Stuff It Squash

There are many recipes out there for making a stuffed acorn squash, but as I surveyed them they all had some fatal flaw. Either they were too fussy about the squash, the stuffing lacked sophistication, or in one awful case, the squash and stuffing were prepared separately! That's false advertising!

I decided to invent my own recipe, and luckily the farm I subscribe to had a bumper crop of acorn squash this year, so I had ample opportunities to refine it.

Serves 2

Stuff It Squash

• 1 acorn squash
• 1/2 cup white rice
• 5/8 cup (5 ounces) beef stock
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Fresh ground pepper to taste
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 medium carrot
• 1/2 honeycrisp apple
• 4 slices of bacon
• 1 shallot
• Vegetable or olive oil

Start by cooking the rice in the beef stock. Always start by rinsing the rice until the water runs fairly clean. I use a sieve and the sprayer setting on my kitchen faucet. For cooking, I use my Japanese rice cooker, so just toss it in and hit one button. Use whatever method of rice cooking works for you. The proportions are 1 part rice to 1.25 part cooking liquid.

Don't skip rinsing the rice.

Cook your bacon strips using your preferred method. I use the air fry setting on my range at 425 for 13 minutes. Chop finely and set aside.

Chop your vegetables and apple finely and set aside.

In a sauté pan, add about a tablespoon of oil and add your shallot. Cook until it begins to brown.

Preheat your oven to 425F.

When you rice is done, combine it with your sautéed shallot, bacon, vegetables, apple, salt, and pepper and mix.

Fill the squash with the stuffing mixture. Pack the cavity firmly and mound the dressing a little above the edge of the squash.

Cover tightly with tinfoil and bake for approximately 1 hour. Squash are done when a fork easily sinks into the flesh.

Remove from the oven and let rest covered with the tinfoil for about 15 minutes.

I added the last of the butter before cooking this time. I should have waited.

Cranberry Apple Sauce

There is one thing and I and my husband will never see eye to eye on; cranberries. I absolutely love things that are tart, and he is more of a sweet guy. When we have had holiday meals together, I always have the cranberry sauce on the side for myself while he eschews it.

Since we have to have our Winter Solstice Banquet online this year due to the pandemic, I will be using this cranberry apple sauce as a glaze on a pork tenderloin roast. It is also great on turkey sandwiches, and as a topping for vanilla iced cream.

Cranberry Apple Sauce

• 2 Honeycrisp apples
• 12 ounces fresh cranberries
• 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water

Wash the cranberries being careful to discard any that have become mushy or whose skin has broken.

Wash, core and slice your apples into chunks

Add sugar, water, and fruit to a saucepan.

Cook over medium low heat until all cranberries have burst and apple chunks are soft.

Use a potato masher to pulverize the fruit in the sauce pan.

Place a sieve over a mixing bowl and put the cooked fruit into it. Allow the fruit to seep through as it cools for approximately 30 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to scrape the drained mixture up away from the mesh so that undrained portions can make it through. Continue until what remains in the sieve is mostly skins, stems, and other things you don't want in a sauce.

If you want a thicker sauce, return the strained fruit to a clean saucepan and reduce over low heat until it reaches your desired thickness.

Once the strained fruit mixture is cool, stir in the citrus juices. Never add the citrus juices while the mixture is too hot, as it will destroy the vitamin C in the juice and leave a bitter taste.

Solstice Salad

This recipe started out many years ago as an upscale version of a Waldorf Salad, but I have made enough modifications over the years of the Winter Solstice Banquet, that it deserves its own name. I know that many of you might have been served something that was called a Waldorf Salad, but believe me, if you hated it, it was not this salad.

Give this wintry creation a try!

Serves 2 or 3

Solstice Salad

• 1 Honeycrisp apple
• Juice of 1/4 lemon
• 1 1/2 stalks of celery
• 3 spears of red pepper
• 1 scallion
• 3 heaping tablespoons raw shelled pistachios 

For the dressing

• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 1 1/2 teaspoon honey
• Salt and pepper to taste

Put it together

Preheat your oven to 200F and spread the pistachios on a baking sheet. Lightly toast for about 20 minutes. Chop finely in a food processor or mill and set aside

Peel, core and quarter the apple. Cut into pieces about a 1/4 inch. Toss with the lemon juice.

Cut the celery and red pepper into pieces smaller than the apple pieces and add to the mix.

Chop the scallion into really small pieces and add them in as well.

Whisk together the sour cream, mustard and honey. Add salt and ground pepper to taste.

Toss the salad and dressing together. Plate using a slotted spoon, allowing excess dressing to fall away.

Dust the salad generously with the toasted ground pistachios.

Chill the plated salads in the refrigerator before serving.

I know there are only two red pepper spears here. I had to adjust!

Pistachios ready for toasting

Dressing whisked

Chopped and tossed

Such a great aroma!

