Vegan Pumpkin Curry

This Vegan Pumpkin Curry is the perfect easy, quick weeknight meal!

Once Thanksgiving is over, I’m usually in full-on Christmas mode. We’re talking twinkly Christmas lights, a tree, holiday jingles, you name it. But this year I’m still holding on to fall’s milder temperatures and cozy, savory flavors. We had a cold spell a few days ago where it was below 20 degrees, but today was more comfortable (about 45 degrees) and I had a lovely walk with Ivy. This vegan pumpkin curry is the perfect post-walk meal!

I love this recipe because it’s SO easy to make. Everything is cooked in one pot, which means less dishes to clean! I photographed this curry with rice, but it would also be super delicious with quinoa or millet, or even on its own! Plus, it’s made with chickpeas, which are kind of my thing ;)

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I don’t have any major life updates to talk about, but I did want to share a little thing I learned over the weekend. I was talking to my Aunt Teresa, who I’m pretty close with, and she was asking about how I was feeling after my surgery (ICYMI: I was diagnosed with a rare bone disease and had surgery in August). I was telling her that I had a significant personal struggle with the disease itself, and the fact that it happened at all. It was really difficult to accept that.

But have you ever had a conversation with someone and as you were talking to them, as you were putting your thoughts into words, you learned something about the thoughts itself? I didn’t realize this until I verbalized it to Aunt Teresa, but I told her that I was choosing to put my worries and bad thoughts (especially about the surgery) down. Honestly, if I focused too much on everything that’s happened to me over the past few years, I would break down. So I told my aunt that instead of thinking too much about the past, I’m looking to my future with optimism.

The thing I am most optimistic about is my relationship with Jon. We had a rough patch when we first started dating because we both had some really bad things happen in our lives, all at the same time. We were both super stressed out and didn’t have as much headspace as we would’ve liked to focus on our relationship. But facing those struggles only made our relationship stronger. We learned so much about ourselves and each other. We learned how deep our love goes and how we can rely on each other when things go wrong.

For those of you who don’t know, Jon is my best friend from college. I say “is” because even though he’s my boyfriend now, he’s still my best friend. We had both seen other people since graduating from college, but our friendship remained like a rock in my life. Jon was always there for me, even when we weren’t dating. Anytime I needed him, he would drop everything to come help me. I have a hard time describing him to people because he is so unique and different than 99.99% of guys out there. You only hear about people being this selfless and giving in movies or books, not in real life. He is the guy you call when your car breaks down. He’s helped all our friends move. He is SO incredibly kind and thoughtful of others. My parents adore him. My dad always says to me that as a father, he could not ask for a better man for his daughter.

I have so much to look forward to with him. Even though I had a hell of a year, I have so much to be grateful for because I have him. And describing this attitude to my aunt was really helpful for me because I had gotten a little caught up in the past. Sometimes all it takes is a small shift in perspective to see the sun behind the clouds :)

P.S.

If you make this vegan pumpkin curry and post it on Instagram, be sure to tag me @wellandfull and #wellandfull so I can see! I love seeing your takes on my recipes :)