Squash Soup Phone In

Often times Mom will instruct me how to make something over the phone, as she did one day with this here soup. You will notice no measurements for the spices, you will also notice no butter, we tend to use olive oil for almost everything... You can add whatever flavors you want, try orange juice or buttermilk (not together) for a twist!

Add the following to a large soup pot:
Olive Oil
1 onion chopped
1 sweet large apple, peeled and rough chopped
1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 1x1 inch blocks
sea salt
pepper
cumin!!!
2 cups of broth
cinnamon
nutmeg
Cayenne pepper

Saute the onions in olive oil until translucent. Add the apple, butternut, add about 2 cups of broth of your choice (I use vege!). Boil/Cook with lid on until softened (20-30 minutes). Stir occassionally and avoid burning things to the bottom of your pot. I then puree with my immersion blender (an awesome gift from my Aunt Pam). Add spices, tasting as you go to acheive desired balance.

I served it with a whole grain english muffin, sliced, brushed with a combination of soy margarine, cinnamon, sea salt and nutmeg. Topped with fresh cut fried sage and drizzled with the remaining soy butter/cinnamon mix.

One of my favorite things about food is how certain flavors, herbs, and items carry a seasonality to them. Fall is a time for hot mulled cider, roasted butternut squash, blue cheese, roasted beets, nutmeg and cloves, tart fruit pies, and my trademark pumpkin cookies. Fall foods carry me into the holiday season and closer to winter, my favorite time of year. All the root vegetables and cinnamon spice also carries me back to my homeland in New England.

Fall is one of the most brilliant times in New Hampshire. Trees are aflame with color, the air is crisp and musty, and the days are comfortably chilly. The foods of fall are also some of my absolute favorites. Things are a bit more savory and wholesome then summertime. Butternut squash is a family tradition on my Steele side of the family. Gram Steele used to make it as smooth and rich as cream. I imagine she boiled it, then pureed it with ample butter and a dash of maple syrup. She would probably dislike my version loaded with cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and heated with just enough cayenne pepper. I can thank my husband Chad, hailing from the South and parts of Texas for teaching me how much I love spice!

Fall in Colorado is not so bad either....

Chad mowed the lawn yesterday while I trimmed back our grape wines, the hibisucus, and a bunch of dying lily greens. This morning there was a thick sparkling silver matt of frost on the freshly cut lawn. It felt cold and humid. Today, I found myself putting away the fresh herb pots where mint and basil once thrived that sit on our back porch. I then made my annual exodus to the front yard, kitchen-scissors in hand. I pruned the soft leaves and got two large bunches for my cooking. I enjoy sage in many dishes and forms, especially fried (till it crisps up perfectly) atop butternut squash soup.

Sage becomes my new obsession, and the Fall season of cooking erupts. Picking herbs from the garden provides a brief the moment of self-sufficiency and I feel more connected to my urban plot. I hope to someday have more land to grow many vegetables and herbs. Or if I get really into it, as my parents and now inlaws have, I will have a greenhouse. There is nothing better then opening the glass door that leads to mother's greenhouse in the dead of a New Hampshire winter, breathing in the earthy humidity, and picking fresh lettuce for dinner!

Poppyseed Pan-fried Goat Cheese

I will make this short:

#10 Cut and freeze the cheese.








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#2
Create a unique dusting...almond flour, sea salt, poppy seeds, pepper, dried basil

#3) I had some onions caramelizing.....so I emptied the skillet and then used the pan again to saute the cheese.

#4) I dunked the frozen cheese in egg beaters, before rolling them in the dusting.

Now your salad is ready for a party! Frisee in all!

Jane's Krazy Mixed up Salt

Until I started blogging, I was unaware of how many items in my kitchen are tied so closely to my family. I can thank my Grandpa McKinstry for my name, and also for introducing me to one of my favorite seasonings. This salt is crazy with a k! A mysterious blend of medium sized salt flakes, pepper, and a bounty of other secret ingredients, it is wonderful for cooking. It can also add quite a bit of life to some hard boiled eggs. I myself am not much of a salter, which is why using a salt blend is actually beneficial....more flavor, less salt per teaspoon then plain sea salt!

My grandpa McKinstry was born in Belize about eighty-five years ago. Although he moved to England at the age of twelve for boarding school, I think living in Belize certainly influenced his taste for food. I can thank him for teaching me how to fry plantains until they are sweet and caramelized, as well as the joy of an afternoon cup of red rose tea.

26 Gallons of Grapes

Over a year ago, I met Jeff Gold at a poetry reading and had too much of his mango wine to drink. I told him about our own little backyard vineyard, which at the time was full of over-ripened Concord grapes. Each year in early October, the grapes ripen to such a point that they fall right off the vine, and plummet onto our stone patio leaving purple stains behind. The local birds peck at them, bees swarm about the sweet remains, and we enjoy the smell that permeates our backyard. Occasionally we catch Otis trotting around the yard with a triangular bunch of grapes dangling from his soft mouth. Grapes are allegedly poisenous to canines, so we are thankful that he doesn't eat them. I have always thought about making jelly, but never found the motivation. Jeff was excited, he wanted to make wine, but alas he would have to wait for next year's harvest.

On one of my day offs this week, I picked the grapes. Six hours later I had filled twenty-six 1 gallon freezer bags. After I filled up our freezer with ten gallons, I called Jeff to arrange for the pick-up. The grapes are frozen for the time being while Jeff gathers all that he needs to make the wine.

