Exclamation Point in the Sky and other things worth exclaiming about!

New Year's Day sunset. Hello 2016!

Once upon a time I greeted the New Year stoked with resolutions. 

Then there was the era of the ironic resolution. (Drink more! Stay up later! Party harder!) I was a mom with young children and those resolutions always fell flat.

I took things seriously again for a while and one year I even signed up for one of those online services that nag you by email about meeting your goals. 

I resolved to never do that again.

Then I think there was a year where I resolved not to have any resolutions at all. 

This year I was into it. Then decided I wasn't. 

This morning I read THIS. I'm sure it's a gross oversimplification to resolve to have great compassion. Maybe one can resolve to study great compassion. Or to look at the world and notice where great compassion exists. Yes, I'll resolve to do that (!)

I also read THIS.  Here's a quote: "We do not see that our life right here, right now, is nirvana. Maybe we think that nirvana is a place where there are no problems, no more delusions. Maybe we think nirvana is something very beautiful, something unattainable. We always think nirvana is something very different from our own life. But we must really understand that it is right here, right now." Yes, I'll resolve to do that (!)

I'm also resolving to go back to being gluten free because right now by body is the shape of a bowling pin!!!

Did you see the exclamation point in the sky last night, dear readers?

Do you have any resolutions you want to share?

Kuri Squash Tart

I'm something of a squash fanatic. One year I grew so much summer squash, my kids refused to eat it for years.

This fall there's been quite a bit of winter squash in my weekly CSA box. Squash is one of my mom's favorite veggies, and I don't think she's going to get tired of it. The varieties we've devoured so far include Delicata, Butternut, Acorn, Kabocha, Carnival, Kuri, and Spaghetti. The Kuri alone failed to live up to our expectations.

Last week there was another Kuri in my box of veggies, and on Saturday night I turned it into a tart.

I wanted it to be a little different from a pumpkin pie since Thanksgiving is right around the corner, so I made the crust out of ground almonds. I dumped two cups of roasted almonds into the food processor, pulsed them until they were coarsely ground, and then added 1/3 cup of sugar and 1/3 cup of butter. I pulsed it some more and then pressed it into the tart pan (9 ") and baked it for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

The Kuri squash was baked in the oven until very tender, cooled, and the innards scooped out and put into the food processor with 1/8 C brown sugar, 1/4 C white sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon,1/4 tsp ginger, 1/8 tsp allspice, and 1/8 tsp cloves. Once that was mixed, I added an egg that had been beaten into a cup of soy milk, pulsed until well blended, and poured the mixture into the crust. I think I baked it for about 30 minutes. Things were getting busy in the kitchen at that point, and the man who loves me and I were probably into our second glass of wine by then.

The tart was a delicious dessert. We topped it with vanilla ice cream. It made a fabulous breakfast, too.

Gluten free & dairy free--without the vanilla ice cream, that is.