The view from the 17th floor where we assemble each year.

Thanksgiving this year was especially poignant for me.  Perhaps it is the upcoming family wedding, perhaps the delight of having my Goddaughter home from Australia to celebrate with us, perhaps that my Mom persevered through another move to be with us, perhaps a sweet combination of all of these things.  Of particular significance though was the gratitude of being carried through some of the tougher moments that the year had brought us since the previous celebration of the harvest.  Surrounded by my family, my friends near and far, my church family and my neighbourhood, I realized anew how wonderful my life is and can be, even though it sometimes feels that I am crushed by its stresses.  As my friend Claudia (who is here right now) says: “There is always a hair in the food!”.

Our assembly this year was diverse with representatives not just from Australia but Japan (an international student living with a family member),

from the Wee One who is the youngest (and her adorable second cousin)

to our Mom and my bother-in-law’s Dad who is in his 90’s

with various generations of cousins in between.

When a family of over 40 gets together from all over the city, how does hot and tasty food make it to the table?  One of my sister-in-laws assigns the tasks and as we always say “Many hands make light work”-with different people assigned to prepare our standard favourites, designations to set up and take down and others to bring disposable plates and take out the garbage.

There is always turkey, ham AND meatballs, potatoes made with and without cream cheese and a couple of casseroles of green bean bake.

Over the years there have been many food “hits”, this year I may humbly put forward that my adaption of middle eastern sweet potatoes might have taken the most accolades.  The recipe is adapted from my new favourite cookbook:

The piece de resistance was Sister #3’s pumpkin pie.  Creamy and bursting with spices, she may make me a pumpkin pie lover after all these years.

Kath’s quote: “The king and high priest of all the festivals was the autumn Thanksgiving. When the apples were all gathered and the cider was all made, and the yellow pumpkins were rolled in from many a hill in billows of gold, and the corn was husked, and the labors of the season were done, and the warm, late days of Indian Summer came in, dreamy, and calm, and still, with just enough frost to crisp the ground of a morning, but with warm traces of benignant, sunny hours at noon, there came over the community a sort of genial repose of spirit – a sense of something accomplished.”-Harriet Beecher Stowe

Love-that is all.

With the arrival of autumn, our routine changes. Our travelling is done for another season and we no longer head out to the beach house every weekend. We re-establish our routine of Sunday dinners together as a family and we get caught on up the movie watching that we have missed since the previous Academy Awards. The guys are avid NFL fans so we also try to accommodate as much football viewing as possible. Sometimes when a Sunday afternoon game goes late, I have to whip up a quick nibble to hold us over until our designated supper time (they typically PVR the second game to watch after we are finished at the supper table). This is when having a variety of Smucker’s jams in the pantry comes in handy.

Both these savoury little bites are perched upon a leaf, reminiscent of the change of season. The first is a green romaine leaf. A generous dollop of Smucker’s Blueberry Jam is smeared on the leaf and then a glorious whole clove of roasted garlic is rested on the jam. Toasted pine nuts and a sprig of earthy sage follow and the entire little boat is a potpourri of lusty flavours.

A red leaf of radicchio is employed with the second bite. Complementing the claret colour of the leaf is a matching one from a smear of Smucker’s Raspberry Jam.  Creamy chèvre follows and then the surprising combination of dark chocolate chips and freshly ground black pepper. I first tasted raspberry, chocolate and pepper together at a now defunct Winnipeg restaurant called Victor’s where the young chef was not afraid to stretch our taste buds with exciting flavour combinations.

These are placed in front of my appreciative guys who have spent the afternoon in front of the big screen in the basement family room and need just a little something to tide them over until dinner time. I don’t join them as I am anxious to get back upstairs to visit with my girls but especially our granddaughter who has made the visit too.

Kath’s quote: “And the Quangle Wangle said to himself on the Crumpetty Tree,–‘Jam; and Jelly; and bread; Are the best of food for me!”-Edward Lear

Love-that is all.

Smucker’s Pairings for Fall Entertaining are a simple, easy way to create delicious food combinations with jam and other ingredients, designed to help you discover how fall flavours mingle together for mouth-watering results. Each pairing has 5 ingredients or less, and is ready in less than 15 minutes. Because with a name like Smucker’s, it has to be good.  For specific information on our jam flavours and varieties, please visit www.smuckers.ca.