Let the Winter Solstice Banquet begin!

Sunshine Soup

Sunshine Soup is a staple of our Winter Solstice Banquet tradition. The secret to a great result is the fresh pumpkin. Where I live in Seattle, it is much easier to find pumpkins in the grocery store around US Thanksgiving than it is in late December, so I buy three pie-sized pumpkins and deconstruct and freeze them. This recipe makes enough soup for 10, so be warned.

Sunshine Soup

1/4 cup butter
1 medium onion diced
2 bay leaves
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
8 cups fresh pumpkin (a 4 lb pumpkin will yield about this much)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups half and half
12 ounces grated gruyere cheese
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Sauté the onion in the butter until it turns until it starts to turn golden. Add the stock, pumpkin, and bay leaves. Cook until the pumpkin is tender - about 15 minutes or so.

Remove the bay leaves. Purée using an immersion blender.

Add salt, pepper, half and half, and cheese.

When the cheese is mostly melted, turn down the heat and add the citrus juices.

Project 60: Solstice Tree Skirt

After ten years of not really celebrating Solstice after moving to my no-dining-room condo in Greenwood, in 2018 Doug and I restored the Winter Solstice Banquet, complete with full-sized Solstice tree.

This year, I decided to invest in one of the extremely fabulous tree stands that I had seen in BC. That, however, meant that I needed something to go around the base for maximum fabulousness. I remembered that I still had a considerable supply of crimson velvet. I bought it when I bought all the drapes for my place so that I could make additional matching accessories if I wanted. I have done; four sofa pillows, a lumbar pillow for my office chair, etc.

I dug through my stash and lo-and-behold there was enough left to make a tree skirt. Seattle has become a kind of fabric desert in recent months with the downfall of Pacific Fabrics, Nancy’s Sewing Basket, and the desperately inconvenient relocation of District Fabrics. All we have now is Jo-Ann Fabrics. Sigh. I knew I wanted something gold to go around the hem, so I screwed up my courage and resolved to wash all my clothes after spending time in the PERFUMED HVAC environment of the Jo-Ann store on Aurora. Ugh. Anyway, such is the strength of my commitment to Solstice.

I found some nice gold fringe, bought it, and zoomed back out into the fresh air.

I think it will look really nice under the tree.

Reul Dòchas nan Rìgh

About a year and a half ago I was approached by the Vancouver Gaelic choir about writing them a new Christmas carol. At first I was a bit dubious about it. After all, I'm a Witch and I wouldn't touch Christmas with someone else's broomstick, but it didn't take long for another thought to occur to me: I sing songs all the time bout being in love with pretty girls and that's not ever going to happen either.

So, I set to the task. I asked myself what about the nativity story was relatable. Royalty? Travel? Extravagant gifts? Yes, to all of these, but most importantly, hope. That's the power I see in that aspect of Christianity and for good or ill, it has entranced mankind for a while.

The Gaelic vision of the nativity includes Saint Bridget, who in some accounts is magically transported from The British Isles to Bethlehem in time to minister to the Virgin Mary. That's a pretty transparent co-opting of the goddess Bridget, of course. Gaels in the time of conversion were unwilling to utter forsake her, so they made her into the foster mother of Christ, which in their culture was the most honored position.

So, I imagined Bridget, Mary, and Joseph - quite a trio - encountering the three Kings: Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar. The result was this song. Anyone who wants the sheet music and / or sound file can drop me a message and I'll send it along.

Reul Dòchas nan Rìgh

Reul dòchais dha'n triùir a thàinig bho'n Ear;
toirt naidheachd ro aoibhneach do chlann daoine gu leir.
Togaidh sinn sùil ort thar linntean nar crìdh.
Nach toir thu dhuinn solas, Reul Dòchas nan Rìgh!

A' mhaighdean chiùin shèimh, Brìd gheal ri taobh.
Seann Iosaph, fear-faire do'n leanabh beag naomh.
Nach foiseil an triùir siud san stàbul cho finn
nuair a ràinig triùir eile fo Reul nan Rìgh.

"Chuir sinn ar cùiltean ri caisteal 'us cuirt
'us thog sinn oirnn falbh thar fàsaich air cuairt
a' leantainn na reul ùr a nochd dhuinn san Iar."
Ars a Mhòrachd, Balthasar, mu Reul nan Rìgh.

Thug iad tìodhlac, Mirr, tùis, agus òr.
Agus rinn iad adhradh do mhac Rìgh na Glòir
na laighe sa mhainnsear ann am Bethlehem bhinn
air an oidhche a chunnaic Reul Dòchas nan Rìgh.

The Star of the Hope of Kings

A star of hope to the three who came from the East;
bringing joyful news to all mankind.
We look to you across the centuries in our hearts.
Won't you give us light, The Star of the Hope of Kings!

