Many would say that the kitchen is the heart of the home. I know that for me, that is certainly true. Though the living room is also the other half of that heart, but that's another topic of discussion. {{winks}} I remember standing on a kitchen chair at the counter and helping my mom bake cookies or mix a cake batter or stir or scoop or pour when I was a wee girl. When I was fourteen, the cooking bug really bit. And it bit hard! From that point on until now, I have found tremendous joy and delight in being in the kitchen. I love making dinner for my family and serving them in that way. Seeking out and trying new recipes is always a fun adventure, and most of the time, it has some pretty tasty results.
I am such a seasonal person. I love really delving into the different seasons of the year, whether it be with my wardrobe, music, candle scents, tea flavors, decorations, the shows or movies I watch, and yes, most certainly, with the recipes I make. I wouldn't dare make a chili or soup in July or August. For me, that just wouldn't happen! That may have something to do with the fact that it is always at least 95 degrees here with high humidity at that time of year. But, even still, I just wouldn't dare make something fit for autumn or winter right smack in the middle of summer. That's crazy talk! Ha!
Anyway, like I said, I'm a seasonal person. For many years, I would sit down in August and go through all of my cookbooks, collected recipe magazines and my numerous-volume set of notebooks full of recipes I've collected over the years. As I would thumb through each book, I would make a very long list of all the different things I wanted to make during the autumn and winter months. (I also happen to love those months with an endless love...I dream of living in a place where the seasons are full and proper with delicious, warm colors in the autumn and lots of fluffy, white snow in the winter.) Then, during the following months, slowly, but surely, I would make my way through the list, never fully completing it, but always having a blast as I tried this new recipe or made this old family favorite.
I am a firm believer in home-cooked meals, sitting around the table together, lingering long after the meal is eaten and the dishes are picked up. I believe in the love that goes into preparing a meal and in serving those we care about. Cooking is a way of showing love to those around us, and I believe that the kitchen should be a place where goodness is both tasted and seen. As I've written before, autumn is the time of gathering in, of coming home, of savouring all the many blessings that magical world holds. There is no better time to get in the kitchen than when the air gets that first chill and the leaves begin to change to brilliant shades of red, orange and gold.
Autumn is also the season in which we celebrate Thanksgiving. Oh, I'm so grateful to be an American where we celebrate such a simple, yet blessed, holiday. Truly, a holiday in which we gather round the table with family and loved ones, sharing a meal that has been prepared with such care, detail and love, remembering all the many blessings that fill our lives, and to do so in the season when the world is afresh with beauty and reminders of beauty and goodness, is one of my most favorite things of all.
During this October series, I will be sharing a few tea time recipes that celebrate autumn in a sweet, special way. Some of my favorites to make this time of year are Herb Roasted Chicken, Chicken Fajita Soup, Autumn Chowder (the perfect quick meal for busy days), White Chicken Chili, Rainy Day Stew, Autumn Stuffed Acorn Squash (this recipe made me fall in love with acorn squash), Heavenly Pancakes, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread, Halloween Barmbrack (which has become a yearly Halloween tradition!), Hey Carrots! Cake (this has since become my mom's birthday cake of choice in October), Toffee Oat Cookies, and Perfectly Spiced Tea.
I hope this week you find some time to enjoy your kitchen and all the autumnal bliss that is stored up in your jars of spices, cans of pumpkin, bowls of fresh apples, dutch ovens ready for hours of simmering soup, and more!
Happy seasonal cooking, dear friends!
♥