Showing posts with label squash. Show all posts
Showing posts with label squash. Show all posts

Sunday, October 16, 2011

What a weekend!!

On Saturday, thanks to Kijiji and WagJag I scored enough frozen meats to fill my new mini chest freezer. This haul included: 24x6oz Hamburgers (for $22), 10lbs of 8oz AAA Top Sirloin Steaks (for $71), 3kg of All Beef Hot Dogs (for $16) and 4kg of free range chicken breast (for $47) all from JW Foods in Scarborough. Met one of the owners (Bill) and he was very excited about what is in store for the revamp of JW foods. He also was very generous and gave me free packages of chicken souvlaki and Greek sausages, both of which they make "the way their dad taught them". Check them out for all your meet needs - Brimley, just north of the 401.

Then, after leaving there I raced up to Michaels at Downsview to meet the one and only 'Ace of Cakes' Chef Duff Goldman! What a genuinely nice guy!!

After meeting Duff I came home with my autograph and new Charm City apron, and went down to my new pantry to see what the situation was. I noticed that 2 - what I thought were squashes - were looking like they needed to be eaten soon. So that was the next on the list of things to do. The first one - I though was spaghetti squash - oval, yellow....-but once I cut into it it smells, looks, tastes more like honey dew melon. Who knew honey dew melon had an oval shape and yellow rind!
The second one was one of my weird and wonderful purchases from the market last week. The farmer called it a sweet potato squash. Whatever it was it was DELISH! I roasted it flesh up with butter and maple syrup - like an acorn squash, as the farmer suggested!


After that I made 60 meatballs - some for dinner and some for the freezer. The dinner meatballs became Sweet and Sour Meatballs (with pineapple and peppers).

With such and eventful Saturday I was ready for a relaxed Sunday, I started at Highland Farms to pick up a few staples - dried beans, ice cream and milk - they also had Ontario Field Tomatoes on for 99c/kg. So of course, with the popularity of my last batch of salsa I had to capitalize on the last of the tomato crops - I bought 6kg (13lbs = about 7qts). My lazy Sunday resulted in tomato salsa canning of 7 pint jars, and once again salsa juice that is currently flavouring the pot roast in the slow cooker.

For dinner was steak fajitas with sizzling peppers and onions, of course with home made taco sauce!

I'm starting to learn more and more about this Once A Month Cooking - I may try once a week instead!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Canning, Soup and a Happy Thanksgiving!

After another great farmers market trip on this beautiful Thanksgiving weekend, one of the farmers sadly informed me that this is probably the last week of this years peaches. Which means I bought two large baskets to ensure that we could have juicy and sweet peaches throughout the winter. I also picked up some LARGE tomatoes to turn into jars of diced tomatoes for use when the salsa or tomato sauce runs out.

My canning stock pile is starting to resemble something out of the extreme couponing show! We also purchased a small chest freezer and hope to start to fill that as well - maybe some peppers? Frozen veggies or leftovers? The possibilities are endless!!


With a bunch of cooked and mashed acorn and butternut squash it was time to make soup. I found a terrific recipe from Mennonite Girls Can Cook, thanks ladies! It was delicious!



Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!