[very] belated thanksgiving post

so, yeah, it's been a few months since thanksgiving aaaand i still haven't managed to blog about it. well, that's until now, cause i managed to upload photos over the holidays and decided i might as well get it over and done with. since my school schedule was so ridiculously busy, i couldn't make it home for thanksgiving, so julia and i decided to make our own student version of thanksgiving. i made the white turkey chili, and she made the yum yum treacle tart. we also made some cute little turkey cookies! they're basically a tradition for thanksgiving at home, and since our landlords were nice enough to invite us to their proper thanksgiving dinner, i thought it would be nice to make some for the kiddies.
so, let's get on with things.

thanksgiving recipe #1:
white turkey chili (makes 8 servings)
what you need:
2 packs of lean ground turkey
1 yellow onion
2 tsp olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
2 stalks of celery
1 jalapeno
3 small cans of diced green chilies
2 cans of navy beans (can substitute white kidney beans as well)
1 tbsp cumin
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp cayenne
6 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp cold water
2 tsp corn starch

step 1:
set a large pot on to medium heat and add in olive oil. dice your onion and celery and add to the pot when hot. let that cook down for ~10 minutes, and then add in crushed garlic. saute until fragrant.
step 2:
add in your ground turkey and cook until no longer pink. add your spices, finely chopped jalapeno, strained navy beans, green chilies (with juice) and chicken broth. let simmer away for ~60 minutes. if it hasn't started to thicken, make a slurry with cold water and corn starch and add to pot. stir, then you're done! easy peasy!


thanksgiving recipe #2:
angelopoulos turkey cookies
what you need:
lots of candy corn (extra for munching)
lots of caramels
box of hershey kisses or neilson golden buds
box of cookies

step 1:
microwave 1 piece of caramel for ~12 seconds, depending on your microwave. this will take a lot of trial and error. immediately squish caramel on top of your kiss/golden bud, then take a candy corn and squish it down on top of the caramel. then, take your cookie and squish it onto the back of the caramel.

yes, i realize that wasn't very precise but this is what it should look like. that's it! i know, this is awkward timing considering thanksgiving was many eons ago, but hey... at least i got around to it, eh?

happy holidays!

happy holidays and happy new year everyone! i hope everyone had a good christmas and enjoyed their time at home! christmas break is over and i'm back in vancouver :(  i thought i'd do a little updating as to what exactly went down during my looong 3.5 week christmas break. i had planned to do some hot yoga during that time... but clearly, making and eating copious amounts of food is such a better option. this is a very photo-filled blog post, so it might take a while to load!

first up and completely unrelated to food... phyllo the puppy looking so cute at christmas time! he's grown so much since we first got him and it's kind of scary. i can see the awkward sheltie stage starting to appear!

now for the real cooking stuff: a shout out to my apprentice, dad. he's my slave and i made him help me with basically everything (cleaning... holding.. lifting). i like to think i've taught him how to be better in the kitchen, but who knows.

the apprentice: seen here with pomegranate macaron shells

next up, the french macarons. i made two flavours: vanilla with pomegranate white chocolate ganache, and pomegranate with a white chocolate ganache. i used a turkish pomegranate syrup to flavour the shell and the ganache because i couldn't find powdered pomegranate.. no surprise there... now, they didn't come out perfectly, but the texture was still ommidy ommidy as it should be! i made the pink pomegranate ones first, and taking the advice from my first batch in the summer (pistachio ones here) i used a proper piping bag and nozzle. they turned out pretty well, i think i mixed the egg whites too much while trying to incorporate the food colouring and syrup in the pink ones. for the vanilla macarons i didn't add any food colouring and was careful to not over beat them, but i may have under beat them.. who knows. they all had their little feet, and all tasted yummy so it's all good!

so pretty!

next, and not quite as exciting, came the macaroons. sometimes i crave these like mad so i just had too. the tin of condensed milk was a bit old and had a weird colour, but i used it anyways.

after that came the himalayan pink salt caramels. it seems everything i have made so far has this weird white or pink colour scheme... and i don't even like pink. meh. anyways, these were super gooey and didn't stick to your mouth! i followed a recipe for nigella lawson's fleur de sel caramels but substituted the pink salt cause we had just bought some. super yum yum!

then we made some gingerbread cookies. christina and i used a new recipe for icing and... well it didn't turn out so well. some were too thick, some too thin, and by the end of it we were too annoyed to try and fix it. so, we decorated our cookies with crappy icing and it glooped everywhere. oh well.

