I meant to give you an update a couple of days ago.  Then things got crazy and by the end of the day I was so bagged that I couldn't think.
I wanted to give you a fantastic recipe for some of the fantastic food that I made this week... except I didn't make any.
I had thought that I could give you an entire post on planting garlic cloves in the fall and how they would turn into awesome garlic scapes and whole cloves of garlic next spring... but I didn't actually plant any.
The real kicker here is that I can't really figure out what I did.  I know what I didn't do but what the hell did I do?  Here's the rundown.  I met this wonderful lady this week.  She is fantastic and being able to work so closely with a Canadian Icon is an honour.  (I'm using present tense because I get to see her again this week)  She is coaching two of our boys who are soloing with the TSP next weekend.  I'm in the thick of that.  The concerts are piling up thick and fast over here.  Advent season is in full swing.
Truth is, as much as my heart was in the right place,  I wouldn't have known what to cook because my head was drowning in a sea of work.  I did manage to keep biking to work all week.  It's the time of year when each week that goes by and I'm still biking feels like a gift.  First of December and still going strong.
One of my friends and colleagues and I are going on a little adventure late next week.  We've decided to finally do something we've always wanted to do.  We've researched, we've sought out a venue and we've booked our time.  It's going to hurt a little but we'll be able to hold each others hand and eat chocolate together to dull the sting.  So that was a big part of my week too.
I've been fuelling my runs with this music... and some of this too.  It's amazing how some good music gets you through a hard-to-get-motivated run.  These guys came and did a workshop at our school a week or so ago and they totally got me into piano trios.  Especially this one.  BTW - they are the most generous people - the cellist stayed back after the school show and coached some of our gr 12 boys who have formed a string trio.  Genuine.


It's amazing how quickly one's brain can get sidelined.  I've been so focussed on how busy things are that I've talked myself out of making food.  It's too time consuming.  I don't have the ingredients.  I have no inspiration.  Screw it.  This took me about 15 minutes tonight.  It's tasty.  It's good for me and it's a hell of a lot cheaper than going out.  This isn't so much a recipe for you as an inspiration.  Add and subtract at will.


Sweet Potato and Black Bean Quesadilla's
serves 4(ish)

2 med sweet potato's, partially peeled and cubed into 1 inch cubes
1/2 cup onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (400ml) 1 1/2 cups black beans, rinsed and set aside
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
pinch of salt and pepper
shredded cheese (Monterey Jack, Cheddar, whatever you've got)
sour cream
salsa
greens (again, whatever you've got: spinach, lettuce, chard, etc) broken into small pieces
soft tortilla shells

Boil the sweet potato cubes in a small amount of water for about 5 minutes or just until soft but not mushy.  Drain and set aside.
Heat a large pot or skillet over medium heat.  Add a little oil or lard if you have.  Add the onion and cook until soft, stirring frequently.  Once the onion is softened add in the garlic.  Cook for about a minute and then add in the drained beans.  Stir constantly.  Add in the sweet potatoes and the spices.  Stir until everything is mixed well and things are pretty dry.
Remove from the heat.
Heat a heavy bottomed skillet (caste iron works really well here) over medium heat.  Add a little lard or oil but just a little.
Place 1 tortilla shell on the heated skillet.  Add about a half a cup of the bean/sweet potato mixture and spread it out evenly.  Add a good sprinkling of cheese and place another tortilla shell on the top.  Turn over once the bottomed looks slightly browned.  Heat until the cheese has melted.
Remove from heat.  Cut into quarters and add some sour cream and a generous tbsp of salsa on top of each piece.

