash and Green Curry Soup" (NYT Cooking; subscription required). According to one opinion, the soup was "good," but the people who held that opinion were clearly bananas, because the soup was excellent.

I'm not the only one who thinks so - the recipe has a five-star rating and 145 comments on NYT Cooking. Note that you will need to skip the fish sauce to make it vegetarian/vegan.

What were the some of secrets of its success for me?

1. Homemade veggie stock - I always have some ready to go in the freezer, and thaw it quickly in a pan right before I need it, if I've forgotten to stick it in the fridge the day before.
2. Dried ancho (poblano) chiles, which aren't very spicy at all. You will need fewer than the recipe states, because they are big - and the more finely you can slice/dice them, the better.
3. "Thai Kitchen" green curry paste, which also isn't very spicy, and I used it in moderation. Four tablespoons will give you the vaguest hint of heat.

Those of you cooking for small backup dancers will recognize the theme of "not very spicy."

Honestly, my peppers were old and dried out.

They did not slice so much as shatter. Didn't matter - they were perfect for the topping,

The topping ingredients before I mixed them together

Not my favorite brand of curry paste, but the best kind for spice-averse backup dancers

As you know, I observe Vegan Vednesday because a mostly plant-based diet is a way for me (and you!) to fight climate change. Today I had overnight oats for breakfast, and vegan mac and cheese for lunch, with broccoli mixed in (I'd roasted the broccoli a couple days ago while preparing another meal, and put the surplus in the freezer). In mid-afternoon, as I lustily eyed all the Easter chocolate lying around, I went instead to the fridge and spooned two cherries, dripping in thick syrup, from a jar of Luxardo cocktail cherries. They may have been about 300 calories apiece; I don't want to know. Delicious.

I spent Monday volunteering, for the second time, at a county-run vaccination site. My assignment was to usher people to the next available health care worker to get their shot. When I unexpectedly recognized my daughter's teacher at the front of the line, I kind of flipped out, like she was a celebrity. It absolutely made my day. Teachers had to wait a shamefully long time to be eligible to get vaccinated in New Jersey. 

It almost doesn't seem worth mentioning anymore, because it's become this tragic routine, but my daughter's return to school was postponed for a fifth time, to (supposedly) May 3. But all things considered, she is doing just fine; we are lucky. And that IS something worth repeating.