Christmas is coming

The other day my friend and I got together to do some Christmas baking/cooking. I went to her place after she was done work on Friday, since I had the day off, and then we went out for dinner, bought what we needed, and got dough ready for the next day. We tried 3 different kinds, my mom's recipe, the crisco recipe on the container, as well as the tenderflake recipe on the box. The one that actually turned out great is tenderflake. I'm not sure what when wrong with the other two, but I'm thinking maybe I have to do it the day of but not quite sure. Really wish I would have taken then time with my mom to master her dough recipe. I will ask around and also try out a few ideas I have and hopefully I end up being successful.  Here's a few pictures of what we made yesterday

So we made a lot of meat pies, some potato pies as well which I forgot to take a picture of, apple pie (picture of Samatha's pie, mine is just the traditional full crust on top like the meat pies), pecan pie, pet de soeurs and my mom's famous recipe of oh henry bars, which I also forgot to take a picture of.

For those who haven't heard of pet de soeurs (why it's called that, I really don't know), but it's very simple, it's a very good way to use up left over dough once your done, you just roll out your dough, as square as you can, slather it with butter, add brown sugar and then roll it up fairly tightly into like a cylinder shape and then slice it up and place on a cookie sheet and bake I think it took ours about 15 min or so. Don't let it over cook cause then it will be really crispy rather then nice and moist.

Today I got busy in the kitchen again and made a butternut squash soup

This soup is so simple and delicious! I removed the skin of a large butternut squash, cut them into bite size pieces, making sure to remove the seeds towards the bottom of the squash, I added 3 carrots, some onions and garlic. I sauteed the onions for a bit, added in garlic for about a minute then added the squash and carrots and let that saute a few minutes. I then added 1/4 of lentils and some quinoa then added some stock that I made and had in the freezer (took it out a few days ago to let it unfreeze), I let it come to a boil and brought it down to medium heat and let it cook for about a half hour and let it cool down a bit. With a hand held blender I pureed the soup adding some pepper a touch of thyme and some nutmeg. You can make this soup all kinds of ways, you can roast the vegetables in the oven to add some more flavor to the soup, you can add celery as well, you can omit the grains and beans but I added some to make it heartier. You can also add milk to add more creaminess. I have once added a bit of greens pureed but that does change the color of the soup but it does add more nutrients. You can add some parsley for a bit more freshness as well or for a bit of a crunch you can add pumpkin seeds, raw or toasted. These two jars are going to be going into my freezer to enjoy another time, and I also have 3 bowls to enjoy this week.

Most of the pies went into my freezer so I have things on hand over the holidays since things can get pretty hectic. We were so exhausted and tired by the end of the day but they turned out amazing and we had fun, well except when we were disappointed with the other two dough's that didn't work out.

I really can't believe Christmas is a little over a month away. It's coming fast! I started some Christmas shopping but I do still have more to do, so will try to get that done soon to not leave it for the last minute. Hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend!

Fall

Fall is my favorite time of year, it's a bit cooler outside, the leaves are beautiful, and although I'm not a big fan of winter, I do love Christmas and having some snow on the ground.

I have been keeping busy as usual with exercise and in the kitchen. I went for a 5 km run a few weeks ago and it was such a beautiful day

Yes in October I was outside in shorts and a tank top, can't complain about that!  One breakfast I do enjoy, or even for a snack is creating my own yogurt. I don't remember the last time I had a yogurt with fruit already in it. I rather add my own to my yogurt, so for this one it's plain Greek organic yogurt, I added fresh blueberries and strawberries, a bit of maple syrup and some chia seeds

I sometimes also add in granola or nuts for some crunch. My friend and I also got really busy in the kitchen and made our own bread

One of them is oat and honey, and the other is white and whole wheat flour. We want to try to get together as often as we can to increase our skills in the kitchen by trying out things we have never made before, and these were a really good success. They were delicious!  We also decided to make our own meatballs

With some of those, we made a tomato sauce and our supper was spaghetti, with some of our homemade bread, and desert, we made an apple crumble. It was a really good supper!

The bonus is we had some left over to make more meals with them. The other weekend I did make a big pot of tomato sauce with ground beef, lots of vegetables, some herbs and spices, and let it cook in my slow cook all day. I have 3 mason jars in my freezer with extra sauce to use for another time. I also did a bit more baking and made almond cookies which are my favorite, and also made some molasses cookies since it's been a while since I made them. I lost the recipe again but thankfully my friend still had it.

This weekend my friend and are getting together again to get some pies ready for the holidays. We will of course have some meat pies, and unsure what else yet, but hoping we make potato pie, and apple pie and we will of course have to make some pet de soeur.

I have started Christmas shopping, but still a few more things to buy till it's all done. I went to my dad's yesterday, and my brother, sister in law and the kids were there to, and we planned a day to get together for Christmas to celebrate together, and looks like we agreed to come to my place to celebrate, so I'm excited to have them over, and I will have some pies all ready for our supper. Not sure if they will be as good as my mom made them, but I will be using her pie crust recipe cause it was always so good! I will post about our weekend and share pictures and recipes.