Sunday Happy

October is a magic month, and it has totally delivered this year. I have been getting all the feels, you know, the cozy, warm and cuddly, want to eat everything spicy, nearing the holidays feels that one gets when the days get shorter and the temperature drops. It's fantastic. The house always smells like a warm pumpkin or baking bread, the pup is happy and not constantly at the verge of having a heat stroke, the mr is has pulled out the hats (his hats really make his beautiful blue  eyes pop)  and I am rocking my warm wool socks. 

I love these days.

This week has held a lot of stuff that needed to be done., but when not doing that stuff, I basically have had my head in a book, I have read 2 & 1/2  books this week (Fan Girl, Last Bite, and The Art of Fermentation) and have pretty much ignored  doing anything  else in the way of extracurriculars, manily cause the mr has been off doing crazy things (I'll tell you about it later) and I have had a bunch of time to myself. So yeah. when I am alone, I clean, make coffee, and snuggle the shit out to the entire couch and read. It is so great! I love my mr, but man, having the entire couch to myself is amazing! (We have a tiny love seat that only fits 2 humans kind of comfortably)  Oh wait, I did take my little sister out for a driving lesson. That was fun. (I am way to lax as a driving instructor.. the mr in the back seat, not so much).  She is actually a great driver and I will hire her as my chauffeur when she gets her license. Also, you might already know, I made a huge batch of hot sauce. And still, a few day later, I am finding that I got super hot pepper juice on things that I shouldn't have touched and am having mini burning attacks all the time. So yeah, if you make hot sauce, don't be like me and smear everything with hotness. 

But other then that, nothing super exciting has happened this week (besides that mr's thing). We were planning on going camping, but being that we just realized that we no longer have a functional tent , and that my sleeping bag is a pieces of shit and not very warm, we decided it might be best to call it off for now, until we get our gear in shape.

How about you? Have you caved in to the wonders of the fall? Gone leaf peeping or apple picking? Are you hoarding canned pumpkin to sell later on the black market? (Good idea right?) Well, whatever you are doing, I hope you are having fun and taking it easy today.

Some stuff from the world wide web. 

-These are the coolest masks I have ever seen.. Just in time for Halloween.

-This article tells me I am a psychopath because I drink my coffee balck… and it might be right.

-House love..One…two.. three. I want them all! 

-Good Gourd! What's With All The Weird-Looking Squash? 

-I am not one of those look up cat picture people… but these pictures are pretty freaking funny.

-Ina Garten is a cool lady.

-Listening to this album on repeat 

-Good thing to know. How to Remove Berry Stains 

-The Mason Jar.  I live my life out of jars.. they work for everything.

And some pictures

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Butternut Apple and Onion Galette

Fall is all up in here!. The air is so nice and crisp and the leaves are changing to the prettiest colors. I gots my pumpkins, an abundance of apples and squashes (our table is forverver overflowing with some type of squash) and am wearing all of my favorite sweaters. 

I am a happy lady here!

And this happy lady just wants to sit on her butt and knit.

But first, dinner. And my thought are. "What to do that doesn't include doing much of anything (especially dishes) and maybe even has the oven on for a little extra warmth?" See here, I am a thinker. I knew I  had a single pie dough in the freezer (you should always have a pie dough in the freezer), a table full of the loveliest produce. So this happened. And the mr ate it, and he was all like "Whoa".  And I was like,"yeah dude, I know."

A Ssuper fall galette.. and I still had time for my knitting and my butt. 

Like Whoa!

The stuff. A single crust pie dough, a butternut squash, an onion, and a honey crisp apple.(there are 2 shown, but I only needed on1)  Also going to need a tiny bit if olive oil and a pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375.

Roll your chilled dough out  on a lightly floured surface and place onto a large baking sheet. Stick it in the fridge to rest for a few minutes.

Grab your pretty things

And slice them up into 1/4 inch-ish thick srounds.

Time to compile… A layer of overlapping squash. (Make sure to leave inch-ish boarder)  Then a layer of the apples, and lastly the onion, which I think looks so pretty as ringlets, but you could keep in rounds if you wanted. 