christmas dinner started off with baked brie topped with caramelized onions and shrimp dip for appetizers. we had intended to do a roasted beet, goat's cheese and pecan salad but we were a bit behind on timing, so we left it for the next day. for the main we had turkey with stuffing, sweet yams, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. to go with all this om nomness, we made mulled wine or gluhwein, reminiscent of our holiday trip to germany, belgium and the netherlands a few years back.

for new years, we had vasilopita, a greek cakey-bready thing. i kind of ruined it this year because my curiosity got the best of me and i found the coin by using my physics smarts. as you will notice, the star in the middle is spread out and weird looking due to all my finger pokes. whatever, i still found it! the best way to eat this cake is to heat it up in the microwave, put a big scoop of vanilla icing with it, and mush it up with a fork. sounds gross but it's oh so delicious. i tend to eat a lot of things mushed up like that... awkward...

i also had a chance to use my new immersion blender (from santa) to make a delicious butternut squash soup with spicy chorizo bits. i am going to devote an actual blog post to this so... check back soon!

would you look at that colour!

well, that was a little snippet from my holidays. i hope everyone is settling back into school smoothly and that you all have a great year ahead!

a touch of spice

well folks, this post has been a long time coming. chai. oh, masala chai. words cannot express the love. all i know is that the first time i got a whiff of the spicy tea, my love affair with chai began. for a commercially available chai, celestial seasonings and tazo have to be my favourites. celestial seasonings has some hickory flavour added to it and it sometimes that bothers me. when it does, i just turn to tazo. i am one of those people who prefer their chai heavily spiced, and tazo does just that. plus they source their spices ethically and have several campaigns to give back to the communities where they get their tea. see their super cool website here. you all know that i can rarely resist a non-fat chai latte from starbucks. they use the tazo chai concentrate for their lattes. it doesn't have the same intensity as the teabags, but.. it's so rich and delicious that i'll take it!

spices are so prettttyyyyy

one thing i like about making my own masala chai is that i can adapt it to how i'm feeling at that moment. if i've got a sore throat, i'll generally add more peppercorns, or if i'm wanting something super sweet, i'll add more cinnamon. also, every batch you make comes out slightly different! the key is to play around with spices and see which combinations you like the best :)
the recipe below makes enough for 1 large, moderately spiced mug of chai

what you need:
1 stick of cinnamon
1 inch piece of ginger root
1 star anise
7 cloves
7 whole peppercorns
10 cardamom pods
1 or 2 teabags of plain black tea (or 2 tbsp loose)
2 cups water
1 cup milk
honey or sugar to taste

a cup of chai makes any study session a little more bearable!

step 1:
peel and thinly slice your ginger root. lightly crush your cardamom and cloves (peppercorns too if you want it spicyyy).
step 2: 
add water and milk to a pot with your spices and bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and lightly simmer for 10-15 minutes.
step 3:
add in your teabags and let steep for 3-5 minutes, depending on how strong you want it. strain really, really well into a mug and enjoy!

oh, hey, look what mug came in the mail!  : )

i decided to make this juuust as it started to hail/rain outside, perfect timing! i also settled down to watch the movie a touch of spice/politiki kouzina, which also finally came in the mail! it was pretty much a perfectly spiced afternoon. for those of you who haven't heard of/seen the movie, come over right NOW so you can watch it! it's the story about a boy who lives in istanbul, who's grandfather is a spice vendor and teaches him that life and food both need and a touch of spice. cute and funny all in one movie. what else can you ask for?

giouvetsi/youvetsi... it's all greek to me

turns out i'm doing pretty well preparing myself to be some sort of freakish semi-greek housewife. this is the most comforting dinner anyone would want to come home to on a cold day after school or work! i made this a whiiiilleee ago when there was an entire week of rain (woo, vancouver...). it was so cold, my rheumatic bones were aaaachinnggg and i just needed something warm and comforting to make me feel better. so, i turned to giouvetsi (yoo-vet-see)! it's a traditional greek stew made with lamb, beef or chicken with kritharaki (orzo) or hilopites, cooked in clay pots. now, this recipe does take a while, but most if it is just down time while the beef cooks down and gets fall-apart delicious. i ended up catching up on tons of my homework done, so really, it's a win-win! nommy food, reading done? sign me up.

oh the rain.. my poor bones!

