Autumn days call for comfort and sustenance. In the warmer weather we are more likely to have a sandwich for lunch, or a salad . . . but come October/November . . . we like soup!



I like soup. It can be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be. I always have at least some ingredients in my vegetable bin or larder that can easily and quickly be made into a delicious and scrummy soup for a hearty lunch or a simple supper.



A few fresh ingredients, and a bit of stove top magic and you can have something very special and rich to bring some warmth to your chilly fingers and toes.



This soup is delicious and rich and creamy, without all the added fat and calories of using cream or full fat milk. I use tinned evaporated milk, and the light one. Leeks have a strong enough flavour that you can't detect at all the use of tinned milk.



All your friends will think you used cream . . . they won't believe you when you tell them it's not fattening in the least! You could leave the butter out altogether and simply soften your leeks in a few tablespoons of vegetable stock. I do this fairly often with great success.



But then again . . . what is 1 1/2 TBS divided amongst friends? Meh! Not a problem.



*Leek and Potato Soup*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

A delicious creamy soup, that is low in fat and very easy to make. I always make some croutons to serve it with, but you don't need to. It's great with crusy bread or cornbread too! The evaporated milk makes it very creamy and rich without adding cream.

1 1/2 TBS butter
3 leeks, washed thoroughly, trimmed and then thinly sliced
2 stalks of celery, washed and thinly sliced
12 ounces boiling water
3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 (420g) tin of light evaporated milk (14 ounce), diluted with an equal amount of water
sea salt and ground white pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan. Add the leeks and celery. Cook over moderate heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionaly. Do not brown. Add 8 ounces (1 cup) of the boiling water and cover. Simmer for 10 more minutes. Add the chopped potato and the remaining boiling water. Cover and simmer for 10 more minutes. Add the tinned milk and water. Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Blitz with a stick blender until smooth. You can leave a few lumps for texture if you wish. Delicious!



Cooking in The Cottage today, a delicious Boeuf aux Carottes!

Do you know what time of year it is now??? It's FRUIT FLY season!! Yeppers!! Fruit fly season and this past week has seen my kitchen inundated with the little dears, so much so that I decided to take all my apples the other day and make applesauce with them. (I also put out fruit fly traps. I'll tell you all about them at the end of this post!)



I had a lot of apples, and I got a lot of applesauce. Basically I just peel the apples and then cook them with a tiny bit of water over low heat until they are all soft and mushy. Sometimes I add a bit of sugar and spice, depending on what I am going to use it for. This was a real mixture of apples, I think I had four different kinds . . . so it's a real mishmash!



I froze most of it, but I kept back some to make this very delicious cake with. You will love this cake, and it's just perfect for this time of year. A deliciously moist cake, filled with applesauce and spice and covered with a tasty toffee glaze . . . so it's just like a spicy, moist, moreish candy apple!



My pictures are not the greatest . . . not only is it fruit fly season, but the season of good natural lighting has disappeared . . . so my pictures are not so good . . . and I overcooked the glaze a bit so there are a few lumps and bumps in it, which while they did not detract from the cake's overall deliciousness . . . they don't look soooooo good!



Oh, it is soooooo scrummy yummy . . . and as you can tell from that little black snout . . . it is clearly Miztie approved! (Spaniels are such loveable little piggies!)



*Candy Apple Cake*
Serves 10 to 12
Printable Recipe

This is a lovely cake that the whole family will enjoy. Deliciously moist and full of the wonderful flavour of spice, studded with soft raisins and crunchy walnuts, this truly is a joy to bake and to eat. The smell of this when it is baking is truly heavenly!

9 ounces plain flour (2 1/2 cups)
7 ounces caster sugar (1 cup)
16 fluid ounces unsweetened applesauce (2 cups)
4 ounces vegetable shortening such as Trex, White Flora or Crisco (1/2 cup)
4 fluid ounces water (1/2 cup)
2 large free range eggs, beaten
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
4 ounces chopped toasted walnuts (1 cup)
5 ounces raisins, (1 scant cup)

FOR THE GLAZE:
170g of soft light brown sugar (1 cup, Packed)
2 ounces butter
85ml of double cream (about 1/3 cup)

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Lightly grease and flour a 9 inch bundt pan and set aside.

