Maple Pecan Squash Casserole

Thanksgiving is upon us, and I don't know about you but it seemed to me to pop up out of nowhere this year! Wasn't it just summer? Not that I'm complaining mind you, I could eat turkey and stuffing and pie every day of the year!

Our friends Devin and Laurie had our family over for dinner last fall and Laurie made this amazing squash dish that had me going for thirds and fourths. The sweet, smooth squash is topped with a crunchy sweet crust packed with pecans that will make your toes curl it's so good! I made it for dinner last Thanksgiving and made a few batches for the freezer to pull out whenever I had a craving! As soon as I noticed Thanksgiving was coming up I ran out for more butternut squash to make another batch since my freezer was all out.

 I changed her recipe (which I understand she got from her mom who found it on the internet a few years ago) slightly to incorporate maple syrup which just hits this dish out of the park! Try this for your Thanksgiving dinner this year, you'll be thanking Laurie!

 

Print this Recipe

Maple Pecan Squash Casserole

1 butternut squash, cooked and mashed (about 3 cups)
3 tbsp butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla

topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter

1. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds and innards. Place cut side down in a casserole dish with 1/4" of water and bake at 350˚F for about 40 minutes or until the squash is cooked and soft.
2. Allow to cool for 15 minutes and then scoop out the cooked squash and add to a blender or food processor.
3. Add the butter, eggs, maple syrup and vanilla and blend until smooth.
4. Spread the squash mixture into a casserole dish.
5. In a small bowl mix together the brown sugar, flour, pecans and butter until the mixture is crumbly.
6. Sprinkle topping mixture over squash and bake at 350˚F for 45 minutes.

Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup

Yesterday it snowed in my home town. Snowed. It's October. I don't like how fall seems to be being skipped this year. Fall is my favourite season! The colours, the smells, the fact that I can put on a chunky warm sweater and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate. Bliss!

Another of my fall faves is soup. I love a pot of homemade soup on a wet, cold, fall afternoon. A creamy soup is always a bonus. Now, what some of you may not know about me is that for a year I worked as a sous chef in a restaurant. It was a great experience and I stole learned a lot! This recipe is one we came up with as a special when we got a double order of red peppers.

You can use jarred red peppers or if you're feeling ambitious you can roast your own. Read my tutorial on how to roast red peppers here!

Tomatoes, red peppers, cream... it's a bowl full of yum!

Sautée onions, celery and carrots in butter and season with salt, pepper and thyme.

Add chicken stock and simmer until the veggies are tender.

Add crushed tomatoes. If you have fresh great, but canned are just fine.

Simmer on med-low until the soup is heated through.

Pour soup into a food processor or blender and add the roasted red peppers. Purée until smooth. (Do small batches as the hot mixture can splatter and burn you.) If you plan to freeze this is where you'd portion out the soup and prepare for freezing. If you're eating the soup right away, return the puréed veggies to the pot and add the cream. Heat through and serve.

Print this recipe

Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup

1 med. onion, diced
2 med. carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
4 tbsp butter
salt
pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
3 c chicken stock
1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
3 whole roasted red peppers (or 1 jar)
1 c 10% cream

Instructions:

1. Sautée onion, celery and carrots in butter over medium heat. Season to taste with salt, pepper and thyme.
2. After about 5 minutes add chicken stock and simmer until vegetables are tender.
3. Add tomatoes and heat through.
4. In small batches, add soup mixture to a blender or food processor and purée until smooth.
5. Return purée to pot and add cream. Stir to incorporate and heat through. Serve with croutons, baguette and/or a swirl of cream.


Print this recipe


enjoy!

Gingerbread Buttercream

I was at the bulk barn and stumbled upon these adorable little gingerbread man sprinkles. I had no idea what I was going to do with them but I had to have them. Fast forward 3 weeks and there I was baking for my 3 year old's pre-school Christmas party. I was digging through my baking cupboard for chocolate and found the sprinkles, and knew exactly what I needed to make... cupcakes!

I had already baked 4 different kinds of cookies and fudge and whoppie pies (blog post to come!) and so I was pretty tired but I thought the kids would love some little cupcakes and the sprinkles would put them over the top, so I grabbed a cake mix from the cupboard. *gasp* I KNOW, you're all disappointed with me and wagging your fingers, but I was tiiiiiired (said like a whiny teenager), besides, they're a total time-saver, they're just pre-measured dry ingredients, and they're yummy, thank you Betty Crocker!

