Join me in supporting Empty Bowls on Sunday October 21st from 1pm—4pm at Appleby College, Oakville Ontario. I’ll be there with 60 litres of home made soup for you to taste!

Share in the spirit of Thanksgiving and help raise both funds and awareness of homelessness in the Oakville community. Empty Bowls guests choose a unique pottery bowl, handcrafted by artisans and taste delicious soups prepared by top chefs from local restaurants. They then take home their bowl as a keepsake. Your minimum $50 donation goes directly to Home Suite Hope, providing ongoing solutions to local homelessness. For tickets: www.appleby.on.ca/community/EmptyBowls.aspx

The month of October cannot go by without mentioning food. This is the month that our taste buds start to crave heartier meals and local produce is often at its peak with the abundance of apples, pears, squash, turnips and the like. You might go apple picking with the kids and then be stuck with 2 bushels of apples which will eventually get turned into every pie shape and form possible. Our children will be looking forward to devouring Hallowe’en treats (maybe not the best food group but it’s so much fun!!) and of course if it’s not you cooking the Thanksgiving turkey then chances are you’re still enjoying it and all the fixings at a family gathering. I’m getting full just thinking about it!

If you’re responsible for this year’s family gathering or just want a lighter alternative to all the major “eating events” this October you might want to try my Cream of Lettuce Soup as a beautiful starter to any great meal. It’s bright in colour, low on calories and will even have your kids eating their vegetables and drinking their milk.

Cream of Lettuce Soup
Serves 10-12
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking: 1 hr
Notes: The lettuce gives this soup a beautiful light green colour, perfect for the fall and like most soups it can be made the day before. Do not add the final cream until you are ready to serve and reheat gently so as not to curdle the cream. The soup may thicken upon standing so add additional chicken stock if required when reheating.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 heads of Iceberg Lettuce, roughly chopped
• 1/3 cup uncooked long grain rice
• 6 cups (1500ml) good quality chicken stock
• 2 cups (500ml) milk (can use 1% or 2%)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• ¼ cup (65ml) 10-18% cream (your choice depending upon the fat content desired)
• ¼ cup coriander, chopped for garnish

1. In a large soup pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until soft. Add lettuce, rice and chicken stock; bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
2. In a heavy bottom pot, gently warm milk being careful not to scorch.
3. Cool soup slightly and blend in food processor or blender. You may need to do this in batches. Return the soup to the pot and add warm milk, salt and pepper to taste.
4. Just prior to serving add ¼ cup whipping cream. Serve garnished with coriander.

For some reason I struggled this month to find something inspiring and interesting to write to you about. Maybe my brain is in overload testing new recipes, getting the kids organized at new schools, working and figuring out how I’m going to manage 3 Thanksgiving dinners in 3 days! In any case I decided to look at last year’s October newsletter to see what we talked about. And then it hit me. I must be in some sort of subconscious depression because at this time last year I was on my way to Italy ready to eat and drink my way through Tuscany. Talk about inspiring. I started pouring through my photos, recipes and food goodies from that trip. I was startled to notice a few hours had gone by and I needed to get down to the task at hand.

All that reminiscing about Italy made me realize that although it’s great to revisit the past it’s also equally important to enjoy the here and now. So with that in mind, I’m going to celebrate October with my family and friends to it’s fullest. I may have to roast 3 turkeys at once to enjoy with 3 separate family and friend groups, I’ll dress the kids up to the nines and let them eat as much Hallowe’en candy as they can muster on the 31st, help bake 1000 Apple Crumble Pies at my son’s school and make 60 litres of home made soup and dish it out at Empty Bowls Charity Event. And through it all I’m going to remember how lucky I am to not only have a fantastic family to share this with but some wonderful friends to indulge in a glass of wine when my arm can’t stir another pot or baste another bird!

No matter how you chose to spend your October, try to remember to thank the people who you share your meals with for taking the time to stop what they’re doing, sit down and raise a fork with you!