Sift together the flour, soda, baking powder, salt, spices and sugar into a large bowl. Drop in the shortening, applesauce, water and eggs. Beat it all together with an electric mixer until it is all smooth, beating well. Fold in the sultanas and walnuts. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for approximately 50 to 60 minutes or until lightly browned and the top springs back when lightly touched. Alternately you may use a toothpick to see if it is done, which when inserted will come out clean.

Remove from the oven and place in the pan on a wire rack to cool for ten minutes. Invert onto a cake plate and dump out. Allow to finish cooling completely.

To make the glaze, combine the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan. Heat over low heat to melt the butter and sugar together. It should not feel gritty. Whisk in the cream and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat. Spoon over the cake.


Take a small bowl. Put about 2 ounces of apple cider vinegar into it. Cover the top tightly with plastic cling film. Punch a few holes into the top with the tip of a knife and set it near to where you are having the fruit fly problem. (It also helps to put away any fruit until they disappear.) The little beasties are very attracted to the vinegar and get in under the plastic cling film through the little holes and then cannot get out. It works a charm!



Baking in The Cottage today, a delicious Chicken Caesar Salad Pizza!

Happy Halloween! Tis the night when Goblins and Witches wander the streets looking for goodies! I love Halloween! It's not as big a deal over here as it is in North America, but it is beginning to catch on more and more with each year that passes. When we worked on the Manor Estate down South, we never got any trick or treaters . . . except for maybe the little lad from next door. Last year we didn't really get any here either, but . . . I live in hope each year that this just might be the year when we will be inundated!



It was always such an exciting night when I was growing up . . . the highlight of the Autumn season, really. We always had a party at school in the afternoon, when we would wear our costumes and parade them around to all the other classrooms. Prizes would be given for the best ones, but every one was appreciated really. We had treats and drinks and it was all so very exciting. Our anticipation would build all day until evening . . . once the dusk started to settle in . . . the children in the neighborhood would begin to go around door to door. Trick or Treat . . . childishly and excitedly chanted over and over again . . .

When I was a child we were not allowed to go out trick or treating until we had eaten our dinner. Grrrr . . . I used to always be so afraid that by the time we would be allowed to go out, nothing would be left!!!! Oh what a chore that was for my mum. We were always overly anxious and excited . . . and dinner was always so boring. We just didn't want it!



It might have been a far different story had she placed one of these scrumptious hotdogs down in front of us! Oh my but these are some delicious! I can't believe it's taken me a lifetime to discover them!



Imagine a tasty hotdog, swathed in a bun, stogged full of your favourite hotdog toppings, and then topped with chili and cheese, and crispy onions . . . and then baked until it all melds into the most scrumptious tasting dish ever invented!



Oh yes . . . kids will love these, both young and old! These are so temptingly delicious that they will be love, Love, LOVED! If you are wanting them to be a bit healther, do use chicken, turkey or veggie dogs and veggie chili of you wish. Half fat cheese and mayo also work really well. But really your kids are going to burn them off with all that running from door to door they are going to be doing . . .



And as for the big kids that won't be runnning around, well . . . a little taste of what you love once in a while never did anyone any harm, did it?



*Baked Hot Dogs*
for 4 servings (but easily multiplied up or down)
Printable Recipe

These are so simple and so very delicious. I'll never eat a normal hotdog again.

4 smoked hot dogs
(buy the fresh ones, not the tinned ones)
4 finger buns
pickle relish
french mustard
mayonnaise (low fat works well)
1 tin of chili (I use stag chili, regular) heated
4 ounces grated strong cheddar cheese (1 cup)
4 TBS crispy onions (the kind used to top salads, in North America they are the Durkee's French
Fried onions that come in tins)

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Have ready a baking dish that is large enough to hold the hotdogs in the buns.