The sprinkles are little bits of gingerbread cookie so I wondered if I could create some gingerbread buttercream to go on the cupcakes. Success! Total yumminess that turns a boxed cake mix into heaven!


Gingerbread Buttercream

1 stick (1/2 c) butter, softened
1/2 lb powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp heavy cream
2 tbsp cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Instructions

1. Cream butter and sugar together until thoroughly incorporated.
2. Add cream and vanilla and mix until fluffy.
3. Add spices and mix.
4. Pipe or spread onto anything, cupcakes, cookies, bars, your finger...

Turkey Pot Pie

I hated pot pies when I was little. HATED them. My mom would wait until there was a 50¢ sale and stock up on frozen chicken and turkey pot pies from the grocery store. They were bland and runny, and the crust was thick and hard, and if you were lucky you'd get 1 or 2 pieces of rubbery chicken in them. At the time I was branded "picky" but I like to think I just had discriminating taste at a young age! My mom was a busy wife and mother who worked 2 jobs so I was just happy to see my her let alone expect gourmet dinners. As a stay at home mom I have the time to fiddle around with cooking (and this blog) so I thought I'd give pot pies another try with my leftover Thanksgiving turkey.

I haven't mastered pie dough yet, nor did I have the energy to try (post Thanksgiving cleaning/tidying/digesting) so I used some refrigerated pie dough to save time... and as busy moms we need to make life easier whenever we can. I made these individual size (in a "Texas size" muffin tin) as my husband declared that he wasn't a fan of pot pies and I'd be eating them alone, but this could easily be adapted to one big family-sized pie if you don't want to bother with playing with the dough.

Bursting with chicken, veggies and a creamy sauce baked in a flaky, light pie dough, these pot pies are mmmmmmmm!

before the oven. I need to work on my edge crimping technique! Notice my fingernail impressions? soooo professional looking.

Turkey (or Chicken) Pot Pies

2 tbsp butter
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
2 med. potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 c. frozen corn kernels
2 c. cooked turkey or chicken, chopped (a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store is a great time-saver if you don't have leftovers)
1/4 c. flour
1 tsp poultry seasoning
2 c. turkey or chicken stock
1 c. heavy (whipping) cream
salt & pepper to taste
3 Pillsbury® unroll-and-fill pie crusts (I needed 3 for my large size muffin tins, you may need less)
1 egg, beaten

Instructions:

1. Over medium heat melt butter and add onions, carrots, celery and potato. Sauté until tender.
2. Add chopped turkey or chicken and heat through.
3. Add poultry seasoning and flour and cook for about 2 more minutes.
4. Add stock, cream and frozen corn and season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.
6. Roll out the pie dough and cut out circles roughly 2 times the size of the diameter of the openings.
7. Press the dough into the muffin compartments along the sides and bottom making sure there are no holes and that it's even.
8. Fill the dough with the chicken mixture even with the top.
9. Cut circles out of the remaining dough slightly larger than the size of the diameter of the muffin openings.
10. Pinch the dough together to seal the top and sides making sure there are no openings.
11. Make a slit in the top of the pie and brush the tops lightly with the beaten egg.
12. Bake at 350˚F for 30* minutes or until golden brown.

* Time varies depending on the size of your pies and your oven.

Delicious, creamy, turkey and veggie filling!

enjoy!

Amanda

Magic Soup

Whenever I'm sick, before I reach for the tissues or cold medication, I go straight to the freezer to see if I have any of this soup left. If I don't, I start to make it ASAP. It's another one of my Gran's recipes, she's truly my biggest cooking inspiration. This soup was always in her fridge once the weather started to cool down. I call it her Magic Soup cause this soup can cure any cold almost over night. I don't know what it is, maybe it's the chicken, maybe it's the veggies, or maybe it's just the idea that it's magic, but whenever I've been sick and had this soup I'm better the next day.

With Thanksgiving this past weekend, I found myself with a rather large turkey carcass and a whole lot of leftover turkey so I seized the opportunity to make my own stock for a big batch of soup.

