Gathered and Growing

I want to share some of the yummy bites I cooked during the month of November. In preparation for fall cooking, I started the process for drying sage back in August (then kind of forgot about it), using the fresh herb from my garden. It’s a unique herb that not very many people know how to use or what it is good paired with, but versatile in many recipes! This month features the recipe for Breakfast Cookies–perfect for any time of the day.

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• Kale Crunch Salad: kale, apples, pecans, golden raisins. I made a huge bowl of it. So nice to grab out of the fridge and eat on the go or enjoying outside.
• Pumpkin Streusel Muffins: I wanted a tasty, fall treat for our camping weekend. I used the recipes from Better Bakes Kitchen for the muffin and streusel. I overfilled the muffin cups because we love a good muffin top!

• Chicken Pot Pie: The first time I made chicken pot pie was with my sister when we lived together in New Mexico. This is a fairly easy recipe, but the hardest part is making the Rioux. You need to perfect this step, otherwise the whole pie tastes bad (I know this from experience). Recently, I had a craving for it and I told my sister and she said she wanted to make it too! I searched the Internet for the exact recipe from before, and finally found it in my recipe box. A dream of mine is to have all my go to recipes in a recipe book/binder. I actually bought a binder for this exact purpose about a year ago, and have yet to touch it. I hate looking up recipes on my phone, I feel so lost. I have to be able to see it.

• Carrot Cake Jam: When I worked as a county extension agent, we had Veteran’s Day off. My husband, a Veteran, still had to work, and I always chose that day, November 11th, to make jam. Preserving jam in the water bath canner makes great gifts! The first year, I made Apple Butter and Pear Marmalade. The second year, I made Orange Marmalade. The day was coming up for the 3rd Annual Jam making day, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it with a 6 month old, who needed my attention. I needed a good two hours to make the jam, so I asked his grandparents to come over and a friend from my old work. Together, we made Carrot Cake Jam. I used the Ball recipe and prepped all the ingredients ahead of time. It’s very important to follow the recipe exactly ( I used to teach food preservation classes). Sugar is an ingredient that should not be reduced or substituted. The amount indicated is needed for proper preservation. If you alter any ingredients, you won’t be able to can it. I have personally found great results with ball canning jars, rather than any other brands.

• Butternut Squash Soup: I have tried several recipes, but this is my all time favorite and have been making it for years! We ate it as soup the first night and then I used the leftovers for pasta sauce. Use your immersion blender like this one for a smooth soup.

Along with the muffins as a camping snack, I also made Breakfast Cookies. These were the perfect grab n go snack to eat in the car or before breakfast or mid morning snack (pretty much any time of the day while we were out). I used small sandwich bags to portion out the cookies. There are countless recipes, but one in particular caught my eye. On the “camping snack prep day”, I made the muffins first, then the cookies. Pumpkin puree and oat crumble were leftover, so I decided to throw those into the cookie mix. This breakfast cookie is adapted from Teri Ann Carty’s Banana Date Breakfast Cookie. The Muesli mix is a blend of seeds, oats, dried apples, raisins, and dried dates. I honestly thought Muesli was a brand, but it’s actually a Swiss-originated breakfast cereal mix of rolled oats, nuts, seeds, and dried fruits. It’s unbaked, with no added sugars or binders, and can be served cold or cooked like oatmeal. Bircher Muesli is the Swiss original, creamy version made by soaking raw oats, grated apple, nuts, and milk overnight.

How to Dry Sage

In April, my mom planted herbs and flowers in our planter. It was something for me to keep in touch with each day–watering, admiring, cutting to use in teas and cooking. Rosemary, mint, basil, chives, and sage. Preparing for fall cooking, I decided to dry sage, since it’s used to make cornbread dressing (a must have Thanksgiving dish if you’re from the South).

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