Roasted Vegetables with Harissa Yogurt

Hey guess what!? I mentioned this on my Loves Food, Loves to Eat Facebook page, and also on twitter, but if you're not following along at either of those places (you should be!) then I'll tell you here too. I'm doing NaNoWriMo! NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, and it takes place every November. I've been very, very slowly writing a story for the past two years, and decided to use NaNo as an excuse to push through and finish it. The goal with NaNo is to write 50,000 words, which is the average size of a novel. I'm up to 30,000! Anyway, my novel has nothing to do with food. It's a mystery type story. My mom likes it so far, so…I'll consider that a success. Stay tuned, maybe I'll let you read it someday. 

But anyway, enough about that. Let's talk about your Thanksgiving table. There's the turkey, the mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing/dressing, something orange, green beans of some sort, bread rolls, and cranberry sauce. Right? 

Well, I like to also add some roasted vegetables with a little spice. These vegetables, delicata squash, carrots, parsnip, and onions are roasted until they're all caramelized, and the coconut oil adds just a hint of sweetness. Then the whole thing is topped with harissa yogurt, which is cool, sweet, and spicy all at once. Throw some crunchy, juicy pomegranate arils on top, and it's ready to serve.  

Roasted Winter Vegetables with Harissa Yogurt 

1 delicata squash

1 large carrot, peeled and cubed

1 parsnip, peeled and cubed

1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 can drained, rinsed chickpeas (not pictured..*)

2 teaspoons coconut oil, melted

salt & pepper

6 oz plain greek yogurt

1/2-1 teaspoon harissa spice blend (dry)**

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons olive oil

juice from half a lemon 

Pomegranate arils (the fruity seeds)

Preheat oven to 400.

Slice delicate in 1/2 inch slices, and clear out center of each slice with a spoon. Separate and save the seeds (like with pumpkin seeds). 

Toss squash slices, squash seeds, carrots, parsnip, and onion with coconut oil, and spread out on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with a fairly generous amount of salt and pepper (you can also sprinkle on spices here if you'd like. I've tried za'atar and thyme, both were great!).

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until everything is tender. If you want more color on it, stick under the broiler for thirty seconds to a minute (keep an eye on it).

Stir together yogurt, harissa, honey, olive oil, and lemon juice. Add salt to taste.

Serve vegetables hot, topped with yogurt mixture and pomegranate arils.

This is also pretty good cold the next day, or tossed with arugula for a little salad. But, since it's cooked in coconut oil, once it's refrigerated, the coconut oil hardens again. 

*Edit: Aw man! I completely forgot that when I made this before I added 1 can of drained, rinsed chickpeas! I would definitely recommend doing that. 

**I've tried both the spice blend and the paste in this, and prefer the dry spice blend. You can buy it bulk in a lot of places or try this. 

Almond Butter Fruit Dip

We all have our bad habits. Some are vices, some are just little things that drive other people crazy. I definitely have some bad habits that drive Evan crazy. I leave dirty clothes on the bathroom floor, I hit snooze a million times every morning, I'm the worst back seat driver. But lately, the one thing he just can't stomach…is that I eat peanut butter (and Nutella, and almond butter, and spekuloos spread) straight out of the jar, on a spoon. He thinks its disgusting. I think….why consume extra calories via an edible spoon (cracker, bread, waffle, cookie, etc), when all I really want is the peanut butter? I think my logic makes perfect sense. 

My favorite afternoon snack the last couple of weeks is a spoonful of almond butter with a drizzle of honey, a sprinkle of coconut, and a couple of blueberries. Delicious one bite snack, right!? 

But, since it bothers him so much, I tried putting it all in a little bowl: almond butter, honey, coconut, blueberries. Stir it together, insert spoon, eat. Delicious two bite snack! He didn't like that too much either. The guy isn't too particular about most things, but this one just really seems to bother him. So, to make my afternoon snack a bit more appealing to him (not that his opinion has stopped me from standing at the counter eating Nutella straight out of the jar, with a spoon), I decided to add yogurt and whip everything up into a dip for fruit. That's totally normal and acceptable, right? Way less crazy than drowning every single thing you consume in hot sauce. *Cough* Evan *Cough*. 

Almond Butter Fruit Dip

1 cup nonfat vanilla greek yogurt

2 tablespoons salted almond butter

1 tablespoon honey

1/4 cup shredded coconut

pinch of cinnamon

sliced fruit or fruit skewers for serving

Whisk together yogurt, almond butter, and honey. Stir in cinnamon and coconut. Add more of anything, as desired. Serve with fruit.