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🍁You’re Going To “Fall” For This Dip🍂

 

This is a healthy and light appetizer recipe.  It will be the perfect edition to your pre-feast, feast table.  If you’re like us, you have a table bursting with irresistible temptations to hold you over until you really start eating. 😂

Well, we can’t stop the tradition, but we can put a few lighter options on the table.  This one is just right, served with crudite or  bruschetta.  Try this topped with some fresh pomegranate seeds too.  Give it a try this year and make Roasted Butternut humus with Garlic and Rosemary.  It’s a bright bite of autumn flavors.

I love Thanksgiving🦃.  It really is my favorite holiday.  Making the traditional dinner, the delicious holiday smell and gathering with friends and family is what I love best.  No pressure on gift giving or receiving.  Plenty of favorite foods, good wine and laughter (usually!). 

 I want to wish you all the most wonderful holiday.  Whether you’re enjoying it with just a few or a house full.  I hope it’s a joy filled day you will long remember and always with  gratitude 🙏. 

Roasting The Squash and Garlic

Slice your squash in half, remove the seeds and the stringy insides.  Lightly top with olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper.  Place the squash on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper or aluminum foil.  Turn the squash over so that the skin side is up. 

Add to the tray, 5-6 cloves of garlic.  Put the cloves on top of a piece of foil and top with about 2 teaspoons of olive oil and a pinch of salt.  Close the foil up around the garlic completely.  Roast along with the squash, but remove the garlic in about 15 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bake the squash for 45 minutes to 1 hour at 425º until the squash is very soft and fork tender.  Remove the from oven and let cool until you are able to handle it.

For the Humus

You can make this with any kind of roasted squash.  It’s also great with the rest of the pumpkin puree you have left over from making a pie! 

If using fresh roasted squash, remove the flesh and add it to the bowl of a food processor.  Process until the squash is a puree.   Remove the squash.   The puree will need to drain for a few hours.  You can put it into a colander lined with cheese cloth or, use a nut bag.  You can get a nut bag from Amazon.  Here’s a link.    https://www.amazon.com/Pack-Multiple-Reusable-Strainer-Cheesecloth/dp/B01N2Q4O08/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1540851675&sr=8-5&keywords=nut+bag       I use mine all the time!  Once you have one, you will be using it all the time and it’s much less expensive than single use cheesecloth.  

Let the puree hang to drain for 3 hours or more.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chop some fresh rosemary, enough for about 1 teaspoon.   Chop another 2 teaspoons of fresh sage.

Into the bowl of your food processor, add 1 cup of drained and rinsed garbanzo beans, 1/2 cup of the squash puree, 1 tablespoon of Greek yogurt or cream, 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, 1/2 teaspoon salt,  and 1/8 teaspoon of coarse ground pepper.  Roasting the garlic gives the garlic a must more mellow flavor.  I love it and I use a lot in this recipe. 

Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skins and into the food processor. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Puree everything until fairly smooth.  Put the dip into a serving bowl.  Top with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon of toasted pine nuts or substitute any other nut, such as pecans or walnuts.  Serve with toasted bruschetta or with fresh vegetables. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 If you are serving this with bruschetta, include a small dish of fresh pomegranate seeds to top the humus with.