French Silk Pie is one of my favorite food memories. Ye olde pie chain in our town made this pie famous. It was a rare occasion I got to eat a slice. In junior high French class I had the opportunity to make this pie for the first time. Yep, I a made a not actually French pie for French class. I revisited this classic within the last ten years and it is a staple at the Thanksgiving dessert table now.

A stand mixer is the best tool, as it involves a lot of mixing – and you really don’t want to short change it as you will end up with sugar grit in the final result. Set aside about an hour to complete this recipe. It takes a lot of babysitting but is worth the effort.

Chop the chocolate for quicker melting. My double-boiler is simply a glass bowl placed on top of a pot with about an inch of water in it.

It is important to add the eggs one at a time and beat for at least 6 minutes after the addition of each egg. This allows the the sugar to dissolve into the mixture.

The end result is a creamy dreamy smooth chocolate mixture.

But it gets even better after an overnight in the fridge. It transforms into a dense but airy chocolate butter. Truly dreamy!

There will be a lot of the chocolate mixture. If there is too much to fill your pie crust store in air tight container and freeze for a future use.

Cover the chocolate in a blanket of Cool Whip and shave chocolate on top. I use a vegetable peeler and any chocolate bar I have on hand.

You can freeze the pie whole at this point. Place on a baking sheet and place in freezer for a few hours. Once frozen, wrap in plastic wrap and return to freezer. When you take it out of the freezer to enjoy, immediately take of the plastic wrap and let it defrost.

I’ve cut way back on meat in favor of whole food plant based eating. I am also working to cut back on salt. Mrs. Dash is my go-to to make this possible. It is been part of spice cabinet as far back as I can remember.

In fact, the first time I roasted cauliflower was after seeing a recipe for popcorn cauliflower in a magazine, it was actually an ad for Mrs. Dash. It was love at first bite.

This recipe is very similar, with a few added goodies – apple, onion, garlic. It is the perfect comfort food for the crisp fall weather we are having. As much as I love apples, I am not inclined to bite into one on a chilly day. The sweetness of the apples is perfection in this dish.

Mix this recipe up, I subbed in Delicata squash for the cauliflower and it was amazing. Enjoy as side or meatless main.

Assembled in advanced, it makes for a low effort and beautiful dish.

It is also a great way to use up tomatoes that are on the brink. Baking them means they don’t have to look perfect.

The warm tomato and the cool tangy yogurt on crunchy bread hits all the high notes. Recommend you toast the bread.

This recipe is from Ottolenghi’s Simple cookbook. While every recipe is not so simple, I highly recommend the book.

It is always a fail. An epic fail. I had given up attempting this recipe. Lucky for me in years past I always got a loaf from my mom at St. Patrick’s day. I nearly forgot I had a copy of the recipe hand written by my mom. What a find!

The last loaf of this Irish Soda Bread my mom made me was delicious, as always, I cut off a portion and put it in the freezer. It lived there for quite some time, long enough that on freezer clean out chore I threw it away. My mom died shortly thereafter. Yearly Timehop shares with me a picture of a glorious slice of this bread and I think there is not much I wouldn’t do for another slice of my mom’s Irish Soda Bread. Never in my life had I contemplated mourning the loss of a loved in this manner.

Hitting the one-year anniversary of the pandemic reminded me just how much this year has taken from people. We have been fortunate to be minimally impacted, but yet still impacted. A lack of control over aspects of life manifested itself in making me determined to tackle this recipe again.

I can’t say I nailed it, but I got pretty close. Closer than ever before, so that is something.

The sweetness from the raisins combined with the flavor of the caraway makes my mouth so happy.

I am still falling short on the overall result. It is lacking the density from when my mom made it.

Despite that I will take this as a win. Irish Soda Bread with a nice smear of soft butter. Come on, this is surely winning! I’ll take this as heavenly intervention – with a hint of ‘there is always have more to learn’. Happy Birthday to the Polish lady who made the best damn Irish Soda Bread in the land.

The original recipe is quite decedent. I’ve improved on it a bit over the years, but it can still be rich and heavy. Making it this year, I decided to take a hand at lightening it up and making the recipe a bit more efficient, without impacting the overall flavor.

Success!

While we enjoy this as dinner, it can really stand in for any meal – breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. It is savory with a touch of sweet. Pair with your favorites lightly dressed greens for a delicious fall meal.

The book is full of approachable recipes, new takes on old classics, and lots of great pictures. I’ve already made about ten recipes and more on deck.

Brussels Sprout Pizza // Lobster and Pea Risotto // Smashed Hamburgers with Caramelized Onions

Any recipe with brown butter, count me in. Brown butter is one of the best aromas on this planet, and the flavor gets me every time. Making brown butter is one of those tasks that require your undivided attention, it goes from down to burnt in a hot second. One of those tasks that forces you to slow down and be patient. Perfect after a day of non-stop meetings and rush-rush tasks. The reward is gold!

The brown butter is the star, and the fresh cracked pepper and fried sage really compliment the sweetness of the squash. This recipe would make a great addition to your Thanksgiving table. And this cookbook makes a great addition to any kitchen.