what you need:
2 packs of stew beef
1 1/2 cups of orzo
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic
1 can crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce
2 cups broth
1 cup water (you can substitute red wine here)
3 whole cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp oregano
2 bay leaves
pinch of nutmeg
butter and olive oil
grated myzithra cheese

yum yum yum :)

step 1:
preheat oven to 300. add butter and olive oil to a large pot set to medium high heat and start to brown your beef. once done, place on a dish, cover, and set aside. dice your onion and add to the pan, stirring to scrape up all that caramelized goodness! cook for ~5 minutes, then add your crushed garlic.
step 2: 
once your garlic gets fragrant, add in your broth, water, crushed tomatoes and spices. bring this to a boil, then add your browned beef back into the pot. let this cook for ~30 minutes.
step 3:
add your orzo and cook for another 15 minutes. if you are running out of liquid, just add more water or broth. once the orzo is close to being cooked, take out your beef and place in a oven safe dish. fish out the cloves and bay leaf. pour the orzo/tomato liquid on top and cook in the oven for ~40 minutes.
step 4:
5 minutes before you take it out, grate some myzithra (or parmesan) cheese over the top.

just what you need on a day like that!

hot and healthy quinoa breakfast bowl

that's right. quinoa. for breakfast. why had i never thought of this before? when it cooks it fluffs up like mad, so it would clearly just be an awesome alternative for your joe shmoe oatmeal or cream of wheat. quinoa is just so much cooler. gluten free and jam packed with nutrition (complete protein, iron, niacin and fibre), quinoa is pretty much just the best way to start your day! it was thick, creamy, filling and ridiculously satisfying! this meal is something i like to call a superfood. it has so many vitamins and minerals its basically a big, delicious dose of health! pecans and almonds added healthy fats, extra protein, tons of antioxidants, 18 essential nutrients and of course, the crunch factor. the ground flax added your daily dose of omega-3 fatty acids, fibre and phytochemicals. cinnamon and nutmeg provide all the manganese you need, blood sugar control and all that nice stuff.

i added quite a bit of cinnamon to my quinoa cause it makes it so much more comforting for those cold, early mornings! also, i used soy because i invited a not-so-milk-loving-but-quinoa-loving friend to taste my little experiment. plus i like that it has all sorts of vitamins, minerals and goodness in it as well. basically, i would add a bit, taste, and adjust to your liking. so, without further ado, here's the recipe!

oh. yeah. my little bowl of comfort, right there!

what you need:
1 cup quinoa
1.5 cups vanilla soy milk (or whatever milk you like)
1/2 cup water
handful chopped pecans
handful chopped almonds
handful of fresh berries (blackberries were the best!)
3 tbsp crushed flax seed
2-3 tsp cinnamon
2 pinches of nutmeg
* if you use regular milk, add 2 tbsp brown sugar to make it sweeter

step 1:
pre-heat oven to 350. put a large pot onto medium high heat. add your water and milk, and wait for it to boil. if your quinoa isn't pre-washed, place it in a sieve under water until it runs clear. once boiling, add your quinoa and cook for ~15 minutes or until big and fluffy or until all the liquid is gone.

bubble bubble bubble

step 2:
chop up your pecans and almonds and toast in the oven for a few minutes. be careful not to burn them! once your quinoa is cooked, stir in your flax, cinnamon, nutmeg and nuts. serve and plop on the berries of your choice!

doesn't that just look glorious?!

this batch made enough to last me the entire week, plus give some to a friend! to reheat, simply scoop in a bowl, add a bit of milk and heat for ~1.5 minutes or until milk starts to bubble. you can use other fruit as well, such as pears, apples, bananas or nectarines! i looooved it with blackberries though. so delicious!

when life gives you lemons, make αυγολέμονο

damn, life has given me lemons this week. not only is it the week before midterms - which is stressful enough on its own - now plus the fact that i'm all sickly-ickly. to make me feel better, i made avgolemono (ahv-goh-lem-oh-noh), a traditional greek soup with eggs ("avgo") and lemon ("lemoni"). it is the ultimate nommy nommy soup. i am eating it right now, and am in awe that i managed to make something soooo delicious. this is probably the best thing i've made. ever. now, i don't know if that's me and my cooking, or just the awesomeness that is greek food. who knows.

