Fall is here!

So it's been a little while since I've posted. I should share a little background of what has kept me busy and away from the computer (yet more immersed in the kitchen!). At the end of August (almost a month ago!), I moved to an intentional monastic community. I am living with five other adults, two 18mth old twins and my beloved cat Shalom. I have been involved in mission projects in the area including cooking for homeless and street involved people, hymn sing at a nursing home and showing hospitality. Each member of the house has a selected evening when they prepare dinner for the house. My day is Friday, a day that I have set aside as a Sabbath - of rest, reflection and re-creation. Since cooking is my favourite thing to do, it is a joy to set aside a good chunk of the day to meal prep.

I have to say that I was pretty excited the other day to realize that fall is here. I love fall with all it's colours, the cool breeze, and all the wonderful flavours of fall stews and soups and the harvest. I almost literally jumped for joy in the realization that I can use a new section of my cookbook Simply in Season - a book that sections recipes according to the seasonal fruits and vegetables (an awesome cookbook!). I had so much fun picking out recipes for the house.

Yesterday, I made a couple of salads and a kale potato soup (pictured below). The sweet potato salad had a tangy homemade honey mustard dressing while the autumn green salad with pears had a dijon dressing. The kale soup was so flavourful. I steamed it for just a few minutes making it soft, but not too much that it becomes bitter. The soup had only chicken stock and salt to flavour it, but the natural flavours were something else!

Sweet potato salad

Kale and Potato Soup

I also made a granola using up some of the dried fruits and grains in the house. I love homemade granola and it is the perfect topping for yoghurt!

Granola with raisins, cranberries, currants and pumpkin seeds

Last but not least, I made a caraway rye bread. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture so you will have to take my word that it both looked and tasted delicious. I could barely wait for it to cool off from the baking (do you know how hard it is to subject yourself to the smell of baking bread and then have to let it cool? patience has never been my virtue).

Flour and Seeds

There are times in life when you face hard, maybe unexpected or maybe long coming, things. And there are times when nothing can be said, or done to make it better. There are times when things are lost and cannot be replaced. And there are times, within those moments, where silence seems not enough, inaction is inadequate, and the need to do something is strong. I know people who have planted seeds in symbolism of hope of the days to come or in memory of something or someone that was lost. I know others who write, and others still who paint or draw.

My thing is cooking. So I was thinking about my need to do something - anything - and the limits that the details of my life put on such action. I feel helpless. So I have decided to turn my pain and sadness into something beautiful and wonderful and new. Just like I did with the Moroccan food 4 years ago. I am going to master the art of baking bread - in memory, in grief, in anticipation, in hoping for the days to come. Bread will become my symbol of how God works through this particular chapter of my life. It will be my reminder.

Yesterday I cooked my very first loaf of bread from scratch! My new recipe book says that one should start with a white loaf as it is pretty simple for a first loaf. I don't like to do things the easy way though and plain white bread is not the most nutritious. So I decided to attempt a whole grain loaf - with bran, molasses and sunflowers. I enjoyed the process of kneading, and then punching down the risen dough and shaping the bread. The reward of the smell of baking bread was quite wonderful. But the prize - a perfectly shaped bread that tasted amazing. I don't think I've ever tasted bread that good before!

So my new adventure is off to a great start!