soup Archives - Community Food Co-op

5 Vegetarian Main Dishes for Thanksgiving

No turkey-eaters at your table? These vegetarian dishes are hearty enough for your Thanksgiving main course. Fall-forward ingredients create the comforting, savory flavors that you crave around the holidays.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

This Stuffed Acorn Squash from Cookie & Kate is easy, healthy, affordable and delicious. You can't beat that!

Mushroom Farro Soup

Move over butternut squash! When you're serving soup as a main course, it needs to have all the hearty, savory elements people expect of a Thanksgiving meal and this Mushroom Farro Soup from Bon Appetit does not disappoint.

Creamy Polenta with Roasted Winter Veggies

This satisfying creamy, cheesy polenta dish from Tara Teaspoon feels indulgent but it's actually relatively healthy. It makes good use of seasonal winter veggies too.

cheesy polenta with roasted root vegetables in a white bowl

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Balsamic-Sage Brown Butter Sauce

This Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Balsamic-Sage Brown Butter Sauce from Salt & Wind is the kind of rich, over-the-top dish you expect at Thanksgiving. We suggest this recipe for a seasoned cook (or a confident beginner) as it calls for homemade gnocchi.

Butternut Squash Risotto

Risotto makes an awesome Thanksgiving main dish. This Butternut Squash Risotto from Cookie & Kate gets extra points because it's baked! That means no more spending 50 straight minutes stirring a pot—with this recipe you just give it a quick toss at the end.

Laotian-style Squash Soup

by Travis Meyer, Cordata grocery

This recipe has become a Thanksgiving tradition for Cordata Grocery Manager Travis Meyer. Travis uses plenty of fish sauce and garlic, and prefers to use bacon (but it would be equally delicious with the Co-op’s in-house sausage, or tofu for vegetarians).

INGREDIENTS

1 butternut squash, 2 pounds
1 package tofu (or sausage or bacon)
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced
3 to 4 cloves garlic, diced
1 large tomato, chopped (optional)
2 1/2 cups water or stock
1 can coconut milk, about 2 cups
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
2 to 4 tablespoons fish sauce, to taste (optional)
Salt
Pepper
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves for garnish (optional)

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cut squash in half and put in a casserole dish. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake until soft, about 1 hour. Remove from oven, cool, and remove seeds and strings. Scoop pulp into a bowl.
While the squash is baking, cook your protein of choice (bacon, sausage, or tofu) and set aside. For tofu, dice and fry in 3 tablespoons oil over medium high heat. Rotate until browned on all sides.
In a large saucepan, sauté onion in the remaining oil over medium heat until transparent. Add garlic and sauté briefly. If using tomato, stir in and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add squash, water or stock, and coconut milk. Bring to a boil, remove from heat.
Add cayenne, optional fish sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix by hand or with a blender for a finer puree. When mixed to your satisfaction, stir in protein. Garnish with cilantro, if desired.
Serve hot with a thick slice of multi-grain bread.

The Co-op Deli: Revolutionary Food from Seasoned Cooks

by Sara Young, Prepared Foods Manager

Using quality ingredients and several healthy dashes of creativity and dedication, our experienced team of deli cooks makes all the delicious food in our deli case, hot bar, soup bar, and grab-n-go cases from scratch in our kitchens. Our goal is to offer something delicious to satisfy most every Co-op shopper, regardless of allergies or other dietary needs. Ask for a sample if you want to try something new!

I arrive groggy at 6 am, one hour after the kitchen crew arrives. They have been busy making sandwiches for all three Co-op locations, including the amazing bakery cafe on Holly Street.

The Cordata kitchen buzzes with activity an incredible 17 hours a day.

The kitchens are led by Chef Kurt Stauber (Cordata) and Kitchen Manager James Aikins (Downtown). The combined experience of the kitchen crew numbers over 200 years and the result is a menu that is widely varied and delicious. Paul Manthe, a cook with the Co-op for over 20 years, brings with him a recipe catalog so vast it is not a stretch to say that in those 20 years he has still not used all of his recipes.

kurt stauber rush t-shirt chef cook community food co-op — Chef Kurt Stauber

Kurt Stauber, Cordata kitchen manager

cook chef salad james aikens community food co-op

James Aikins, Downtown kitchen manager

cook chef paul manthe community food co-op

Paul Manthe, Downtown cook

Chef Kurt Stauber brings with him the skill and expertise of a trained chef, and the boundless energy of a puppy dog. He does everything he can to mentor his team, while James Aikins provides a steady, calm energy and knowledge of the Co-op deli history to help drive menu selection.

The deli crew is continually working with Kurt and James to improve and perfect the deli recipes and create new recipes that will bring new life to the entire menu.

All of this while holding fast to the deli’s values of organic, local, seasonal, GMO-free, and as always, free of the Dirty Dozen*.

The food in the Cordata and Downtown hot bars (and salad bars) is almost entirely organic—it’s a distinction that we are quite proud of and one that we share with you by highlighting every organic ingredient on our daily hot bar menus.

The food in the Cordata and Downtown hot bars (and salad bars) is almost entirely organic.

On the hot bar every Friday is the amazing Chef’s seasonal special, and this is where deli cooks create new and exciting recipes under consideration for rotation in our permanent offerings. I would go so far as to say that if you can try the Co-op hot bar any day, Friday is the day to do it. It is like getting a peak behind the kitchen door, to the heart and soul of the food production operation.

To be sure, this is not your typical hot bar, usually laden with heavy carbohydrates and empty calories.

This is an organic, high-protein, veggie table of delight that is unlike any other hot bar in the region.

And I am the person who is lucky enough to oversee this operation, this team of highly passionate and skilled workers; a group of people whose standards have inspired me to expect miracles.