My Goodness, it’s Thanksgiving.

All of a sudden it was Thanksgiving.

As of recent I’ve been utterly consumed with falling into the new roll of “baker” at a specialty kitchen store.  I made so many wonderfully delicious things today.  I topped a carrot cake cheesecake with a cream cheese whipped cream, made a classic lemon tart, pumpkin scones, and other buttery, flaky, sweet, rich things.  Life has been treating me well.

One thing.  One minor, major, important-to-me thing.  Baking at home.  I miss it so so so so so so so much. Like so much.  This Thanksgiving I’m thankful for having three consecutive days off of work and for having time to make Thanksgiving dinner for my family.  I’m also thankful for carbs, Tofurky, butternut squash, and red wine.

I want you to have a rosy-cheeked, carb-induced, laughter-filled time this Thanksgiving.  I have plans to supercharge myself (with carbs of course), and come back using less hyphens and more throwing down new lunch ideas.  I really need to step up my lunch game at work, how about you?

Rebs

Pumpkin and Rhubarb Crumble Bars

About a week ago I was reminded by a fellow Instagram friend that I had sliced ruby red rhubarb in my freezer.  The wonders of social media!  During the summer I was very clever to have scooped some up from a friend’s garden, and put it away for winter blues.  I have SO much that I’m using some for fall baking as well.

I was going to make an apple rhubarb something but then I spotted this pumpkin and it was a game changer for me.  These bars are creamy in texture, tangy & sweet in flavour, and downright dreamy.  No, I will not stop cooking with squash.  No, I will not stop using this doily.  I love fall.

Is it Halloween yet?

Sweet Potato and Acorn Squash Soup

There’s definitely a fall chill in the air and I’m ecstatic because that means I get to make loads and loads of soup.  There are so many reasons in which this appeals to me.

First and foremost, sweater weather is better weather.  Cozy, snuggly, comfortable.  Are you with me?  Also, I’m kind of lazy sometimes and it’s really nice to have a meal ready to go in your fridge when you just don’t want to cook anything… no way, nuh-uh.  Lastly, I get to put really healthy vegetables into my body in a truly delicious, mindless way.  I can eat 2 giant bowls and not worry about it.  Mindless soup eating.  Yes, I enjoy that.

I topped this soup with goat cheese and roasted acorn squash seeds.  You could easily omit the goat cheese for a vegan version.  Some other tasty options would be sour cream, toasted pecans, or fried sage leaves.  I’m definitely going to get my hands on some fresh sage before I devour all this soup.

Butternut Squash and Caramelized Red Onion Quesadillas

Two things are certain for me right now.

One… I’ve been very busy.

Two… I still love Mexican-inspired food.

Being busy has involved getting a brand spanking new job, going to a dinner event, visiting new breweries, catching up with a good friend who’s back from New Zealand, and going to a wedding.  There has been little time for much else.  I’m also very happy to report that I’m falling back into a more organized schedule, I joined a gym, and I’m ready to make and eat countless new recipes.

These quesadillas are fall inspired.  The leaves here are bright crimson red, deep golden yellow, and fiery orange, and there are plenty of pumpkins and squash popping up everywhere.

I’m not going to wax poetic about fall because fall is just beautiful and we’ve all heard about it before.  I will say though that the coriander cinnamon roasted butternut squash in these quesadillas goes really well with the tangy, salty, caramelized onions.  And you should make them.  Bonus points if you make your own tortillas!

Almonte Harvest Food and Drink Show

I’d like you to meet some pretty swell people.  This is Emily and Brad.  I don’t know much about Brad (sorry, Brad) but I can tell you that Emily is a power house.  She throws together events like your girlfriend puts on nail polish.  They’re the kind of events that help small towns and small businesses flourish.  She opened her own shop last year here in Almonte, Hello Yellow, where she sells products that are made by small businesses throughout North America.  I’ve attended several of her Handmade Harvest craft shows, and this is her second annual Harvest Food and Drink Show.

Let me interlude here.  If you’re from Almonte, or surrounding area, and you love, love, love independently owned businesses, food and drink, and handmade things, I highly suggest you read on.  If you’re thinking, “what is this blog post…this is not a recipe for pie”, I still suggest you read on because it’s pretty cool.  I’m just saying there’s a targeted audience here, ok?  Thanks.

The Harvest Food and Drink Show brings together local entrepreneurs that like to make things for your mouth.  Craft beer, salsa, cookies, wine, chocolate, and so much more.  It’s a movement, really.  Support the small people, because honestly, they do it better.

Peach Pepper Pie

The other morning some of the pepper from my breakfast eggs got on my breakfast peaches.  I liked it and it inspired me so I made a pie.

Originally I bought peaches to make my neighbour a pie.  She told me a little while ago that she’s 5 months pregnant with TWIN boys.  Holy cow!  Twins!  There’s a 99% chance that she would devour this pie and truly love it, but on the off chance that pepper and peaches is weird for a pregnant lady, I decided to keep it for myself and I’ll be making her banana bread instead.  Banana bread is a safe bet, especially if I put chocolate in it.

