Recipe: Easy Butternut Squash Soup + Clover Giveaway

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year and for the past seven years (since I was pregnant with Lucas) I have hosted it at my house. Today, I've partnered with local family farm Clover to bring you this Easy Butternut Squash Soup recipe that has been on my holiday menu every year. When it comes to dairy, I always buy organic--local is even better, and Clover is in the north coast (where Nick is from!).

Clover is also giving away $100 in Clover Cash. Details below after the recipe.

Clover giveaway details:

• Follow me on Instagram and share your favorite holiday meals with hashtag #CloverCooks for a chance to win $100 in coupons for Clover dairy products
• This giveaway is only open to people who live in California.
• Winner will be chosen at random on Monday, November 14th. Good luck!

This giveaway is now closed. The winner is @jessamynit.

+ Full recipe for Easy Butternut Squash Soup
+ Make these DIY Dessert Toppers for Thanksgiving!
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Backyard Grilled Pizza Bar + Root Beer Floats with Whole Foods Market

The 4th of July always reminds me of summertime gathering and grilling. But instead of the typical BBQ, how fun would it be to have a Grilled Pizza Bar where everyone could make their own personal pizzas? Today, I've partnered with Whole Foods Market for another grilling shoot as part of our summer grilling series, bringing you a little 4th of July inspiration--a low-key Backyard Grilled Pizza Bar and Root Beer Floats. As with our Father's Day shoot, we had some friends over (thanks Eric, Susana, Nico and Mateo!) to help us build pizzas and make root beer floats for kids AND adults (hello, alcoholic root beer and bitters!).

I wanted everything to be easy and low-key. Whole Foods Market made it super easy to pull together everything I needed for the pizza bar, from my favorite refrigerated multi-grain pizza dough to the frozen grilled corn to the jarred pesto sauce. To be honest, everything but the tomato sauce and vegan cashew cream was premade! We followed these easy directions on How to Grill Pizza from the Whole Foods website.

I put ingredients in muffin tins so the kids could easily see all their options--surprisingly, Theo chose grilled corn to put on his pizza! Everyone was encouraged to get creative. It was fun and funny to see the dough take form--some were rectangular and others were the shape of Montana and Texas. Some of the pizzas we made included:

• Heirloom Tomatoes and Pesto
• Wild Mushrooms and Goat Cheese (my personal fave!)
• Fresh Mozzarella, Heirloom Tomatoes, Basil and Lemon Zest
• Olives and Spicy Vegan Cashew Cream (recently discovered the magic of cashew cream!)
• Zucchini, Corn and Lime Zest
• Turkey Pepperoni and Wild Mushrooms

The root beer floats for kids and adults were a hit as were the sangrias in the cutest bottles. I consulted with Dan, a cocktail expert at Whole Foods Market Gilman, on the best way to make an alcoholic root beer. His recommendations were spot on not to mention the packaging! He also recommended these amazing sangrias! Here's a list:

• Root Sellers Row Hard Root Beer
• 5 by 5 Tonics Co. Barrel-Aged Vanilla Bitters
• Lolea Sangria with cut up organic peaches

Whole Foods bagged organic kale salad! Easy!

Every time I make any kind of pizza, I brush garlic olive oil on it when it comes out hot. A tip I learned from Cheeseboard.

Ummm, luckily Theo was making his own personal pizza!

Those lashes!

Lucas LOVES tomatoes!

Happy 4th of July weekend!

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Special thanks to Whole Foods Market for sponsoring this post. All content, ideas, and words are my own.

Favorites: Sweetgreen Berkeley

I had the opportunity to check out the new Sweetgreen in Berkeley today. Taking over the old Oscar's on Shattuck Avenue, Sweetgreen brings healthy, vegetable and whole grain focused food to Berkeley using organic ingredients from local sources--honestly, I think it's about time something like this opened up here.

I had the Bay Bowl (organic wild rice + shredded kale, apples, sweet potatoes, toasted almonds, local goat cheese, roasted chicken, balsamic vinaigrette) and it was SO good! I really want to try the seasonal salads and the Omega Bowl next. I washed down my big bowl with the Hibiscus Lime Fresca. The building retained the overall feel of Oscar's with its signature arched windows and signage but now it has a more modern and fresh feel. The Sweetgreen team was working hard and churning out delicious bowls left and right. I'll definitely be coming back for more.

Check out the official opening of Sweetgreen on April 19th. All opening day proceeds will go to the Berkeley Technology Academy garden project and Sweetgreen in schools programming in the neighborhood.

How cute is Adella making my Bay Bowl?

