We had friends over to dinner tonight. Our friend had a nasty fall off her bicycle and was knocked unconscious and came to in an ambulance, with no idea what happened. Her partner took the bicycle in to the store where they originally purchased it to try and figure out what caused the accident as she cycles on a bike path mostly and was not on a road.

Turns out, they told him the front basket worked loose, fell down onto the wheel and stopped her in mid motion. She landed on her face after somersaulting over the handle bars and luckily no badly broken bones, but face grazes, black eyes, body bruises and aches, a fractured upper arm, plus the side effects of concussion.

Please let this be a warning to anyone who cycles, these things can happen without any warning. Check your baskets or front carriers … or any loose attachments. Check your bicycles for any wear and tear, rattling parts or wheels and rusty screws, and strap or zip tie any attachments on.

We’re had them over to supper tonight for a quiet evening in front of the fire, and some soup and salad. Good friends are a treasure and we’re so thankful that she is okay.

To summarise the recipe you will be roasting all the veggies in a spiced buttered pan then blending them with stock and heating it prior to serving. Top with some sour cream and cilantro.

Ingredients:

• 1 large kabocha squash, sliced – or large butternut, Hubbard squash, or 3 acorn squash would be great too
• 1 yam, halved
• 1 onion, quartered
• Buttered roasting pan
• Grapeseed oil for drizzling over
• Variety of spices: turmeric, chilli powder, garlic powder, garam marsala or cumin powder, 1 tsp each
• Variety of whole spices: curry leaves, cumin, caraway, mustard seed, fenugreek, cardamom, 1/4 tsp each
• Drizzle over some grapeseed oil
• 2 boxes 16 OZ Kettle & Fire bone broth, or any stock will be good (4 to 6 cups)
• 1 cup cream (optional)

Method:

Stage one: roasting

1. Butter roasting pan
2. Sprinkle in powdered spices
3. Add your sliced veg
4. Sprinkle whole spices over veg
5. Drizzle over grapeseed oil
6. Place in 350F oven and roast for 1 1/2 hours or until soft for blending
7. If you like, I added an impromptu 2 head’s of garlic to bake in a separate garlic roaster to add to soup once pureed, but totally optional! (I figured the oven was on anyway)
8. Turn veg half way through roasting
9. Grill under top broiler if you like for nice grilled finish

Stage 2: (blending)

1. Once cooked, remove from oven let cool a bit for handling
2. Place in blender and puree with beef or chicken stock
3. Make sure to add boiling water to the roasting pan and get the scrapings into the blender too!
4. Blend half the roasted veg, then add the second half blend in very well
5. Pour into pot for heating when you are ready to eat
6. Squeeze in roasted garlic (optional)
7. Add 1 cup of cream or more stock to get desired consistency
8. Serve piping hot topped with a tsp of creme fraiche, sour cream or Greek yoghurt

Quick Thanksgiving follow up.

We had roast duck, keto cranberry sauce, stir fry, roasted squash and cauliflower mash.

My Sweetie made a delicious cheesecake too for dessert, it was fabulous.

As my Mum says … food, food, food!

Served with fresh cream, raspberries and one of the 5 persimmons our tree produced this year (last year we had over 400!)

Here is his recipe!

Crust:
2 Large eggs
1 1/2 cups almond flour,
1/3 cup baking xylitol
1/4 cup melted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt,
1/2 tsp baking powder.

Cheesecake Ingredients:
3 packs cream cheese
3 large eggs,
1 cup baking xylitol
1 tsp vanilla

Optional berries and whipped cream for topping

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Mix all the crust ingredients together. Evenly distribute in a pan and bake for 20 minutes at 325 degrees.

While the crust is baking, prepare the cheesecake by mixing all the ingredients using a beater.

Take the crust out of the oven and add the cheesecake mix.

Bake for 45 minutes. The edges will be slightly brown.

Let the cheesecake cool in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours, until firm.

(Thanks my ❤, it was truly delicious!)

Cheesecake maker.

Then, Vinny and I relaxing after a long day of cooking!