[Vegan] Cranberry Pecan Butternut Squash Bread

Sometimes, I go a little crazy at the market. Today was no exception. The squashes and late season melons and watermelons were just calling to me. I took home one of each. I also grabbed the first bag of this season's cranberries at Trader Joe's yesterday and they were just waiting for their first calling.

During my weekly meal prep today, I roasted my butternut squash. It's pretty simple, just make a few knife incisions to release steam, and pop into a 450F oven until totally tender. Takes about an hour of idle time for a decent size squash. Then, scoop out the seeds and peel away the skin (should come off easily). Puree the flesh (think baby food or canned pumpkin) and measure just shy of two cups for this recipe or - better yet - weigh out 15 oz.

Any decent sized squash will yield MORE than enough for this recipe. And if you don't want to deal with squash, get a can of pure pumpkin puree. But please, none of that spiced/sugared pumpkin pie filling. Also, most squashes will work lovely here my favorites are always butternut and acorn but do let me know if you find another variety works well.

Squash + Cranberries are a pairing made in heaven (kind of like orange and cranberries actually....) and this bread doesn't dissapoint. Added bonus: it's vegan. But kind of by accident. It doesn't need eggs or butteriness because it gets all that moisture and richness from the squash.

I actually added some crystallized ginger to this bread, but in the end I found it more distracting than anything so I'm not including it in this recipe. I also didn't use as much cranberries, but I wished that I had. If you don't like cranberries as much as I do either leave them out or half the amount -- it's up to you. If you don't want them to be so tart, you can substitute an equal weight of dried cranberries which are sweetened so they're not so tart.

I baked only half the recipe and froze the remaining batter in an airtight container for another day. However, if you prefer not to bother with two loaves, you can easily halve the recipe since it has no eggs in it to worry about halving.

Vegan Cranberry Pecan Butternut Squash Bread

makes 2 loaves, adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (or 1.5 c more all purpose flour)
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
15 oz (just under 2 cups) butternut squash puree OR 1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup water
1 cup chopped pecans
1 12 oz bag fresh cranberries, roughly chopped

1. Heat the oven to 350F. Lightly oil and flour your standard loaf pan(s) - 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 inches.

2. Mix the dried goods: flours, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, salt, & spices

3. Mix the wet stuff: squash puree, vegetable oil, maple syrup, & water.

4. Add the wet goods to the dry goods and combine. When fully combined, fold in the pecans and cranberries.

5. Split the mixture into two and put half the mixture into one of our floured loaf pans. Put the remaining into either another loaf pan, set aside for when the first loaf is finished, or freeze in an airtight container with a piece of wax paper covering the surface for rainy day*.

6. Bake for at least one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean with just a few clinging crumbs.

7. Allow to rest for 20 minutes before digging in!

*OK, today was technically a rainy day so I mean ANOTHER rainy day.

Couscous with Vegetables, Oranges, Olives, and Tofu

This all started with some extra firm tofu from trader joe's we bought a week ago. Usually, I make 101 cookbooks' fabulous caramelized tofu recipe or some sort of Asian inspired dish. Since cjr wasn't feeling in much of a cabbage mood, and I wasn't feeling in much of a soy sauce mood I came up with this compromise: A Moroccan inspired tofu dish.

Sure, I could've been much more fussy and made the chickpeas from dried beans, steamed the couscous rather than quick cooking it in boiled water, or cutting up a large butternut squash -- but this way is so much more convenient (and so easy to get at your local Trader Joe's....). I was inspired to make this when I was staring into the refrigerated case at my local TJs and I spotted some olives with fresh herbs. Next I grabbed olives' best friends: oranges. From there I grabbed the bag of squash, and a can of garbanzo beans -- remembering that I had some celery, tomatoes, onions, and carrots hanging out at home waiting to be used!

Obviously, these recipe is very versatile and you can omit/add anything you like. I like my food heavy on the cumin, but you can always spice to taste. Other things I think would go well in the stew include: dried apricots, pomegranate seeds, apples, potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, zucchini -- the sky's the limit!

Also, you can just remove whole elements. Just the couscous and veggies would be fine, or nix the couscous all together!

And I don't want to hear any complaints about the sugar in the tofu. If you can deal with gobs of sugar in your Thai food, I think you can deal with a teaspoon or so in your dinner.

Plus, this dish is a meal in it of itself! It's got tons of veggies, protein (tofu), fat (olive oil/olives), and whole grain carbs (couscous). So it's actually kind of balanced!

