Pioneer Woman’s Broccoli Wild Rice Casserole ♥

Today's Thanksgiving casserole recipe: A hearty casserole, layers of nutty wild rice and crisp broccoli held together with a gorgeous Mushroom Cream Sauce that's packed with vegetables, including the broccoli stalks. No cheese!

So once upon a time, Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman was just another blogger / food blogger. But back in 2008 I guess it was, maybe 2007, I was part of a food-blog panel at the annual BlogHer conference. During the Q&A, Ree stood to ask a question and the entire room audibly gasped – gasped! – realizing that Pioneer Woman was in the room. A year or two later, we were back at BlogHer and in the hotel lobby, I introduced myself: Ree was kind to say with a grin, "Of course I remember you, Alanna ..." Now of course, Ree Drummond is a genuine celebrity and The Pioneer Woman has spun off three cookbooks, a show on the Food Network, maybe an upcoming movie too? and legions of fans. Fame and fortune are great but some times I wonder, really, if Ree likes her life better now than before or if it's just a wave she rides, like the rest of us if on another scale, gathering resources to put kids and grandkids through school.

Ree's latest cookbook is my favorite of three so far, Pioneer Woman Cooks: A Year of Holidays. It's organized by holiday, New Years, Valentines, etc. and feels personal, intimate and imperceptibly but charmingly imperfect, the way all our holiday gatherings are fraught with things-gone-wrong. I've bookmarked a dozen recipes but given the season, started with Thanksgiving. We plan to try her brine for a Thanksgiving turkey (doesn't every family cook four turkeys? yikes) but it was the wild rice and broccoli casserole which grabbed me first.
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Butternut Squash Lasagna ♥ Recipe with "Butternut Bechamel" and Roasted Butternut Squash

Today's Thanksgiving vegetable recipe, the first of 2013: Lasagna made with butternut squash, just three layers to save calories but packed with naturally creamy, naturally sweet butternut squash: roasted and puréed for a gorgeous "Butternut Bechamel" that envelops the lasagna noodles and roasted in cubes to stud the lasagna layers with bursts of flavor and texture.

So hello, November, so glad to see your golden light, knowing that the next few weeks will be extra-busy and how easy it might be to simply fail to notice. I pledge: I shall notice, I shall appreciate, I shall remember.

It's a November tradition here at A Veggie Venture: a focus fascination obsession spotlight on Thanksgiving recipes, a dedication to the many ways – many tradition, some creative, all fabulous – to cook Thanksgiving's favorite vegetables, all collected in a single place, Favorite Recipes for Thanksgiving's Favorite Vegetables. Talk about a reason for celebration! Who needs turkey anyway? (Apparently, we do, this year we'll again cook four turkeys plus two hams. Yikes.)

To kick off November's new Thanksgiving-perfect recipes, here is a vegetarian lasagna recipe made with fall's favorite, the butternut squash. Two things make this lasagna special, a definite show-stopper:

An oh-so-gorgeous "Butternut Bechamel" – but please, don't be put off by the fancy name, because it's nothing more than a simple white sauce mixed with first roasted and then puréed butternut squash.
Cubes of roasted butternut squash throughout the lasagna, adding much-welcome texture contrast and bursts of squash flavor.

In fact, honestly, now that I think back, next time I will roast two squashes to make the lasagna even more "squash-y" versus "noodle-y". I would leave everything else the same, the Butternut Bechamel would just be thicker and more squash-y. Turns out, that's actually a very "efficient" choice Weight Watchers points-wise, too, double the squash for only one more point. Sold!
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