Hurricane Sandy

Yes, as many of you are already aware, my home state NJ was hit by Super Storm Sandy on Oct. 29th, and due to the storm I was without power until just this evening. Me and my family were very lucky, we lost power but we still had water and gas. I was still able to cook stovetop but unfortunately lost use of my oven. I did make a lovely soup I will post soon, and will get right to work on making some tasty baked goodies! :) 

Also, I want to thank all of the workers, both from NJ and from out of state, who are working tirelessly to return power and water, and to clean up the wreckage, here in Jersey. I might have power, but there are still many others who are powerless, and there are many without gas, without water, or without homes.

- Lots and lots of love!

Kat

Harvest Soup and Stock

Alright, so I finally got a day off to work on this lovely soup! Not only that, but before making the soup it's self, I made a lovely vegetable stock to use in future soups and stews. The soup turned out fantastic with all the flavors of autumn, and talk about healthy! Sweet potato, carrot, pumpkin, apple....This is a great soup to have for lunch with some bread, or as the first course to a large dinner.

Then there's the stock. The stock used the peels from the apples, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and other veggies I used in the soup, plus some extra veggies for favor. I'm keeping huge containers of it in the freezers to pull out whenever I need some stock, plus a little in the fridge to use for the week.

So here it is, my Autumn Harvest Soup

Stuffed Acorn Squash with Chevre

I came home today ravenous, no dinner waiting for me, and then remembered I had an acorn squash I bought just to roast into a suitable meal! However, since I had no sausages on hand, I had to figure out what else I could fill it with. There's no shortage of recipes, so I just mixed a little of different recipes and added chevre (creamy goat cheese) to make this!

Food of the Month; Pumpkin

OK, this is another obvious one, but you can't really argue. Now, I'm a pumpkin lover. It's one of my favorite foods, and something I consume in copious amounts around Autumn, much like apples. Not only are they very much seasonal and festive, but they are delicious and versatile, just like any other cold weather squash. Not only the flesh, but the seeds, leaves, and flowers too!

Just a short update

Well, the upcoming week might be a little too busy for me to take on any large projects, but I'll try to do some after work and classes when I can. Just so you know what I have planned to do over the upcoming week, when I can find the time.

1) Autumn Harvest Soup
2) Autumn Scones
3) Hard Cider Poached Pears

So when I can get the chance to make these, I'll post right away. Again, sorry for the lack of new posts from me.

-Lots and lots of love
Kat

Chicken Bangers with Sweet Potato and Carrot Mash

Bangers and Mash are one of my favorite meals, but it's a fairly high calorie dish, and I saw these lovely chicken sausages at a local deli. Now, I'm not going to lie to you and say chicken sausages are just as good as your average, super fatty pork sausages. After all, the fat is what makes sausage nice and juicy. I also wanted to make a nice sweet potato mash since, well, sweet potato is wonderful, then, to add some extra nutrition, some carrots. Since my parents were out of town for the Celtic Classic, I had to make dinner for just myself. Obviously, just double or triple or quadruple the recipe if need be (Though I made a fairly generous amount of mash, so use your own judgement)

Apple Butter

You remember my food of the month post, where I mentioned that I needed a lot of apples for something? Well this is it!

Yes, apple butter! Now, the recipe I used came from Ball's Blue Book, and it was supposed to make 3 pints worth, but it actually only wound up filling 2 pint jars, plus enough for this small one, just to keep in the fridge, having only sealed the pints. I suspect I ended up loosing too much apple when I cored it. The recipe I followed went:

Spiked Cider

I've been mulling over (No pun intended) making a spiked cider for a while now. After all, nothing quite warms the soul like a hot toddy or mulled wine, so obviously a spiked apple cider should be the most emotionally nuriting drink for the autumn months.

This spiked cider is really just a hot mulled cider with some rum added to it. Here's how I made it: