Christmas Happenings 2019

Christmas draws ever closer. I hope you are all enjoying the festive season thus far.

I am enjoying everything and the pace of activities. It isn't quite as quiet as I had hope but that isn't so much because of Christmas activities. It has more to do with unexpected events and timelines concerning my dental work. After all the planning and waiting for insurance approvals and so on, it turns out I can't get a bridge after all. Or at least I've decided not to proceed with it after discussing with my dentist.  One of my teeth is not so strong and over the long term the bridge isn't a good solution. The alternatives are a partial denture or an implant. I've decided to go for the partial and have talked to the dentist about possibly doing an implant in the future.  Unfortunately, this unfinished business will be going with me into the new year though I had hoped to complete the dental work in 2019.  At least I have now have a firm plan of action and I am comfortable with the way forward.

I finally completed the book on Coco Chanel. I say finally because when I really enjoy a book I can finish it within a few days even if I'm busy. But this book took me a few weeks to read. It was interesting and very detailed. I think the detail put me off a little because Coco Chanel lived a very long life.  Of course, like most people, the events in her life were repeated a few times over the decades of her life. So the book was a bit repetitive in that way but necessarily so.  Her rise to prominence is made more interesting because she lived during the WW2 and she retired for a long while before resurrecting her career and focussing on inroads with the United States.  Besides discovering these things I also discovered a lot of things I didn't like about Coco Chanel.  However, one thing is clear.  She achieved a lot and she left a lasting legacy despite not having any children of her own to carry on the business.  The author of this book did a good service in writing such a detailed and well researched book about Coco Chanel.

On Sunday afternoon I joined a friend for the one and only Christmas concert I planned to attend this year. It was quite enjoyable and different from what I usually see.  My friend and I enjoyed the concert and we exchanged some small gifts with each other.

The concert itself  featured JS Bach's joyous cantata BWV 62 ‘Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland’. It also featured Christmas works by Poulenc, Chilcott, Rutter, plus audience singing.  Next year I plan to try and see a Christmas program featuring harpists. It is a very popular concert here and generally gets sold out each night.

Some of you might remember I purchased 2 small fiddle leaf fig trees. I was a bit concerned about tending to them over the cold winter months. They are tropical plants that need very precise and favourable conditions in which to thrive. I'm happy to report that one of the two plants, the one that looked less healthy, is actually sprouting a new leaf. Can you see it in the center? I am very happy about this and I hope I can continue to nurture it through until repotting is necessary in the spring.

A few years ago I saw a humongous Christmas cacti in the window of a barber shop and it was in full bloom. It looked so beautiful that I had to find myself one and see if I can get it to that point too.  I purchased a small Christmas cacti about one week ago and right now all the blossoms are coming out. I heard that they only bloom at Christmas.

I have finally been able to coordinate and organize a short trip with close family members to visit out of town for a few days. I'm looking forward to seeing my niece and she is looking forward to going to a movie with us and a good old family visit.

🎄 🎄🎄

I don't usually do much baking at Christmas but this year I decided to make Christmas bark. Later I may also make some dream bars (my late mom's recipe).  I made the bark last night and it was so delicious and surprisingly easy. I thought you might like to try it too.

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. (225 g) Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate
• 1 pkg. (170 g) Baker's White Chocolate
• 1 cup chopped toasted almonds, divided into 2 batches

I also added about one half cup of chopped, dried cranberries to to each batch of chocolate

Directions

1. Microwave semi-sweet chocolate in microwaveable bowl on MEDIUM 1 to 2 min. or until almost melted; stir until completely melted. Repeat in separate bowl with white chocolate. Stir 1/2 cup nuts into chocolate in each bowl.
2. Drop spoonful’s of chocolate mixtures alternately onto waxed paper-covered baking sheet; swirl gently with knife.
3. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm. Break into pieces.

TIP: Prepare as directed, substituting pecans for the almonds, and stirring 1/4 cup each dried cranberries and chopped dried apricots into the melted white chocolate before spooning onto prepared baking sheet as directed.

Substitute toasted flaked coconut for the chopped almonds.

How to Store: Store in tightly covered container at room temperature.