It has come to my attention that there are a few of you out there who actually suspend your lives for a few minutes to look at my blog.  This is awesome and I love and appreciate you.
I have learned recently that there are others from this same group who not only stop on this blog for a few minutes to scroll through the pictures and see if sugar and chocolate are involved in the recipe but who take the time to read what I spew out in these paragraphs.  Just knowing this scares me.  You are the people who send shivers down my spine.
You see, I don't think about who is going to read any of this while I'm typing.  I'm not typing to a demographic.  I'm not typing in response to an expectation.  The way it usually works is that I think something and then start writing not.  I'm not even joking.  This post is a great example of my lack of planning.  I didn't even know what I was going to write literally as I started typing.  The first sentance just sounded good to me and I went with it.
I'm sure that this knowledge explains a lot about my writing to you.  It might explain the typo's (maybe - that's just not re-reading though).  It might explain the rambling.  It might help you understand why my paragraphs are so bloody short.  It doesn't, however,  explain why I keep doing it and this is the embarrassing part for me. I don't even know why I keep doing it.  Why does anyone keep doing something that they don't really want to do and think is lame?  Why do I keep telling myself that I can book that night out with a friend and then have to cancel every single time?  Why do I tell myself that I'll totally get to folding the laundry that's hanging on my hall railing this week and it still hangs there until Thursday or Friday... every single week.  Why do I keep ordering apples, telling myself that this week I will take them for lunch,  when I know that none of us really really like eating them and that they will probably go soft before we remember that they are there.
And that my friends is the real point of this post.
Apples.


I know it took a while and I bet your head is still spinning a little.  Don't try to figure it out just accept it.   Don't sit back and wonder why I wrote 4 paragraphs just to get to apples.  It's fruitless.  I couldn't give you a decent reason but either way apples were the point all along.  I buy them and them we both look at each other and think 'later'.  And then they're soft.  So last week I made apple crisp with honey and I felt so awesome for being all 'whole wheat and honey'.  This week I've added egg whites because when you make your own ice cream (and yeah, apple crisp  absolutely does NEED vanilla ice cream) you have a lot of egg whites slowly getting freezer burn.  So it's begun.  The mission to empty my freezer of egg whites and to use up this week's apples.
Just for the record, apples are coming with my food box again tomorrow.


Apple Spice Bread with Egg Whites adapted from 'Great Good Food' by Julee Rosso
makes 1 lg sized loaf

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat or red fife flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg, cardamom
zest of 1 small lemon
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup buttermilk
4 tbsp plain yogurt or sour cream
juice half a small lemon (probably about 1 tbsp)
1 egg
2 - 3 egg whites
1 1/2 cups apples coarsely chopped but not necessarily peeled

Preheat oven to 350°
Grease and flour a loaf pan (I used a smaller one but should have used a large one) and set aside.
Combine both flours, the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom and lemon zest together.  Mix and set aside.
Combine the buttermilk, yogurt and lemon juice together and set aside.
In a large bowl whisk or beat the brown sugar together with the melted butter until there are no lumps and the butter is completely incorporated into the sugar.  Add in the egg and the egg whites.  Beat at a slightly higher speed until the mixture has increased in volume just a little.  It should feel like one big combined light paste.  Add in a bit of the flour and continue beating or whisking until it's all mixed in.  Add a little of the buttermilk mixture and beat until it's all mixed in.  Continue to alternate the two until everything is used up.  Try to end with the flour mixture.
Gently fold in the apple pieces and stir until they are well mixed into the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake for about 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool completely before cutting - although I couldn't quite accomplish this... Kid #1 and I shared a piece quite a bit sooner than 20 minutes... totally worth it.

Oh crap.
It's already started.  The countdown of weekends until Christmas break.  It's the official beginning of crazy.  The end of that illusive and undervalued commodity known as 'free-time'.  The radio stations are introducing their early 'Christmas Loops' and in the U.S. they're getting ready to by thankful and then go shopping for more.
Yup - Christmas season approacheth.
I've already stopped looking at my calendar.  It makes me feel worse when I do.  The knot starts in my stomach and works it way into my throat.  I thought that having kids out of diapers would make life easier but now we have to fit Kid #1's schedule into life as well.  So this weekend marks the beginning of wall to wall concerts until Christmas when we can all take a rest and eat some Ham.  Rather than planning it all out ahead of time I've chosen to take it a week at a time - or sometimes just a day or two at a time.  Somehow it helps me feel better seeing the small steps rather than the big picture.
Fortunately, planning hasn't completely gone out the window just yet.  I roasted a chicken with carrots and parsnips.  I finally put the canner in the basement which totally counts as planning in my book.  I've thought long and hard about how it's going to feel on that first day of the Christmas break.  I've even managed to work through the food box veggies this week.  A broccoli and leek soup helped me tear through a lot of it.  However, being the it's-never-quite-enough person that I am and clearly having more spare time than was good for me, I needed biscuits.  So I made biscuits.


