Tuesday 11 October 2011

Thanksgiving . . . and the consumption of this butternut


Well, up here in Canada, we do things different. Meaning we have Thanksgiving on the first monday of October. Yesterday, I drove two hours to go to my mom's and make Thanksgiving dinner. With two families, figuring out who gets who on which days can be hard. This year it wasn't as my in-laws were in the states. Sad though because my mother-in-law can cook. Upside though, I got to cook my mom real food. My mom jokes around that I'm the Martha Stewart of the family . . . but that she wasn't my teacher. She will attest to this, she is not the best cook. She can cook a chicken breast, make mashed potatoes, and feed a family of three kids on a single income, but she is not the best cook. Insert me! I love to cook. Which means, I would be the one making supper. And with me being a hippie now (by hippie I mean, the obvious, trying to be more sustainable) it would be sustainable food being served. 

It was FAN-FRICKEN-TASTIC!!!!!

We had pork hip roast (with garlic and thyme dry rub), mashed potatoes, mashed butternut squash, green beans and broccoli salad, with apple pie and pumpkin pie for dessert. The pork hip roast came in our meat order, and the package was a little ripped, so I thought it would be best to cook it first. Only afterwards did I realize that pork hip means loin!!!! The garlic was locally grown in Manitoba, and the thyme was from my backyard. My mom picked the potatoes from a local farmer who had already gone through with their potato picker, and picked up the scragglers. The green beans were from my backyard. The broccoli salad and pumpkin pie was not sustainably produced (Safeway), but the apple pie was homemade by moi, with the apples being from my mom's backyard apple tree. For me, the highlight of the evening (food wise) was the butternut squash. I have NEVER had a butternut squash taste that good. I mean it put the fricken in fan-fricken-tastic. My husband even ooo'd and awwww'd over it. My mom, step-dad and little sisters, had only had butternut squash made by my sister, which the girls didn't really like. But they liked this butternut squash. I've been trying to help my family make healthier choices, and my mom said yesterday, "I've never made butternut squash before, and I know you brought your own, but I'm going to watch how you make it and copy it." YAH to my mom eating new veggies. She can sometimes be scared of new food. I'm now super sad, as that was the only butternut squash that grew this year. I guess I have lots to look forward to growing them next year. I saved the seeds and am planning on planting a whole bunch of them . . . and even giving a couple of seeds to my mom for her to grow. 

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