Feb 15 and a Recipe

Well, today I woke up feeling about as motivated toward gym-going as I am about things like taxes, watching small children and receiving extensive dental work. However, the mid-winter Hawaii being-seen-in-a-swimsuit issue occurring in two weeks is ridiculously motivational. With as white as I am though, spectators will most likely be blinded enough to not notice the Valentines chocolate clinging to my hips. I did go though, and treated myself to a peppermint-soy latte afterward. I would drink these every day except I'm one of those people who thinks $4/gallon for gas is expensive, so $4 for a 12 oz latte is slightly ridiculous. (By the way, that would be $42.67/gallon for you math buffs out there trying to figure it out to leave a smarty-pants comment. Beat ya to it.)

Today was the day where I try to catch up on all the responsibilities that I've been slacking on, and to try and predict the close-range-future responsibilities that will soon be calling my name and take care of them too, so that I can be excusably lazy in my free time. So today I deep cleaned my kitchen, attempted to match my socks, wrote letters to my little siblings in reply to the stack of letters they have sent to me. And believe me, they know exactly how many I owe them. These letters are pretty easy to reply to, however, usually consisting of topics about tree forts with elevators, dead squirrels, lego sets, gum wrapper collections, and the various cootie exchanges they have been subjected to in the past few weeks.

I also went shopping today; that took up the majority of my afternoon. Now, don't start laughing because you think that shopping is not a chore, I didn't even get near the shoe section of Fred Meyers. I'm one of those people who can spend hours, hours, in the food department, comparing brands and prices and quality and new products blah blah blah...all while a virtual list of future recipes and foodie ideas floats through my head. Yes, I am a nut case. A hazel-wal-almond-pecan-pea-NUT case.

I knew I wanted to try something new for dinner tonight, but I wasn't sure what. I've pretty much exhausted the realms of sweet potatoes and pumpkins, yet winter vegetables are still in their prime season (and are my personal favorites). Viola, the squash; butternut to be precise. The recipe I came up with I am rather proud of for several reasons: 1) It was, for the most part, entirely from my head. (I did google what was the fastest way to cook my squash.) 2.) I did not waste any part of the vegetable. 3.) I stuck to this month's resolution of cooking with no animal products and still producing perfectly palatable and nutrition food. So here goes. And you can use any winter vegetable you choose for this, it doesn't have to be butternut squash. Sweet potatoes, yellow yams, rutabagas, carrots etc..

Rustic Winter Vegetable Pot Pie with Sweet Potato Biscuit Topping
Vegetable Filling:
2 cups your choice winter veg, cooked.
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
2 stalked chopped celery
1 cup button mushrooms, quartered
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup firm tofu, cubed (optional, substitute protein of your choice if you don't like tofu)
1/2 cup roughly chopped cashews, preferably unsalted
w/w flour
Milk; I used almond milk. Plain soy or normal cow would work as well.
Seasonings, to taste:
Sage, cinnamon, black pepper, cayenne pepper, thyme, celery salt, oregano, curry
1 Tbl maple syrup
Biscuit Topping:
1-1/2 cups w/w flour
2 Tbl ground flaxseed
1Tbl baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
seeds from squash, if available
1/4 cup shortening (I used Earth Balance non-hydrogenated margarine)
1/2 cup reserved winter vegetable
1 cup appr. almond milk (or your choice)

1. Combine vegetable filling ingredients (except for your winter veg, which should have been cooked ahead of time) on stove top, let sweat until tender.
2. Flour to roux (dump flour and stir until everything in your pan is coated), cook for just a moment to get rid of the starchiness, but don't let burn!
3. Add almond milk until a fairly thick sauce forms, stir in winter veg.
4. Season according to your tastes, I like spice so I went heavy on the black pepper, also on the cinnamon and thyme. Add maple syrup. Pour into baking dish.
5. For your topping, combine all dry ingredients, cut in the shortening. Puree in blender the reserved winter veg, the seeds and about half the almond milk. Pour this into the dry ingredients.
6. Stir and add more milk until mixture is thick but wet. Spread evenly over filling. Bake at 400 for 30-35 minutes or until topping is cooked through and mixture bubbles cheerfully.
7. Restrain yourself from tearing into this amazingness until it has cooled enough to eat.