Whole Wheat Beef Empanadas with Green Olives and Figs

'Tis the season of busy busy, rush rush.  I know.  I'm living it as well, though trying to find a bit of balance by curling up with the cats and watching A Charlie Brown Christmas.  During the upcoming crazy Christmas season it's important to plans meals ahead and eat well.  Gotta keep your strength up to fight the crowds.  For my latest article in Culinaire Magazine I made empanadas - basically a savoury turnover - with a traditional beef filling.  Don't be scared by the addition of olives and figs.  It's a winner!  I know making pastry freaks some of you out, but don't be afraid.  If I can do it, so can you.  These little turnovers are super tasty when dunked into salsa and sour cream, and they also make great on-the-go snacks to take with you on road trips or to the hockey rink.  Did I mention they freeze super well, too?  Just pop in the oven to reheat and there's your light supper.  Head on over here for the recipe.  You can pretend you're waltzing down the streets of Buenos Aires, instead of shuffling kids to the rink.

Tradition: Tourtière with Cranberry Brandy Compote

 

Ever since I was a kid my mom would make tourtière - it's a Christmas tradition.  Not being French Canadian, we just called them meat pies - savoury pork/beef filling with cinnamon, cloves, a touch of sage, mixed with mashed potatoes in the middle of a flaky crust.  Simple enough, and so delicious.  Today on the Mushrooms Canada Blog I'm happy to be sharing my mom's recipe, though I've altered it a bit by adding crimini mushrooms.  They not only help to blend and extend the filling, but they add extra nutrition and flavour.  Tourtière freezes very well, and is perfect to have on hand when company drops in over the holiday season.  You know it's going to happen, right?  Young and old enjoy this hearty pie, and with a little cranberry compote on the side, it's just so darn seasonal.  So, head on over to Mushrooms Canada and get the recipe.  I think you'll be happy you did.

Bison & Bean Stew with Wilted Swiss Chard

I love to eat bison.  Like, a lot.  If it's on a menu, my eyes light up and I get really excited.  I've always enjoyed its rich, slightly sweet, robust flavour, that's not at all wild or gamy.  But, I've never really cooked it much at work, or at home.  So when the offer came to review Jeniffer Bain's new cookbook Buffalo Girl Cooks Bison, I jumped at the chance.  Jennifer is the food editor and columnist for the Toronto Star, who happens to also be married to a bison rancher in Alberta.  She divides her time between the big city and the ranch, and over the past several years has come to love the majestic herbivore.  She's on a mission to convince everyone to love bison meat as much as she does.  This cookbook is a grand beginning.

Make Your Own: Pumpkin Spice Latté

"The wild November comes at last." ~ R.H. Stoddard

I have a treat for you, just in time for the weekend.  This beverage is like a warm, liquid hug, and maybe, just maybe it's just what you need right now.  November can be tricky.  All of the pretty leaves are gone, and those moody skies can be a bit much.  I myself love a moody sky; shades of blue grey melancholy that seem to stretch on forever.  I want to read mysteries and snuggle deep into flannel sheets.  I want hot buttered toast with honey and my hands wrapped around mugs of delicious things to drink.  I want slippers and sweaters and slumber so deep.  It won't be long until the first flurries fly.  I can smell it in the air tonight.  I pull on my boots, wrap my scarf twice around my neck, fit my fingers into gloves.  November may be wild, but I'm ready for whatever comes my way. 

 

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.  

Salted Pumpkin Panna Cotta & A Side of Mashed

It's the eve of Thanksgiving weekend in Canada...turkeys are being purchased, pumpkin pies are being prepped, there are line ups at the grocery stores and gas stations.  I love this weekend.  The weather is still great, there's very little crazy like there is at Christmas, and all you have to do is be thankful.  Bonus points for crashing through all of the fallen leaves like you're five years old again.  This weekend also means spending time with your family and friends, and eating your way into a food coma.  Or maybe it's a smaller gathering this year - just you and your honey bun, or grandma or cat.  My latest article in Culinaire is all about the intimate Thanksgiving dinner for two, and guys, I made Cornish hen for the first time, so you really should check it out.  Deelicious doesn't describe.  There is also a recipe for this dreamy panna cotta, if you want to omit the pie.  So simple and smooth, plus you can make it in advance.  Ding ding ding!  And lastly, I gussied up some mashed potatoes with kale and squash.  There may be no going back to regular mashed spuds after devouring these.  Read the article in its entirety here.  Happy Thanksgiving, and take care out there.  xoxo Renée

Plum & Nectarine Hazelnut Galette

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."  ~ Lucy Maude Montgomery

With Canadian Thanksgiving just around the bend, I feel like I should be thrown into food blogger jail for not posting something pumpkin.  Please forgive?  However if you do a search on my blog for lovely pumpkin confections, you'll find tiramisu, and pumpkin roll, and even waffles.  So there you go. And. And!  Near the end of this week I will be posting something Thanksgiving related, so hold on to your hats for that.  There will be pumpkin!  But first things first, there are nectarines and plums.