Stuffed Squash & Experimenting

Woohoo, this long short week is almost over! Work is still so busy and we had more yucky weather today with lots of clouds and rain. For the last few days I’ve been feeling really tired and having to find more drive to workout and bang out tasks on my task list. Along with the energy sags, my insides have not been that happy. Either I have some bug, am fighting off some bug and/or the holiday stress is getting to me. Every year, I’m prone to going a little nuts in November and December, a little weather change/holiday stress madness I think. I tend to get more scatterbrained and feel more stressed and cranky which I call the holiday crazies. Do you ever suffer from holiday crazies?

I had lunch with my mom today and she made this beautiful stuffed butternut squash dish from a recipe she’s been meaning to try. Only she veganized my half omitting the non-vegan cornbread.

It was too huge to eat, so I had half for lunch and the other half is sitting in my fridge for lunch tomorrow maybe.

This was a wonderful creation stuffed with onions, celery, pecans, raisins and seasonings that reminded me of the walnut cranberry recipe from Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen but with better presentation. Nuts, butternut squash and  cranberries go so well together creating a sweet and savory blend.

My mom’s serving that included the corn bread and was much more filling with it because she couldn’t get through it all.

When I got home from work, I was starving and snacked on some a lot of pistachios.

So I wasn’t craving a huge dinner and decided to experiment with a new creamy salad dressing in the Vita-Mix.

It’s supposed to be a cheesy zucchini-based dressing with a little nacho kick and lower in calories not being nut-based. But it still needs some work. :-) Soon I hope to post it, until then I need to walk an anxious dog and crash for another busy day.