On its Way: Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut Milk

You guys. I've held my new cookbook in my hands and I'm in love. Seeing all of the words and photos and recipes come to life in this beautiful hardcover beauty has thrilled me to my core. I'm so happy that Vegetables: A Love Story is beginning to find its way into your kitchens and hearts. The official publication date is just over a week away (October 12th), but I've delivered many preorders to those who've ordered directly from me in Saskatoon, and even sent some copies as far away as Montreal and Vancouver. If you've been following me on social media, you've watched the progress of the book unfold. It's been a journey, that's for sure! I'm simply over the moon that Vegetables: A Love Story is on its way, out into the world, from my kitchen to yours.  

Turkey Soup with Butternut Squash & Wild Rice

 If you enjoyed turkey at your Thanksgiving dinner (in Canada) last weekend, then no doubt you had a pot of turkey bones bubbling away on your stove at some point this week.  My mom hosted the feast this year, and for a change she did a bacon lattice on top of the 22 pound bird.  I repeat.  Turkey, covered in bacon.  It was a glorious sight to behold.  I was so smitten I forgot to take a photo.  And that's saying something.  The bacon infusion could be detected throughout the meat, and oh sweet lord, the gravy.  So good.  So, if you want to switch things up this year for the holidays, you can't go wrong with slathering turkey in bacon.  Of course, the next day, she brought out her soup pot, tossed some of the bones in (I got a freezer bags worth too - them being lots of bones in that big bird), covered them with water, onion, celery, carrot and simmered them the day away.  Given my thrifty nature, ahem, I save my vegetable scraps from whatever meal prep I'm doing and just tuck them away in a freezer bag as I go along.  That way when it comes time to boil up some bones, you already have your veg, no need to chop up fresh onions, celery, carrot, etc.  Also, fresh parsley, garlic, peppercorns and a pinch of whole cloves are my musts for stock.  Let it simmer long and slow, with bubbles just breaking the surface.  You'll get a nicer flavour than just boiling the crap out of it for one hour.  Remember, most good things in life take a good, long while.  

Summer Afternoon: Kale & Roasted Butternut Squash Salad

 

            Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.  ~ Henry James

True, that.  I hope you are enjoying all of your summer afternoons so far.  We're creeping into late July, and someone please tell me how the heck that happened.  Already.  Do you get the feeling that you haven't done all that you've wanted to do, so far?  I do.  I feel like I'm falling behind on summer; chasing after it, pleading with it, to hold on for just as sec.  Wait for me.  Don't be in a rush.  And for God's sake don't leave before I've gone on at least one road trip, dipped my toes in a lake and curled up with just a book and a glass of iced tea.  Let me catch up to your lazy, hazy days.  I'm sorry I've been working like a madwoman, crazy early hours, with a bedtime that happens before the sun has completely left for the day.  That hasn't happened since 1983. Oh the travails of being an early morning baker.  I am, kind of/sort of, beginning to grow fond of the dawn's early light, and the serene stillness it brings.  There's still a hush over the city, save for the birds chattering away.  I slowly unwind from my slumber, pull a brush through my rat's nest and put the kettle on for tea.  Yes, there is a full work day ahead, but also a good chunk of summer afternoon left for me to do with as I will.  We've got time.  

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Pears & Blue Cheese

Inspiration for these pages seems to strike at the oddest times.  A couple of weeks back I found myself, yet again, in the chair of my dentist.  She's a great woman.  Wants me to call her Eunice.  She knows her way around a root canal like no body's business.  Yet, no matter how nice my dentist is, when it comes time for the massive needle to inject freezing fluid into my face, I'd rather be anywhere but there.  After what seemed liked an eternity, I was left alone with the latest issue of Fine Cooking to tide me over while the freezing did its thing.  Dentists aren't keen on drilling into your teeth unless they are positive you can't feel such torture.  Sweethearts, aren't they? Good thing I had such enjoyable reading material.  Just as my nose began to freeze, and then my eyebrow (so not joking about that - it was trippy) I spotted the salad.