so, i did make some changes to the traditional version. mainly because i lack the equipment (a kitchen aid), but i also wanted a thick soup to help me feel not so sick. in the traditional version, you whip the egg whites until they form peaks, then add it to the broth to make some kind of foamy thing. another traditional version of this soup is magiritsa, made with lamb and served at easter to break the 40 day fast. if ya want it really traditional, you put in the icky bits of the lamb (intestines, heart, head, neck, liver.. ewwies). buuuut since i didn't want any of that lovely stuff, i added normal chicken breast to make some weird, but awesome greek version of chicken soup.

my version of the traditional soup

so, here's what you need:
2 chicken breasts or 3 thighs
2 tsp canola oil
salt and pepper
7 cups chicken broth
3 eggs
juice of 3 1/2 lemons (note: i like mine really lemony, but if you're not a fan, add less)
1 cup kritharaki (also known as orzo) or rice.
1 tsp water
1 tsp corn starch
1 scoop greek yogut
note: you don't need the corn starch, the eggs act as a natural thickener. i just wanted mine a bit thicker than usual.

step 1:
pre heat oven to 350 degrees. pour oil into an oven safe dish and then place both chicken breasts in. add salt and pepper over top and stick in the oven for ~45 minutes, depending on the size.
step 2:
while waiting, juice your lemons into a bowl. set that aside and then put a big pot on the stove. set to high heat and add in all the chicken broth. bring to a boil. once boiling, add in your orzo. it should take ~15 - 20 minutes to cook.
step 3:
when your chicken is done, take it out and slice into small, bite-sized pieces and put into the pot.  set it to low heat. crack your eggs into the bowl with the lemon juice and whisk. set aside. get a small bowl and mix the corn starch and water together to form a slurry.
step 4:
this is the hardest part: tempering the eggs. with whisk in hand, slowly ladle the hot broth into the egg and lemon mixture, whisking quickly. if they scramble, start again. add into the pot, along with the corn starch. stir for about 2 minutes until it thickens and serve with a dollop of greek yogurt!

rich but light, hearty and yummy  : )

as a side note, you can make avgolemono sauce as well, to put over meat or vegetables. it's the same recipe just with no chicken, no orzo, and less chicken broth. a traditional greek way to serve it is over celery and pork which is also really, really good! or of course, on top of dolmades (which hopefully i will be making at some point!)

ingredient of the week: lentils

lentils are this week's ingredient of the week! i've been meaning to highlight them for a while but for some reason, the grocery store closest to campus didn't have any. luckily, i was able to find both the green and red types on a mega shopping trip a few days ago.

now, i talked a bit about lentils being healthy in my recipe for dahl here. but since this is ingredient of the week, it's time to get into a bit more detail of their awesomeness. lentils are part of the legume family, which to me is just kind of confusing. mainly because i was always learning french and legume in french is veggies. i couldn't understand how other things such as chickpeas, kidney beans, black beans and pinto beans could be in the same category as lettuce or broccoli or something.

red lentils like these were used in the recipe below

anyways, legumes are really important for people who are vegan or vegetarian. they are a high, non-animal source of protein. lentils in particular have about 20 grams per cup, which is pretty good considering you're not getting the added fat of meat!
lentils also are high in iron, which is super important for young women. i am anemic, and i take an iron pill to help keep my levels up and avoid the freaking crazy symptoms and just feeling tired all the time. so it is really important to me to always have a high amount of iron in my meals whether i'm eating a meal with meat or not.
lentils are also high in folate, which acts to reduce the amount of artery damaging homocysteine levels in the blood. in my human growth and development class (where we basically just talk about babies) we learned about neural tube defects.. and they aren't nice things. folate helps prevent these from occuring, so thats why anybody who's thinking about getting pregnant should eat lentils and take their folic acid.
other than all that, lentils are high in fibre (approximately 20 grams per cup!) and have a low calorie count, which is super good for any dieter because they will keep you full for a reaaalllyy long time, but you can save on those cals.

moroccan pottery

i decided to make a kind of moroccan-inspired soup with lentils. i've always wanted to go there... not that i can right now, so i went there by food and flavour. i am starting to feel a little sick so i really just needed something healthy, but warm to keep my sore throat away. this soup just gets tastier by the day!

