Foodie Friday: Kabocha squash soup

Kabocha squash

For our Christmas Eve Potluck, I decided to try a new recipe. I got this from a Farmer's Market lady (Barbi Anderson) a few weeks ago when she set up her stall outside of Jojoba Hills RV Resort (near Temecula, CA). I bought a kabocha squash (not to be confused with kombucha tea!) from her and she also gave me the recipe for a wonderful soup with this unusual squash. I got some other great stuff from her, too. Like persimmons and guava. I've never seen or eaten them fresh before, so that was a fun adventure. Plus I got some sage honey which I've never had before. It has a distinctive taste that I really like.

For the potluck in addition to the soup, I made a veggie tray, a green salad with my homemade honey mustard dressing, some sweet potatoes, chicken drumsticks with veggies in the pressure cooker, Avocado Grasshoppers, and some gluten free, grain free brownies with real whipped cream on the side. I wasn't the only one fixing food, but I wanted to have a variety I could eat and share with others. Of course we couldn't eat it all, so I enjoyed leftovers for the next several days. Win!

Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup (From Barbie Anderson)

Makes 4-6 servings
1 medium to large kabocha squash (or butternut)
1/2 onion
3 cloves garlic
2-4 cups organic chicken or vegetable broth
1 can coconut milk
sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place squash whole on the baking sheet and roast for 35-45 minutes or until you can easily poke it with a fork. Remove and let cool before you slice open, scoop out seeds, and add flesh to your blender.
Optional step: in the meantime, add a bit of olive oil to a medium stockpot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic to sauté (and any other veggies here – like carrots, zucchini, red peppers - if you’d like). Let cook for 5 minutes until translucent.
Add onions, garlic, 1 can of coconut milk, broth, sea salt and pepper to a blender.
Puree until smooth, adding more broth if you prefer a thinner consistency.
Serve warm, with toppings of your choice (whole milk Greek yogurt, rice crackers, avocado, chia or pumpkin seeds, arugula, kale, or pesto).

    I cooked my squash in the Sun Oven, and I didn't look at the recipe again until after I had already cut it open and scooped out the seeds. Oops! It cooked up beautifully anyway. I also cooked a butternut squash at the same time and together they took a little more than 2 hours to cook at the lower temp, but they were nice and moist. I also added carrots, zucchini, celery, and red pepper to the onions and shallots (instead of garlic). Totally worth the extra step! I used my Bamix stick blender in the pan once everything was in it, and it worked great. I think I would peel the zucchini first next time. I could see bits of the peel which isn't as pretty as I would have liked it to be. The flavor was amazing and I love how thick it was. It made great left-overs, too.
     Barbi suggested I wash and soak the seeds overnight and bake them the next day. Baking them in the oven would have been easier than pan frying them, as I had to stand and stir them quite a bit so they wouldn't burn, but it was worth it! Because of a windy day, the Sun Oven was not an option, and I didn't want to turn on the generator in order to bake them, so I had this stirring experience. <<wink, wink!>> It didn't take me long to eat them all, they were so good. I'm definitely going to look for this squash again. It just might be my new favorite! I love discovering new foods I can eat.

Nick and Jerry relaxing after a great meal.  The food talbe is behind Jerry, but I didn't get a good pic of that.

Vera and Delores and I looking pretty Christmasy!

Travel Tuesday: Merry Christmas!

Someone clearly spends too much time on Pinterest!

 Merry Christmas from the desert west of Yuma. This is a favorite place of ours, perhaps because it was the first place on our very first Snowbird trip that we got into the actual desert wilderness and then fell in love with the desert. Off of Ogilby Rd and American Girl Mine Rd, we sit in this spot with wide open spaces ringed with mountains. You can see for miles here! The distances are deceptive; things seem so much closer than they actual are. Lots of room to walk and jog. Lots of sky. And of course the sunsets are spectacular!
     We are with the Boondocker BOF group, but there aren't very many of us here. Only three rigs for the most part, although we had 2 come and go at different times. For our Christmas Potluck (that we had on Christmas Eve because of the forecasted wind for Christmas Day), we had a couple of people drive over and join us. Between us we came up with a tasty meal. As you can see, I had fun with my veggie tray! I also made some gluten free brownies and the Avocado Grasshoppers, along with a delicious squash soup and green salad.

Sunrise, rather than sunset, coming up over the mountains.

Looking in the opposite direction at the same time, this was the moon set.

     Before coming here, we spent a week at Jojoba Hills Resort near Temecula, CA where we caught up on laundry (loads of laundry!), shopping, and visiting with friends. One couple have a wonderful electronic keyboard in their motorhome which I was invited to play whenever I wanted to.Yes! I also got to stock up on some fresh, organic lemons and limes right from the trees that grow in a common area for people to enjoy. Can't get them any fresher than that!

Shields Date Farm Garden with Date Palms.

     We headed back to Indio for a few days and met up with another friend. She and I went to Shields Date Farm. They have a lovely restaurant where we had lunch and a gift shop stocked with several different varieties of dates (Who knew there were so many types?) After lunch we strolled through their beautiful garden along the Stations of Jesus's Life walk which had scenes depicting different events in Jesus's life.

My Christmas rock, 2-1/2 " long!

Even though we had planned to stay a few more days in Indio, we quickly took off for Kofa Ko-op Escapees RV Park in Yuma when we heard that a fellow Boondocker was in the hospital there. Of course we wanted to visit him and make sure he was OK. While we were there, I was able to enjoy a few activities; some social gatherings, Church on Sunday, plenty of walks, and some line dancing. My favorite, though was the Christmas rock painting.

December adventures

My felt Christmas tree hanging. Easy storage! It even has lights.

After Thanksgiving we stayed at Tamarisk LTVA which is near Holtville, CA and the Mexican border. We saw a lot of Border Patrol activity. Then on to KOFA Ko-op SKP Park in Yuma where I spent some fun time with the Crafter group making a felt Christmas tree for the rig. Some of the ladies were so impressed that they wanted a pattern. Pattern? I wasn't really using one, so I made one up. I sure enjoyed being able to use a large table there to work on it. Jerry especially enjoyed the hot tub.

I didn't have any Christmas earrings, so I made some from the leftovers of the tree project.

Our White Elephant gifts decorated with paper plates and red paper.

  Then we were off to Ogilby Road to meet up with the Boondocker group for Christmas. We had a good sized group, a fun White Elephant gift exchange and a great potluck. I was very touched by several of the ladies coming and consulting with me to make sure they were making something I could eat! I found that with having my class on "Intro to Ferments" and telling my story of how I got into this and why, there has been much more acceptance of my different way of eating. So nice to have the support! I know that eating the way I do makes such a difference in how I feel, but it's a bit of a shock to others who have never considered eating any way other than what they always have. It's interesting to observe that those around me are influenced to eat better and more mindfully even though I'm not trying to push this on anyone. I just do my thing and share with those ready to hear about better choices. People have to be ready for that kind of change. I know I sure didn't get here over night!