Stock simmering

Stock is really easy to make. Take your bones and put them in a big pot and cover with water. You need some flavours to add depth to the stock so the next thing to add would be Mirepoix, also known as the Holy Trinity of cooking: carrots, onion and celery. No need to dice or be fussy with this, just a rough couple of chops is good. I was preparing the veggies for my soup at the same time so I also threw in the skins of the onion and carrots and the base of the celery, you're not eating them, they're just for flavour and will be strained out later. I also like to throw in a lemon or two to brighten up the stock. The last thing to add would be your herbs. Salt and pepper along with bay leaves, thyme and anything else you like can go in. Simmer the stock for a couple of hours to get all the flavour out of the bones, veggies and herbs.

Cool down your stock and strain it to removes all the bones, skin, and cooked veggies and then let it sit (you can even do this overnight in the fridge) and skim off the fat that rises to the top. And voilà, your very own homemade stock, perfect for Magic Soup!

Magic Soup

4 c. chopped chicken or turkey, cooked
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 tbsp. butter
1 14oz. can diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 c. small pasta (I use pasta stars but any will do)
1/2 c. short grain rice
8-10 c. of water or stock
salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Melt the butter in a large pot and sautée to onion, celery and carrots for a few minutes.
2. Add the chicken and continue to sautée for 2 minutes.
3. Add stock or water.
4. Add the tomatoes (with juice), pasta and rice.
5. Cover and bring to a boil and then reduce temperature to low and allow to simmer until pasta and rice are cooked.

Enjoy right away or freeze in small batches for when you really need it!

*Note, my grandma was never a stickler for a recipe with this soup, she threw in whatever she had, cabbage, beans, macaroni, peas, etc... let your pantry be your guide!

My favourite way to have a bowl of soup!

enjoy,

Amanda

Grampie Brown's Potato Dressing (Stuffing)

Some of my fondest memories of childhood take place at my mom's parents' house around the holidays. My mom comes from a big family (she has 11 siblings) and we love to get together. One memory all my cousins and I share is of our grandfather in the kitchen.

My Grannie made the day to day meals but when it came to special occasions she was pushed out and my Grampie took over. (Yes, I'm a 30-something year old who still calls her grandparents Grannie and Grampie!) Their house is small and it has 2 main living areas, one in the back and one in the front, and in between them is the kitchen. Our moms tended to stay in the front room with our dads in the back room watching whichever sport was in season.

To get to either parent we had two options: 1. go through the basement, but it had a large unfinished part that was cellar-like and spooky, or 2. sneak through the kitchen when Grampie had his back turned. Option 2 never worked. He always caught us and would wave his big spoon and yell "Get out of the kitchen you kids!", it was just too small for us to be constantly going through it (there are 26 of us!) and he was trying to keep anyone from getting burned. But when it was time to eat we were welcomed into the kitchen. And the first thing we all went to was Grampie's dressing! We fought over it, still do in fact. A holiday isn't a holiday without it.

Just before my husband and I got engaged he lost his job where we lived and got a new one eight hours away in a new town. The thought of leaving the only home I'd ever known scared me, but most of all I knew I'd miss my family, especially around the holidays. I asked my mom for Grampie's recipe for stuffing knowing that without it I'd be more homesick than ever on special occasions. We make it back for Christmas most years but I haven't been to a family Thanksgiving in 5 years. This recipe makes me feel close to my family on Thanksgiving. I hope you give it a try this holiday season and see why my cousins and I will stop at nothing to be the first in line to scoop some up onto our plate!

Happy Thanksgiving~


Grampie Brown's Potato Dressing (* Stuffing)

6-8 Russett Potatoes (Russett make for a fluffier mash than a waxier potato like New Potatoes) peeled and chopped
1 med. onion, diced
1/2 c. butter, melted
6 slices fresh white bread, cut into small cubes
1 1/2 tbsp ground sage
1 1/2 tbsp dried savory
1 tbsp poultry seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Peeled, chop and boil the potatoes until fork tender.
2. Drain and return the potatoes to the pot and put back on the burner for a few seconds to evaporate any excess water.
3. Remove the potatoes from the stove and place into a large bowl. Using a hand masher, smash the potatoes into a course meal.
4. Melt the butter in the microwave and add to the mashed potatoes.
5. Add the onions and bread cubes and mix together.
6. Add the spices and season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. Put dressing into an oven safe dish and cover and place into a 350˚F pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.
Serve alongside poultry. Makes a great substitute for mashed potatoes although I always make both! It's also excellent stuffed inside the bird.

* Dressing and Stuffing are the same thing, Stuffing is just Dressing that's been cooked inside the cavity of the bird.

