Merry Thanksgiving!

I love Sunday night dinners with the hubby and mother-in-law.  This evening's crisis involved Ginny being told that her daughter, Suzanne, might be coming to the farm to celebrate Thanksgiving with her mother (while Ron and I are out of town). Ginny has celebrated Thanksgiving with Suzanne for as long as I can remember which you'd think was very sweet. However, Suzanne runs a tight vegetarian household which kind of puts the kabosh on the idea of a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Here was my favorite gem of the meal:

Ron: By the way, Suzanne, Dan, and the kids might come here for Thanksgiving while we're away.
Ginny: Oh my God, I can't have her here for Thanksgiving! I need turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes, not some vegetable pie with mashed tofu!  Oh, my Lord, what am I going to do - that's just so unChristmasty!
Ron: Yes, that sounds like a very unChristmasty Thanksgiving.

Since Thanksgiving has been the talk of the household recently I have been fiddling around with different holiday recipes. I am determined to be armed and ready this year; I won't find myself furiously scraping off prices from the Boston Market containers instead of watching the Macy's parade.

With the temperatures dropping (finally!) I've been looking through my cookbook library to find a good soup recipe. Since it seems the vegetarians are descending upon Ginny, I thought I'd try a vegetarian recipe - turns out this is actually a vegan one. Regardless, the outcome was a DELICIOUSly creamy and tasty soup.

The recipe is from Anna Getty's book, Easy Green Organic.
Creamy Butternut Squash and Macadamia Nut Soup
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 medium onion (chopped)
2 tsp chopped ginger
5 Cups diced butternut squash
1 small Fuji apple diced
1 Cup macadamia nuts (soaked in water overnight) and finely chopped
3 Cups vegetable stock
salt/white pepper to taste

1. heat oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add onion, ginger, and garlic. Saute until onion is translucent, 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly so mixture does not burn. Add squash, apple, and macadamia nuts, stir for 1 minute, then add stock. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes, or until the squash is fork-tender. Remove from pot from the heat.

2. Working in batches, transfer soup to a blender and puree until smooth.

Enjoy!