You don’t need meat to make flavour (or substance). 

Recipe based on… what I felt like eating for a week.

Gather:
1 smallish butternut pumpkin
3 cloves garlic, peeled and slightly squashed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tsp honey
2 tsp smoked paprika (smoky no. 1)
1 tsp ground cumin
The leaves from one sprig of rosemary
Small dash of liquid smoke (smoky no. 2 — optional)
Lots of salt and pepper

2 cups red quinoa
1 vegetable stock cube

Chipotle Tabasco (smoky no.3)
Mixed lettuce leaves (optional)

Then:

1. Preheat the oven to 180° C.
2. Deseed and peel the pumpkin, and chop into relatively uniform 1.5 cm cubes.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the chopped pumpkin, garlic, olive oil, honey, spices, rosemary, liquid smoke, salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
4. Pour the whole lot onto a large baking sheet (or two, for a larger pumpkin) and roast until the pupmkin is caramelising at the edges and soft in the middle (check with a skewer).
   …
5. Rinse the dry quinoa in a strainer.
6. In a medium saucepan, simmer 2 cups quinoa + 2 cups water + 1 stock cube — stirring intermittently — until the tendrils come out and the quinoa is al dente.
7. Remove from the heat and empty into a strainer to cool.
   …
8. In a large bowl or container, mix together the roast pumpkin and cooked quinoa.
9. Serve with a splash of chipotle Tabasco.

 

Notes:
If eating a giant bowl of quinoa is a bit full on (or filling) for you, serve a serving-spoonful on top of a bowl full of mixed lettuce leaves instead.

Will keep in the fridge for a week.