Bringing back an old favorite and maybe a new one.

Well, I'm cooking again. My boyfriend's mom came into town for Thanksgiving, and when she does, we tend to eat out. I'm usually along for the ride, so I don't get much cooking done.

My Thanksgiving was lovely. I went to VSDC's Life-Affirming Thanksgiving Celebration and had a really nice time. The food, for the most part, was really delicious -- the tofu with "spicy peanut sauce" was anything but and the pumpkin pie was a disappointment, but the stuffing and gravy were wonderful and there were lots of yummy veggies and butternut squash -- and it was a huge improvement over last year. I handed out the door prizes, as I did last year, and my boyfriend's mom won one, as did I. Someone else drew the surveys, so I wasn't fixing anything.

Saturday we went to see Cirque du Soleil's "Corteo." I have never seen Cirque, and I was mostly enthralled with the show. If you're going to a circus, make sure it's like Cirque, where every participant is there because they want to be and gets paid for their work. This means avoiding the animal circuses.

Anyway, onto my meal. I made the Tomato-Walnut Crusted Seitan from La Dolce Vegan I so love, adapted a dish of Balsamic Roasted Sweet Potatoes (from Garden of Vegan to include carrots and mushrooms (the recipe only calls for sweet potatoes, squash of your choice, balsamic vinegar, oil, and a few seasonings). And I heated up some haricot verts (a fancy way of saying green beans). Yes, I have discovered I love butternut squash--yay! I bought pre-cut squash for this time, next time, I buy the whole squash and figure out how to prepare it. I don't care for yellow squash, and I'm weird about zucchini (it has to be cooked properly for me to like it), but I want to learn to appreciate other types of squash.

The brighter and deeper the color of your fruits and vegetables, the better they are for you. The butternut was sort of pale, but it became a gorgeous yellowy-orange color after I cooked it. And I love the brilliant orange of yams, as well as the taste.