Food Loves: Ode to Butternut Squash

For many years, pumpkin has been king of the gourds. Starting with pumpkin spiced lattes in September, pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, and jack-o-lanterns at Halloween, pumpkin has come to rule the autumn season time and time again. However slowly, very slowly, butternut squash has peaked his head into the cracks. All of a sudden butternut squash soup became a thing, and a thing that was available for lunch at nearly every cafe and every corner. The butternut squash was everyone's favourite fall soup flavour, but where are his lattes? Where are his pies? Well, they may not be a thing yet but butternut squash is definitely out on the town, an emerging artist, stepping out of his comfort zone and becoming more than soup! Here are a collection of recipes I've found that help bring butternut squash into the spotlight:

Butternut Squash Biscuits / Butternut Squash Smoothie / Butternut Squash Bundt Cake 

Buttnernut Squash Gnocchi / Butternut Squash Fries / Butternut Squash Lasagna

Food Loves: In Defense of Food

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"Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly Plants"

This is the manifesto and introduction for Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. I've always been interested in the research, studies, and declarations of how we should and shouldn't eat - of taking care of ourselves inside and out. Though I've read quite a few things online and in magazines, seen various television shows, and heard opposing views on how we should be treating our bodies over the years, nothing quite stuck until I picked up this book.

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In the early spring a friend of mine recommended I watch a couple food documentaries - Food Matters and Hungry for Change. They give a sort of 'inside scoop' on the food industry, looking at everything from food factories, farming, animal cruelty, and what it's all doing to our bodies. I loved them - both films really clicked something inside my head and got the wheels turning. I began looking into more films on Netflix and watching a few TED Talks and finally looking at the literature available. Michael Pollan, who was featured in another great food documentary, Food Inc., is one of the names I frequently saw floating around.

I decided to pick up his book In Defense of Food to see what he had to say. As a person who tends to shy away from non-fiction - usually with the assumption that the authors of these essay-style books can come off a bit arrogant - I was skeptical about how Pollan's words would come across. The book examines our (Western) relationship with food and nutrition by exploring the history of how we eat, the differences between cultures, and the influence of science on our eating habits. What I love about this book is its severe lack of preachy statements. Pollan offers up some great insight and guidelines on how we should be treating food and our bodies - none of which feel too restrictive or far fetched. It includes and explores simple statements such as "Eat Slowly", "Cook", "Try Not to Eat Alone", and a few others that can all help change how we relate to our food.

If you're interested in reading and learning about the food industry and gaining some helpful tips on eating well, I highly recommend this book. Pollan's writing style makes you feel like you're talking to a friend (who happens to be all knowing of food) and leaves you feeling inspired to make a few changes - like signing up for a CSA share (re: this post). It's a great thought provoking and informative read.

P.S. He also has a new book out, Cooked, that I can't wait to get my hands on.

Food Loves: Relish: My Life in the Kitchen

The cover and reminiscent pages on making croissants.

One of the best parts about working in a bookstore is discovering books I might not have otherwise. While tidying up the graphic novel section I spotted one I'd never seen before - Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley. I loved the colours and illustrations, so I quickly put it on hold for when my shift was finished. This book is glorious. It is the simple story of the author, Lucy, growing up with foodie parents and all the deliciousness it entails. Though I did not come from a foodie upbringing, my appreciation for food grows with every recipe I try, restaurant I go to, friends I eat with, place I visit, - my life is just a growing collection of food stories and memories. Relish had me feeling nostalgic for travel and the excitement it brings in trying new foods. The pages featured a trip to Mexico which reminded me of my own trip at 15 and eating the best tacos I've ever had, a trip to Japan where I was left feeling hungry for some of my favourite Asian cuisines, a trip to Italy reminded me of the best
restaurant I have ever been to - Dino's in Rome - where I had the most authentic, delicious, five course meal of my life. Every story in this book triggered a pleasant memory of my own and left me wanting to travel and discover new tastes. The real treat of this novel however is the recipes that are included. Everything from pesto to mushrooms to sushi to sangria to chocolate chip cookies - the recipes continue with the illustrated theme and yet still leave my tummy grumbling. I can't wait to try out some of these recipes, and I'll definitely be featuring them in this blog at some point.

A few recipe pages - I'm excited to try out the cookies with what else but coconut!

Lucy's trip to Japan left me nostalgic for delicious Asian cuisine.

Overall a fantastic read for anyone who can appreciate a well combined trio of writing, illustration, and recipes. I'm looking forward to reading her book previous to this one, French Milk!

Food Loves: Cottage Desserts

This was the first Easter I've been home for in about two years, and I kind of forgot what my family traditions are. Of course I remembered my favourite Easter candies - Cadbury mini eggs and Whopper Robin Eggs - but when it came to our meals I wasn't sure what we ate. Together my family drove up to Muskoka for the weekend and enjoyed the coziness of the fire and quiet surroundings. We didn't have a big Good Friday meal planned because our Easter dinner was being held on Saturday evening. However both my father and brother asked about dessert - "There's no pie?", "Is there chocolate or ice cream or anything?", "I can't believe there's no pie!" So my mother and I looked at what we had and decided to whip up a simple apple crisp. I loosely followed this recipe but cut it in half, and left out the bourbon, vanilla bean, browned-butter and almonds because of the ingredients we had on hand. It was simple and delicious and a great match to our movie by the fire. 

Since we only made enough apple crisp for the one night, another dessert was needed for our big Easter dinner (I say big, but we really cut down this year - I'm not eating meat and there's always too much turkey leftover so I had veggie lasagna and the family had roast chicken). To fulfill our dessert needs it was off to our favourite Rosseau bakery for the best homemade pies money could buy - and I really mean that. If you're not into pie but are in the area, you should try their butter tarts, they're award winning! We chose a bumbleberry pie, topped it with homemade whipped cream and it couldn't be better. Happy Easter!