If you brought nothing home . . .
my new squash soup recipe
I’m grateful I drove to Farmington from Burque on Wednesday
for family day at the recovery center; left my house at 4:40 AM
enjoyed the cold empty roads, the high mesa hills
pink striations topped with blue as if a striped bowl in Cuba, NM
Misty cold, a few truckers and travelers
and our destination, his GF’s and mine, was to sign in by 9 (mandatory)
for family time, dying to see him detoxed and two months sober.
My jaw dropped as we greeted in the greeting room.
He looked like my young father back when I was a teen and
Daddy didn’t know how to raise me but he tried. I trusted my father’s affection.
Took lightly his misplaced critiques of chubby me and not holding liquor well.
(The family disease being alcohol/addiction.) Most of them gone now,
drinking and smoking into some fertile hell, a verdant underground
from which will spring fruit trees and hyacinths—that pretty stuff.
And so I dined with friends, exhausted from the trip all in one day.
****
For a good Thanksgiving, see your loved ones and friends. If all you brought was one dessert or side dish, and all you’ve got at home is squash and apples, try this:
Put 8 cups or so of diced or chopped up raw winter squash (pumpkin, butternut, acorn, etc.)into an enameled pot or pan with about 8 cups of water and two veggie boullion cubes.
Bring to a slow simmer.
Add a couple few diced apples. I used old yellow ones to keep the autumn color going.
Add half-cup to whole cup of orange juice.
Drop in a tablespoon of butter or olive oil.
Add cinnamon ½ tsp., cumin ½ tsp., ginger 1 tsp., and a sprinkle of turmeric.
Bring to a simmer.
Simmer until squash is very very soft.
Mash the squash in the pot or ladle out the majority into a blender to puree, then return to pot.
Optional: Add a can of coconut milk. It’s delicious without also. If you add the milk, choose the smaller portion of orange juice.
Optional: Serve with a tablespoon of yogurt and good toast.
Enjoy!