Lilianna's Caramel Apple Mini Pies

I am always looking for ways to get my kid(s) involved with cooking. My gran had me up on the counter stirring batter and dumping ingredients when I was knee high to a bug's eye, and I loved it. Lily's 3 so knives are a no-no, but stirring and dumping are well within her skill set.

I went with her class to the apple orchard last week and have been staring at the apples she picked with her own little hands ever since wondering what we were gonna do with them. Eat them as is and enjoy their naturally crisp and slightly tart taste? Make apple sauce? Or perhaps a pie.... yep, a pie.

The apples (as I said) were a little tart (for a child's palate) so I thought what better to add to them than a healthy dose of caramel! I had some mini tart shells in the freezer so I pulled them out cause I would have lost her interest completely if I had to make pie dough, and their tiny size is perfect for little ones.

I'm going to do this post a little different cause I went a little picture happy...

The ingredients*: apples, tart shells, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, brown sugar, caramel dip (* not pictured, butter, flour & egg, cause I'm not used to taking this kind of picture)

When I told Lily we were going to make apple pies this is what she did. She was very proud that she made them all by herself.

I chopped up the apples and she put them in the pot. She also helped me line up the tart shells on a baking sheet and fill them with the apple mixture, and then she watched them closely while they cooked.

Lilianna's Caramel Apple Mini Pies

5 apples, peeled, cored & chopped into small pieces
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg, freshly ground if possible
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
splash of water
1/4 c. caramel apple dip
12 frozen tart shells
1 egg

Instructions:

1. Peel, core and chop apples and put them in a small pot.
2. Add spices, butter, sugar, flour and mix. Add a splash of water and put on the stove at medium temp. and cook until the apples are tender.
3. Add caramel apple dip to the cooked apples and stir to mix.
4. Fill 6 of the tart shells with the apple mixture.
5. Beat egg with a wee bit of water and brush rims of the filled tart shells.
6. Remove the remaining 6 tarts from their aluminum plates and invert over top the filled tarts pressing the edges together to seal.
7. Make a little slit in the top of the pie with a knife and brush tops with more of the egg/water mixture.
8. Bake in a preheated 350˚F oven for 15-20 minutes or until the crust is a golden brown.

Serve warm with cinnamon whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream.

Makes 6 mini pies.

enjoy cooking with your kids!
Amanda

Rustic Jam Tart

My grandma made the BEST pie dough. It was light, flaky, buttery, everything pie crust should be. And as good as her pies were, it was what she did with the scraps that I loved most.

She'd take all the little leftovers bits from trimming the edges and re-roll them into little shapes (she wasn't fussy enough to make sure they were round) and then she'd spoon on some butter, cinnamon and sugar, or some homemade jam, and pop them into the oven. In only a few minutes and we'd be eating warm jam filled tarts right from the oven.

I made strawberry freezer jam this week and remembered how good those little tarts were and so as an homage to my late grandma I threw together some pie crust dough (sadly, no where near as good as hers, but I have time to perfect it!) and loaded it up with jam and in no time I was tasting my childhood.

Now that's love from the oven.




Rustic Jam Tarts

Pie crust leftovers (however much you have will do), or store-bought dough sheets
1 cup Jam, any flavour
1 egg white
powdered sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F
2. Roll out your dough. Cut into portion sizes and place 1-2tbps of jam in the centre depending on the size of your tarts.
3. Crimp edges up so that the jam is contained.
4. Brush pastry with egg white.
5. Place on cookie sheet in oven for 1o-20 minutes (again, depending o the size of your tarts) or until your crust is golden brown and cooked through.
6. Remove from oven and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

enjoy!

Amanda

Juicy Roast Chicken

There are so many recipes out there that claim to be the juiciest roast chicken recipe that it'll make your head spin. I've tried most of them and they were all lying! So when I found this recipe on allrecipes.com I was skeptical, but ever the optimist I decided it was to be last night's dinner. It totally exceeded my expectations. I have never seen a more juicy, succulent chicken come out of an oven. The white meat was so moist and tender I had to wipe up drips on the table transferring slices from the bird to our plates. My husband, who only ever eats dark meat cause white meat is too dry, actually ate white meat and loved it! I encourage you to try this recipe, you'll never have to eat another dry bird again.

seriously, look at that, that's one juicy chicken!

