I don’t cook with acorn squash all that often…I don’t know why, I just don’t. I guess I go through phases with my preferred squash but for the most part I am a butternut girl or Kabocha but I can never seem to get my hands on them. I had this acorn squash given to me and decided to try roasting it a little different from how I normally would (Sliced in half and seeded) I did it in thin slices because I wanted the soup to have more of that yummy roasted flavour. I was quite happy with how it turned out and so were my dinner guests.

Serves 6

• 1 acorn squash, cut in half, seeded and then cut into 1/2 inch slices
• 1 onion, skin removed and halved
• 2 potato, cut into 1/2 inch slices
• 1 head of garlic
• 2 tsp cumin
• heavy pinch of chipotle chili powder
• pinch of cinnamon
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup whole milk or cream (leave this out if you want to keep this dish vegan)
• pepper to taste
• 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• safflower oil

Preheat the oven to 400. Cut and slice the squash, potato and onion. Toss with safflower oil and lay on baking sheet. Take the garlic and remove the excess layers of skin. Chop about 1/4 inch off the top of the bulb. Drizzle the top with a little oil then wrap in foil and place on the baking sheet. Let everything bake for 30 minutes flipping half way (obviously you do not have to flip the wrapped garlic). Once cooked, remove from the oven and let cool for a minute. Peel off the skin from the squash. In a large pot over medium heat, add the spices and stir them around for about 1 minute. Add the broth, squash, potato, onion and the roasted cloves of garlic. Now using an immersion blender, pulse everything until smooth. Add the chickpeas and give a few more quick pulses with the blender, making sure to not fully blend all the chickpeas. Allow to simmer for a few minutes then stir in the cider vinegar and lemon juice. Remove from heat and add the cream. At this point do a final taste test and see if you think it needs a little more salt or pepper, if so sprinkle it in then serve topped with some fresh parsley. Enjoy!

This beautiful cherry clafoutis has been on my “to make” list longer than cherries have been in season. Lucky for me I procrastinated long enough that I was able to snatch up a beautiful basket of Cherries at the local farmers market to use in this simple and delicious dessert.

Serves 8

• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 2/3 cup of sugar, divided
• 3 eggs
• 1 tbsp, almond extract
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 cups of cherries, pitted – you can leave them whole or halve them
• powdered sugar, for topping
• lemon, juice for topping

In your blender add the milk, 1/3 cup of sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour. Blend. Pour 1/4 inch of the batter into a buttered medium-sized cast iron skillet ( or any oven safe skillet ). Bake until a thin layer begins to set, about 7-10 minutes. Remove from the oven cover with a layer of cherries. Sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar over the cherries. Evenly pour on the remaining batter. Bake for 45 minutes or until nicely browned and puffed.

To serve: Let cool slightly. Sprinkle with a little powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon. Enjoy!

*Adapted barely  from Julia Childs  Cherry Clafoutis

I woke up this morning with the intention to make these for our “Pancake Tuesday” breakfast but due to Poppy’s urgent desire for 100% of mommy’s attention I wound up making them for lunch instead, giving me a bit more time for morning snuggles.

*Warning these are extremly addictive.

1 1/2 cups of flour-reg. or whole wheat

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 1/4 cups milk

1 egg

3 tbsp melted coconut oil

In a medium sized bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Make a hole in the center and pour in the milk, oil and egg. Mix. Cut banana into 1/4 inch slices. Dip the banana pieces into the batter and fry for about 3 minutes per side. You want them to be nice and crispy. I topped mine with a little sun seed butter and some coconut spread. Beyond yummy…enjoy!

*note-these are also fantastic alone or with a sprinkle of confectioners sugar.

Tip- you can freeze the finished product. Simply pop them in the toaster oven and serve!

Recipe adapted from smitten kitchen

This is so yummy, however I must warn that it is definitely not a quick meal to prepare. To save time you could prep your greens and do your measuring, chopping and slicing the day before; that way the following day all you will have to do is cook your roux, assemble and bake!