Concord grapes were developed in 1849 by Ephraim Wales Bull in Concord Mass, not far from where I was born. Bull evaluated over 22,000 seedlings before finding what he considered the perfect grape, the original vine of which still grows at his former home. The grapes are highly aromatic and are often used to make grape jelly, grape juice, grape-flavored sodas, and candy. As far as making wine, Concord grapes are not generally used due to the strong "foxy" (sometimes described as candied-strawberry/musky) flavor. Traditionally, most commercially produced Concord wines have been finished sweet, but dry versions are possible if adequate fruit ripeness is achieved. Stay tuned for updates on the process, and eventual tasting!

Frisee you say?

Chad returned home from work yesterday and stated he had something very important to talk about. Removing tuperwear from his lunch cooler, he opened one up and showed me two small pieces of frisee that inadvertently ended up in his salad. When I buy mixed greens, I actually go through the process of removing the pieces of frisee from Chad's salad, now that's devotion! That's also more frisee for me! Claiming it tastes like dirt, he refuses to eat the succulent green! Personally, I have yet to meet a green that I am not found of. Full of vitamin A,B,C, and E....I enjoy it with caramelized onions, crumbled blue cheese, toasted almonds, and a dash of lemon juice, olive oil, and sea salt.

The First Lunch

The First Lunch

The Menu:

Arugula salad with asparagus roasted in truffle oil, roasted red and yellow peppers, caramelized onions, cherry tomatoes, and feta. (For me)

Fall mixed greens with cucumber, dried cranberries, blue cheese, roasted red and yellow peppers with a side of buffalo milk mozzarella, basil from the garden, and high altitude sun ripened tomatoes from my in laws greenhouse in the mountains. (For Chad)

Dressed with a balsamic drizzle: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, fresh rosemary, two cloves of fresh garlic, Fage 0% Greek yogurt, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and caramelized onions.

Whole Wheat Flatbread with carmelized onions, fresh rosemary and basil, goat cheese gouda, fresh ground pepper, sea salt, and olive oil.















Salads are my homeland, my comfort food. I spend a couple hours a week prepping my vegetables. Washing my pre-washed lettuce (thanks Mom, who taught Microbiology), caramelizing onions in a scant coating of olive oil, sea salt, finished with fresh ground pepper. And asparagus, the way Aunt Pamela instructed me.....cut the ends, peel the thick part (unless they are extraordinarily thin or fresh), drizzle with truffle oil and sea salt, bake at 425 for 10 minutes. And of course, a bevy of fresh herbs. Cilantro, basil and rosemary from my pots out back....all cleaned and ready to join the salad rave. Cucumbers are a favorite raw vegetable of mine, delightful with dried fruits and feta. And I roast slivers of almonds, and always have feta, Parmesan, and a strong cheese like Gorgonzola (sweeter then blue cheese) on hand. Portabello mushrooms, cooked on high heat in a stainless steel skillet with a touch of olive oil and sea salt, they end up moist and darkened, full of flavor as they release their juices. Green onions add a wonderful bite. With that said, I have these items on hand, so making a salad is an effortless act of art...use your imagination.

A few slices of flatbread makes a salad really feel like a meal. Nothing like cranking that little oven to 400 degrees on the first brisk fall weather day and filling the homestead with these divine aromas. We sat at our dining room table, drank water, and spoke about this and that. I usually take the time to lay out a couple of placemats, as my mother always did growing up. Somehow that little rectangle of color enhances the experience, however brief the time and busy the day may be.

Welcome

Recently a colleague of mine mentioned that they considered themselves a "foodie". Defined as an "aficionado of food and drink", I agreed that I too was a foodie. Knowing that I was a vegetarian, a puzzled expression looked back at me, and this colleague of mine retorted, "How can you be a foodie as a vegetarian?". He muddled something under his breath about his love for meats. I was offended, my posture became more erect, hairs on my neck stood on end reflexively. I was forced to recite my usual rhetoric that my aversion for meat was merely textural. Nothing ethical here, I'll pad raw buffalo meat into symmetric patties, I'll pound chicken paper thin, hell....I used my bare hands to tear prosciutto into tiny nests for a pizza just yesterday! To further prove my point, I added how much I loved the smell of a freshly smoked turkey, resting on the counter top, stuffed to the brim with an herb laden stuffing (like the one my neighbor Susan made last Thanksgiving that was divine). Or the irresistible smells of my father-in-law's Texas Barbecue ribs roasting over low heat in the smoker on his deck, smoke billowing from the blackened side pipe. Perhaps I should invite this friend over some evening and prepare one of my favorite recipes, Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Spiced Orange Sauce. Hailing from the Earthbound Farms "Food to Live By", authored by my own kin, my Aunt Pamela. I can envision the scene now, my colleague devouring this grilled loin, spiced with orange zest, mustard, fennel, and cinnamon, drizzled with a sweet and tart orange sauce. With that said, I began thinking of how cooking is a passion of mine deeply rooted in my family and upbringing. It is a hobby that I share with many of my dearest friends, and something of a creative outlet for me. I started looking around my closet kitchen from the 1950's (complete with salmon pink cabinets) and noticing all the things that have meaning. And today, I began photographing my everyday meals to share. And then, I started this here blog. Bon Appetit!