At the Orchard and in the Kitchen

Jer and I took to the apple orchard on Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. I had been hoping for some beautiful fall weather - cool breezy wind, that fall smell..you know the one I mean, cosy sweaters, wool socks, light scarves, and slouchy hats, finished off with a mug of hot apple cider to warm up our hands. Instead, we got 30 degrees(celcius) and sweaty gross. Summer in October, oh yes. Still, the sights were beautiful and a good time was had.








It sure looked like fall, even if it didn't feel it.

Since then we have been enjoying apple goodies - sauce, pies, crisps, and of course just straight up apples. Some into our bellies and some into the freezer for later.

My first homemade pie was not very pretty, but it was given positive reviews by our Thanksgiving guests.

Garden Treats.

I deeply enjoy nuturing a garden, seeing a plant from seed to fruit and watching the growth and change from year to year. Being able to pick something from the garden and use it in our meals feels good. Summer is the busiest time for harvesting, but we do get little treats during the Spring and Fall. The very first garden gift we receive in the Spring is Rhubarb. We usually use it to make one of my favourite treats - rhubarb crisp.

The stalks are big and sturdy, bright green with a hint of pink. The leaves are huge! They are nice to have in the garden, away from Lola since they can be poisonous to dogs. We have had the same rhubarb plant for years and years.

To make the crisp we mix our own granola and cut up strawberries and peeled rhubarb. We still have to wait a while for strawberries from our own garden.

Then we add a simple orange custard.

The finished product usually looks a lot nicer, but we put too much rhubarb in the dish and it boiled over. It was still delicious, despite the mess!

Playing with the peelings is optional, but kind of fun.

What is growing in your garden?

Banana Bread.

It is rare that bananas make it to the overripe stage in this house. We love bananas! If I had to choose only one food I could eat for the rest of my life, it would be bananas. I wish I could choose something more local, something that I could even grow myself, but they are just too good. Yum! This past week we bought too many bananas, even for us. The leftovers sat on the shelf getting more and more brown spots, until today when after a long afternoon of volunteering in an Elementary School classroom cataloging books and re-doing bulletin boards, I needed a sweet homemade treat. I turned to a favourite banana bread recipe, Fluffernutter Bread by ljc. Delish!

Definitely not a healthy treat, with one cup of mini-marshmallows and one cup of peanut butter chips on top of the sugar in the recipe, but sometimes we need to splurge a little - at least that's what I tell myself.

With all of the marshmallows and peanut butter chips, I find that I don't need to use as much sugar as the recipe calls for. I also use brown instead of white.

Mine never turn out as pretty. The marshmallows melt and leave craters all over the bread. Looks aside, it is wonderful. A once in a while special treat, perfect for a banana loving family.