Slice each finger bun open. Spread the inside with some pickle relish, mustard and mayonnaise. Place a hot dog into each. Place each bun into the baking dish. Spoon the chili over top of the hotdogs inside the buns as much as possible. Scatter the cheese over top and then sprinkle on the crispy onions. Cover with foil, making sure that the foil does not touch the top of the hotdogs, but sealing the edges in well.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Uncover and bake for 5 to 10 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and let stand 5 minutes before serving. Use a spatula to remove them to heated plates. These are knife and fork dogs and oh soooooo scrummy!



Cooking in The Cottage today, delicious Butterscotch Pudding!

This is a recipe that has certainly been making it's rounds of the internet. I've seen it in more than one place lately. I have to admit I found it quite intriguing.



I don't normally use cake mixes and in truth there are not a lot of that sort of thing over here in the UK. You can get a Devil's Food one and a Carrot Cake one, both Betty Crocker brand. I've not seen any others, but that's not to say they can't be found.



I was a little bit skeptical . . . a cake with only two ingredients . . .one of which was a cake mix and the other a tin of pumpkin puree. Could this be any good??? Would this actually work???



Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeell . . . it is and it does! I only had a carrot cake mix, which worked very well. The batter will be very thick, and you may think it will never turn out, but it turns out lovely . . . and very, very moist.



The glaze on top is delicious! Todd's eaten two pieces already. Who knew it would be so good???



*Two Ingredient Pumpkin Cake with a Cider Glaze*
Makes one 7 by 11 inch cake
Printable Recipe

Quick, easy and rather scrummy if I don't say so myself! It's a bit of a cheat, but what the heck, once in a while . . .

1 cake mix (I used Betty Crocker Carrot Cake Mix
as that is one of the few kinds we can get over here, but do feel free to use a
white or yellow cake mix if you wish, just so long as it makes a double layer cake)
1 425g tin of pumpkin puree (2 cups)

For the Glaze:
140g icing sugar, sifted (1 cup)
2 TBS apple juice or cider (non alcoholic)
1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice, or mixed spice



Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 7 by 11 inch baking tin and line with baking parchment. Set aside.

Beat the cake mix together with the tinned pumpkin for 2 minutes, using an electric whisk, until light and fluffy. Spread into the prepared baking pan. Bake for about 28 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool completely before proceeding. (I allowed it to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then turned it onto a wire rack to finish cooling.)

Whisk the glaze ingredients together and then spoon over top of the cake. Delicious!



Over in The Cottage today, a delicious Roasted Carrot and Ginger Soup.

We got the cutest little pumpkin in our veggie box this week. Not one of the miniature kinds, but just a tiny pumpkin. A bit too small to do anything like make a pie or anything like that with . . . the perfect size for just two.



When I lived in North American I would never have thought of using pumpkin for anything savoury. It was always just used for pies, muffins, cakes etc. Oh, and for Jack O'Lanterns on Halloween. In fact the end of October for me is just not the same without the smell of burning pumpkins in the air!



Over here though, they do all sorts of interesting things with pumpkins . . . savoury things. Delicious things. And I'm not just talking soup . . . there's ravioli's and lasagne's . . . stews, and curries . . .



I looked at the pumpkin for a little while and then decided that I would make a delicious gratin with it, combining it with some of the chard that was also in my veggie box. I had fond memories of that delicious card gratin I made a few weeks back and was longing for something similar again.



It turned out fabulous! I used the basic same recipe that I did a few weeks back, but with a few changes. I steamed the pumpkin, chard stems and leaves. I also added a whole wheat and pumpkin seed topping instead of a cheese one. (although if you wanted to throw some cheese in there it certainly wouldn't go amiss!)



It was moreishly scrummy . . . the pumpkin all meltingly tender, and all pumpkinee . . . the chard all earthily nom nommy . . . that moreishly butter topping, all crunchy and a bit nutty.



All in all, I'd call this a success. I may grow some pumpkins next year just so I can have my fill of lovely dishes such as this. Nigel would be so proud.



