Soup for a sicky

Although we're relatively healthy, the flu caught up with my husband. At this point I am praying to just about every god I can that I don't get it, since he spent the entire night and part of today physically expressing his illness (so to speak... the least I can do is to be polite since this is supposed to be about food).

It started when we were out of town, and it's funny how powerless I felt to help him without my kitchen nearby. I know the healing power of food and herbs.

Finally when we came home, I made a soup that would nourish my husband and settle his stomach, and as well would boost both of our immune systems.

I added two cartons of organic chicken broth, one and a half BULBS of garlic (and if I had more I might have used it), a large handful of fresh parsley (chopped). To it I added about 2 tsp of fennel seeds in a tea diffuser. The whole thing was cooked for quite a while. I had a few cupfuls and he's had some which was finely strained.

There is magic in cooking, and there is energy in all the foods we eat. I think it's an excellent compliment for any foodie to have some working knowledge not only about the taste but of the medicinal values of many herbs/foods.

My current autumn staple

I love apples. One of the wonderful things about autumn is all of the apple products that show up in the local markets again. From tart to sweet, green to red, apples are a staple of Ontario autumns.

I bought seven pounds of Honeycrisps last week. It's a type of apple I am still fairly new to eating this type of apple, and the taste is simply delicious. They are an apple's apple! With McIntosh's and Honeygolds in their family tree, someone's taken the time to create what is (for me) a perfect tasting apple.

This week's favourite way to serve this apple - in apple sauce.

The night before work I make up my lunch and snacks for that day. I've been making apple sauce from putting two honeycrisp apples, a dash of cinnamon and a splash of lemon juice into my magic bullet. It saves well for about two or so days and may brown a bit, but the lemon juice helps to preserve it.

My second favourite apple dish of the season - apple crisp.

There are as many apple crisp recipes out there as there are the people that bake them. My very basic apple crisp involves chopping apples for the base which I may or may not lightly coat in sugar first (I opt out if trying to cut back on sugar). For my quick apple crisp I use 1/2 cup of oats, 1/2 cup of brown sugar (can cut back to 1/4 for a lighter option), 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour 1/4 of butter. I mix my crumble by hand, religiously, then spread over the top and bake at 200C for 40mins. I'll also try baking it at a higher temperature (maybe 240C?) for about half the time, then shutting the heat off and allowing the ambient heat to do the rest.

Mmm. Apples.

Food Network Facebook Foodie Face-off: Frittatas

This morning, Food Network Canada on Facebook had a foodie challenge in honour of Clean Out Your Fridge day. Create a frittata, give it an interesting name, put up a picture and add a description.

This was my entry:


Local Yolks: Saving the world, one frittata at a time

A frittata featuring all-local ingredients: free range eggs, smoked cheddar cheese, sliced portobello mushrooms, green onions from our CSA, and fresh cut basil from my windowsill. Topped with grated caramelized onion cheddar.

Served with a local Spelt bread from Golden Hearth Bakery.

Husband's reaction (direct quotation): "My love, this tastes grand"

Looking back at the summer's foods

I don't have many readers, but somehow I still feel awfully bad about not posting for a few months. Yes, I can make the excuses.... "Life got away from me", "It's a busy time of year" or whatever, but really I just have to move past the need to give reason and get back to food.

It's been a really fabulous year of food exploration for my husband and I.
The local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program we were a part of
has recently ended, and we can truly look back at the season with both
satisfaction and accomplishment. Satisfaction in both the amount and
quality of the foods we received, as well as for the people we had a chance
to meet through the program. Accomplishment because of the fact that we
managed to eat, or freeze nearly all the food we picked up this year.

A few years back we joined a similar veggie-basket program for the very
first time. A little ambitious and maybe over excited, we soon found
ourselves to be a little in over our heads. We just weren't prepared for
all the work that would be involved with all the vegetable matter which
soon descended upon our household. The first few weeks it was cute.
Packaging things away into the fridge, and mostly forgetting about them.
Eventually, the veggie overload began to take it's toll and pound upon
pound of vegetables began to rot. By the end of that summer, we'd started
to get the hang of it, and had even began to freeze a few things, but the
amount of food we wasted was astounding. We also acquired two very
important things as a result of this experiment: (1) a composter for all
the veggie waste we produced since we're not in a green box program and (2)
that Tupperware fridge smarts will literally save you hundreds of dollars
worth of produce. If you take no other tip from me, take the Tupperware
one, it's completely worth it.

So, with Tupperware and composter in hand, we head into this year's CSA
program ready for the challenge. Aside from the waste produced in preparing
the vegetables, we wasted next to nothing over the course of the summer,
and what did go to waste is making beautiful, rich compost for my garden
for next year.

Speaking of gardens, I'll call my veggie/herb garden a success, even if it
didn't yield a high crop. We live in a small townhouse and I am limited to
the space I have for gardening, as well as the sunlight available. But I'm
learning quickly and my garden is getting better and better every year.
This year's local growing season, however, left quite a bit to be desired.
Lots of rain, and little sun. I've also had an ongoing disagreement with
the squirrels and chipmunks in our area. They think they should be able to
dig into whatever they please, and even better would be to nibble on the
roots of my tiny little fledgling plants. I just don't agree with their
logic and have been looking for any solution to stop them. Best idea ever -
Blood Meal. Thanks for a friend for that one. Not only did it keep the
critters out, it helped my plants grow and grow and grow and grow....
So I had a lush and full garden this year. I did the entirety of my herbs
and veggies in pots (and a recycling bin) in my back yard. Crowded together
on the side of the yard that gets the most sunlight. Tomato vines completely 
covered my fence, and it was beautiful to look at. The herbs had a high yield
this year, and I did manage to get some vegetables. A little broccoli, few
eggplants and zucchini, handfuls of tomatoes, parsley roots, and cucumbers.

All tasted amazing. Completely satisfying.

We didn't hit the farmer's market as much as I might like, but there wasn't a
lot of need based on the vegetables we were receiving. 

A great summer. Tasted some new things, and ate tons of fresh local foods.
Autumn is one of my favourite seasons, when squash and leeks are abundant.

I've made a handful of squash soups so far this fall, with various squash, and all
have been simple and easy. Basic concept - organic/high quality broth, cooked
squash, onions and other savoury foods to your taste, add spices then blend.
Add greens or other things to it at the end and eat. Let it warm your belly and
make you feel good. Or throw together a potato leek soup. Similar concept, but
switch the ingredients. You get the idea.   I never used to be a soup person, but
something about the cool air of autumn allows me to enjoy a steaming bowl of fresh
homemade soup.

Mmm... now I'm craving some soup.