1/2 stick butter

1 large cooking onion, diced

2 large bunches of red chard, stemmed and chopped

2 cups organic 2% or whole milk, 

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp flour

2 small zucchini, sliced into 1/8 inch thick rounds

4 medium russet potatoes, sliced into 1/8 inch thick rounds

1 tbsp fresh parsley, minced

1 tbsp fresh thyme, minced

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/4 cup grated cheese of choice, I used a mix of cheddar,  mozzarella and parmesan

Onions and Chard:

in a large pan cook onions with 2 tbsp of butter over medium-low heat until softened (making sure to stir often) about 5 minutes. Turn heat to medium-high and add the rainbow chard. Stir until the chard is wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a collander and using a dish towel press down on the chard to remove andy excess liquid.

Sauce:

In a small saucepan combine the milk and garlic; bring mixture to a simmer to keep it warm. In a medium saucepan melt 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat and whisk in the flour. Continue cooking the roux by whisking for one minute then while you continue to whisk slowly add the warm milk and garlic and bring to a boil. Whisk for about 1 minute more then season with salt and pepper. set aside.

Assemble:

Preheat the oven to 400. grease a 9×13 baking dish. Spread out half of the potatoes and half of the zucchini. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, 1/4 of the herbs and 1/4 cup of cheese. Spread half of your chard over the cheese, then sprinkle with salt and pepper, 1/4 of the herbs and a 1/4 cup of the cheese. Pour half of the roux over these layers then continue with the remaining potatoe and zucchini, salt and pepper, 1/4 of the herbs and 1/4 cup of cheese. Now top with the last of the chard. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour the remaining sauce over the gratin, making sure it is as evenly distributed as possible. Finally top it off with the last of the cheese.

Bake for 40 minutes to 1hr or until golden and bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes and serve!

Recipe adapted from Beard+Bonnet

• 1 cup of Bob’s Red Mill gluten free all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp psyllium husk powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup parmesan, grated
• 1 1/4 cups milk, slightly warmed
• 4 large eggs
• 3 tbsp butter melted + a little more for greasing the muffin pan

Preheat the oven to 400. Using butter or cooking spray of choice grease the muffin pan.

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk and butter. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, salt and psyllium. Now pour the flour mixture in with the egg mixture and stir to combine. Once the batter is nice and smooth add the parmesan.

Divide the batter evenly amongst the greased muffin tin. Bake for 25 minutes at 400 then reduce the heat to 350 and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until the popovers are golden brown.

To serve:

I like to make a batch of these and  eat them throughout the week with some soup and a salad. They taste great as is or you can slice them and toss the slices in the oven at 400 for a few minutes until they are nice and toasty, yum!

*adapted from Nigel Slater’s Tender volume 2- A Cake for Midsummer

This cake is so good. It is resilient and easy and tastes like heaven. I made it at the cottage where I was missing a few of the key ingredients and didn’t have a proper pan but it still ended up devine. This time I made it at home with the proper pan and swapped out the apricots for peaches and threw in a few blackberries to mix it up a bit. The bones of this cake are perfect to add on to. You can have fun with it. Next time I think I’ll try plums. I love this cake and so has everyone I have served it to. It will continue to be a regular at my table for years to come.

• 3/4 cup butter, softened to room temp
• 1 cup light brown sugar, no need to pack it when measuring
• 2 medium sized ripe peaches, peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1/2 cup blackberries
• 2 large eggs, room temp, slightly beaten
• 1 1/3 cup self-rising flour – you can make it or buy it
• 1 cup ground almonds
• 2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8 inch round baking pan ( springform if you have one ).

Cream together the butter and sugar using your stand mixer on med speed. You will know it is properly creamed when it has almost doubled in size and has turned a nice yellowish-white colour and little peaks start to form, 5-6 min. Add the lightly beaten eggs to the creamed butter and sugar a little at a time making sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the mixer.

Mix together the flour and almonds, fold into the batter in three seperate batchs on low speed. Add the milk. Now fold in the fruit until evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Scrape mixture into prepared pan and bake at 350 for one hour and ten minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out for the most part clean. Let the cake sit for 10 minutes in the pan and then turn out onto a rack to finish cooling.

Sprinkle with icing sugar or serve as is. This cake is great as dessert or served with a cup of tea. Enjoy.