Part of the fun of Hanukkah for us is eating different latkes every night. We are definitely not talking traditional here!
First Night we had smoked salmon, cream cheese and cranberry, rosehip, Crabapple chutney on our plain potato latke.
Second night we had Reuben latkes, so good. This is one of our family favorites each year.
Tonight we had Italian themed garden latkes (zucchini, onion and potatoes) with pesto and a mini beef patty. One kid didn’t like the pesto. The rest of the crew enjoyed them.
Tomorrow night I’m still unsure of. The kids want taco or pizza latkes. I’m ready for dessert apple-potato latkes with cinnamon sugar.
Back in September when Niki was here, we foraged a lot of food. We picked abundant low-bush cranberries, rosehips and crabapples. I found the perfect recipe on Pinterest to make with all three them!
Over at The Backyard Forager I found this gem, Cranberry, Rosehip & Crabapple chutney. It’s amazing and very simple to make. One variation I made was to leave the rosehip seeds in and then put the cooked mixture through a ricer to make a smooth sauce. So much simpler than seeding those little hips.
It’s amazing with turkey.
Cooking the chutney.
I cannot wait to use it to top a latke with cream cheese & smoked salmon, it’s gonna be delicious!
I bet it’s wonderful on top of salmon croquettes too.
It’s going on some grilled chicken soon.
The possibilities are endless.
I can’t tell how good it feels to eat delicious food that you foraged yourself. Alaska feeds us so well.
Head over to The Backyard Forager, there’s a plethora of information there, recipes, online classes, and much more.
Today was supposed to be pre-cooking prep and working on kitchen organization. Instead we spent the day rearranging, cleaning and decorating the living room. We made a dent.
Lil Bit did get the cornbread made. Lil Mister was working on prepping his pumpkin, but he gave up so Lil Bit took charge. Thing 1 is working on pie crusts tonight. The rest will be done tomorrow.
Festive window.
Lil Bit was very helpful today. She stayed with me all afternoon and we got it done. So thankful for a helpful child.
Warm gear is essential when building outside in the winter. Some days even double layers beneath your insulated outerwear is essential. Without the insulated gear life is utterly miserable and those work days drag on.
My old Carhartts have seen better days. I’ve been wearing them for five years now I think. They were gifted to me by my friends Sam & Vanessa. They were a real blessing at the time and I’ve been grateful for their warmth.
I’ve patched them and tried to keep them serviceable for a couple of winters now. But the time has come that they need to be retired. These can become spares for the cabin.
Patches
I’ve been looking for a good used pair at the thrift stores for some time now to no avail. Even then a pair will be about $40 used. Heavens knows I don’t want to pay Freddy’s price of $200 for a pair! Today when we went for lunch at the local hardware store… Yes, you read that right… They were having a storewide sale and low and behold their insulated gear was included. And they had women’s wear and not just men’s!!
So for a little more than twice thrift price I have a brand new pair of insulated bibs, (that fit right & are long enough) to keep me toasty while working in the snow. I’m so excited! Lots of pockets & a hammer loop too! Woo hoo!
New Ariat insulated bibs, with pockets!!
Plus we had a great grilled panini and homemade soup at the Old Goat Cafe.
Just a little gift from Jake this morning. His friend grew it and left it on his deck, a “little” cabbage. So he sends it to me and asks for a jar of sauerkraut. Okay!
After I trimmed the outter leaves and root off.
I forgot to weigh it before I started cutting but the best guess is it weighed about 20 lbs. It wasn’t a very tight head so not as much there as you might think.
BTW, to get the whey I strain out some plain organic yogurt in cheesecloth. The resulting cheese will be used like cream cheese, it’s delicious. It also makes the BEST cheesecake.
Straining my yogurt.
After it was all said and done I got about a gallon of kraut. Jake gets the little jar. 😜
Well maybe not 10,000 but certainly a lotke of latkes.
We had our favorite everything bagels latkes, plain latkes with sour cream, Reuben latkes, pizza latkes and chili cheese latkes. Plus tater tots, which are basically mini latkes. And more plain latkes.
This was the year for latkes for us. And donuts, don’t forget the donuts.
Way back in October, Lil Mister asked for a pumpkin when grocery shopping. I asked him why did he want a pumpkin? And he replied because he wanted a pie. So of course we got a pumpkin. It sat on the table for fall decor until Thanksgiving.
Lil Mister’s pumpkin, preparing for the slaughter.
He had bugged me almost daily for a month as to when we’d make his pie. When I told him we were getting the pumpkin ready for pie making he got really excited.
Top off.
I honestly expected him to reach into the seeds and “guts” as we call the pumpkin insides and declare it too gross for him and quit. Well he did say that it felt gross and weird but he persevered. He emptied that pumpkin with some assistance from Lil Bit.
Peeling the pumpkin
Then we started the peeling process, which took a while. He helped until the whole thing was peeled and chunked up. It filled the instapot to the max line. Mom set it to cook and then started in on the rest of Thanksgiving dinner.
Mashing the cooked pumpkin. That’s my cool birthday gift from Mo in the background. She decoupaged some recipes I found out at Dad’s cabin onto an old spoon rack. I can’t wait to put it up in my kitchen!
Needless to say, Mom had way too much to do for Turkey dinner and we decided to let the pie wait until the next day (Mom’s birthday) for pie making.
Lil Mister was bright eyed and bushy tailed the next day, ready for pie making. Mom had to go work on a tile project so Big Sis took the reigns and she and Lil Mister made two pumpkin pies, one gluten free.
They did an amazing job, the pies turned out nicely, even after a last minute adjustment, Big Sis forget eggs in the wheat pie… But it all turned out good.
Sadly, I didn’t get any pics of the finished pies. Trust me that they were delicious and didn’t last long. Mom rather likes pumpkin pie for her birthday. And Lil Mister was super proud of himself for making pumpkin pie from scratch!
It’s Sukkot and that means lots of gathering together to eat all those special things we don’t normally eat. Like these two dishes.
I loosely based my pumpkin parfait on this recipe. I substituted granola for the Graham crackers and dark Mexican style caramel sauce for the Torani’s. It was a smashing success and no leftovers.
For the Snickers salad I used this recipe. I know, I know, you can’t believe I made a dish with candy bars in it. What can I say, Alaska changes you. I portioned this one out so everyone got a little, so we actually had a bit of leftovers. I hid them in the fridge so the kids don’t know.
Tonight we’re having a Mexican themed taco night. I’m off the hook for dessert but I’m making a few savoury dishes like halibut mango ceviche and cilantro lime slaw.
Alaska on my mind... 