Fold the sides and pinching dough to keep it secure. Drizzle the top, and the crust, with a tiny bit of olive oil and sprinkle with a picnh of salt.

Now into the oven it goes!

And  after about 45 minutes when the dust is perfectly golden and the stuff inside is nice and tender. Remove (turn off the oven) and let cool

And there you have it.. A ode to fall in flavors and colors..

Have a great day… Eat lots of fall food!

-C

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Butternut Apple and Onion Galette

• 1 single pie dough (recipe here)
• 1 small butternut squash
• 1 medium sweet onion
• 1 large honey crisp apple
• olive oil
• salt

Preheat oven to 375.

Roll out chilled pie dough  on a lightly floured surface to about a 12-14 inch round (ish) and place on a large baking sheet and stick in the fridge.

Grab the squash and cut the neck off the bottom. Save the bottom for later (maybe soup?) and slice up the neck into 1/4 inch thick rounds.  Now take the onion and apple and slice those into 1/4 inch thick rounds too. (the seeds and the stem will just fall our.. but if they don't, just poke them out with a knife)

Grab the dough from fridge and start to layer. First a layer of squash, leaving around an 1.5 inch boarder. You want the pieces to overlap,but don't double layer. Next the apples go on top of the squash, again overlapping. Finally the onion. I liked the look of the individual ringlets… but you can do thick rounds if you want. Fold over the sides of the dough, pinching it in wherever it needs to be pinch until all the stuff is snug. Drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil  and rub a little oil on the outside crust as well. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and stick into oven.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until crust is a nice light golden brown and the stuff inside is tender.

Remove, let cool for a few minutes and eat your heart out.

Sunday Happy

Yesteray the mr and I took a couple littles( and one not so little) to the farm for a tracker ride and pumpkin picking! It was fantastic. The sun was out, but it was still fall chilly. The pumpkins were amazing and we were the first one there so we had an the first pick of the lot! But before we went to the pumpkin patch, we went to the raspberry patch for some breakfast raspberries  and the littles stumbled upon a super friendly, lovey black cat. Needless to say, they picked no raspberries and just ended up playing with the cat.  I asked one of the farmers if they knew the cat and she told us it's kind of the farms cat and her name is…wait for it…. Super Friendly.. Best name ever.

This week also included a birthday party, a solar eclipse (did you see it?) a little drive to check our some tree colors (wasn't much at the time, but this week will be good) and some more apple picking (I can't stop!). We also took one of the last trips to the garden to harvest some greens and got crushed. I have been babying a bed of rainbow chard all summer and was so excited to do one big-ass harvest. But when we got there, all the leaves have been eaten off. A Fuckface deer ate my chard! I was so mad and am still a little pissy about it, but what can I do? And really, If I was a deer , tI would have muched the shit out of that chard too.

Also, it seems that everyday I am digging/riffling through the basement for just one more long sleeve shirt, pair of wool socks, or a warmer pair of mittens. I have't pulled out the jacket yet, but I think that it's going to happen soon. I mean, wearing 2 long sleeve shirts and 2 sweaters is getting kind of annoying when I leave the house to walk the dog, So yeah, might do that today.

But this weather… SO GOOD right! Blankets, sweaters, tea and coffee, knitting and reading. If I could live in a fall state for my entire life. Oh man that would be great. 

Anyways, enough about me, how about you? Are you enjoying the weather where you are? Are you getting out and doing all the fall things that one does? Are you at least getting in some r and r toady? I hope so. cause we all deserve it! 

Here, the Internet stuff from the week if you feel so inclined.

-Someone get me a ticket! Harry Potters Christmas Dinner in the Great Hall…. I must go!

-I have a thing for clouds. What's at the edge of a Cloud? 

-This house is so amazing

-And love this place too.

-Pretty trees dripping light. 

-I am trying to get the mr to go with me.. but I am going. (heights are a bitch)  Wild Walk. A walk through the  Treetops. 

