Cooking a fresh pumpkin for baking - it's easy! We are getting into fall here in Upstate NY, and for many of us, that means pumpkins. No - not pumpkin lattes! Real pumpkins out in the garden. They'll keep for a while, but not forever. So, knowing how to cook a fresh pumpkin is a good skill to have in your repertoire! Better than canned from the store You can certainly use canned pumpkin from the store. But we like to be self-reliant. Often fresh pumpkins are on sale through September and ... Read More about How to Cook a Fresh Pumpkin
Thanksgiving
Chili Roasted Butternut Squash
Fall meals will never be the same You'll see - this dish is beyond delicious. I've made this tasty Chili Roasted Butternut Squash for innumerable family and friend gatherings, and it is always a hit. How does your family "do" Thanksgiving? Do you have the same treasured old stand-bys year after year, or do you like to find the latest trends? Does one person do all the cooking, or do you split things up, with different people bringing things to share? Do you travel? Stay home ... Read More about Chili Roasted Butternut Squash
Pumpkin Beer Bread
One of the nice things about doing a local Farmer's market this past summer, was getting to know the other growers, entrepreneurs, and makers in our area. They are, without exception, people who work hard, and take a lot of pride in the products that they produce. We are, as you know if you read here very often, big believers in sourcing food as locally as possible, whenever possible. You get the freshest and probably healthiest food that way. And beverages that are sourced locally can be pretty ... Read More about Pumpkin Beer Bread
Molasses Apple Cobbler
A perfect last minute Thanksgiving Dessert Things are pretty exciting around here right now. We had barely finished our fall cleanup chores, when deer season started. Then we ordered a half of a pastured pig. And a split quarter of an organic grass fed steer. And on the second day of deer season, Larry got a deer. So - we had to buy another freezer, which meant we had to completely reorganize our spare room, which also doubles as a spare bedroom. This is all part of our determination to stop ... Read More about Molasses Apple Cobbler
My Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes
I like Thanksgiving. A lot. It's partly because some of my absolute all time favorite foods are always on the menu. Like mashed potatoes. When I was a kid, there were two things I swore that as a grownup, I would eat every day if I wanted to. Dill pickles & mashed potatoes. I guess I felt deprived growing up. There were a bunch of us, and apparently, I never felt there were enough mashed potatoes in my life. For the record, we don't eat them every day, or even every week, but they are ... Read More about My Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes
The Best Turkey Gravy
A nice dark roux is the secret! As I've mentioned in a few other posts recently, we've updated some of our Thanksgiving recipes in the last few years. We have all become better cooks over the years, plus our tastes have changed somewhat and of course there is always that food blogger gene that can never let well enough alone. There's always a better recipe around the corner, right? In the case of this turkey gravy that was 100% true. For years, I used a slurry to thicken any gravy I was making. ... Read More about The Best Turkey Gravy
Southwest Cornbread Dressing
Have you planned your Thanksgiving dinner yet? At one time, the answer to that around here would have been "yes" - even if you asked me in July. That was because we had the same thing every year. It was hardly what you would call a bad thing either, because what we had was very good. Things are different now though. We are all getting more adventurous in our old age, not to mention the fact that I have recipes to test. It's awfully rough on the family to have to suffer through these trials, but ... Read More about Southwest Cornbread Dressing