Thanksgiving is almost here! A glorious day centered around eating delicious food and spending time with loved ones. I love holidays where the gifts are purely good company and even better food. However, just because the food is traditionally rich and laden with all its sleepy time loveliness does not mean that there isn't room for a healthful dish loaded with nutritional value and delicately concealed behind exotic spices.

If you follow the blog than you already know that I love food that tastes good but is also good for the body. You will also know that I am notoriously late in posting my holiday ideas so I am so proud of myself this year because I am early with this Thanksgiving recipe! Yaayy me! I am also really excited to be experimenting with some new flavor profiles and trying to expand my knowledge through a self exploration of spices, it also doesn't hurt that I get to eat the results.

Cooking, like any other art form is an ever evolving practice and experimentation is key. We all know that vegetables on their own taste amazing and provide us with the most benefits but variety as they say, is the spice of life.

This dish is based on Tunisian spices, mainly harissa, a popular staple in North Africa consisting of chili peppers, garlic, olive oil, and salt with cumin, coriander or caraway thrown in depending on the exact origin. There are a variety of harissa products available, some very paste like and others more of a sauce so buy a few and give them a try to find your preference. In this dish I combined a Tunisian Harissa paste called Le Phare du Cap Bon with a Moroccan Harissa by Mediterranean Gourmet in order to create a depth when roasting the acorn squash. I also spiced the quinoa with cinnamon and cumin when cooking it so that it added to the flavor of the dish instead of only soaking up the flavors from the roasted veggies. I hope that you enjoy and share it with your loved ones this holiday season.

Tunisian Roasted Acorn Squash with Quinoa, Toasted Hazelnuts and Pomegranate Seeds

1 cup Quinoa

2 cups Water

1 tbs Cinammon

1 tbs Cumin

1 Acorn Squash, peeled and cubed

1 Red Onion, Quartered

1 head of Garlic, separated and peeled

1 tbs Olive Oil

1 tbs Harissa

1 tbs Honey

Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

1/2 cup toasted Hazelnuts

1/4 cup fresh Parsley, chopped

1/4 - 1/2 cup Pomegranate Seeds

Feta Cheese - optional

Honey for drizzling

In a saucepan bring the water, quinoa, cinnamon, cumin and a dash of salt to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes or until the water is gone. Set aside.

Preheat oven the 375. Toss the quartered onion, garlic cloves, and squash with 1 tbs olive oil, salt, harissa and honey. Place on a baking sheet and roast for 20 to 30 minutes until the onions have begun to brown and the squash is cooked through.

Meanwhile, toast the hazelnuts in a pan and set aside.

To serve, top the quinoa with the roasted vegetables, sprinkling the hazelnuts, pomegranate seeds and parsley over it and drizzling with honey. Serve warm or cold. Enjoy and Healthy eating!