Ingredients
(Makes enough for 4-6)

Couscous
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups whole wheat couscous
2 cups water or veggie broth

Stew
1 small onion, diced
3 ribs celery, diced
2 carrots (or 15 baby carrots), peeled and diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups water or veggie broth
1 16oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 12 oz bag butternut squash chunks
4 medium tomatoes, roughly diced
1 tsp paprika
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt

Oranges & Olives
2 large oranges, segmented
8 oz french olives, pitted and cut in half
1 tsp cumin

Tofu
1 tablespoon olive oil
16 oz superfirm tofu, cut into chunks
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Garnish
1/2-1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Prep the couscous
1. In a medium sized pot boil the 2cups of water with the 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/2 tsp salt
2. Remove from heat, stir in the 2 cups couscous
3. Allow to rest for 5 minutes and fluff with a fork

Make the stew
1. In a large heavy pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat
2. When the olive oil is hot, saute the carrots and celery. After 2-3 minutes, add the onions and continue to saute until the vegetables are soft.
3. Add 2 cups of water and the tomatoes, cover the mixture, and continue to cook.
4. (optional) peel the chickpeas to remove the outer skin
5. Add the chickpeas, cumin, paprika, and cayenne to the pot as well and salt to taste
6. In the meantime, cook the squash in the microwave as per instructions on the bag. Ours stated to cook on high in the bag (cutting off the corner) for 5 minutes.
7. Add the squash and remaining water, reduce the heat to medium and allow to simmer while preparing other ingredients.

Make the oranges/olive topping:
1. Mix the pitted olives and the segmented oranges along with the cumin and set aside.

Caramelize the tofu
1. In a large frying pan heat half the olive oil.
2. When the olive oil is hot, add half the tofu.
3. When the tofu is golden is browned on one side, turn them over.
4. Sprinkle in 1 tbsp brown sugar and a 1/4 cup almonds.
5. Don't mix until the other side begins to brown as well then mix until the sugar dissolves
6. Move the tofu/almond mixture onto a plate and repeat steps 1-5 with the remaining tofu.

To assemble
Scoop a layer of couscous, then ladle some of the stew (including some of the juices), some of the olive/orange mixture, a few pieces of tofu and almonds, and a sprinkle of cilantro.

Sunchoke & Sweet Potato Gratin

Today, instead of going to our usual Sunday's Farmer's Market in Temescal we trekked out to the larger one at Grand Lake in Oakland. It's a 25 minute bike ride instead of our usual 10 minute walk, but there's always some more unique finds at the larger market.

This week, we came across some sunchokes and early season white sweet potatoes. For those who have never seen a sunchoke, they are these kind of nubbly tubers and have nothing to do with an artichoke (though often they are labeled "Jerusalem Artichokes"). I've roasted sunchokes before and while they're delicious prepared that simply, we were looking for something just a bit more interesting.

Note, this recipe is VERY heavy so you definitely should eat it in moderation and be in the mood for such a thing

I decided to adapt one of my favorite gratin recipes to include sunchokes, but omit the greens.

Ingredients
2 lbs sunchokes, roughly peeled and thinly sliced
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 gloves garlic, minced
1 cup heavy cream & 1 cup whole milk (Or any 2 cup combination of the two)
2 tablespoons butter + more for the dish
2 tablespoons flour
5 oz gruyere cheese, coarsely grated (a little over a cup)
fresh thyme
fresh rosemary
salt
pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Over medium heat heat the olive oil. When hot, sauté the onions until soft and translucent then set aside.

2. Make the sauce. In a small sauce pan over low heat heat the garlic, cream, milk, and a pinch of salt just until barely simmering. In a separate pan, melt the butter over low heat.

3. When the butter is melted, sprinkle in the flour and whisk for about a minute. Whisk in the warmed milk/cream mixture for another minute or two until the mixture starts to thicken.

4. Butter a 9x13 baking dish. Spread half of the sweet potatoes and then half the sunchokes on the bottom of the pan. Next, sprinkle half of the onions on top followed by half of the sauce and then half the cheese. Sprinkle some salt and pepper over the top.

5. Make the next layer by spreading the potatoes, then the sunchokes, then the remaining onions, then the remaining sauce, then the cheese, another bit of salt and pepper.

6. Cook until most of the liquid has rendered out and the cheese is bubbly and browned (about an hour).