Joining Our World Tuesday today.

That's all for now blogging friends.

In my next post I hope to continue with the travel update.

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy the week ahead.

♥♥♥

Make it for Christmas

This year I learned how to make a few things for Christmas gifts.

I made some Frankincense and Myrrh Perfume.  I didn't quite make it as per the recipe because  I had some issues getting all the right ingredients.  But I did try it out and next time I will  have everything in stock. I still have the 5 roll on bottles which I ordered from Amazon so I can make more  of this perfume or any other scent I desire.  I sourced the ingredients from local stores but they are also available on Amazon.

The bottle with the cap off and the steel ball roller is the one that I made.

One thing about the perfume is that several of the oils are quite pricey (frankincense, myrrh and the jojoba oil used as carrier oil).  Of course a little goes a long way but if you do not like the scents then you've made the perfume for naught.  I didn't mind the experiment because the frankincense and myrrh oils are associated with the Three Wise Men who brought gifts to the baby Jesus but you might wish to at least sniff the essential oil testers if you buy in person.

Here is the recipe if you would like to try it yourself.

The other gift I made is called Vanilla Infused Sugar. I don't use a lot of sugar and neither do my friends but a little of this special sugar will be a treat.

This sugar will now infuse for one week and then I will strain out the vanilla pods.

I just made enough for several small jam jars (using about 2 cups of sugar and 3 vanilla beans).  I will give these as gifts when they are ready after tying some raffia around them or some colourful ribbon, adding labels and short notes with some ideas for using the sugar.

Here is the Vanilla Infused Sugar recipe.

Earlier in the week I also attended a workshop and learned how to make some very simple candles and bath bombs.

The candle making was super easy.  There were a lot of people in the workshop so the instructor decided to do an easy project which involved only two items:  beeswax sheets and rolls of candle wick. If you would like to make these items but don't have supplies near you these are items that can be found on Amazon.

To make the candles you simply place the wick at one end and roll the beeswax tightly.  At the end you gently squeeze the ends to the body of the candle. The wax melts and seals itself.  It surely cannot get any easier than that. Beeswax sheets now come in a variety of colours.  I used purple and the little candle below is just for me. I guess I should trim the wick a little as it is a bit long.

You can get quite creative with the beeswax sheets and use several colours placed in various ways to make a pretty pattern.  I think these candles would also make nice birthday gifts.

The bath bombs we made are also super easy to make.  The recipe is here.  The recipe link I've shared will take you to a very similar recipe to the one we used. The instructor also brought dried herbs and flowers which we could add to our bath bomb mixture and/or to the molds themselves.  One of the batches mixed by my group wasn't quite wet enough so a bit of it came apart at the top (see photo above, top right).  That's okay because these bath bombs are just for me.

I had a lot of fun with my workshop table mates.
They were all super friendly and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Now I must get on to wrapping the rest of the gifts I am giving. Believe it or not I still haven't posted two parcels but I have to do a bit of sewing before I can post one of them.
The lead up to Christmas will now be spent cleaning, putting up Christmas decorations, buying food for Christmas guests and generally getting ready for Christmas.
I'm a bit late with things this year though I started my preparations (gift buying) early.
I really want to enjoy a Christmas of peace and joy.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Have a wonderful Christmas season.

Joining in with Our World Tuesday.

Menu Plan

Here is another week's menu plan.  If you'd like to see my last menu plan you can see it here.

I'm leaning more toward more vegetable based dishes this week.  All vegetable dishes this week are new to me except for the Red Pepper soup which I've made before (see photo below).  I plan to look to look for a few more tasty vegetable based dishes to make which I hope to add to my repertoire. It might take awhile to find just the right vegetable based dishes.

There are so many places to find good recipes on line that it can be time consuming. Here are some links to find healthy food recipes if you too are looking to plan healthier meals. I'll be making my way through them bit by bit.

• The MyFitnessPal Blog
• Cooking Light
• Food Network – Healthy
• Clean Eating
• Eating Well
• Healthy food blogs like Skinnytaste, Eating Bird Food, Kath Eats, Cook Smarts, and Fannetastic Food 

I got these links from MyFitnessPal and in the past came across several of these links looking for recipes to try.

