Yay for October!  A month for warm soups, apple cider, pies, and wearing cozy sweaters…

Or, in my case, a month for curry, kebabs, ice cram, and 38C degree weather…

Regardless, it’s a lovely month!  And if you feel like getting prepared for your upcoming American Thanksgiving, or for Christmas in the not-too-distant-future (*gasp*…did I just say that?!), here’s a great stuffing recipe and a classic turkey one too.

These recipes were published in the Faith & Friends magazine where I am blessed to have 2 recipes published each month.

So…I was sitting here, and I realized that a bunch of people were talking about “the long weekend” on their blogs…and it occurred to me that it’s the Canadian Thanksgiving this coming weekend!  I totally had no idea.

I guess it’s the fact that a.) I’ve never been that obsessed with Thanksgiving before anyway and b.) I live in Kuwait where Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated.

I do have tons to be thankful for, though!!  I’ll save that for Monday though when it’s the “real” Thanksgiving.

In the meantime, for those of you from Canada who are planning your Thanksgiving menu for this coming Monday (or for you Americans who are really planning in advance!!), here are some of my favourite dishes to eat in the fall.

Appetizers: Perfect for sharing with a small crowd of friends or family while waiting for the main meal!

• Pumpkin Garlic Knots
• Bloomin’ Onion
• Cheese Ball
• Lentil Hummus

Side Dishes: Yummy options for taking to a gathering where you’re expected to contribute something to the main meal.

• Simple Sliced Side Dish (eggplant, potatoes, carrots)
• Cheesy Pepper Bread
• Coconut Curry Butternut Squash Soup
• Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad
• Crock Pot Cran-Apple Pecan Stuffing
• Squash + Lentil Soup
• Baked Sweet Potatoes
• Cinnamon Quinoa
• Curried Pumpkin Soup

Main Dishes: If you’re to into eating turkey (although I’ve included a recipe for that too), or you like additional options, these are some yummy fall-themed main dishes.

• Roast Turkey
• Butternut Squash + Sage Lasagna
• Chicken Pot Pie
• Mac ‘n’ Cheese (this could easily be a side dish as well!)
• Roasted Cornish Game Hen
• Crock Pot Roast Chicken
• Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

Desserts: Perfect for finishing off a hearty meal!

• Pumpkin Spice Muffins
• Auntie Alison’s Date Cake
• Autumn Brownies
• Apple Pie

I’m honestly not one of those people who spends hours and hours on pinterest.  Although, I can easily see how that could happen.

Even still, I’ve found some super cool ideas and recipes that I thought I’d share with you!

Here are a couple of things that sparked my interest recently:

Check out this amazingly beautiful balloon wall.  It’s perfect for a fun event like a bridal shower, wedding, birthday party, etc.!

How neat is this little outdoor serving station??

And this punjabi eggplant dish (with a few minor adjustments) was delicious at a potluck last week:

Have you seen anything on pinterest lately that you think is awesome?

Feel free to follow me on pinterest!

Oh my goodness – cooking rice in my crock pot has changed my life!!!

It might be a tad dramatic, but for real.  We eat brown rice in this family, and generally it takes about 45 minutes or so to cook it.  Not a huge deal, but sometimes I’d rather just have it ready to go.

Enter: The Crock Pot

I discovered that I can easily cook a giant batch of brown rice all at once in my crock pot on the weekend whenever I have a chance, and have it ready to go throughout the week.  SCORE!

We eat rice typically 2-3 times a week, and we usually need some extras to throw in with leftovers to make a complete meal.  Seriously – the crock pot is my food-cooking-hero.

Crock Pot Brown Rice:

• 4 cups of brown basmati rice
• 10 cups of water

Combine the rice and water in your crock pot and cook on high for 4 hours.  At the beginning of the 4th hour stir it so that it can be mixed up a bit.  Fluff and eat.  Or store it away in your fridge for eating throughout the week!  Just warm it up!

There are some simple things that can really add substance to a meal, but oftentimes we just don’t list how to cook them. I’m talking about things like rice, beans, grains, etc.  We just take it for granted that everyone knows how to cook them!  I’m definitely guilty of listing something like “1 cup of cooked chickpeas” in a recipe, without expressing how to cook them.

Meanwhile, we all have different tried and tested ways of doing it – myself included!  So I thought I’d list how I cook some staples in our home: beans, lentils, quinoa and brown rice.

Dried Beans:

• Get out your crock pot and decide how many beans it can hold.  Measure that out with chickpeas, black beans, navy beans, etc. (NOT kidney beans!  They need to be cooked on a stove top to ensure that they boil properly.  Also, not lentils as they don’t require that long of a cooking time.) into your crock pot.  Cover your dried beans with water about 2 inches above them.  DO NOT turn on your crock pot.  The beans will expand and grow overnight as they absorb water.  In the morning drain your beans and place them back in your crock pot and re-fill it with water until they’re covered by an inch of it.  Turn it on high for 6-8 hours (or low for 10-12 hours).  They’ll be perfectly cooked by the time you get home!

