Tag Archives: fall

Waking up to Snow

Gallery October 31, 2014 A Labour of Love Leave a comment

The Compassion of the Lord – Isaiah 55

55 “Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
hand I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
4 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.
6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but sit shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
12 “For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord,
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Menus / Recipes

Fall is Here and The Soup is On

October 13, 2014 A Labour of Love Leave a comment

Fall… The trees changing colors remind me of a painting in a museum. God’s palatte of colors amuse the eyes and challenge the imagination. A tree stands tall with it’s summer leaves expressing it’s desire to hold on to summer at the bottom of the tree, while the middle hesitantly relinquishes it’s leaves to the cooler temperatures and the top willingly submits in excitement over the seasonal change. From green to an orange hugh to the glaring red with a hint of purple creating a color unknown to the crayola crayon pack.

College Football games, warms coats, turtle necks and gloves. The flip flops are put away and the shorts hit the storage bins. As the heat turns on and the air conditioning is turned off, the blankets are pulled out of the basket as we snuggle up on the couch by the fire place. Once again, the menu choice that takes center stage is soup. Especially when the fall harvest is bringing in the squash and the last of the winter storage vegetables.

As we drove home last night from another weekend away, I looked forward to the yummy butternut squash soup I had made before we left. Simple, quick, healthy and full of nutrients. Butternut squash is a wonderful source of vitamins A, B6, C, and Potassium. It is also filled with anti-oxidents and is good for inflammation.

Spicy Butternut Squash Soup

Start with cutting 2 butter nut squash in half long wise. Scoop out seeds and place the squash into baking dishes flesh side down with enough water to steam. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour, or until flesh is cooked through and soft.

1/3 stick of real Butter

1 large Onion, chopped

4 Celery sticks with tops, chopped

3 Garlic cloves, chopped

Melt butter in pan and saute the onion, celery and garlic. When sauteed to look translucent, add:

2 small or 1 medium Red Pepper, chopped

bunch of Parsley, chopped

When the squash is done, scoop out the flesh from the shell and add it to the sauteed vegetables above. Add also the water from the baking dishes. Do not let it boil. After cooking for about 10 minutes, add:

1 Pint of home made Chicken broth concentrate, I used my canned broth (recipe on previous post last fall)

2 cans of Organic coconut milk

dash of Red Pepper Flakes, add more if you like really spicy

1/8 tsp Chipotle Pepper

1/8 tsp Turmeric

1/2 TBS Sea Salt

Pepper to taste

Cook until all are tender. I use an immersion blender right in the pot to blend. If you don’t have one of those, use a strainer or a slotted spoon to pull out the chunks of vegetables and place them in a blender, blending until smooth. Add back in to the soup pot and serve warm. Make sure not to boil or it will burn.

A warm and tasty treat served with a nice warm piece of baked home made bread. Or, with a grilled cheese sandwich, my kids favorite. By also making a grilled cheese sandwich on home made gluten free bread and using raw cheddar, the kids are more inclined to enjoy any soup I make. 🙂

Hope you enjoy!

Menus / Recipes

Another Fall Favorite Recipe

October 29, 2013 A Labour of Love Leave a comment

A few years ago a friend of mine introduced me to a tomatillo. For those of you who do not know what a tomatillo is, it is a small green, tomato like vegetable that originally came from Mexico. The tomatillo grows inside a husk and when it is ripe, the tomato looking green vegetable fills out the husk and the husk splits open. Many times I find the tomatillo literally falling off of the vine when they are done.
The tomatillo has many vitamins making it a wonderful healthy treat on salads, in soups, or with a little bit of cottage cheese. The tomatillo has a sweet yet lemony taste to it. If picked too early, it can be quite tart.

This year, was my first attempt at growing them at my home as well as at my friends garden where we had an entire row of them. Just like the soup, the recipe I’m about to share is another one that I crave when thinking about fall and winter. It makes a yummy meal enjoyed throughout the colder months, and reserving any jars of it until the next harvest is nearly impossible. There are many uses for the Salsa Verde, however, my favorite is with chicken. This is such a simple recipe, whether you can the Salsa Verde yourself (my preference) or whether you buy it in a store. In fact, I shared it this weekend at our church’s fellowship potluck meal. Easy and quick to make.

Salsa Verde Chicken

1 pint Salsa Verde (recipe below)

4-6 Organic Chicken Breasts

4-6 slices, or 1 cup shredded Raw Cheddar Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil a 9×13 glass baking dish. Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towel. Place chicken in bottom of baking dish and pour the entire pint of Salsa Verde over the chicken. Make sure to cover every piece.

Bake covered with foil or glass cover in oven for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour until chicken is cooked through. Remove foil or cover and place cheese on top of each chicken breast. Close oven and cook another 3-5 minutes until cheese is melted. Serve hot.

For our fellowship meal, I boiled up some chicken breasts, cut them into round slices and poured the salsa verde in layers over the chicken in the crock pot. I then turned on the crock pot to low and cooked until ready to serve. (unfortunately, I forgot the cheese in this picture. )

Salsa Verde

Approximately 8 cups tomatillos, husk removed and washed

1 1/2 -2 cups chopped onions

2-4 hot peppers of choice, seeded and chopped

Approximately 1 cup chopped cilantro

Garlic cloves, I use about 6-8

1 Tbs. sugar, (optional)

1/2 cup lemon juice, (or use 1 cup and omit the lime juice)

1/2 cup lime juice, (or use 1 cup and omit the lemon juice)

2 tsp. sea salt

1/2 cup red peppers, mainly for color especially if you use a green hot pepper

I place all ingredients in the blender and blend until chunky smooth. Then you have the option of cooking it down on the stove for a few hours until much of the liquid evaporates, or go ahead and place into clean, sterilized hot jars for canning. The result of not cooking down is that the salsa verde will have a bit more liquid to it. If you do cook it down, it will also have a bit more of a potency to it as there is less liquid and the flavors will be more pronounced. Especially the peppers. I prefer to cook it down, however, if time does not allow, you will not have wasted your time in the above prep and can still can it. I did it without cooking it down two years in a row and it was just fine, just had a bit more liquid from the juicy tomatillos.

