Thanksgiving

Hope everyone found fulfillment this Thanksgiving -- both in the stomach and the soul.

Moving around so much during the last 12 months has made me realize just how thankful I am to have a solid group of family and friends to keep me grounded.  Loren's still deployed, so this was the first Thanksgiving without him in five years.  I have some great neighbors who invited me over to their get-together, though, and we had a blast.

Here's a belated recipe to celebrate the holiday.  (Because, let's face it, those leftovers aren't going to last forever ... eventually, you're going to have to cook again.)  It's a paleo-friendly dish from over at the blog The Clothes Make the Girl.  (She has some other great recipes -- I highly recommend her site.)

Spicy Roasted Squash (serves 4)

-1 butternut squash, halved & seeds scraped out
-1 head of garlic
-1 T coconut oil
-2 T coconut milk
-1/4 t salt
-1 T ras el hanout (see directions below recipe)
-1 egg
-1/4 cup pecan halves

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

-Line a baking sheet with tin foil.  Place each half of the butternut squash cut-side down on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle a few drops of water around the squash.

-Peel away the papery skin on the outside of the head of garlic.  Wrap the head of garlic in tin foil and place on the baking sheet.

-Bake the squash and garlic for 45 minutes.

-Allow the squash and garlic to cool for about 20 minutes.

-Increase the oven's temperature to 400 degrees.

-Scrape the squash into a food processor.  Separate the garlic cloves and squeeze the roasted garlic into the food processor.  (Note: this is surprisingly fun.)

-Process the mixture into a smooth puree.  Add the coconut oil, coconut milk, salt and ras el hanout.

-Beat the egg in a small bowl.

-Scrape the squash mixture into a large bowl and add the egg, mixing until well-combined.

-Grease the inside of a baking dish with coconut oil.  Pour in the squash mixture and top with pecans.

-Bake 25-30 minutes.

Ras el Hanout

Mix the following together:

-2 t salt
-2 t cumin
-2 t ginger
-2 t black pepper
-1 1/2 t cinnamon
-1 t coriander
-1 t cayenne
-1 t allspice
-1/2 t cloves
-1/4 t nutmeg

Store in an air-tight container.  The recipe originally called for 2 T of ras el hanout, but it was pretty spicy.  I recommend cutting it back to 1 T.

Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Note:  Trying to do the 30 day primal challenge wasn't the best idea around the holidays.  I fell off that wagon pretty quickly.  But more info about that to come later ...