{Chickpeas above are featured from my Chickpea Curry}

Lentils:

• Cover 1 1/4 cups of dried lentils with 1 3/4 cup water.  Bring your water to a boil.  Once it’s boiling, cover the pot and turn it down to simmer for 20 minutes.  Stir every few minutes.  After 20 minutes they should be tender and ready to eat.  Strain any remaining water (although I never have any left, you might have a tiny bit) and add to whatever dish you’re serving.

With both dried beans and lentils, you can bag up the extras and put them in your freezer to use at a later date!  We have small ziploc bags that we portion them out into.  We freeze them flat and then they can stand up in the freezer and hide in all kinds of nooks and crannies!

{Quinoa featured above is from my Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad}

Quinoa:

• Cover 1 cup of dried quinoa with water and let it soak for a minimum of 5 minutes (I usually try to remember to get mine ready before work and then strain it later when I get home).  I use a French coffee press to do the job!  It makes straining very easy.  Pour the strained quinoa into a pot and add 1 1/2 cups of water.  Bring the quinoa to a boil.  Once it’s boiling, cover and reduce the heat to simmer for 15 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Once 15 minutes has passed, remove the quinoa from the heat (still covered) and let it sit for 5 minutes.  Fluff and enjoy!

{Brown Rice from above is featured in my Basil-infused Brown Rice}

Brown Rice:

• I’ve actually already done a post on how to cook brown rice, so I’ll just direct you over to the original post.  It’s always good to cook up extra rice and keep it on hand throughout the week for quick meals.  Or freeze some extras!

Although I posted a review of 2011, I thought since we all know this blog is really about the food, that I’d post my favourite 11 recipes from 2011!

In no particular order…

1. Yeast-less Pizza Dough

2. St. Nikolaus Day Muffins (Chocolate Orange Chai)

3. Chocolate Cranberry Shortbread Pie

4. Flavourful Wholesome Apple Pie

5. Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad

6. Cheese-Stuffed Burgers

7. Great Granola Bars

8. Baba Ghanoush (Eggplant Dip)

9. Indian-Style Chutney

10. Crock-pot Cran-Apple Pecan Stuffing

11. Cream of Mushroom & Chive Soup

Any requests/ideas for what I should cook up in 2012?

Today is St. Nikolaus Day!!

It’s the day we celebrate gift-giving in our house for the holiday season.  It gives us more time on Christmas Day to focus on Jesus!  You can read more about our traditions here.

We woke up and did our stockings filled from “St. Nik” and got some wonderful items:

Mine are on the L: leg warmers, yummy chocolate bars, bamboo kitchen tongs, stainless steel spoons, an “I Owe You” for baking lessons at a local place, and a book called “The Half Sky” which I was curious about reading.  Peter’s are on the R: “The Passage,” a new watch, “gift certificate” for music lessons, paper sunglasses because I couldn’t find the right pair, a toque, a notice that his fave magazine is renewed, a chocolate bar and his favourite gummy bears.

Then we ate our usual St. Nikolaus Day breakfast: bread with butter and chocolate sprinkles (the good European kind!) and a side of a mandarin orange (which we got in our stockings).

Based on the ingredients of this delicious breakfast we enjoy each year, I created a handy-dandy muffin recipe (because why would one orange-coloured muffin recipe be enough this week?!) for you to enjoy.  They remind me a lot of this holiday tradition of ours!

St. Nikolaus Day Muffins:

• 1.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 tsp. chai spice mix
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 mandarin oranges
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350F.  Mix the flour, chai spice, salt and baking powder together.  Add in the butter and mix with your hands until you have the consistency of sand.  In another bowl, mix together the honey, egg and milk.  Add the wet mixture to the dry/butter mixture.  Mix well.  Separate your mandarin orange segments and cut each one in half with clean kitchen scissors.  Mix 1 and a half of the orange segments into the dough, leaving the rest aside.  Add in the chocolate chips.  Spoon the mixture into a muffin tin and add a piece of the remaining orange to the top of each muffin cup.  Bake at 350F for 25 minutes.  Makes 8 muffins (because 6 or 12 is so overrated…).

Later today we’re having friends of ours over for a St. Nikolaus Day dinner!  They’re from Saudi Arabia so it’s all pretty new to them.  We’re going to enjoy a delicious dinner of…

• Crock-Pot Roast Chicken
• Carrots
• Broccoli
• Mashed Potatoes
• Yorkshires
• Apple Pie

Have a lovely day!