November Comfort.

Last week I celebrated my favourite November tradition.

In November, Christmas arrives a little early to our kitchen...

Every year as I am stocking my cupboards with jars filled with the bounty of the local harvest - I stop -and for a change of pace print out the current seasons nuts and dried fruit order from Rancho Vignola. 

I love them. They only sell wholesale and have a short window for ordering - just a few weeks in September as the new crops are being harvested. After I make my dream list and then cut it down to my really want list and then to my almost there list and finally to my what I can afford list I send it in and then wait...patiently... until delivery arrives in November. I LOVE Rancho Vignola day!

I love hauling the boxes into the kitchen and pulling out the large bags of nuts, seeds and dried fruits! I love filling jars and stocking my cupboards to bursting. I love the feeling of November. The freezers are full...the cupboards are full...Christmas baking will soon start with fruitcakes made from the freshest of nuts and dried fruits...

As soon as it arrives I conduct a little taste test. The kids try everything from Flax seeds and Hemp hearts...to Brazil nuts and Medjool dates. Some are loved by all and some appreciated by only a few...but we all love trying everything and picking our favourites. It's a mini November Thanksgiving in Canada (for those who don't know - and I know there are people who don't - up here in Canada most of the harvest comes early so we celebrate Thanksgiving in October).

Since I have been feeling so comforted knowing I have food for the winter, this week I decided to make my ultimate comfort food.

I chopped the onions, cabbage, celery, peppers, carrots, potatoes and dill (how I love the smell of fresh dill) and grated the beets and made my granny's borscht. 

As I stir the pot I tell my kids the story my granny used to tell of not being able to wait for the borscht when she was two and how she pulled the borscht pot down on herself. I tell them how when I was little I used to rub my finger along the scars on her neck that mingled with the wrinkles. Granny was already old when I was young...she was two in 1913.

 I think about granny's borscht frozen in old pickle jars in her freezer...(there was always borscht at granny's house). I think about my great grandmother and imagine her learning this recipe from her mother in Russia many, many years ago. I think about me as a small infant taking my first tastes of food from a bowl of borscht made with love and wonder how many generations of my family have tasted this borscht and how many of us found comfort and warmth. I think about my dad in a small restaurant in Grand Forks and the smile on his face as he tastes a bowl of borscht declaring it is just like his mom's. I wonder how many families share this recipe. I love sharing it with my children and listening to them ask for a bowl of "granny soup". I love that flavours can be transported across generations tying family together. I wonder how many more generations will find comfort in the flavours of granny's borscht...I lastly think with gratitude of my mother and silently thank her for patiently watching granny and writing down her recipe...life just wouldn't be the same without it.

Canada, Maple Syrup and a Scone

I love maple syrup.

Wait...let me go back a little farther.

I love Canada.

I love being Canadian and I love that I have lived on both the West and the East coasts. I love so many things that it would take all day to list what I love about this great country.

(Just to make it clear...I do not love beer and hockey, drive a pick up truck, live in an igloo, or beat small seals with a club. I am not a red neck and I do not punctuate the end of every sentence with eh?...for that matter I do not call people hosers either...although I do own Bob and Doug's 2-4 anniversary special on DVD.  But, that is not what I want to talk about...)

Today, I wanted to talk about one of my favourite Canadian products - Maple Syrup and yes I do realize that Maple Syrup is made in the north east of the U.S. as well. But, did you know that according to agriculture Canada (see here for more info) Canada produces 85% of the world's maple syrup...so I call that a Canadian product. YUM.

Living in Nova Scotia we were lucky enough to visit here a few times during sugaring season.

We loved seeing how they turned, well, basically tree sap...into something so delicous...

I can see why the sugar maple leaf was chosen for the flag...what could be wrong with a country that produces 40,000 tonnes of maple syrup annually! Who doesn't love that? And while I know today is St. Paddy's Day and I should be making green food or something...I just couldn't get into an Irish mood...I don't think I have a drop of Irish blood. And there is not one part of me that would ever want a green beer. (is that even Irish?) This morning I am feeling more dark amber than green and more Canadian than Irish. So, I whipped up a batch of yummy rustic oatmeal, maple scones (actually oatmeal scones might be more Irish than green beer).

 I thought I would share...these are best warm from the oven and they are excellent with a cup of chopped walnuts added to the dry ingredients. Oh...and I confess I did overbake these just a little...I was trying to find our sugar farm photos and missed them being just perfect...but they were still very good.

Oatmeal, Maple Scones:

preheat oven to 400 degrees F

In a medium sized bowl mix together:

1 1/2 cups flour (I used 3/4 cup all purpose and 3/4 cup whole wheat but you can use all all-purpose or substitute the whole wheat for spelt)
1 cup rolled oats (Quick oats not instant)
1/3 cup oat bran
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Cut in 1/4 cup butter

In a small bowl whisk together 1 egg, 1/3 cup maple syrup and 1/2 cup milk.

Add wet ingredients to the dry and mix until combined. (do not overmix).

form into scones (I used an ice cream scoop) or you can flatten into a disk and cut into perfect circles with a cookie cutter or cut into wedges. Place on silpat or parchment lined cookie sheet, sprinkle tops with maple sugar (if desired...and really who doesn't!) and place in preheated oven for approximately 15 minutes. Serve warm...

Oh...and they would be very good with maple butter...

Enjoy!

gratitude on a snowy morning

It is a grey, snowy morning here in the Okanagan...

and the kids and I are cozied up in our little cottage for the morning....

(I think the afternoon will be spent tobagganing)

Since it is so cold and snowy, I thought it would be a perfect morning for some apple spice muffins to warm us up...

Like many people at this time of year we are a little short on cash and while we are awaiting the first paycheck of the year I just thought I would mention how grateful I am that I have learned how to cook!

even with little in the fridge I was still able to make a yummy breakfast of apple spice muffins (using apples that I chopped up and froze in the fall) and delicious canned fruit from this summer...

I am grateful that I love to be in the kitchen (I always feel so sorry for those who view cooking as a chore) and my husband is grateful that when he sees nothing to eat and "no food" in the house that I am able to put something on the table that is just as good if not better than what we would eat if we had money to spare.

I really do love eating in season and in Canada without the aid of greenhouses the only thing that is in season right now is food that was stored up for winter during the great harvests of summer and fall...and so during this time of instant gratification and endless supermarkets...I am very thankful to have a closet full of summer canning and a freezer full of chopped fruit and the side of grass fed beef we purchased in the fall...life is good!