The pepper brings out the peach flavour in a way I can’t describe.  It adds a pep to it.  HA!  Food words can be hard when all you can think to say is, it’s delicious.  Let’s just say I’m planing on letting my food touch more often.

French Lentil and Kale Quiche

Some true facts about my life right now are as follows:

-I secretly (now, not so secretly) want it to snow.  This is mostly just because I want to eat winter food.  I’m ready for it.  I want soup with buttery bread, pumpkin pie with coffee, and I want these things while wearing really thick socks and a big sweater.

-I can’t stop myself from buying massively huge bunches of kale.  Seriously.  Maybe this is what it’s like when girls see a pair of shoes, or a scarf, or a new shade of nail polish, and they can’t help but buy it even though they don’t need it.  I’m happy that my purchase is only like, three or five dollars though, and I get to eat it.

-I’ve made this quiche four times.  THINK OF ALL THE KALE I HAVE EATEN.  And eggs…that’s a lot of eggs.

-Our basement is officially in renovation.  We’re in the “tear everything apart and make a giant, helpless looking mess” stage.  It’s gonna be great. Moving along…

A short while ago I spoke about a farm that I started frequenting to get my produce and eggs from.  Well, I started creating recipes for the farmers, and those recipes get printed on little pamphlets and handed out with their produce at the farmer’s market.  I consider it a grocery list for people shopping around.  I imagine it going something like this…

Customer: “Oh wow, your kale looks so great!  I have no idea what to do with kale though.”

Farmer: “Well, (grabs pamphlet) here’s a recipe for a quiche that uses an entire bunch of our kale.  If you want to make this quiche you could also buy some of my scallions, garlic, rosemary, and tomatoes, because the recipe calls for them, too!”

Customer: “Super!”

A girl can dream.

Bananas Foster Parfait

I’m going to provide you with a little history lesson on bananas foster.  I presume if you care to know what this magical dessert is that you’ll stick around and read on.  If not, tough luck… at least there’s photos.

Bananas foster was created in 1951 in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana.  It was named after some dude named Richard Foster and sold at a restaurant called Brennan’s.  A week ago I didn’t know this existed… what a shame!  This dessert is made by caramelizing bananas in butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, then setting the whole thing ablaze with dark rum and banana liqueur.  The bananas and the sauce are served over vanilla ice cream.  Hot dang!

I can’t leave well enough alone so I turned it into banana bread.  The added carb situation was definitely a good idea.  It reminds me of a bread pudding and tastes oh, so, banana-y.  I also made my own ice cream, which isn’t really mandatory if you’re looking to make this dessert.  It’s just that I find it near impossible to locate dairy-free french vanilla ice cream that uses farm fresh egg yolks.  Yeah…impossible.

Carrot Top Pesto Baked Fries

My recent recipe submission to the local newspaper here in Almonte, The Humm, is going to represent my deep rooted love for potatoes.

Waratah Downs Organic Farm had four varieties of potatoes available at the recent farmers market in Ottawa.  I wanted to make everything and anything involving potatoes and eat it all.  And I also wanted to make carrot top pesto so you know…I had to figure something out.

Carrot tops on their own taste pretty much like carrots and dirt.  Dirt, being a bitter taste, can be toned out with lemon, salt, and loads of garlic.  What you’re left with is a bright green tasting, garlicky pesto.  When you plaster this pesto all over french fries and bake them in a very hot oven, the carrot tops get crispy and flaky.  It’s definitely a flavour and texture you want on your fries.

Grated parmesan cheese would be outrageously delicious on these fries, too!  Oh heck yes, it would be.

 

Friday Foodie Confessions

Salt.  The name of a restaurant I recently ate at, and my continuing obsession.  Wait, shouldn’t we all be trying to eat less salt?  Kind of!?

I’m no expert, I’m not a doctor, and I don’t study nutrition.  Although, I kind of wish I did and I KIND OF did briefly in Texas.  Long story.  Salt is that thing.  That thing that gets categorized as fat.  As carbs.  As “bad”.  I believe (in my own personal opinion) that salt gets a bad reputation because packaged, processed foods have SO much salt.  A lot.  But, what if you don’t buy processed food?  What if you eat only the things that you make in your own kitchen?  What if!?

I want to talk about salt to taste.  If you ever read “salt to taste” in a recipe, it means add salt and taste the food until you think, hey…that tastes great…that’s enough salt!  It’s a personal thing, kind of like how spicy you like your food.

I recently bought some smoked maldon salt, some fluer de sel, and some Australia pink flake salt.  I want to be all over this salty situation and I want you to know it’s not bad for you!  Just focus on natural salts, and drink lots of water.  Yes, definitely not a nutritionist so don’t listen to me.