Disclosure: This post was brought to you by Smucker’s foods of Canada via Mode Media Canada.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Smucker’s Foods of Canada

This weekend we recruited a crew of family members to help us assemble a solarium for the deck of our beach house. Although days are lovely and mild, the mosquitoes and sudden thunderstorms can severely cramp your style on the Canadian prairies without an option of this kind. By noon of the work day, what had been accomplished had to be disassembled and reassembled and by dinner time the last of the roof panels were just starting to slide into their place. A whopper of a thunderstorm was rolling in off the lake and the gang managed to get the last one in place and some chairs pulled in before a deluge began.

Meanwhile, I was taking stock of the ingredients that I had available to create some little sweet and savoury tastes to thank everyone for their efforts. I composed six pairings and these were the favourites:

Savoury Apricot – an onion flatbread with a slice of parmesan salami folded into a compact triangle, a dollop of Smucker’s Apricot jam, roasted red pepper and a sprig of basil.

Surprising Blueberry – a Raincoast Crisp Seed Cracker, a smudge of sour cream, a smear of Smucker’s Blueberry Jam, segments of lemon slices and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Mexican Peach – a mini taco “scoop”, a creamy slice of avocado, a spoonful of Smucker’s Peach Jam, a wedge of roasted purple onion and a nip of cilantro.

Nutty Apricot – a mini biscotti round, a glorious smear of Smucker’s Apricot Jam, a wedge of smoked gouda, a roasted pecan and a twig of rosemary.

To say that the delectable offerings were well received would be a gross understatement.  Every single morsel was devoured instantly but not without glowing exclamations. Everyone had their favourites for different reasons, some preferring basil over cilantro, others loved the crunchy varieties and another pleased with the dairy-free options. All were impressed with the complexity of the tastes and how satisfying each little bite was in spite of its size. 

We often entertain at our beach house and I am delighted that in the future, I can tap into my selections of Smucker’s fresh jams, add a fresh herb, a cracker, a bit of protein and voila, I can be back out into the solarium to sip my bevvie and rejoin the conversation. Life is good.

Kath’s quote: “And the Quangle Wangle said to himself on the Crumpetty Tree,–‘Jam; and Jelly; and bread; Are the best of food for me!”-Edward Lear

Love-that is all.

Smucker’s Pairings are a simple, easy way to create delicious food combinations with jam and other ingredients, designed to help you discover how flavours mingle together for mouth-watering results. Each pairing has 5 ingredients or less, and s ready in less than 15 minutes. Because with a name like Smucker’s, it has to be good.  For specific information on our jam flavours and varieties, please visit www.smuckers.ca. 

Disclosure: This post was brought to you by Smucker’s foods of Canada via Mode Media Canada.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Smucker’s Foods of Canada.

My projects as a food stylist are satisfying work-imagine being paid to grocery shop and spend part of the day in the kitchen. I don’t even mind the early mornings (once I get myself going, that is).   I get to meet fascinating people like other foodies, home economists, dieticians, cookbook authors and chefs.  My favourite Chef thus far has been the pleasure of working with Chef Michael Allemeir.  I knew that his recipes would be stellar and written with care.

Here’s his impressive bio:

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Chef Michael Allemeier moved with his family to Hong Kong where he was smitten by the culinary bug at age 12.

He started his first official kitchen job at the St. Boniface Golf Club. He apprenticed with Delta Hotels and the St. Charles Country Club in Winnipeg. He has worked at the acclaimed restaurant Amici in Winnipeg; Executive Chef of Bishop’s Restaurant in Vancouver; Fairmont Hotels in the Wildflower Restaurant in Whistler; and Executive Chef of Teatro Restaurant in Calgary, where he won numerous awards.

In 2003, Chef Allemeier’s passion for food and wine pairing was realised with the call to Mission Hill Family Estate Winery in the Okanagan Valley, where he launched the Terrace Restaurant, created a culinary school, private dining program, retail line of preserves, designed and built Canada’s first Varietal Kitchen Garden and many other initiatives for sales and marketing.

A Certified Chef de Cuisine (CCC), which is Canada’s second highest professional culinary accreditation designation. Chef Allemeier is also a member of the international food and wine organization the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs.

