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

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. 

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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!

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Raw Vegan Eggplant Salad with Mint, Guava, Lemon and Sprouted Lentils

Eggplant, members of the illustrious nightshade family are at peak season from August to October. This beautiful purple skinned veggie is a great source of fiber, copper and vitamin B1 as well as containing phytonutrients and flavinoids. Eggplant has been proven to protect cell membranes from damage including those all important lipids present in brain cells as well as being a potent free radical scavenger. 

However, personally, I don't always love eggplant. Often its bitter taste and mushy texture just does not appeal to me, not to mention its gaseous. Sure breaded and fried and covered in cheese always tastes great but there has to be another way to enjoy this healthy food without mashing it or frying it. 

Lately I have been focusing my energies on raw foods once again by working on eating about 75% raw meals and 25% cooked. I find there is an innumerable way in which to prepare raw foods and it really forces you to be creative. I started thinking about raw eggplant and wondering how I could prepare it so that it still had a Mediterranean feel to it but also that freshness that comes with raw preparation.

Of course, the biggest issue with raw eggplant is its bitterness and the only way to remove it is with salting! I started out by peeling and slicing the eggplant into rounds, placing them in a colander with a dusting of salt and then letting them sit for 30 minutes before wiping them off with a paper towel and cubing the slices.

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I then tossed in cherry tomatoes, mint, garlic, red onion, guava, lemon juice, olive oil and more salt and let the salad sit for another half hour before enjoying. The taste was far better than I ever thought it would be! So fresh and light and the eggplant stayed firm and when kept in the fridge it lasted for 2 weeks. So healthy and delicious, I hope that you enjoy!

Raw Eggplant Salad with Mint, Guava and Lemon

1 Eggplant, peeled and sliced into rounds

1 tbs Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

2 tbs Olive Oil

Juice from 1 Lemon

1 Guava, peeled and chopped

1 cup Grape Tomatoes

1/4 Red Onion, minced

3 Cloves Garlic, minced

1 handful of Mint leaves, chopped

1/2 cup of Sprouted Lentils

Peel and slice the eggplant. Place in a colander and liberally sprinkle with salt. Let sit for a half hour to remove the bitterness and extra moisture. Wipe the eggplant down with paper towel and cube and toss into a non reactive bowl. Add the garlic, onion, tomatoes, guava, mint, and lentils. Drizzle with the olive oil, a dash more of salt and the juice of the lemon, stirring to combine. Let rest for a half hour before eating so that the flavors can develop. Stay covered in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Enjoy and Healthy eating!