childhood soup….

It's a funny thing because there is little that I remember from my childhood for various reasons that would relate to a completely different blog post, but one thing I do remember is my mother making us homemade tomato soup that was absolutely delicious! As a matter of fact until I was an adult I never tasted a tomato soup other than this one. When I made this soup for my first husband he quickly said "this doesn't taste like tomato soup at all", because he was used to Campbells soup! I remember being so disappointed at the time but I understood what he meant. It dropped of our menu sadly. As a child we rarely had soup out of a can and I can truly say that I was raised on amazing soups! I was never given the recipe on paper and only learned from watching her make it time after time.

I made it just the other day for our dinner and served it simply with a baguette and some cheese and it was wonderful! All you need are flour, butter, tomato juice, water, a little salt and pepper and this time I added some cream and you will have the most delicious soup ever. I am lucky enough to have my own canned tomatoes which brings the summer flavour home in the cold winter months. I also this time used a few sage leaves that I dried from the garden to sauté in the butter and then added them again while it simmered at the end and the flavour was delicately tinged with the sage and yet did not overpower the tomato. The cream added at the end made it perfect! I wish I could give you the ingredient portions but that is not to be. It is only in my head and depends on how much tomato juice you have. 

I wish you could share in a bowl with me as it's also made with 'Love'……

I hope your day is filled with wonderful flavours and that they might be reminiscent of a time gone by.

Maggie xoxo

savoury peach jam......

I was literally at a loss a few days ago. I have been canning for many weeks now and on this day in particular I had nothing to preserve. I felt empty about that. Odd isn't it? Well for me not so much I can say. There is something very pioneer about my love for preserving and this woman, on that day, was pining to place yet something else on my root cellar shelves. I was browsing online and came across a recipe for a savoury peach jam and it filled the bill perfectly. It included shallots and sage and I already had shallots on hand and the sage was a short trip away to the community garden site. Needless to say my heart was happy and off I went to gather my ingredients. Peaches are in full swing here and I had already put up peach jam and peach halves. I like working with peaches as they are easy to pit and peel so I knew this wouldn't be too intensive for my day. I picked much more sage than needed but I had also planned to dry some of it and so it went into the herb dryer that I recently purchased. The sage was beautiful and its aroma reminded me of the stuffing that I make each year at Christmas. This peach jam will work perfectly with roast turkey!

The recipe is simple in that all the ingredients except the sage are simmered together in a pot until it becomes thick and then the sage is added. It is not intended to 'set' like a jam, in fact I think it's more like a chutney type sauce. Here you can see all the beautiful bits of deliciousness coming together. 

The end result is this gorgeous mix of sweet and savoury flavours that will delight the palate! We sampled it the next evening with a platter of cheese and meats and it was wonderful! I will be happy to share the recipe with you all........

Savoury Peach Jam with Shallots & Sage

2 pounds peaches

3/4 cup minced shallots

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon minced fresh sage

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes-optional ( I didn't use them)

Pit and peal the peaches. I poach the peach halves to remove the skin more easily. Finely mince the fruit. Combine the fruit in a saucepan with the shallots, sugar and the vinegar. Place the pan on a burner over medium-high heat and cook stirring regularly until the fruit is quite soft and the jam not watery looking. This could take 15-20 minutes depending on the water content of the fruit. Keep a close eye on it as mine began to stick on the bottom.

When the jam is looking thick and spreadable, stir in the sage, salt and red chili if using.

This jam can be used immediately and will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week. For longer storage it can be funneled into clean, hot jars and processed in a boiling wager bath canner for 15 minutes.

Makes approximately 3 cups.

Enjoy!!

Of note ~ the recipe is credited to Table Matters

Have a great day! 

Maggie

pesto!!

I came across a pesto recipe on a blog that I follow that I found kind of intriguing. There are lots of different variations of pesto out there and this one had a twist that I thought I just needed to try. The 3 main 'green' ingredients are parsley, basil and sage. It was the sage that caught my attention. Sage has such an earthy flavour to it that I thought it would make for an interesting combination of flavours along with the parsley and basil. My jar of pesto was almost empty in the refrigerator so it was time to give this recipe a try!

We are part of a community garden site in our town and I headed there to gather my greens. The basil this year was hit by a late frost, but it came back well and is offering the gardeners lots to harvest. We also have a herb plot where I gathered the parsley and sage from. It wasn't long before I had what I needed and I took my pickings back home to begin making my pesto.

