Minestrone Soup

We were working in the garden yesterday, harvesting the last of the tomatoes before the expected first frost.  Our garden is not producing a lot this time of year, just a handful of this and that.  I’m grateful that it’s producing anything at all, but that’s one of the perks of living in northern California.  We usually don’t get our first frost until November, so our summer vegetables will continue to grow until then.  

Squash Stuffed Baked Apples

I got the idea for this recipe from an old 1988 calendar I found at my mother’s house a while back when I was helping her unpack.  November’s recipe was for squashed stuffed apples was courtesy of the Washington State Apple Commission.  I thought it was a great idea for Thanksgiving dinner.  However, I think a whole apple is a bit too much considering all of the side dishes that make up the Thanksgiving meal.   So, I adapted their recipe to make more reasonable portions and to shorten up the process.

My Garden Has a New Squatter

This guy showed up in my garden last week on this large well constructed web.  We noticed it because it caught a wasp, which was buzzing loudly.  The wasp was probably screaming in wasp speak, aware of it’s inevitable fate.  I have to admit I couldn’t watch what happened next, I just can’t watch this sort of thing.  I hardly ever watch the nature channel, for this very reason.  I just can’t watch animals eating each other.  I know, it’s the natural order of things, but I can’t do it.  This is why I don’t eat animals or birds myself.  I figure, if I don’t have the courage to kill it, then I shouldn’t eat it. 

Winter Cole Slaw

As I was typing the title for this post, it struck me what an odd name “cole slaw” is for a salad and I wondered what it’s origins were.  I turned to the web for a quick answer.  The term “cole slaw” comes from the partial translation of the Dutch term “koolsla”, a shortening of “koolsalade” which means cabbage salad.  Now it makes sense.  Apparently, the Romans were probably the first to make cole slaw, because it’s mentioned in Caelius Apicius’ collection of cook books (On the Subject of Cooking) from the 4th or 5th century.  His version contained vinegar, eggs and spices.

Roasted Vegetables with a Maple Orange Glaze

Normally, I would prefer to eat most of these vegetables raw, grated on a salad.  It’s the best way to get the full nutritional value out of a vegetable.  However, when the weather turns cold, I start to crave warm comfort foods.  This dish of roasted root vegetables is one of my favorite fall/winter (guilt free) comfort foods.  I love it because it’s so tasty,  so inexpensive and easy to make, and so good for you.  Topped with an orange maple glaze, you might even get kids to eat it. 

Chocolate Molasses Ginger Cookies

....or what to do with your left over Halloween chocolates.


We didn’t have as many “trick or treaters” this year, compared to last year, so there were quite a few left over mini chocolate bars.  I put them to good use by topping some molasses ginger cookies with a piece.  The subtitle of this post could also be “how to get Mr. RK to eat a cookie that is not chocolate chip”  I get bored making the same cookies over and over.  He’ll usually eat any type of cookie as long as chocolate is involved, so I took the chance..and they were a hit.

Pear and Chocolate Scones

This photo of my pear & chocolate scones was taken by Kathryn Hill of Apartment Therapy’s “The Kitchn” when she visited my kitchen to do a photo shoot for their website.  Since then I’ve had several requests for the scone recipe, so here it is.  To see the photos on The Kitchn, click here.