Damn - that's only half the truth.  I needed bread for school lunches.  I tried a bread recipe that crashed - it was a train wreck.  It dropped like a hockey puck.  It sucked - big, huge, stupid rocks.  (I know that big and huge are almost the same thing BTW) After my colossal fail, yeast and I needed a little time apart.  I went in search of a quick bread biscuit.  This recipe was perfect because it helped me work through the bag of parsnip that I got in the food box too - win/win.


These biscuits will not help me feel any more ready for the onslaught of the next 4 weekends.  These biscuits will not drive my kids to wherever they need to go.  These biscuits will not visit my Mother-in-Laws new condo for me but they will help me feel like I haven't just thrown a bowl of soup on the table ... nope, that bowl of soup has a delicious and nutritious homemade biscuit beside it.
Cue: Raucous Cheering


Parsnip and Cheddar Biscuits adapted from 'Vegetarian' by Alice Hart

I don't know if you ever find yourself doing this but I've been noting for a while now just how much I over think some things.  Not everything... just some things.  Food and activity are at the top of my overthink list.
- What is 'overthinking' you ask?
Overthinking is the act of thinking too much.  More than a subject or situation requires and subsequently gets you more stuck on the thinking than on the doing.  (I did not get that from a dictionary or anywhere online - I just thought it up myself)
 - But isn't 'thinking' always a good thing?
Well... usually.  I can recall many occasions throughout history where thinking was actually quite dangerous.  For most of us though, thinking keeps us alive and alert.
- So why is 'overthinking' something you are concerned about?
Well, you see, when I over think then I spend too much time in my own head.  I ask myself too many questions.  I give myself too much leeway and consideration when I really should just get over it and move on (usually just get moving).  Later I feel like crap.  I have learned not to ever ask myself if I 'want' to do something. (especially exercise related or eating of 'healthy' food) It inevitably results in at least an hour of wasted time pondering all of my possibilities... then I usually just go and do it anyway.
...
As you can tell, it's pretty easy for me to start overthinking pretty much anytime.  That is precisely what happened for me yesterday.
...


It was a quiet day.  Finally a quiet day.  The kids were quietly playing or finishing homework.  D was out at a rehearsal.  I actually got myself out the door without too much fuss and ran a decent 9 k.  And then there was this bowl of apples.  They were just there on the counter quietly taunting me.  And I started to think.  I thought about the apples a lot.  Why don't I eat more apples.  Some of them are going really soft.  I should pick one up right now and eat it.  But I don't want an apple.  That's why they're sitting there slowly going bad... nobody really wants to eat them.  That sucks because apples are kinda awesome.  But I still don't want one right now.  It's really not good that I don't want to eat apples.  I think my lack of desire for fruit says something about me.  If I did eat the apple... And so on.
It went on like that for about an hour.  I was completely caught in my thoughts - trapped, immobilized.
It wasn't until kid #2 came along and said that I should make some apple crisp because she wanted to try it (for real... I've never made it for her) and because we had some homemade vanilla ice cream in the freezer.


I won't tell you how long it took me to sift through some recipes and decide what to do but I finally got there.



Apple Crisp with Honey adapted from 'A Small Snippet'
makes 1 8x10 dessert

8 apples (I used a mixture of Gala and Granny Smith)
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp lemon juice

1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat or red fife flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (or almonds)
1 - 2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/4 cup unsalted butter
6 tbsp honey

Combine the oatmeal, both flours, wheat germ, walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves together and pulse in a blender or food processor just until the oats and nuts have broken down a bit.  Set aside.
Butter a large baking dish (almost a 9x13 size).
Peel and slice the apples (I left some peel on mine to get the nutrient benefits).  Place the apples in the buttered baking dish.  Toss the apples with the brown sugar and lemon juice.
Melt the butter and then add in the honey.  Stir until the honey is mixed well.  Add the butter mixture to the oatmeal mixture and mix until everything is wet and crumbly.
Pour the oatmeal mixture over the apples.
Bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until the apples are soft and bubbly.
Cool for about 10 minutes before serving... with homemade vanilla ice cream.