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Recipe: Black Bean Polenta

When nick and I met over 12 years ago, he was a vegetarian and I was a big time carnivore (growing up in a Chinese household meant some kind of meat protein with every meal). We came to a compromise on our dietary preferences very early on in our relationship (true love!) which consisted of eating mostly vegetarian but fish, chicken and turkey were okay. We weren't strict and my willpower was next to none--I mean, how could I resist the occasional slice of pepperoni pizza?

Fast forward to 2016, and many documentaries later, Nick has gone back to his vegetarian ways but includes fish (so, a pescatarian). I truly admire his tenacity but I must admit, as the cook/baker in the house, this was initially a bit of a challenge for me. Of course, Nick told me not to do anything differently and he'll just eat his own thing. But that would not be enjoyable for me-- the idea of the kids and I gorging on my Lemon Olive Chicken while he ate a bagel and cream cheese? So I've challenged myself to cook more vegetarian and fish meals--on the nights Nick isn't home for dinner, I'll cook my chicken dishes if I feel like it.

One of the biggest challenges as the cook in the house is making something that satisfies everyone. This Black Bean Polenta does the trick--we all love it, it's inexpensive, makes amazing leftovers, great for potlucks, plus it's vegetarian and gluten free. I love the version the Juice Bar Collective makes and found a version from Farmgirl Gourmet that I slightly modified.

+ Full Recipe for Black Bean Polenta
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An Instagram GIVEAWAY with Veestro

While organizing the annual Earth Fair event at work a few months ago, I discovered a company called Veestro. They deliver 100% plant-based, chef prepared, non-GMO, ready-to-eat gourmet meals straight to your door anywhere in the U.S. I'm a big fan (the Red Curry with Tofu and Vegetables is my absolute fave, the kids loved the Chick'n Nuggets), so today I've partnered with Veestro to give away a $100 gift card to spend in their online shop. You could order juice cleanses, meal packs, or a la carte. To enter, simply follow the instructions at the end of this post.

This Red Curry with Tofu and Vegetables was SO good. It came with two scoops of brown rice and a good sized portion of curry with just the right amount of heat. Yum, yum, yum!

When Nick and I first met 12 years ago, he was a vegetarian and I was a big time carnivore. Growing up in a Chinese household, we ate some kind of meat or poultry every day (followed by a bowl of ice cream of course!). Nick has the soul of a vegetarian and he's rubbed off on me over the years. I don't know how to label what we are now, but we met somewhere in the middle -- eating mostly vegetables, fish, chicken, and turkey, with the occasional beef and ever so rare pepperoni pizza. Flexitarians? Occasional meat eaters? Either way, we try and buy mostly organic and consider the environmental impact of our purchases. We have been trying to eat even more plant-based foods because of the drought. It's not always easy, but Veestro makes healthy eating easy and delicious.

This was the Eggplant Casserole which was also saucy and delicious. I'm a little intimidated by eggplant so this was a nice treat.

The kids loved these Chick'n Nuggets without the Chipotle Sauce -- just plain. They devoured them in minutes and asked for more.

This Thai Chick'n Stew was comfort in a bowl. As much as I love tomatoes, I was hoping it had more of a coconut milk base rather than a slightly sweet tomato one. I'm usually not a huge fan of fake meat but was surprised at how much I liked this.

This Enchilada Casserole was a nice change from the Asian dishes I ordered. It had a lot of good flavor but could have been slightly less sweet. Still devoured it though!

My eating habits are a bit tricky. I'm not gluten free but love to experiment with gluten free cooking and baking. I'm not vegan nor vegetarian but try and go meatless when I can. I love salty and I love sweet, but love salty more than sweet even though I love baking more than cooking. Tricky, right?

Luckily, Veestro makes it super easy to eat healthy whether you are trying to lose weight, don't have time to cook, trying to make the switch to vegan, or just love (mostly) healthy eating like me. I'd love to try their juices next!

To enter the giveaway for a $100 Veestro gift card:

• Follow @good_on_paper and @VeestroFood on Instagram, leave a comment and tag a friend who would love this service.

• If you don't have Instagram you can leave your email in the comments below

• Please comment by Friday, June 26th, 12pm PST

• This giveaway is for U.S. residents only

• I will announce a winner selected by random number generator by Monday, June 29th

Best of luck!

Also, Veestro is offering a special 20% off discount site-wide for Good on Paper readers. Enter code GOODONPAPER20 at checkout through July 3, 2015.

UPDATE: Congratulations to Reichel Broussard (@copycatchic) for winning the gift card!

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