Fall Cooking

I've been busy the past week with a number of different cooking experiments. I'll post recipe instructions on my website later this week, but here are a few of the things I've made.

Butternut Squash Soup


Very easy to make. Instead of adding cream to the soup, I added a dollop of sour cream as a garnish. Topped with shreds of capicola ham from the grocery deli. My SO who does not like squash loved this soup.

Herbed Pork Chops with Roasted Leeks and Carrots


I've been experimenting with leeks lately. They have a mild onion flavor, but less sulfuric and/or sweet than regular onions. It has added interesting dimensions to my recipes.

Balsamic Pickled Onions


I like pickled onions as antipasti and salad toppings. I thought it would be easy enough to make my own. This is a blend of red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, pickling spices and a couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce.

Fruit cake



I hate most fruit cakes. I would not normally make it, and this one came out by accident. I was making a variation on the apple walnut bread recipe I shared with you earlier. My applesauce mixture was more watery than I expected, and the bread came out very moist with a fruit cake type texture. But it tasted good, unlike the fruit cakes of my Christmas past. I was pleasantly surprised, and will be making this for my parents when I visit for Thanksgiving instead of the store bought fruit cakes I hate.

Almond Flour Pumpkin Bars



My first baking experiment with almond flour. I blind taste tested it on my unsuspecting fiance. He said he wouldn't have known it wasn't regular flour if I didn't tell him. I made a cream cheese frosting with stevia, and topped with chopped walnuts and raspberries. Low calorie, low sugar, and low carb. Score! 1/4 cup of white flour has 22g carbs. 1/4 cup of almond flour has 6g carbs. Low carb baking for the holidays? Yes, we can!

Today I have a pot of chili simmering in my slow cooker for tonight's dinner. The house already smells so good. I love fall cooking!