I'm not the best 'friend' that one could have.  I mean to be.  I think about my friends all of the time.  You see, I don't do 'close' very well.  I'm also extremely selective about who my friends are... and aren't.  I think that my friend thing stems from some of my early friend experiences - most of which were very good - and a sense of feeling somehow inherently different (which I attribute to listening to too many sermons about being in the world but not of the world - what does that even mean? - and to having 'special' musical superhero powers from an early age) from most of the people around me.  The funny thing is that when I talk to people about my friend thing, most people have a similar experience and process.  I'm not alone in my feelings.
All of this brings me to my two best friends.  I'm not including D in that number.  He is different 'cause there are fringe benefits galore with that one.  My two best friends are KT and TVP (that's a funny one - 'cause he's totally not a vegetarian).  TVP and I have been best friends for about 20 years which is a damn long time.  We went through a lot together... the big stuff... BIG all caps.  KT and I have been best friends for almost 10 years and 'cause she's a girl we get to do girlie things together sometimes which is good for me 'cause I'm not much of a girlie girl.  Between us we've made it through kids, marriages, coming out, surgeries, depression, being completely broke, working together, trips, MRI's (almost) and lots of alcohol.  Both KT and TVP are probably the most understanding friends a girl like me could have.
I'm terrible with stuff that most people would consider a deal breaker for a best friend.  For example:
Time - I don't have much free time and what I do have often finds me completely given up on the day and sprawled out on the couch.  I'd say 80 percent of the time just the thought of dragging my ass out to do something makes me stuff my head further into the couch.
Birthdays - I care... a lot.  I'll make you dinner or cake or cupcakes but I'm terrible with presents.  Not because I don't want to get a present for my BFF but because it requires me to go out and enter a shop. I really don't like shopping.  What do you do when your best friend is the one person that you will happily go to the shop with?  How can I buy presents for the person who's with me?  How do I buy presents when I've got kids with me? (I'm sorry, it's very hard for me to do any personal shopping when my 6 yr old is with me) Sometimes I'm just plain broke.
Phone - Now arguably, phone calls are quickly becoming passé thanks to texting. (thank Jeebus) However, as a later teen and onwards being on the phone for any time longer than 20 minutes (still a long time thank you) sends me into a bit of a panic.  I'm not a phone talker (neither is KT - perfect).
Parties - AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! HARD.  AWKWARD.  HELP.


All of those things do not mean that my friends aren't on my mind.  They are.  All the time.  I love my friends.  I care deeply.  I would cook or bake for my friends anytime and KT can attest to the fact that she regularly gets a loaf of bread or some cookies.  I can tell you what they love to eat and what they hate.  I know exactly what to make for them that will make them happy.  These cookies are a testament to how much I think about my friends.  KT's favourite thing in the whole world (almost) is oatmeal.  When I saw this recipe on a blog I was smitten - had to try it.  I got the dough together and was about to throw in raisins or chocolate chips (all great ideas BTW) and then thought of KT.  She hates hates hates hates chocolate (great for me... no sharing) and can't eat raisins of any kind.  I was craving some serious simplicity as well and decided that for 'recipe testing purposes' that these cookies would go it alone - no 'helpers'.


The result:
A cookie that is soft (!) and almost cakey. A little dry (I'm going to experiment with a couple of tbsp's of applesauce or squash puree next time) but absolutely delicious.  Not too sweet (some chocolate chips?) but definitely not savoury.  I was very happy with the outcome AND that these cookies were made with whole wheat flour/oats and honey.  If you want to you could omit the sugar entirely.  I haven't gotten these cookies off to KT yet and I feel kind of bad because it's been a couple of days but the point is that she can eat them and she will love them.


Oatmeal Cookies with Red Fife and Honey adapted from 'Honest Fare'
makes about 2 dozen med/small cookies

1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup Red Fife or whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups oats (regular not 'quick')
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted or coconut oil
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp milk

Combine the flours, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.  Mix well and set aside.
Combine the honey, melted butter, brown sugar, vanilla, beaten egg and milk.   Mix well.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
At this point you can add in:
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried blueberries or goji berries....  You get the point.
Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes (I refrigerated mine for about 40 minutes altogether and it was fine so I think that even an hour wouldn't hurt)
Preheat oven to 325° F
Line a cookie sheet with parchment or a silicon liner.
Spoon out about 1 1/2 tbsp sized dough balls and place on the cookie sheet with about an inch and a half for the cookies to spread.
Bake for 10 - 15 minutes or until the cookies are just turning golden brown (honey can burn easily - so says 'Honest Fare' - therefor you need to keep an eye out so that they don't burn).
Remove immediately to cool on a wire rack.

