Autumn Yumminess
Man, there has been a distinct chill in the air these last couple evenings! Tonight as I was heading out of work in the dark – we finally had Daylight Savings – I found myself thinking of warm, sustaining comfort food. We still had loads of veg from the box on the weekend. I got home and set to work making pumpkin, potato, and leek soup. While that was simmering on the stove, I decided that we needed some sort of treat to go along with it. A quick check of the pantry revealed several partial containers of honey that needed to be used up. Honey nut cookies!

The cookies turned out great. I subbed in walnuts for the cashews since that’s what I had to hand. I was worried at the shininess and wetness of the dough, but they didn’t spread too much in the oven. The soup was hearty and filling, if not exactly complicated in terms of flavour. (It’s basically onion, potato, and pumpkin simmered in milk for 45 minutes, then blended before adding fried leek and boiled white rice.) It’s very cheap though, and we’ve got plenty left over for lunch.

The second photo there is of the Chocolate and Beetroot Cake that the Snook made on Saturday. As Rachel guessed, it was pretty earthy. However, it was still really good. I’m not the hugest fan of beetroot – I tend to think it tastes like dirt – but it was very well masked by the cocoa in the cake. It turned out dense and moist, and if you didn’t know that it had beets in it I doubt you’d guess. Parents – this is a good one to trick your kids into eating vegetables!