*Pumpkin and Chard Gratin*
Serves 4 as a side, 2 as a main
Printable Recipe

A deliciously different way to cook and serve pumpkin. Oh so scrummy!

1 small pumpkin, or butternut squash (about 1 pound in weight)
1 large bunch of swiss chard (about 1/2 pound in weight)
250ml of double cream (1 cup)
1 TBS grainy mustard
1 small clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 slice of whole wheat bread, made into coarse crumbs
1 dessertspoon of pumpkin seeds (the shelled ones you
can buy in the shops. They are green in colour)
1 TBS butter, melted

Peel your pumpkin, cut in half, deseed and then cut the halves into wedges about 1/2 inch thick. Wash your chard. Cut the stems from the leaves and then cut the stems into 1 inch lengths. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Place the pumpkin wedges into a colander and place the colander over the simmering water. Cover and steam until the pumpkin is almost fork tender. Add the chard stems and steam for a few minutes longer. Remove from the colander and place into a buttered gratin dish, mixing them together decoratively. Place the leaves of the chard in the colander and steam them for several minutes as you did the pumpkin. Remove and then tuck them in around the pumpkin wedges in the dish. Season with some sea salt and a grinding of black pepper.

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5.

Whisk together the cream, mustard, and garlic in a small saucepan. Heat gently. Remove from the heat and then pour this mixture over top of the pumpkin and chard leaves.

Stir together the bread crumbs, pumpkin seeds and melted butter. Sprinkle this mixture over top of the casserole.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until bubbling, golden brown and all is meltingly deliciously scrummily melded together.




Over in The Cottage today, a delicious Artichoke and Potato Salad.

I just adore Autumn. It is my favourite season. I know . . . I say that every season and I guess that every season it is true . . . I love whatever season I am in! Each one brings us a wonderful mix of colour, textures, scents and flavours!! I'm a 365 a day foodie and my gluttony is no respecter of seasons I suppose!

I thought it would be fun to showcase several of my favourite autumnal puddings here this morning . . . the absolute best of the beautiful flavours that this season brings to the table in all it's decadent glory! I do hope that you will see at least one that you will want to try out, if not today, then very, very soon!



Delicious Michaelmas Dumplings, a beautiful mix of bramley apple, blackberries stewed together and topped with soft dumplings. Oh so good with lashings of cream poured over top!



A beautiful Apple and Plum Tart, served warm with, once again, lashings of double cream . . . a good vanilla ice cream would also go down very well!




Delicious Raspberry Buns . . . delightfully buttery and crispy biscuits stogged full of some of those raspberry preserves that you've just made!



Wonderfully scrummy Pumpkin Spice Bread, oh so moreish when toasted and spread with cold butter. You can't get enough of it!



Nectarines Baked in Cream, oh so rich and delish. Sweet fruit, rich cream and a crunchy nut topping. Oh so wonderful!



Break out the Cream again! It's Cinnamon Pudding Cake!!! Rich, spicy and chock full of lovely autumn apples!



Pretty hard to resist, it's Berry and White Chocolate Pudding! A delicious baked pudding stogged full of mixed berries and white chocolate. Pass the cream again!



It's Melt in Your Mouth Blueberry Cake, served with a delicious topping of Lemon Cream! Just can't get enough of those little blue gems, and that topping is to die for!



A scrummy Apple Crumble with Maple, Oats and Walnuts. Fall comfort and decadence in a bowl! Pretty hard to resist. Do at the British and serve up with lashings of warm custard, or cream.




Sticky Topped Gingerbread. This is fabulous, comforting and smells beautiful when it is baking! This tastes like Home Sweet Home!



Sour Cream Apple Squares, moreishly delish when served up with a nice dollop of Clotted Cream on top!

I hope that I have given you some autumnal food for thought this morning! This is my favourite part of autumn . . . it's such a delicious season with it's apples and pumpkins and late summer berries. Enjoy some autumn today!



And in The Cottage today, a delicious Autumnal Salad of Apple Dressed Pears and Walnuts with Blue Cheese Toasts! Oh so scrummy yummy!