Mabon and Samhain 2020

I realised I never got around to posting Mabon, and now Samhain has been and gone, so I will post them together. If you don't know what they are, they are sabbats. And I like to mark them as they occur by making a lovely themed meal. You can see what I have been doing here. You will notice a lot of butternut and apples in both these meals, it is the time for harvest after all!

Mabon aka Autumn Equinox (20th March, 2020)

Mabon may mark the autumn equinox, but it was still pretty summery here. Thank goodness for salads!

Butternut Squash Salad with Quinoa and Pumpkin Seeds from Power Plates by Gena Hemshaw: This lovely salad was autumn in salad form. Roasted butternut is always a huge favourite of mine. This called for red quinoa, which would have looked prettier, but I had a lot of white quinoa so I used that. I made one third of the recipe, which was just a nice serve for dinner. It also has baby spinach (well, technically arugula, but I used spinach because much better), dried cranberries, and pumpkin seeds. The dressing is a tangy and sweet combination of lemon, sherry vinegar, and maple. I used some water and guar gum instead of oil in the dressing, and I left out the raw shallot.
Rating: :)



For dessert, I took the easy route of microwaving one of these handy vegan apple pies that Nanna now makes! They are very nice, and I love that I can just heat them up from frozen in a couple of minutes to have a delicious pie. The sticky toffee part is not very strong, so it is not too sweet. I jazzed mine up for fun by putting some Miyoko's Smoked Farmhouse cheese on top for a lovely sweet/savoury combination.





Samhain (30th April/1st May 2020)

Years and years ago, when I was Susan the teenage witch, I painstakingly wrote out the sabbats in the Southern Hemisphere, and at the time my research (in the very early ages of the interwebs) advised me that Samhain in the Southern Hemisphere was the 30th of April. But I noticed in more recent research this year it seems to mostly be celebrated on the 1st of May (which is Beltane in the Northern Hemisphere). On the one hand, it makes sense for it to correspond directly to the swap with the Northern Hemisphere, on the other hand Samhain seems to me like it should be at the end of a month, not the beginning. Anyway, it is all symbolic to me so either or. Samhain in the Northern Hemisphere is the 31st of October - which is the night of Halloween! Samhain is consider the new year of the sabbat cycle, and it is also a time for honouring those that have passed. This year, I lit my candle by Sahara and Gizmo's photos. Traditionally you would set an extra plate at the table (and then put it outside for nature to enjoy), and observe the meal in silence. I did eat in silence, but I didn't set an extra plate (and setting an empty plate seemed wrong), as I can just imagine it would have ended up being an ant mound in the morning and I don't think possums and geckos should eat curry.

Pumpkin and White Bean Curry from The Australian Women's Weekly Vegetarian Stir-Fries: This delicious, sweet curry has roasted butternut pumpkin (I'm a fan!), cannelini beans, and uses ready made korma paste (that has no chilli in it, but still has some spice). It called for asparagus, but it is not really the season for that so I used some frozen peas, as well as some baby spinach and some basil (I used some frozen stir-in basil). I served this over some basmati rice, and it was just really nice.
Rating: :)



Autumny Apple Spelt Loaf from Whole Grain Vegan Baking by Celine Steen and Tamasin Noyes: I didn't make a dessert as such, but I did bake this lovely apple bread. It has apple juice (I used cloudy apple juice in place of apple juice concentrate or apple cider), applesauce, and chopped dried apple, is sweetened with maple syrup, and all the flour is spelt. This has a lovely flavour, and the spelt flour gives it a really nice texture. Great with some peanut butter and cinnamon!
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I cannot think of pumpkin without thinking of my sweet pumpkin belly, Sahara. Last year for my birthday, Mum had a beautiful portrait of Dim Sim commissioned and drawn by Papadore Art, and she followed it up with portraits of the rest of our cats as well. This is Sahara's.