More about red Fife...
I've been talking about it for a while but it's now time to fill in some blanks on Red Fife flour and why I've started using it instead of whole wheat.


Red Fife is refuted to have hailed from Scotland, brought over by a farmer named David Fife - hence the 'Fife' part of the name.  We don't really know whether the seeds themselves were indigenous to Scotland.  There are rumours that the seeds originated in the Ukraine as well.  Fife settled in Ontario, near Stirling in fact, and farmed using the seeds that he brought over with him.  He discovered that the grain was incredible adaptable to Canada's climate and produced well as a result.  According to 'The Canadian Encyclopedia' Red Fife flour was very popular even in the prairies but eventually fell out of use because even it froze in the fields when there were early frosts (I'm not quite sure what wouldn't freeze in a frost but maybe they're referring to it taking a little too long to mature).  In the book 'Earth to Table' I read that most of the grain that we use presently in Canada comes from Red Fife.  The book also argues that because Red Fife is a heritage grain it may produce a lower yield than more recent grains which would also explain why it fell out of use.
An article in the Ottawa Citizen reported that it might well be the 'Wheat Belly Diet' dude that has prompted more people to go looking for heritage grains that have been unaltered and turned into 'frankengrain' - I think that word is funny.  The 'Wheat Belly Diet' dude believes that so many of us have become gluten intolerant (as well as a host of other diseases) because of the more recent development of easy and reliable growing 'frankengrain' and it's processing.
Me? I like that Red Fife is grown and milled locally.  I like that, at least as far as north america is concerned, it's a grain that hails from where I live.  I like that it's heritage and it hasn't been messed with and that the milling is done by people I can talk to if I want to.
I also like that it's damn fine to bake with.  I've been using it in everything.  It's replaced my whole wheat flour use and has now exceeded how much I ever used whole wheat flour in the first place.  I'm finding out more about this fine grain as I go but for now I'm more happy with the locale and the baking results than I am anything else.


This bread nicely showcases the Red Fife flour.  It's a simple bread.  Not gunked up with oats or molasses or carrots or anything else.  Just plain old bread.  Great for sandwiches or toast... and fantastic when it goes stale for french toast and the tastiest strata you ever did eat.


Honey, Red Fife Bread adapted from 'local milk'
makes two small loaves

2 1/4 cups warm water
1 tbsp yeast
1 tsp honey + 1/4 cup honey
3 cups red fife (or whole wheat) flour
2 1/2 - 3 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tbsp salt (I use sea salt)
1 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp unsulphured molasses

Grease a non-reactived bowl and set aside.
Combine a 1/2 cup of warm water, 1 tsp of honey and the yeast together.  Stir just a little and set aside in a draft free spot for about 10 minutes.  The mixture should be foamy and have almost doubled in bulk.
Meanwhile, combine red fife flour and 2 cups of the all purpose (set the rest aside).  Add in the salt and mix.
Once the yeast has proofed add the butter, molasses and the rest of the honey to it.  Mix just until everything combines.  Add the yeast mixture, along with the rest of the warm water to the flour mixture and mix until it forms a dough ball - if you need to add some extra flour here to get to that 'dough needing consistency' then go for it.  Just add a little at a time though.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 6 - 8 minutes or until the dough is  firm, springy, silky and smooth.
Place the dough into the greased bowl and rotate to make sure all sides get greased.  Cover with a clean cloth and set to a warm, draft free spot.  Let it rise for an 1 1/2 or until the dough has doubled in size.
Grease two small loaf pans (or I used a small baking dish for one of mine).
Gently punch the dough down and knead into 2 small loaf shapes. Place in the loaf pans and cover with  the clean cloth and set aside to rise for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 375° F.
Bake the bread for 30 - 35 minutes or until the bread is solid enough that is sounds hollow when you knock on it.
Remove from the loaf pans and cool completely before cutting.
Freezes well.

