Harvest Salad and Holiday Happenings

I am working on the Thanksgiving Diner News. That is quite an undertaking. I try very hard to find wonderful side dishes to make your holiday meals really special. This is a terrific salad. I did take a shortcut though by using a pre-bagged salad mix as the base. I love the variety out there these days. This one is a Fresh Express Sweet Kale Salad. Not too much kale, but a base of cabbage and other healthy stuff. Plus, some roasted pumpkin seeds. I give away the sweetened cranberries  and sugary dressing and add my own. You can too.

I also cut up and bake a squash to use in several recipes. That is a time saver too. To make my Kabocha easier to cut, I pierce it with a fork and cook it in the microwave oven for 5 minutes. It will be hot, so plan on leaving another half hour before you cut it up. You can save time by using pre-cut Butternut squash as well.

Harvest Salad with Pumpkin Dressing

2 cups squash cubes (Kabocha  in the photo)

1 cup whole fresh cranberries

1 tbsp melted coconut oil or butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp erythritol / stevia blend

2 bags Fresh Express kale salad mix (from Aldi)

Toss squash cubes and cranberries in oil or butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sweetener. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Roast at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Pumpkin Dressing:

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup pumpkin

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp  erythritol / stevia blend

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp MCT oil

    Whisk together water and pumpkin puree. Add sweetener, salt, pepper and spice. Slowly beat in the oils. Chill.

    Place the kale mix (reserve the included dressing and sweetened cranberries for a friend) on a serving platter. Add squash and cranberry mixture over the greens. Drizzle with Pumpkin Dressing. Sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds that came in the salad mix.

Serves 8:  132 calories  7 net g carb

 The roasted cranberries, in  my opinion, are so much better than the sweetened dried. I simply adore the combination of tangy berry and smooth sweet squash. Add the texture of the crunchy veggies and the super crisp roasted pumpkin seeds. Spectacular salad!

The dressing. Pumpkin, of course. What else, this time of year? The sweet vinaigrette is perfect. Remember, when you have small amounts of pumpkin left over from recipes, you can freeze it in ice cube trays then use it for this dressing, protein shakes or hot drinks all season long. Don't let that can go to waste in the back of the fridge!

I am planning to have most of my dear family home for Thanksgiving this year. That is something to celebrate. At the same time, it is going to be a very stressful season for me. I would covet your prayers the next few months. My dear, sweet, wonderful, amazing son, Pearson, has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. The mama in me wants to freak out. The child of God knows to have faith. Right now, while the news is fresh (Yes, it has been quite a week at our house, with the stolen recipes going on all at the same time) I seem to bounce between the faith and the panic. My boy is only 26. We have no answers. I can't fix this, but I am ready to help him fight. We are looking at surgery in November, with some more exploration with his salivary glands before that. Without complications, thyroid cancer has one of the best cure rates, so that eases my mind a bit. 

That said, I may have a tougher time getting the December issue of the Diner News ready before the December 1 deadline. So, if you have any original recipes that are Christmas favorites, and would like to share, I would love to publish them in the Diner News. I did that back a few years ago when my roof was blown off our home and my kitchen was a disaster area. My readers were great! Now my house is fine, but my family life is the challenge. I will have to continue at school, but any help I could get which would allow me more time next month to help with my boy would be such a blessing...he is the single one with no wife to care for him. But he will always have a mom to love him. Hopefully, he will have your prayers too.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

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