Our sweet bulldog is now half-blind. In a Shakespearean twist, her eyeball had to come out last Tuesday. She is adjusting like a champ. We are resorting to pirate costumes to adjust ourselves, but she is in much less pain now without the tumor that had invaded the eye, and so we are grateful. She got a few extra servings of turkey in consolation. Didn’t we all?
The holidays can be hard to keep healthy because of how often we eat out at parties and family dinners and in settings where we can’t control our options. Ever more important to make sure the meals you can control are packed with veggies and the good stuff—and for this, vegan cookbooks are where it’s at for me. This weekend, post-Thanksgiving bloat, I made this spicy squash soup and enjoyed it with pieces of whole wheat flax toast—the texture is as though it has cream added…but it doesn’t.
Spiced Kuri Squash Soup
Adapted from Vegan Challenge by Lisa Montgomery
1 average sized kuri squash
2-3 small sweet potatoes, peeled, cut1/ into chunks
1 small onion, chopped
2 yellow beets, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
5 dedo de moca chili peppers, chopped (any medium spicy peppers will work)
2 tsp Penzeys The Now Curry powder
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp dried thyme
32 oz vegetable stock
Olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Preheat the oven to 400. Cut squash in half and remove seeds and soft center. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and 1 chopped garlic clove and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, skin side up. Roast for 25 minutes, until skin is soft and pliable and punctures easily when pressed. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
To a soup pot, add onion, potatoes, and beets with a drizzle of olive oil and heat until onions are translucent. Eventually add garlic and hot peppers, let saute for another 2 minutes. Then finally add spices and herbs and stir to coat.
Add the stock to deglaze and simmer to soften the potatoes, another 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, remove the squash from the skin and chop. Add to the soup and allow to simmer for another 10 minutes. Finally, ladle soup into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Apparently you can substitute any kind of squash or pumpkin for the kuri squash—so I used butternut because I have four of them leaning on one another in the fridge.
Everything But the Bagel Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Another healthy snack I love is pumpkin seeds roasted in olive oil with Everything But the Bagel spice. I used about 2 TB olive oil to 2 cups of pumpkins seeds and 1-2 TB spice. Roast the seeds at 350 for 10 minutes to dry out, and then coat with oil and spice and return to the oven to roast for another 10 minutes. Also sprinkle in some chia seeds (on everything, btw).
Pereg has so many great spices. Another, Zahtar, I recently experimented with in my Squash Gratin recipe. Delicious, add just 2 tsp.
And then, we have our desserts. This Gingerbread Bundt Cake was my contribution to Thanksgiving. Delicious.
Gingerbread Bundt Cake
Adapted from Nielsen-Massey’s recipe
2½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
⅓ cup molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange extract
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
4 large whole eggs
Brown Sugar Glaze
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
3 heavy whipping cream
¼ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoons vanilla
½ teaspoon orange extract
Gingerbread Bundt Cake Batter
Position a rack in the bottom of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Place a cooling rack over a parchment-lined baking sheet. Lightly coat a 10-cup Bundt cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Combine the flour, baking powder, spices, and salt together into a bowl and whisk to remove any lumps. Set aside until ready to use. In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, molasses, vanilla and orange extracts. Set aside until ready to use.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add half of the dry ingredients, and mix until smooth. Scrape down the sides of bowl, add half of the sour cream mixture, and mix until perfectly smooth. Repeat with the remaining dry ingredients, followed by the remaining sour cream mixture.
Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared Bundt cake pan. Bake until deep golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 60 minutes. Set the cake on a cooling rack and let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully invert onto the prepared cooling rack and let cool to room temperature before glazing.
Brown Sugar Glaze
Sift the confectioners’ sugar and set aside until ready to use.
In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, heavy whipping cream and vanilla. Add more liquid for a more glaze-able consistency, as desired.
Slowly pour the glaze evenly over the top of the cake, allowing the excess to drip down the sides. If the glaze is too thick, add milk one tablespoon at a time. If the glaze is too thin, add sifted confectioners’ sugar one tablespoon at a time. Let the glaze set for about 15 minutes before transferring to a serving plate. Serve immediately or store covered at room temperature for up to 5 days.