what you need:
1 large onion
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
2 potatoes
1 cup red lentils
1 cup frozen peas
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes
6 cups water or broth (i used half of each)
2 tsp olive oil
5 cloves garlic
1 1/2 tsp turmeric and cinnamon
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp chilli powder
1 scoop greek yogurt

step 1:
chop up your veggies and garlic and peel and cube your potatoes. in a large pot placed on medium heat, add olive oil. when warm, add your onions and garlic and saute for about 3 minutes. once onion is translucent, add in the celery, carrots and ginger and saute for ~5 minutes.
step 2:
then add in your spices: turmeric, cinnamon, chilli powder and cumin. cook, stirring often for about 3 minutes. once all mixed together, add in your tomato paste, diced tomatoes, water or stock, lentils and potatoes.
step 3:
stir to ensure the flavours have combined and bring to a boil. reduce heat and then simmer for ~40 minutes. for the last 5 minutes of cooking, add in your cup of frozen peas. once warm, add a dollop of greek yogurt on top and you're ready to eat!

good timing for soup - just started to get a sore throat!

this soup recipe made such a huge portion (serves 8!) and it's so filling that i ended up freezing about half of it. i enjoyed mine with some nice jalapeno foccacia bread.

UPDATE: also a nice addition when serving this soup is sriracha sauce. it adds a nice little zip!

chili weather, aussi

mhmm last week i defs had a limited pantry and decided it would be smart to just buy a few things and make a meal that would last a long time. this way, when my famjam came over for a couple of days i didn't have to worry about veggies going wrinkly. i got this recipe for a chilli bake-moussaka type thing from my friend the english girl in bc. it looked really yummy, so i decided to try it out myself. i made a couple of changes, but nothing big. it was reaaalllyy nommy!

what you need:
1 eggplant
1 medium zucchini
1/2 a large onion
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 medium package of lean ground beef
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chilli flakes
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup grated cheese
salt

step 1:
pre-heat oven to 375. cut up your eggplant and zucchini into slices (around 0.5 inches thick) and lay in a sieve. lightly salt both and lay out for 15-20 minutes. by then, you will see large drops of liquid sitting on top of the veggies. to get out as much water as possible, i decided to lay out the veggies on a couple sheets of paper towel.

the towel will soak up lots of extra liquid

step 2:
chop up your onion and garlic. saute in a large pan with olive oil till translucent. then add in your ground beef and cook. since i used an eggplant and a zucchini, i had leftovers of both. so i took the extra slices and finely diced them up.
step 3: 
once your beef is brown, drain the fat - you want to have as little liquid in the mix as possible. add in the tomatoes (sans liquid), diced up eggplant and zucchini, cumin, chilli flakes, paprika and chilli powder. simmer for a few minutes until there's less liquid in the mix. i scooped some of it out with a spoon just to make sure it wasn't so watery when i went to put it in the dish.
step 4:
put your first layer of veggies down in a oven-proof dish. spoon in your first layer of meat mix on top, and if you have enough cheese, you can put some on the top of this layer. then repeat as many times as you like. on the very top layer, add extra cheese. it makes it uber gooey!

just starting the second layer of nommy-ness

step 5:
lay some tin foil on the dish and put in the oven for ~40 minutes. take the foil off in the last 10 minutes so the cheese gets all nice and brown and bubbly. then you're ready to eat!

the finished product!

this was a really, really yummy and filling meal. it over all didn't cost too much and it ended up lasting me a good 4 days! next time i may try it with some of the veggie stuff that looks like ground beef, and maybe add some more veggies in. possibly some strips of whole wheat lasagna too?

pah-stuh

this weekend my dad came over from the island to hang out with me! i'm surprised he even made it over - it snowed quite a bit friday night. the only problem he ran into was on the ferry... nobody had thought to salt the bridge to take you onto the boat. that was just really stupid. dad left yesterday and today i was a bit homesick and it was cold so i decided to make a big pot of yummy pasta. it was sooo good i seriously wanted to eat the whole thing but i left some for lunch tomorrow.. that took all my willpower!

what you will need:
2-3 handfuls of whole wheat rotini pasta (farfalle or angel hair pasta would be good too)
1 tsp olive oil
5 shrimp (i used pre-cooked frozen and thawed them)
1/2 onion, chopped finely
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 zucchini, chopped
1/2 a broccoli head
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 tbsp sun dried tomatoes, chopped into chunks
small chunk of feta cheese
1 tsp paprika and thyme
1 1/2 tsp crushed chili flakes

step 1:
put a pot of water on high and add a pinch of salt. leave until boiling. in the meantime, take your shrimp and defrost them in a sieve under cold, running water. chop your veggies while waiting for water and shrimp.
step 2:
put a pan on medium heat and add in olive oil. when warm add in onion and crushed garlic. saute for 5 minutes until onions are soft. at this point your water should be boiling so add in pasta and cook for ~8 minutes or until done.
step 3:
add spices into saute pan and cook for a minute. add in sun dried tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli and cook for 5 minutes. pour in chicken broth and thawed shrimp, stir. add cooked pasta into the pan and toss. when warm, crumble chunk of feta straight into the pan and toss again. serve!


