Vegan Winter Squash Scones

We were lucky enough to be blessed with some children's laughter around the house for the holidays.  Kaylee and Eryk were here all day Christmas Eve.  This is new for Eryk, Kaylee's little brother, and I.  We haven't spent any time getting to know each other in his four years. He is physically challenged in that he can't walk or talk so communication was fun yesterday. He does sign and I know a little bit.  We found our way.  We made some decorations and just hung out together. He found out it's fun at Grandma's house too.  We did some drumming and some tambourine shaking and just had a great time.

Grandpa came home from work in the early afternoon.  We enjoyed a nice lunch of vegan potatoes au gratin and steamed broccoli. Then we had some Christmas fun. We took pictures of the kids unwrapping gifts on the living room floor.  Eryk enjoyed ripping the paper much more than what was in the box.  Theirs were the only gifts we gave this year that weren't hand made.  I didn't spend much time in the stores shopping this year. I've been doing it less and less over the years.  I'd rather feed you, give you a hug, and a warm pair of socks for Christmas.

After the Christmas gifts we all had some of the lemon pudding cake and vanilla bean ice cream I made Thursday. That was a big hit.  Eryk wasn't too sure about the lemon cake and ice cream at first, but he was soon asking for more.

Christmas Breakfast was warm and homey. Just the two of us, no plans, just a relaxing morning at home together. I roasted a winter squash Friday and pureed it with a couple tablespoons avocado oil and a little water.

I used another of the recipes from the Vegan Dad Cookbook for pumpkin scones replacing this squash for the pumpkin.  I also added some toasted almonds and dried cranberries.

Served with home made blueberry preserves and maple coconut butter. They made a fine Christmas morning breakfast.

Breakfast - Vegan Strawberry Scones

I was thinking about what I will do with my strawberries this weekend.  I wanted to make some jam, which I did.  I made some freezer jam with 3 cups of sucanat for ten cups of crushed berries.  Much less sugar than conventional jam.  But what kind of fun, healthy snack can I come up with?  I thought about strawberry scones and when looking through the vegan recipes that came up when I searched, I hit on this one Strawberry-Coconut Scones.  I didn't make many changes to the recipe;  I used sucanat for sugars, plain coconut milk yogurt, and coconut milk creamer.  These came out very nice, firm, but flaky and moist, thanks to the chunks of strawberries.

 I served them with the strawberry jam I made yesterday, a fresh fruit salad made with:  mango, bananas, kiwi, sliced strawberries, and a handful of coconut shreds.  I also grilled some strips of sesame garlic tempeh marinated in shoyu.