He is currently pursuing his career-long passion as an educator. In 2009, he started as a culinary instructor at SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology). Currently, Chef Allemeier is a CMC (Certified Master Chef) candidate, which is Canada’s highest professional accreditation.

Chef Michael is a 1989 Red River College graduate and tells me of his fond memories working with Chef Tony of the St. Charles and Heinz Kattenfeld of Amici!

Chef Michael is currently team up with the Dairy Farmers of Canada promoting their Summer Berries and Cream.  Check out their Anyday Magic website and vote for my friend Jeanine Friesen (aka Baking Beauties) in conjunction with this promo.  You could win a Stainless Steel Cookware set!

I prepared two fabulous recipes for Chef Michael’s appearance yesterday on Breakfast Television.  With permission, I am sharing this fabulous salad.

I sometimes take the left-overs from a TV appearance home with me for my family to taste but this one was whisked away by the staff on the TV set-it was that good!  After they got tastes of the second recipe “Berry Delicious Potato Salad” I packed up the rest for supper at the Beach House tonight.  A whole chicken with lemon and fresh sage leaves is in the crockpot and I am hoping that D will stop on the highway and pick up some corn.  Ah summer time…..

Kath’s quote: “A cup of coffee – real coffee – home-browned, home-ground, home-made, that comes to you dark as a hazel-eye, but changes to a golden bronze as you temper it with cream that never cheated, but was real cream from its birth, thick, tenderly yellow, perfectly sweet,
neither lumpy nor frothing on the Java: such a coffee is a match for twenty blue devils, and will exorcise them all.”-Henry Ward Beecher

Love-that is all.

I often try to get a supper made sometime during the day on a Friday.  This way we can sit right down to the dinner table as soon as we arrive and unload the car at the beach house.  Today is coolish with a threat of rain and so I thought that a “stick to your bones” meal was in order.  As you my readers know-I love eggplant but not all the fat and calories that go into an authentic recipe.  If you look closely at the “meat” of the plant, it appears very spongy and it is that attribute that invites the veggie to soak up all the oil in this dish.  So, here’s my solution:

I get out my Mom’s mandolin and strum a melody.  Nope.  I get out my Mom’s mandolin and adjust the blade to the widest gap for the thickest cut.  Even at this thickness, the eggplant is thinner than I could ever slice it with a knife.  Then I dip the slices into a egg whisked with 1 T of water.  Next I press the slices into a combination of 1 part parmesan cheese to 2 parts bread crumbs.  With the parmesan right in the coating, it adds a pleasant saltiness without using salt and that nutty taste of parmesan without using a great quantity.  Even though I always have fresh parmesan in the fridge, I use a shaker variety for this recipe for best results.

Another note about cooking with eggplant: authentic Italian cooks will recommend that you salt the slices and then let them sit to purge their water and bitterness.  I don’t follow this step.  I like the plumpness of the slices and I think that slightly pungent taste is what makes the eggplant so unusual and delicious.

Next I cover a heavy baking sheet with foil (to speed up clean up) and liberally spray with a canola oil spray product.  I place the breaded slices upon the tray, spray again and then place them under the broil for a couple of minutes, watching constantly.  When golden brown, flip the slices over to the second side and spray again and then repeat the broiling procedure.

Once all the slices have been prepared in this manner, prepare a tomato sauce or use your favourite store-bought variety.  Here’s my favourite from scratch one:

Place a ladle or two of sauce in the bottom of the pan that you might use to make lasagna.  Start to layer the eggplant slices over the bottom of the pan.  If you wish place a layer of thinly sliced mozzarella over each.  I adjust the mandolin onto the thinnest setting and use it again to slice the cheese.  Repeat layers until all slices are used.  Pour the rest of the sauce over all.  Bake at 375 degrees until cheese melts and the sauce bubbles.  Likely 30-40 minutes.  In one corner of the pan, you can eliminate the cheese slices for an even lower fat and calorie dish.  I am taking some Italian sausages to grill and will likely make a whole wheat spaghetti to accompany.  Voila tonight’s supper is done and it is hearty and nutritious.

Kath’s quote: “How can people say they don’t eat eggplant when God loves the color and the French love the name? I don’t understand.”-Jeff Smith

Love-that is all.