next time i'm going to add more sun dried tomatoes cause they were just soooo yummy.

nommy pasta   : )

i'm proud to call you chocolate bear

if you haven't watched scrubs, please do. it pretty much changed my whole entire life! there's just way too many awesome, awesome moments (cactus hands, guy love, bugel fingers, everything comes down to poo, jd and cox, kung fu fighting surgeons, pumpkin babies, toto in the tub, ted - in general haha) i wish jd and turk could be my friends.... anyways, i was watching my favourite moments from scrubs and stumbled on this:




it reminded me that i hadn't had chocolate in a long time. i know, that's weird cause chocolate bear is turk's nickname, or really it's christina's nickname. but whatevs. something you all should know about me is that i have quite the obsession with peanut butter and chocolate. i love peanut M&M's, peanut butter M&M's, reese's pieces (big or small) and reese's pieces candy. it's really bad. i'd say i need help. so, this obsession, plus my craving for chocolate from 'guy love' got me thinking... i should make peanut butter and chocolate brownies. nom nom nom. it's a super simple recipe, i think my mistake was trying to fit it all into a baking dish too small and also not having baking powder. the good thing is that even if you didn't do everything right, the end result is still super yummy cause it's pb and choco. you can never go wrong.

peanut butter brownie with hot chocolate  : )

what you need:
1/2 cup of peanut butter
1/3 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1tsp baking powder
1 cup milk chocolate chips

step 1:
preheat oven to 350 degrees. cream together peanut butter and butter. beat in sugars, eggs and vanilla.
step 2:
stir in flour and baking powder. when everything is fully mixed, fold in your choco chips!
step 3:
spread into baking pan for ~30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out with fudgy crumbs.
step 4:
let cool and slice!
makes approximately 12 servings.

gooey and chewy brownie

makeshift thanksgiving

so, for this thanksgiving i wasn't able to go home for dinner (again, thanks to the university...). it was sad. but, i managed to make some stuffing. the recipe we usually use isn't actually for turkey - it's based off of a normandy chicken stuffing recipe. i think it's super nommy anyways  : )  even more nommy, i splurged on my food budget to buy bacon. best. idea. ever! anyways, when i was at the grocery store i ended up forgetting a few very important things. i didn't get cranberries and i didn't get gravy mix. luckily, i had gone to ikea with my dad at the beginning of the year and picked up some lingonberry sauce and their cream sauce. so, that's what i used. it didn't turn out too bad considering! oh, along with the stuffing, i roasted some butternut squash - my absolute favourite fall food! so, here's how it went...

what you need:
       stufing:
10 slices of whole wheat bread
4 celery stalks
3 granny smith apples
1/2 an onion
1 cup apple juice
5 strips of bacon
1 1/2 tsp thyme
1 1/2 tsp sage
1/4 cup butter
       veggies
1 butternut squash

step 1: pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. dice your onion, apples and celery, and cube your bread and bacon. put the bacon into a pan on medium heat, brown (but do not fully cook). when finished, take out using a slotted spoon and place in a separate bowl. add bread to the pan with the bacon fat leftover.
step 2: cook bread in bacon fat until nice and golden brown. when done, take out and place into bowl with the bacon. try not to take any little black crumbs into the bowl.
step 3: add butter, onion, apples and celery into the pan and saute for 5 minutes. pour in the apple juice and let cook until soft. add some sage and thyme (to taste - i used about 1 1/2 tsp of each) and stir.

sauteing the onions, apples and celery

step 4: once the spices are combined, add into bowl with bread and bacon. mix thoroughly and place into a baking pan. cover with foil and cook for about 30 minutes. 20 minutes in, take of the foil so the top can get nice and crispy.

stuffing all ready to go in the oven

step 5: while the stuffing is cooking in the oven, carefully chop up your butternut squash (i almost cut my finger off several times) and place in a dish. cook for about 30 minutes, it should be done at the same time your stuffing is nice, crispy and brown

my thanksgiving evening: spent catching up on sport psychology notes