Borscht for Ben

Mom and Julie

A few short weeks ago my mom and her friend Julie had a great idea. My aunt (a good friend of Julie's also) was weighed down with the burden of her five-year old son's cancer diagnosis and the financial stress that comes along with it. They decided that the emotional challenge was enough for her to weather and set out to plan a fundraiser that would alleviate the expense of driving to and from out-of-town chemo treatments, parking there, and the lost wages for her husband, Garry. My mom and Julie's idea was to cook borscht, a traditional German cabbage soup, and sell it at the local Mennonite Brethren church in St. Catharines. The price was set at $10 per 1 L jar, a Facebook group was made, and they quietly hoped that between the two of them purchasing the ingredients and finding a bit of chopping help, that maybe they would raise a bit of money to help the family out.

Too many cans!

And then something incredible happened.
Read more »

31 Days: Day 18 and 19

Yesterday after I finished my house stuff Calvin phoned to say we were headed to Guelph to help out a friend with a delivery. It actually didn't end up happening but somehow I got to spend a few hours with my mom and dad, which was great. When we got home I made fried rice, carrots from the garden & halibut in the skillet. Then I watched way too much Gene Simmons Family Jewels.

Today I got up early to make the one hour walk (with my mom) to mom & baby yoga at Lululemon. I loved it. By the time we got home we needed lunch so she made an impromptu kale & tomato rice-pasta. Then we folded laundry, convinced ourselves not to do any gardening (it's so rainy!), made coffee & filmed a video about homemade moby wraps (coming soon).

Now I'm seriously debating some hot soup even though dinner is soon, and I think we're yet again watching hockey at 7.

Really looking forward to a cottage trip this weekend!

31 Days: Day 10 and 11

Left to right: Mom, Angela, Dad, Sarah with Oliver, Calvin, me

Monday we had a Thanksgiving meal with my side of the family - 100% gluten free. After that the boys (Dad, Calvin, Oliver) wanted to nap but us girls were excited to go on a fall walk, so we suited up and hit the forest. A much longer walk than expected (mainly because the kids of this generation have not kept the good forest paths clear so we had to trail blaze the whole time) found us on Pond Mills Rd at a community garden. The plots were entirely abandoned (understandably as it's October). Nothing had been watered in weeks, there were knee-high weeds and just scattered junk everywhere. We were 100% no one had been there in a while. So we gleaned it. I managed to harvest 3 different varieties of squash, eggplant, peppers (including hot chilis) and some dried out beans for planting next year. It made me want to look up all of London's community gardens and see which ones need gleaning.

For dinner we used leftover turkey to make curried turkey and apple sandwiches (on Udi's gluten-free bread) and spicy turkey and butternut squash soup. Then we dove head first into a Chopped marathon on Food Network.

Yesterday I got to hang out with Calvin all morning and some of the afternoon because he worked the late shift. Once he left I packed Oliver up for a walk and we didn't get back home until dinner time. I made stuffed squash and garlic noodles and I had a huge helping of apple crisp for dessert. Then Cal's friend came over so I ran a hot bath and let the boys hang out by themselves.

Fennel Carrot Soup from 101cookbooks.com

I saw this online (http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/carrot-and-fennel-soup-recipe.html) and quickly rushed home to make it. If you'd like to do the same, see my adaptation here:

1 fennel bulb
1 large carrot
A few cups stock
1/2 cup brown rice

Slice the fennel into thin ribbons. Allow to soften on medium heat in a tablespoon of oil.
Chop the carrot into thick coins and add to the saucepan. Season with sea salt (I had used up the last of my fresh garlic so I used my dehydrated garlic-infused salt.)
After a few minutes, add stock and rice. Bring to a boil, then turn down and let simmer, covered.
(While you wait, take out the recycling! You know I've... uh, you've... been meaning to do so for a few weeks now!)
When rice is cooked (35 minutes?) turn off heat. Stir in a few tablespoons of freshly juiced orange.
Top with parmesan cheese.

Forgive me for the cell phone photo?

Recipe Request: Roasted Garlic Soup

This soup is funny for timing so I'll show you how I did it:

This is just a stock photo. I didn't think to
take one as I was eating dinner last night.

7:00pm: Arrive home from work and preheat the oven to 400F. Chop up one sweet potato, three white potatoes, two onions and just a small slice off the top of a garlic head. (The full bulb, not just one clove).
7:05pm: Place the sweet potato and garlic head on a cookie sheet with some oil and sea salt and begin baking. In a large saucepan, begin caramelizing the onion on the lowest heat.
7:20pm: Give the oven things a stir, check the onion. If the onion is ready, fill the saucepan halfway (4 cups?) with chicken or veggie stock. Add the cubed white potato. Boil, then leave on a simmer.
7:30 - 7:45pm: Check periodically if your potatoes and garlic are soft. When the sweet potato and garlic are ready, turn off the oven, and throw the veg in with the rest in the stock. Remember to push the roasted garlic out of the paper layer, don't just throw the whole thing in there. Continue simmering. Check for salt and pepper.
8:00pm: Calvin will be home soon. I frantically turn off the Taylor Swift Speak Now special on NBC and use the immersion blender to smooth all the chunky vegetables out. You'll be left with a yummy puree. Check salt and pepper again. Then, on very low heat, whisk in half a package of plain cream cheese.

We enjoyed this with Frank's XTra Hot Sauce but you could eat it as is, or topped with shredded cheddar. Enjoy with a most hated vampire.