With Gratitude

Yikes I looked at the date of my last blog post and all I can say is I've been busy. I decided to take the NaNoWriMo challenge this year and I'm excited to say I finished around 6 am this morning. I woke up at about 4 am and knew exactly how my novel needed to end and I couldn't go back to sleep because my mind kept running through the end of my story so I decided to get up and finish! This is the 4^th time I've finished a novel – one day I'd like to go back and edit one and end up with a "real book" that I could send to a publisher.

I've also been editing a novel for one of my friends who is a "real writer" – you know the kind who gets royalty checks on a regular basis for writing books. She's a romance author and her books have a paranormal twist which I really like. Her characters are interesting and her style is elegant I'm looking forward to seeing the final version.

And then there was Thanksgiving – we had a whirlwind weekend. On Thanksgiving Day we had dinner with Dan's family (I was in charge of  appetizers) and then we headed to Fargo, to have a Friday Thanksgiving with my family. It had been a few years since we all were able to get together – there was lots of food, fun and laughter. I got to spend time with 2 of my nephews and 4 of my great nieces and nephews - something I throughly enjoyed.

Amid all of that driving and eating and laughing I did do some cooking. For those of you who have been following for a while you know we were "those kind of people" – we had a bumper crop of acorn squash so I offered to bring a baked squash dish to my family celebration.

I started by roasting 1 ½ acorn squash and about 1 ½ lbs of butternut squash with just a brush of olive oil and a few grinds of sea salt. While the squash was roasting, I diced a large onion and sautéed it in 1 T of olive oil until it was soft. To the onion I added 2 grated apples, cinnamon, 1 clove of garlic minced, coriander and cumin, covered the mixture and cooked it until the onions were slightly caramelized. I removed the pan from the heat and let the onion mixture cool.

When the squash was cool I put it into a blender added the onion mixture and then blended until it was pureed. I poured the pureed squash and onion mixture into a baking dish added 2 T of agave and sprinkled cinnamon on top.

When I got to my family celebration I heated it in a 350-degree oven until hot. We had so many good dishes that I came home with a lot of leftovers but we're eating it and I'm pondering either vegan lasagna or vegan mac n cheese with the squash as the sauce for dinner on Tuesday night.

For me the holiday season is a time of reflection – I'm grateful for the many things in my life; good health, a loving family, amazing friends, a job I enjoy and the freedom to make choices about how I live my life and what I believe in. I know I'm lucky and I try not to take these things for granted because I know it could all change in an instant. 

Ciao

Eight Hours to Dinner

For those of you who read last weeks post where I was raving about our Minnesota November; today it was 61, sunny and again beautiful – I'm happy and speechless – I know right!

With that being said, our weather has been a bit odd, we had one day of super rain, a couple cold an brisk days (which are great for walking) and warm days – all in all it seems like the weather is undecided – which is so Minnesota. On the bright side we put up the Christmas lights out front in short sleeves yesterday, which is better than parkas, mittens and snow so we're all good.

On Friday morning  (one of the chilly and crisp days) I decided a hearty soup was needed and I remembered that a bag of red lentils sat in our pantry waiting to be put to good use and I knew exactly how I would use them.

It was 7am – since I had all day to cook I decided to toss a few things in the crockpot and let them simmer. I diced an onion, added 2 cups of lentils, 2 cans of fire roasted tomatoes, 3 carrots roughly chopped, 3 cloves of garlic – minced, 32 + ounces of vegetable broth, 1 tsp. basil, 1 tsp. salt, ½ tsp. fresh ground black pepper and 3 large shakes of Penzeys Northwood's fire spice.  Cook on high (I have an older crockpot) for 8 hours –Done – I love simple!

We've been enjoying it for most of the weekend – Friday with whole grain bread, Saturday with spanakopita and tonight with whole grain bread.

On another note I tried a new banana bread recipe given to me by a co-worker – I loved that it had 100% whole wheat (no white flour), agave (the recipe called for honey but I'm not a fan) – I loved how moist it was and the agave gave it a slight sweetness but not too much sweetness – I liked it.

As Thanksgiving looms I'm reminded of all that I have -  a loving family, good friends and good health – I am truly grateful. 

Have a great day!

Root for the Roots!

Repeat after me; it's November 8^th, we have no snow and it was 58 degrees in Minneapolis today. I know it will snow in time but I can't recall the last time it was this nice in Minnesota in November. And Camille knows it too – she's been bugging us to take her out most everyday – she doesn't always stay out a long time but she wants to go out nonetheless.

Normally I'd be hunkering down and looking for a nice stew recipe about now – I did make my black bean soup recipe for our Halloween party last week, which we finished up and combined it with the last of the cornbread – it was delicious and it only had 170 calories per serving.

In my family (actually both our families) I'm known as the veggie queen. One of my favorite things to do to kill time is search for new veggie recipes – that's why I'm such a Pinterest freak – it's on-line recipe heaven to me. When I first met Dan he told me he didn't like brussels sprouts – I was amazed and confused in the same moment – my only response was "You've never had them cooked correctly, I guarantee that you will love my brussels sprouts" which by the way he does.

Before I started A Vegetarian for One Year, I would wash, trim and then cut small "x" in the bottom of each brussels sprout and then steam them until they were still crisp. While they were steaming I would sauté an onion in olive oil and cook a few strips of bacon in the microwave. When the brussels sprouts were done, I would cut them in half and add them to the onion and bacon mixture, add salt and pepper – and they were ready. I never got a bad review.

Since A Vegetarian for One Year, I've been roasting them. I wash, trim and slice them in half, toss in olive oil and then give them a few grinds of pink sea salt and black pepper. They are even better and they don't have bacon (my apologies to those of you who think bacon is part of the food pyramid).

How I digress, while I do have brussels sprouts in my fridge I took a different route this week. I had a pie crust in the fridge because I used it's mate to make a slab apple pie a week ago. I wanted to use it up and my first thought was a veggie quiche but I wasn't really in the mood. As I was going through the fridge for inspiration, I spied the beets I bought a week ago, some cauliflower, sweet potatoes, turnips and spinach. I knew exactly what I was going to make.

I started by chopping all the veggies, tossing them with olive oil and adding a few grinds of pink sea salt and black pepper (see a pattern) and put them in a 400 degree oven until they were tender. While they were roasting I caramelized a very large onion and then tossed a couple handfuls of spinach in and cooked it until wilted.

I combine the veggies, onion/spinach mixture and feta cheese in a large bowl and mixed well then poured it into the unbaked pie shell and baked it for about 30 minutes until the cheese was melted. 

It was delicious and we had leftovers for Saturday night too – what more can a girl ask for? In a couple weeks we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving with my family in Fargo. I'm looking forward to a good time with family and great food. If you have any favorite Thanksgiving recipes send them my way - I'm always interested in trying new things.