Cookie Season

“The snow crunches under my feet as I climb the back porch stairs.  I stamp my snowboots and shake off as many of the snowflakes that have landed on my toque and parka.  My warm breath has made my scarf over my mouth wet and damp.  Brrr, I think to myself.  Can winter evenings be any colder than this?  I’m guessing that it must be -25C outside right now.  I just want to get out of this cold.  Oh, please, let it be nice and warm inside our house.”

This is just one recollection that I have of growing up on the Canadian prairies.  We had snow!  We had winds!  We had freezing temperatures!  It was often so dark outside by 4:00 in the afternoon that you couldn’t see right in front of you.  It was always a relief to get home and walk into a warm house.

But you know what I recall even better than just getting out of the cold?

It was the smell of home cooked meals and fresh-from-the-oven baking.

My mom was an excellent cook and we enjoyed many delicious dinners.  Each night we always had a “meat and potato” dinner.  Sometimes it was mashed potatoes; or perogies or holubsti; maybe roast chicken; and always a variety of vegetables that had been grown in our own garden.  I sometimes start to drool even thinking about these dinners.

But what really got to me back then and even today was the baking.  The smells of fresh bread, pies or pastries baking in the oven! Mom’s cookies and cakes were heavenly.  She always had some kind of dessert for us to follow our dinners.

My favourites were her cookies.  Believe it or not, she could make delicious cookies out of zucchini, turnips and carrots!  I think I have enough of her collection of traditional cookie recipes to warrant a section of their own here in my blog.  I am going to add many of my mom’s original cookie recipes to this blog one of these days.

But for today, I would like you to take a look at one of these tasty cookie recipes.  It only has 3 main ingredients, but you can add as many “add-ons” as you wish!  Carrot Cake Cookies

Take a look. Let me know what you think.

Maybe they will make you want to come in from the cold too!

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Colours of Autumn

It is a crisp cool Sunday morning!  We’ve just turned the clocks back one hour as Daylight Savings Time has ended.  If you are not sure what I mean…..In the Spring, we spring ahead! In the Fall, we fall back!

Looking outside I can see spider webs glistening on the branches of our deciduous trees.  The trees’ leaves have started to curl and swing in the breeze threatening to fall, but not before they turn bright orange, yellow and red.  I went outside just now to take these photos.

A gentle breeze just passed through the leaves of our giant Maple tree, and just for a moment, it sounded like the tree just sighed.

This is just the beginning and soon there will be piles and piles of leaves on the ground.  Yes, it’s Autumn in Canada.

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