-Are you a sweet of sour person? Me, I think I am sour. Power Of Sour: How Tart Is Reclaiming Turf From Sweet

-Clone your dog?  I think I'm gonna pass on that. 

-A myth about Refreezing food.  Good, cause I a freezer, refreezesr of food. 

And some picture from all the fun.. 

Have a great day!

-C

Pear Almond Oat Crumble Bars

This treat is a long time coming, like almost a years time…Let me explain. 

One of the littles had requested a dessert of some type of almond pear situation for his birthday…..last year. Of course I said yes, no problem, for your birthday, you got it. But I never got it. I actually completely forgot. Then a few months later, I remebemered, felt like a big D-bag and told  myself I still had to make something for the guy… and I forgot again. Next time I remembered, I had just bought a bunch of pears and that was it. Make the kid something you bitch (is what I told myself) but heres the thing, I figured he forgot too and those pears were mighty tasty.(I know I am horrible) 

So just last week I was at the store, meandering through the produce, and noticed that local pears were on sale. This was it. I knew it had to be done. I bought a large quantity (enough to bake with and eat) and got to making that little his birthday treat request. I went with bars.. nothing to sweet, nothing to crazy, lot and lots of almond and pear flavors. Perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack, and made even better by the fact that they were made for him, and it isn't even his birthday.

So I made them, and brought them to his house, waited for him to get off the bus from school, and handed him his long awaited pear almond treat. He was so happy, it made me feel like shit.(I so should have made him something a year ago)  But oh well,  he got them right? And this way is much more a surprise then if I had actually made them when I said that I would. An unexpected, not your birthday, birthday treat!

Right here guys…Still the Best Aunt EVER!

The stuff. Alond flour, oat flour, baking soda ,salt, earth balance and a little honey. We also need some rolled oaths almond butter and almonds. And of course we need pears, with a little corn starch and a smidge of cinnamon.

Nice ripe pears get thinly sliced, seeds and stems removed.

Tossed into a bowl with the starch and cinnamon and set aside. 

The oat and almond flour gets mixed together with the salt and the baking soda, then mix together with the earth balance and honey until it turns into a dough.( I used my hands to mix it together…it worked better then a fork)

Break off about a 1/4 of the dough and stick back in bowl. Take the rest and evenly press into the bottom of a 9x9 baking pan.

Take the remaing dough and mix in the almonds, oats, and almond butter to form the crumble.

Dump the pears on the crust, making sure the are level and pretty evenly layered.

And crumble the crumble on top.

Give it a little press to compact the crumble and into the oven it goes!

When all browned and crispy and nice, remove from oven and let cool. Cut into squares and go for it.

Look at that, so much goodness.Go ME! 

Happy Wednesday people!

-C

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Pear Almond Oat Crumble Squares

For the crust and crumble

• 1 1/2 cup oat flour
• 1 1/2 cup almond  flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup earth balance (can use butter)
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/4 cup almonds

For the pear filling

• 4-5 ripe pears
• 2 tablespoons corn or arrowroot starch
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350

In a large bowl, mix together the almond and oat flour, baking soda, and salt. Add in the earth balance and honey and mix together until a dough forms (I find using my hands to work swell). Roll dough into a blob and tear about 1/4 of the dough away and set back into bowl. Press the remaining dough into he bottom of a 9X9 inch baking pan. With the remaining dough, mix the rolled oats, the almond butter and the chopped almonds and set aside again.

Now slice up your pears  into 1/4 inch thick slices (remove seeds and stems) and toss into a bowl with the cinnamon and starch. Take pears and layer ontop of the crust, trying to keep the pears evenly distributed. And dump and distribute the crumble topping all over the pears. Gie the whole thing a few pats to compress the crumble a bit.

Stick into the oven and bake for about 45 minutes, or until the crumble topping is all nice and brown and crispy. 

Remove from the oven, let cool and cut into squares. 

Great as breakfast lunch snack or dinner. Eat with you hands and lick crumbs off plate. 

