Celebrating because we can... With doughnuts.

My roommate Laura knows all of the holidays... Ever. 

She informed me excitedly last week that this Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving. Normally that would include a pancake dinner with lots and lots of maple syrup. 

We decided that doughnuts and cider sounded better. 

Sour Cream Cake Doughnuts - Gluten Free

For the donuts:
• 2 cups all purpose gluten free flour
• 1/4 cup almond flour 
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons palm shortening
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• Canola oil, for frying
For the glaze:
• 3 1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup hot water

Beat the shortening, sugar, and eggs until thick and pale. 

In a seperate bowl combine the dry ingredients. 

Add to the mixer alternating with the sour cream in three batches. The dough will be sticky. 

Chill for an hour. 

Roll out the dough to about a 1/2 inch depending on how thick you want your doughnuts. Drop into hot oil ad fry on each side until golden. You will know your oil is ready if the doughnut rises immediately to float. 

For the glaze: 

Combine all ingredients and stir! Dip the doughnuts completely after that have cooled. 

Cold. Foggy. Apples. Farm.

I took little man to a farm out towards the mountains last week. It was crisp and we wore matching flannel. We packed a lunch of cheese quesadillas, apples, and lots of water. The drive was about an hour. An hour of my windshield wipers beating fog away in time to the lilting sounds of Jack Johnson. An hour of road beneath tires, and a tiny voice asking earthy questions. Ahh, moving.

We arrived just as the tractor full of suburban farmers come to visit was pulling away. Armed with cloth totes we jumped aboard the slow moving wagon of hay and set out to the fields. 

The farm was huge! Mountains looming over us and expansive fields stretching as far as we could see. 

Little man and I don't mind dirt at all. We roll up our sleeves and dug for those potatoes!

The carrots were our favorite by far. Grabbing them by their leafy hair and heaving against the soil's grip. A crumbling, shifting quake and... Viola! Carrot resurrections everywhere. We yank them up, like a backwards baptism. 

Our entire haul included both green and purple kale, cabbage, carrots, sweet and brown potatoes, peppers, pumpkins, Indian corn, onions, celery, and one magnanimous rutabaga. 

It was a lovely, dirty, wholesome day. We drove home, took baths, at a whole carrot each and then little man went to bed. 

While he slept... I made apple butter. :) 

• Apple Butter
• 2 lbs Granny Smith or honey crisp apples
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinager
• Water to cover
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tbs cinnamon
• 1 tbs cloves 
• 1 tbs ground ginger
• 1 tbs allspice 
• The rind and juice of one lemon

Rough chop the apples and put them in a large pot with the vinager. Cover with water and brig to a boil. Simmer them until soft. Purée with an blender and return to the pit with the sugar, spices and lemon. Cook on low heat until the cot is amber and the consistency thick and smooth. 

Your house will smell amazing at this point. 

Let the apple butter cool completely before canning it. 

  

End for a Beginning

Oh how I am ready for summer to be over. That sounds kind of harsh, but so is the heat here... soooo, I think I am entitled. I want to cook with things that I love, like squash, and kale, and figs.I want to wear things that I love, like scarves, and boots, and leggings. I want it to be fall. 

My new job is feeding my soul in a deep way I didn't know I was missing until I found it again. The little boy I watch is like miniature version of myself, and our adventures together feel like old friends joining hands after a long time apart. I cook. From their families garden I cook. There is something about earth to table cooking, it feels right and whole. 

Above all I love that what I do now is not only what I'm passionate about, but it blesses someone else in a significant way. Like I am putting their family on stilts in the middle of a flood. 

Me and God. 

Here are some things I have made this month. 

[Peach Crisp with a Cornmeal, Oat, and Black Pepper Crumble]

[Green Tomato Cornbread]

• 2 cups seeded, diced green tomatoes (about 3/4 lb.)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup butter, melted and divided 
• 2 cups yellow cornmeal 
• 1/2 cup gf flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 5 large eggs 
• 1/2 Cup diced green chilies 
• 1 (16-oz.) container sour cream
• Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. In a stand mixer beat butter, honey, sour cream, and eggs. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the mixer, and mix until just combined. Fold in the tomatoes, chilies, and lemon zest.
• Bake in a cornbread mold or muffin tin at 350 for 20 min.
• 
  

[Roasted Acorn Squash]

On Pie.

One, this post is because half the pictures I took over Thanksgiving were of pie in it's various stages. 

Two, because I believe pie is a universal love language, and not only does it deserve it's own post, but it is the bringer of much joy. And we just need joy. 

Spiced Pear Pie, with Toasted Walnuts and Gorgonzola Cheese in a Buttermilk Crust. 

I took this little wooden mold and made acorns out of the leftover pie crust. Brushed them with cream and sprinkled with cane sugar and allspice. Perfect. 

 

 

~Recipe Here~

"Where there is life, there is hope. And need of vittles."

-J.R.R Tolkien

Cake For Breakfast

Good Morning...

Honey.

 Almond flour.

Pumpkin.

Steel Cut Oats.

Vanilla.

Baby Pumpkin Breakfast Cakes Dressed In Sour Cream.

Be Thankful.