The soft gentle maiden, Bright Bridget beside her.
Old Joseph, guardian of the little holy child.
How peaceful these three in that distant stable
when three others arrived under the Star of the Kings.

"We set our backs to castle and court
and set off across the desert
following the new star that appeared to us in the West. "
Said His Highness, Balthasar, of the Star of the Kings.

They brought presents, myrrh, frankincense, and gold.
And they worshiped the son of the King of Glory
lying in the manger in sweet Bethlehem
on the night that saw the Star of Hope of Kings.

The Winter Solstice Banquet

When I was growing up, Christmas was often a stressful and traumatic time. Life in my family wasn't peaceful in general, so adding stress, expectations, and a fair amount of alcohol didn't improve matters. I was baptized and partially raised in the Catholic Church, so Christmas was very definitely a religious holiday with a bunch of other fun stuff tacked on to it.

I stopped celebrating Christmas when I was 15 years old because I had decided to commit myself to living a Pagan life, and it seemed the height of hypocrisy to make a fuss over the birth of Jesus. My friends and I who formed our teenage coven celebrated Winter Solstice together, of course, but without a home to decorate or the ability to mark the shortest day rather than Jesus' birthday it still kind of felt like Christmas and I didn't like it.

When, after lots of adventures I finally got my first real home in Ballard, I was absolutely resolved that I would decorate for Solstice and have a real celebration. My close friend Pandora and I conceived of a multi-course celebratory dinner, and that was the start of what became the Winter Solstice Banquet.

The Banquet is a ritual meal, rather than a ritual per se. If the Solstice is a religious holiday for you, then the Banquet is a religious event, but if it isn't, it's still a really nice evening with good food, good friends, and heart-felt reflection on the year that is ending. Each of the courses of the meal has a question that each guest answers during that course. The meal doesn't progress until everyone has had a chance to speak. For that reason, it's best to limit guests to about eight. Otherwise, you are likely to spend an uncomfortable amount of time sitting in front of empty plates.

I held the Banquet in my home in Ballard until I was forced out and moved to my condo in Greenwood. My place here doesn't have a dining area, so I thought that the Banquet was lost to me forever.

From 2007 until 2017 there was no Banquet and I grew more bitter and despondent during Christmas with each passing year. I would usually spend Christmas with Doug and his mother in Victoria, and although entirely pleasant, I had grown so resentful of the day that it was a struggle to keep my feelings under wraps.

Then, in 2016, I drew the Tower card (It's a Tarot reference - go look it up). I came home from US Thanksgiving with my family to a home in the process of being destroyed by flooding from my upstairs neighbor. When all was said and done, I came back from two months of living in a hotel to a living room with no furniture. For a while, I looked for replacement items, but nothing felt right. I started using folding camping furniture for convenience. That solution also allowed me to put the seating away when I wanted to set up my sewing studio.

Then, in 2018, my beautiful man asked me why I didn't just set up a folding table and have the Banquet again? Uhhh. Ummm. YEAH!!!!

And so on Solstice 2018, the Winter Solstice Banquet was restored.

Here is the order of service in case you want to do this too:

Winter Solstice Banquet

Appetizers

The Shortest Day

The youngest person present reads The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper while all join hands. At the conclusion, toast to "Welcome Yule."

Salad

Question: What was the hardest challenge this year?

Soup

Question: How have you changed?

Seafood

Question: What have you done for others?

Vegetables

Question: What was the highlight this year?

Main

Question: What do you hope for in the new year?

Salutation

Host reads Salutation by Fra Giovanni Giocondo

Dessert

Before posting the poetry texts and the menu we developed last year, I will just add that anyone is welcome to use this as a template to create your own Banquet tradition. Just please tell everyone you know how my genius has enriched your life. Thenk you.

---

The Shortest Day

Susan Cooper

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!

---

Salutation

Fra Giovanni Giocondo
excerpted from A Letter to the Most Illustrious the Contessina Allagia degli Aldobrandeschi, Written Christmas Eve 1513 A.D.

I am your friend and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not got, but there is much, very much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take.

No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today. Take heaven!

No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant. Take peace!

The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach is joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness could we but see - and to see we have only to look. I beseech you to look!

Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by the covering, cast them away as ugly, or heavy or hard. Remove the covering and you will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love, by wisdom, with power.

Welcome it, grasp it, touch the angel's hand that brings it to you. Everything we call a trial, a sorrow, or a duty, believe me, that angel's hand is there, the gift is there, and the wonder of an overshadowing presence. Our joys, too, be not content with them as joys. They, too, conceal diviner gifts.

Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty - beneath its covering - that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven.

Courage, then, to claim it, that is all. But courage you have, and the knowledge that we are all pilgrims together, wending through unknown country, home.

And so, at this time, I greet you. Not quite as the world sends greetings, but with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you now and forever, the day breaks, and the shadows flee away.