Let me say, I do love this cookbook. Beyond the recipes there is some great details on whole-food plant-based eating. The SOS bit has particularly helpful, salt, oil. Replacing salt with non-salt options like Mrs. Dash, sautéing with water in place of oil, and avoiding large amounts of sugar. It helped my identify that these are the three main triggers for acid reflux. Cutting back in all areas has cut it back almost completely. While my goal is not to eat this diet 100% of the time, I have increased the percent of meals that follow this plan. It has been fun trying new recipes and I am happy to cut out some of the meat from our diet.

Anyway, savory over sweet is my preference for breakfast. This recipe is perfectly satisfying.

This cookbook is my favorite this time a year. Literally a recipe for every day of the year. Though I mostly pull it out in fall when fresh picked apples are in abundance.

We are also always stocked with apple cider this time of year for warm drinks on the porch, brining pork, and baking. All. The. Things. Want a perfect fall salad? Start by roasting a squash. Delicata is my favorite, it is low maintenance and rich in flavor.

Cut the delicata in rings or half moons. Coat lightly with olive oil, seasons with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder. Roast at 400° until soft and golden brown. It’s like candy!

While the squash is perfect as-is, it contributes to a delicious fall salad. Combined with the last batch of butter lettuce and dandelion greens from the garden as the base, sliced apples, pepita seeds, brie, and pickled red onions.

Apple cider and honey vinaigrette topped the salad with the perfect touch of acid and sweet with a subtle spicy finish. The rich and creamy squash paired with the crisp apples, crunch bite of pepitas, zip of the onion and dressing. It had it all! I used hot honey in my recipe, which added a nice bit of heat too.

Countless option for salad mixings. It would be amazing on this Apple Cashew Brie Salad. The vinaigrette also makes a great topping for a sweet potato, or mixed on this Red Swiss Chard with Apples.

Apple cider > PSL, convince me otherwise.

We’ve made a significant effort to support small business impacted by the pandemic. I am in awe watching businesses pivot so creatively and quickly. The reality that some won’t survive, and others have already closed, breaks my heart. Our local bookstore The Book Table has been a life saver with on-line ordering, nationwide delivery and curbside pickup. I’m embarrassed to admit relying Amazon for previous book orders mainly out of laziness. But no more. Good change.

One of my recent book purchases was a new cookbook, The WFPB Cookbook: 100 Foods to Enjoy the Whole Food Plant Based Diet by Justin Weber. Early in the pandemic we stocked out freezer full of meat and did bi- monthly grocery trips to round out the rest. We did at least on meatless meal a week but I noticed my the lack of variety in the produce, being that is was all primarily green. And twenty weeks in we are striving to do at least three meatless meals a week. My goal is not to be vegan it is just to eat better, more whole foods and less meat (but not just sub in imitation meat products), less dairy, and bigger variety of vegetables. This cookbook is perfect for getting me there. Besides, it is a great read chock full of great detail and useful information to support these goals. You know I love a good cookbook to read, and this one is well written. The recipes are approachable, and don’t call for a million crazy ingredients either. Makes the transition to better eating easier. Good change.

So far I have tried a few recipes from the cookbook, all were delcious!

These nachos are topped with refried lentil dip and cashew sour cream. I’ve learned that lentils are a lower-carb, higher fiber and protein option over beans. And I confirmed my blender sucks at small batches, next time my cashew sour cream will be smoother.

Our favorite family meal is “chicken pita” served with all the fixings to be assembled to your liking. Subbed in this recipe for chickpea gyros and it was a hit.

I am always on the look out for breakfast options that are savory and do not involve eggs. I was thrilled to find a few great options in the cookbook. I bookmarked this cauliflower scramble immediately.

Cauliflower for breakfast? Sure why not. Cauliflower is versatile staple, taking on the flavors of other ingredients. And it finally got me to try out coconut aminos.

Straight forward recipe that comes together quickly. I made a few adjustments to the recipe based on my preferences, it called for red and green pepper, left out the green as I don’t like it. In the end I decided it needed some green so I topped it with basil and mint. Turmeric and mint are a match made in heaven.

The end result was a hearty bowl of warm sunshine. The spices were so warming! I made a batch of this and it feed me throughout the week. The leftovers are good for any meal of the day.

Great start to a day. Good change!

Luckily though a few items from last year sprouted in my garden and grew with no effort from me. Quickly I had overwhelming amounts of mint and cilantro. Homegrown cilantro is the best, I used what I could before it went to seed seemingly overnight. I sent a large amount of mint and cilantro to my friend to use. Lucky for me, he sent it back in the form of an amazing chutney. It was delicious on this salmon and beet salad, and well just about everything – chicken, steak, watermelon, eggs.

Last summer we were lucky enough to spend our summer vacation in the Cayman Islands. I fell in love with their beautiful water and jerk seasoning.

I am so grateful for all the travel I did in the last few years. The inability to travel is hardly the worst thing of this pandemic, but being home bound has me dreaming of travel destinations to come. At any rate, this unassuming roadside restaurant won us over with their jerk, check out the Czech Inn should you ever head to the Caymans.

I’ve been on the look out for recipes to use the abundance of mint. This one caught my eye for an evening of snacks on the porch. #porchlife

Served hot or cold, this is sure to please. I used a mild pepper to keep the heat level mild. While the spices in the jerk marinade will warm you thru and thru, the melon and mint will cool you back down. Perfect team work.

Great recipe to add to you list this summer!