Juicy Roast Chicken allrecipes.com

1 (3 pound) whole chicken, giblets removed
salt and black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon onion powder, or to taste
1/2 cup margarine, divided
1 stalk celery, leaves removed (I actually used the leafy part as I find ti has a great deal of flavour)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place chicken in a roasting pan, and season generously inside and out with salt and pepper.
3. Sprinkle inside and out with onion powder.
4. Place 3 tablespoons margarine in the chicken cavity. Arrange dollops of the remaining margarine around the chicken's exterior.
5. Cut the celery into 3 or 4 pieces, and place in the chicken cavity.
6. Bake uncovered (approx.) 1 hour and 15 minutes in the preheated oven, to a minimum internal temperature of 180 degrees F (82 degrees C).
7. Remove from heat, and baste with melted margarine and drippings. Cover with aluminum foil, and allow to rest about 30 minutes before serving.

This method would also work with your Thanksgiving Turkey!

Fresh Baked Bread from the Oven

I have always wanted to try baking bread. Neither of the G-mas ever did it so I had no point of reference on how to go about doing it, but I wasn't about to let that stop me. So I took my first attempt at bread yesterday. I found a simple looking recipe online for a Farmer's Loaf (my favourite kind at the local bakery) and I set to proofing the yeast and cutting in the butter etc... I ended up with a very crumbly dough that wouldn't hold together and wasn't kneading properly. Having no idea if this was normal, but suspecting it wasnt't, I decided that I'd come this far I might as well bake it and see what happens. It was AWFUL. Misshapen, hard, lumpy, and tasted so bitter and yeasty it left a sour taste in my mouth for hours after. So into the bin it went.

This morning I woke up with the resolve that I wasn't going to let a wee bit of dough defeat me. So I got online and found a recipe for Amish bread. How hard can that be? It's Amish, if they can make it by hand and bake it in a wood fed oven I surely can make it with my KitchenAid mixer and fancy oven.

The results were heavenly! Nice chewy crust and a soft moist inside. And it was very simple to make. It takes 5.5 hours from start to finish so if you're thinking of hot fresh bread for breakfast you might want to make the dough the night before and refrigerate it and let it rise in the morning and bake it off.

The recipe makes 2 loaves, but I decided to make 1 loaf and divided the second loaf into eight pieces and made mini-loaves.



Amish Bread taken from recipezaar.com

1/4 oz dry active yeast (1 pkg)
1/4 c. water, 100 degrees Fahrenheit
1/3 c. sugar
2 tsp salt
2 1/4 c.water
2 1/2 tbsp shortening
6-7 c. all-purpose flour
1/8-1/4 c. butter

Instructions:
1. Dissolve yeast in warm water with 1 tsp of sugar (taken from the 1/3 c.) until foamy and doubled in volume, about 10 minutes.
2. In large bowl, combine sugar, salt, 2 cups water and shortening.
3. Stir in yeast mixture.
4. Gradually add flour to form a soft dough.
5. Turn onto floured surface and knead until smooth.
6. Place in a greased bowl and cover and let rise for about 2 hours.
7. Punch down and divide into 2 portions and form loaves.
8. Place in greased 9 x 5 loaf pans and prick tops with fork.
10. Let rise until higher than pans (about 2 hours).
11. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.
12. Cool for 10 minutes
13. Rub butter all over tops of loaves. Place pans on sides until loosened. Remove bread from pans and cool completely on racks.

Creamed Corn

This is not that gloopy, fluorescent yellow, runny stuff from the can. This is REAL creamed corn, good ol' down home cookin'. I got this recipe from Chef Chuck Hughes, star of Food Network's Chuck's Day Off. I altered it slightly to make it a bit more calorie friendly.... but just a bit cause without all the creamy goodness it just isn't the same.

Creamed Corn
Chuck Hughes

3 Cobs of Corn, niblets cut off, (or 1 cup of frozen corn defrosted)
1/2 c. 35% Cream
1/2 c. Half & Half
1 tbsp butter
A pinch of coarse salt
A grinding of cracked black pepper

Instructions:
1. Husk corn and remove niblets from cob with a sharp knife.
2. Put into a saucepan and cover with cream and half & half.
3. Boil on medium heat until the kernels are soft and the liquid becomes thick and is reduced by half. About 10 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and add butter and salt & pepper to taste.

Serve alongside your favourite country-fare!