Polenta Veggie Bean Pot Pie

Whenever I think of pot pies, I think of those little frozen, boxed pot pies that you get in the freezer section of the grocery store. Those frozen disks filled with all sorts of nasty shit made many appearances in my childhood. Hungry after school? Go home,grab pot pie from the freezer, give it a few stabs with a fork and toss it into the oven.. 

Well one day I did exactly that. Came home from school, grabbed a pot pie out of the freezer, grabbed  a sharp knife (wait a knife?) and stabbed the pie. One hole. Stabbed it again. Two holes. One more time for good measure. three holes, and. knife goes through pie and into my hand. I can remember it like it was yesterday. I was so shocked that I just stood there for a few minutes just staring at the whole situation. Imagine that, a little girl holding a knife with a frozen pot pie stuck on it covered in blood, screaming. Ugh.

Needless to say, after that, I never touched one of those frozen pot pies again.

But this is not one of those nasty frozen pot pies. This is a one pot,(skillet) full of warm and hearty goodness. Seasoned tender veggies and beans covered in a creamy polenta crust that has no need for any sort of stabbing.   And bonus.. only one pot to clean up! And it's all cool and autumn-y out so we don't want to die when to oven is on!!! 

Pot Pie WInner!

The stuff. Onion, zucchini. potato, carrot, tomato, canaille beans, corn meal, boiling water, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, and a little olive oil.  

So If you are missing, or not wanting to use any of the above veggies, don't. Just sub in more of another or ad something different. Same with the bean. If you had chick peas or navy beans… its' all going to taste good. 

Chop up all the veggies, except the tomato and toss into a oiled skillet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and the italian seasoing and stick on medium heat. We want to give the veggies a little cooking head start, but the majority of the cooking will happen in the oven. With that said, turn your oven on. 

 Veggies looking good.

Once the veggies have become slightly tender, add in the beans and the tomatoes.  Keep cooking for a little while longer, just to soften up the tomatoes.

While thats going on, get the polenta ready. Add a little salt to the cornmeal and grab yourself a whisk. Slowly poor boiling water over cornmeal while constantly mixing with whisk to prevent big lumps. (it's ok if there rare a few small lumps)

Dump the polenta onto veggies

And smooth over the top. Sprinkle with lots of pepper and stick it into hot oven to bake.

Some time later(about 45 minute) the polenta is all cooked and crispy, the veggies underneath  are all  creamy and soft, and the whole thing is ready for consumption.

Grab you bowls, grab you forks… Big scoops right into bowl

And happy eating it is.

-C

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Polenta Veggie Bean Pot Pie

serve 3-4

• 1 carrot
• 1 small onion
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 medium red potato
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 small zucchini
• 1 cup canaille beans
• 3 tablesoons italinan spice blend*
• 3/4 cup corn meal
• 3 cups boiling water
• salt and pepper
• olive oil  

*I make my own italian spice blend, which consists of basil, oregano, thyme, marjoram,, rosemary, and garlic powder. I think most blends are the same, minus the garlic so make your own use a pre blended mixture, just look to see there is garlic in it. If not, add a teaspoon or two of garlic powder to the veggies.

Preheat oven to 425.

Oil a large (I used a 12 inch) cast iron skillet or such oven. Chop up all the veggies, except the tomatoes, into smallish, mouth sized chunks and toss into skillet. Add in seasoning and a good few pinches of salt and pepper. Place on medium heat and cook for about 8 minutes, or until the veggies start to release there juices and are slightly tender.  Now chop up the tomatoes and toss those into the pot along with the beans, in with the veggies. Cook for another 5  minutes or until all the veggies are slightly tender. 

In a large jar or bowl, whisk together a pitch or two of salt and pepper to the cornmeal. While continuously whacking, pour the boiling water over the cornmeal. Pour/ spread cornmeal mixture over veggies, then smooth it out to form the crust. Season with salt and lots of pepper and place into oven. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the polenta is cooked and has turned a nice golden brown. Remove from oven, let cool for a few minute, then serve.

Some folks might enjoy some type of cheese so if you want to,  give it to them.