Be sure to leave a 1/2 inch at the top of the sterilized hot jar when filling. (I always add an additional 1/2 tsp. per pint of salt after filling the jars.) Wipe clean the rim and place the heated tops on the jars and the ring. Process the jars in a boiling water bath for approximately 20 minutes.

Keep in mind that if you buy the salsa verde in a store, my experience is that they usually are much spicier than the home made.

If you have leftovers, get some tortilla shells, roll up the salsa verde chicken in them and place them in a baking dish smothered with the leftover sauce (omitting some of the liquid) and bake until heated through. Top with cheese, a little shredded lettuce, sour cream and serve. Makes a nice lunch the next day.

Menus / Recipes, Why?

The Wonderful Taste of Fall… Oh My!

October 15, 2013 A Labour of Love 1 Comment

I remember in my earlier years that fall was one of my most disliked season. As a child it meant the end of long summer days outside, days at the beach, endless board games and homemade dill pickles stolen from the fridge and the end of sleeping in until noon. As an adult, it meant the end of warm days, open windows, green grass, gardens and fresh produce from my own garden. It wasn’t my favorite season until a neighbor who lived across the street from our second home brought me a jar of soup. This soup was absolutely the most amazing soup I’d ever had. I asked her for the recipe and she gladly shared.

Fourteen years later, I am still making that soup, only now it’s my soup. I’ve altered it from it’s original recipe with ingredient changes as well as preparation alterations. This soup gets me giddy every time I think about fall. In fact, when someone mentions fall, it’s not the cold weather or brown trees and grass that come to my mind any longer, it’s that soup that I think of first. You know it’s good when you can taste it just thinking about it!

I suppose the protocol I’m on for my lymes disease must be working, since I can actually stay awake all day and actually get something done around the house while also making two soups. While my favorite soup is exactly that, “my favorite”, one of my families favorites’ is a Potato Leak Soup. Another favorite, and also very yummy, it’s one that I tend to forget about until my son looks at “my favorite” in the pot and salivates at the thought of the Potato Leak Soup. How can I resist making that too when I have all of the ingredients in my refrigerator just waiting for a purpose to be used. For now however, I am only going to share my favorite….. May your taste buds be stimulated….

Make a cup of tea, put on your apron, set aside an hour, grab your stock pot and enjoy the process as your work up to a moment of bliss… at least I hope!

Butternut Squash, Apple and Nut Puree

Approximately 1/4-1/2 C. Real butter
1 medium yellow onion, outer brown layer only peeled away, then chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

Melt the butter in the large stock pot. Lightly saute the onion and garlic. Be careful not to brown them. Add:

1 Medium to large Butternut Squash, peeled, seeds removed, and chopped in food processor
4 Large or 5 Medium Honey Crisp Apples, chopped in food processor
1 Cup of either pecans or walnuts, chopped in food processor
3-4 Cups of apple cider, unfiltered and un-pasturized is best, alternately you could use apple juice
1 quart of chicken broth, homemade is best and has less salt making it a healthier choice ** See below for chicken stock recipe
3/4 tsp. Allspice
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves, if you don’t have ground then use a pinch of whole, just make sure you take them out before blending

Let all ingredients cook together until the squash is tender. Do not boil. When all ingredients are tender, use a strainer and strain out chunky ingredients and blend smooth. Pour back into pot.

Right before serving, add:

1-2 Cups of whole milk or cream, or 1/2 C. coconut milk (remember that if you use coconut milk it will have a stronger coconut taste.)

Let heat throughout and serve in bowls topped with shredded cheddar cheese, and a dash of cinnamon.

Additional items that may be added and are complimentary: Shredded chicken, 2 TBS. brown sugar if not sweet enough, or diced roasted red peppers added just before serving.

**To make your own chicken stock:

Take an organic, free-range, whole, clean chicken and place it in a pot with peeled and sliced potatoes, carrots, parsley, onions, celery, garlic and 1 TBS. apple cider vinegar. From my experience and from other helpful experienced “mom chefs”, the apple cider vinegar will not change the taste of the stock, yet it draws out the nutritional enzymes from the bones. Cover the chicken and vegetables with purified water. Put the lid on the stock pot and place in the oven at 300 degrees for several hours so that the chicken is cooked thoroughly and the nutritional enzymes are drawn out of the bones into the stock. Strain out the vegetables and the chicken, reserving the meat for either soup or for chicken salad or even a chicken pot pie. Yum! This stock when chilled should be the consistency of a thick jelly. I like to put the stock into freezer bags or BPA free freezer containers and freeze until needed. Make sure to leave a one inch space between the stock and the lid.

I have quite often used glass jars to avoid plastic products, however, with that may come the occasional broken jar that sticks itself to the freezer door and makes a mess. For some reason I find that some of my stock just doesn’t expand up, it expands out. Not to mention, bags leave more space in the freezer than the jars.