I just love this pic of all these beautiful greens together! Garden fresh and full of so much goodness!

I washed my greens and roughly chopped them up and then processed them in the food processor until they were somewhat finely chopped. Now it was time to add the garlic, parmesan cheese and the nuts, which I chose walnuts today. I have used pine nuts in the past to give it that delicate nutty flavour, but they are a treat for us since they are so expensive and I simply didn't have any on hand. So in the walnuts went along with the garlic and parmesan and it was processed all together. 

Now comes the oil and make sure you have a good quality olive oil that is preferably 'first cold pressed'. This really makes a difference in the taste and quality of the oil. I choose to use organic for our cooking needs.

 So just pour this in the feed tube of the food processor and allow the pesto to become the consistency that you want depending on what you are going to use it for. It's always easier to add more oil to it if you want it thinner. If you are going to use it as a dip or a spread then you want to have it a bit thicker. For a pasta dish you can add more oil to it and then it will mix better with the pasta. 

So mine at this point remains to be a bit thick and that way I can use it as a dip or thin it out for our pasta dinner later this week. I always love the amazing colour that pesto is! Such a beautiful and rich green! 

At this point it's ready to be stored in the refrigerator. It will last several weeks when kept cold. Just always remember that it is all natural and there are no 'preservatives' in it, so it's best to use it while it's still fresh. But remember, you can freeze pesto too! That way you will have the freshness of summer during the cold, snowy days of winter! 

And I must give credit to the blog that I found it on. It's called A Garden for the House. 

So here's the recipe with a few changes that made it my own!

P.B.S. Pesto

Parsley & Basil ~ about 2 cups each, when roughly chopped and lightly pressed down.

Sage ~ 10 large leaves

2 large cloves garlic

1/4 cup of nuts ~ choose whatever kind you like, today I used walnuts

1 cup of grated or shredded Parmesan cheese

Olive oil ~ enough to achieve the desired consistency. 

Add salt to taste. Mix in the food processor until all the herbs are pureed well.

Now you are ready to store it in your selected container. I just use a mason jar for mine.

Keep it in the refrigerator or freeze measured portions for use at a later time.

ENJOY!!

Maggie

Reflections.......

I had a difficult conversation last evening. All the emotions that came up for me during and after the conversation were ones that reside deep inside of me and some go as far back as my early childhood. It amazes me that as much as I have worked on my emotional and psychological health for many years both professionally and personally, these emotions are still there and come up from time to time. They are not suppressed because I know that I have worked on them and understand them, but they never really leave.  It merely proves to me again that 'cell memory' exists and it can bring back both physical and emotional responses very quickly. In fact in just seconds I can 'feel' just like I did when I was in a previous situation that was similar. Our minds and bodies are amazing.

This morning I am reflective in my thoughts and am taking some time to observe them. I sit in my meditation room with a cup of tea and some quiet music playing. The door to the room is ajar so that all or any of the furbabies can enter the room also if they need to. Currently Micah our Weimaraner lies beside my chair. I have smudged with sage from a special place that I visited with my partner Kelly called Lillooet. It hails from British Columbia where you can simply stop by the roadside and pick some sage. It's scent is so wonderful. I now can also smell the sweet scent of vanilla incense and have said my prayers not only for myself, but also for you, as I pray for all of mankind each day.

As all of this exists around me I can better ground myself and come to understand the emotions I was feeling surrounding the conversation. I can now see it was not at all the content of the conversation that was affecting me, but the way it made me 'feel'. It conjured up feelings and reactions from my past and it felt very uncomfortable. So now I can better work through all of this and come to an understanding of another piece of me. We are complex beings. We are intricate beings. We are hard to understand. But if we take the time to reflect and listen to the voice in our soul.....well, then we often can begin to discover who we really are and why we feel the way we do. It's work.......but, it's good work. Work that we must do to reveal our true selves and then live our best life. The authentic life we were destined to live.

The way I was feeling this morning drew me back to this painting. It is one that was given to me by a friend back in 2000. I look at it and can see myself as the woman sitting on the boat reflecting on her thoughts. I am always drawn to 'the water' when I feel this way and this morning I may be sitting in my meditation room, but I can go to 'the water' through this picture. I close my eyes and I'm there.

I pray that your day has a few quiet moments where you can reflect on life, a few moments where you can witness joy and a few moments where you can know yourself a bit better than you did yesterday. Every day brings growth.........thankfully.

Blessings to all,

Maggie