My friend emailed a few of us this week describing her recent and devastating occurrence.  She and her partner have chickens.  They've only just gotten off the ground.  Her partner B went all out with the coop and the chickens have this lovely area under the trees where they love to roost  when they're out and about.  For the most part, the chickens have been getting on with life - enjoying the roam and adding to C and B's egg collection.
More recently C and B added a rooster to their family.  Roosters are always difficult.  If there's more than one, they fight.  Nasty fighting.  Sometimes they just randomly start pecking away at another chicken until it's raw and bleeding.  Once that begins it's very hard to stop it and it the other chickens start picking up the behaviour as well.  They're also pretty loud compared to the chickens.  In this case though, Harry (yes - they named the rooster) has been exceptional.  Harry has gotten along well with his harem and things have been relatively peaceful.
Until one morning earlier this week when C went out to the coop only to find poor Harry lying on the floor of the coop, his comb turning blue and breathing shallow, laborious breaths.  C rushed Harry to the vet (yup - she did) where Harry later died.  The vet thinks that Harry succombed to heart failure and that it might be something congenital, ie. something the breed itself is susceptible to.
My poor friend C is bereft and confused.  She is a vegetarian and has trouble with any kind of suffering whatsoever.  So in the midst of working hard to create more awareness around growing food, saving seeds, keeping animals for the sake of the soil and all of that she is asking herself how ethical it is to entertain breeding animals that are susceptible to such severe congenital problems.  She has asked us all to respond with our thoughts about the whole thing.
So I'm thinking here on this blog.  I'm thinking that if we expect that there will be no 'setback' in our pursuit of a better planet then we're fooling ourselves.  One of the reasons that we've allowed ourselves to be so overwhelmed with industry created food is because it's damn hard doing it yourself.  The breed used for industrial chicken farms is one that grows fast, so fast that after 12 weeks of life it can't stand anymore.  The meat tastes like fluff because it's got no muscle tone but it grows fast and is hearty enough that with some (lots) antibiotics it can survive long enough to die fat.  Doing things any other way is a lot of work, it takes a lot of time and there is a lot of loss.  Loss is present everywhere whether we like it or not.  Animals die, plants die (they do), people die.  The real question for me is what kind of life was had by the animal, plant or person.  Harry probably had a much better life than most chickens do and I would hope that his death would be able to continue life in something else.  An animal could be fed, a human could be fed, the soil could be fed.  I hope that Harry's death doesn't become the most wasted thing about his life.


I've become so much more appreciative of what animals give us.  I understand so much more that we are all connected and when we abuse one we are abusing all including ourselves.  I don't buy chicken parts anymore.  I buy the whole chicken and I buy it from someone who let the chickens wander around and peck around and roost in the bottom branches of their favourite tree... because that's what being a chicken is all about.  When I use that chicken for food I'm thankful for every part of that bird - the feet, the neck, the organs especially and the fat off the skin.  Nothing gets wasted.


The end of my last chicken roast along with the neck and organs and skin and feet became fantastic chicken stock and yielded about 2 - 3 cups of meaty cooked chicken.  I used it with some roasted butternut squash, some cream, some cheese and some sage.  It's been one of the best things I've made this fall bar none.  I savoured each bite with heartfelt gratitude.


Chicken and Butternut Squash Orzo
serves 6 - 8

1 med/sm butternut squash, seeded, peeled and cubed into 1 inch cubes
5 - 6 cups chicken broth
3 - 4 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite sized pieces
1 1/2 cups orzo
1/2 cup cream
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 - 2 tsp salt
2 - 3 tbsp honey
3 - 4 tbsp fresh sage, coarsely chopped
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment.  In a bowl toss the butternut squash cubes with some oil or lard that's been warmed up.  Place the sqaush cubes on the baking sheet, sprinkle with a little salt and roast in the oven for about 30 - 35 min. The squash should be nicely browned on the outside and squishy on the inside.
In a heavy bottomed pan heat the broth over med/hi heat until the broth is simmering. Add in the orzo and turn the heat down to medium/low.  Continue to simmer for about 10 - 15 min or until the orzo is becoming soft.  As the orzo is almost ready add in the salt, honey, sage and nutmeg.  Check e taste and adjust if necessary. Add in the cooked chicken and the roasted squash. Mix well.
Turn the heat down to very low and add in the cream and parmesan cheese.  Let the cheese melt and serve.