So how did week 1 go with the meal plan?

I think it went quite well. I did find it a bit labour intensive as I had a lot of different things on the menu. For the most part I had many of the main ingredients on hand and only needed to shop once.  Frankly, I just don't eat that much for lunch and dinner so I skipped one or two lunches from my first menu plan. Though I am working on trying to eat more in the morning for health reasons it will be a challenge for me.

In my effort to make sure I eat something for breakfast other than cereal, I baked muffins twice this week.  The second time I made more of them to freeze ahead for breakfasts on days when I'm in a hurry.  Most days I will eat hot oatmeal with goji berries (for sweetener).  Sometimes I add nuts. Lunches will consist of leftovers and sometimes a new thing thrown in here and there with a salad or fruit to round things out.

The cooking routine and time for preparation and cooking should also get easier as I get used to the new routines and new recipes.  I do know how to make many dishes without a recipe however I am trying to achieve: a consistent diet, a more balanced diet and one that isn't laden with carbs. This will involve looking for new low carb recipes for breakfast that don't require me to eat a lot of meat. So far the recipes I've found require too much effort so I will keep researching.

My meal plans start on a Saturday rather than Sunday like most people. Sunday seems to be the day when most people commence their menu plans.  My choice of Saturday had more to do with when I had time to draft a plan  than anything else.  In the past my big shopping was done on Wednesdays and Thursdays before the weekly sales ended and the new ones would begin. This may change too. I'll know more as I move forward.

I will be trying to sit down with the flyers next time to plan the menu.I don't intend to post every menu on my blog only my first several attempts as I work it out and see how it is going. I'm realizing that I like the freedom that comes with not having to worry or plan what to eat every day since it is already planned out. If I don't feel like eating something, I can simply switch the menu from one day to another. Making the turkey was a good idea too. Though it was quite a skinny bird, there was more than enough left over for freezing and for making soup.


Saturday

Breakfast - Whole Wheat Pancakes or Waffles with banana
Lunch -  Red Pepper Soup
Dinner - Pot Roast & Roast Vegetables, salad 

Red Pepper Soup

Sunday

Breakfast -  Muffins or leftover waffles
Lunch - sliced beef and green salad
Dinner - Stuffed bell peppers (using brown rice & leftover roast beef)

Monday
Breakfast - Cranberry - Lemon Muffin
Lunch -Egg salad, mixed cut vegetables
Dinner - Chickpeas, Spinach, Squash Gnocci 

Tuesday

Breakfast - Hot cereal with goji berry
Lunch - Salmon Chowder, cut veggies
Dinner - Eggplant & Chickpea Stew

Wednesday

Breakfast - Cranberry Muffin
Lunch - Leftovers
Dinner -Spaghetti & Meatballs, romaine salad

Thursday

Breakfast - Hot cereal with goji berry
Lunch - Greek salad?
Dinner - Chili, cornbread or cornmeal muffins


Friday

Breakfast - Cranberry Muffin
Lunch - Green smoothie, salmon or tuna salad
Dinner - Curried Lentil Soup, home made dinner rolls

Snacks * yogurt, fruit, green smoothies, crackers/cheese

Chicken Lickin'

This Chicken-Cauliflower-Cheese casserole was a welcome change from plain old roasted chicken.

I used boneless chicken breast baked with cauliflower florets, diced green onions, sliced mushrooms & mushroom soup for the sauce.  I baked the chicken at 350 degrees before adding all the other ingredients. 

You could also par boil the cauliflower florets to cut down on cooking time. I added some water to my mushroom soup but if you want a thicker sauce, omit the water or use it very sparingly.

I topped the casserole with sliced cheddar and mozzarella cheese and baked for another 20 minutes. It gives the appearance of skin on the chicken.  Serve with rice and side dish. I served mine with brown rice and a side dish of a simple mango salad (diced red onions, chopped red pepper and chopped mango).

Yum!

Cooking 'N Prepping

I've been spending too much time in the kitchen again in an attempt to get my blood sugar level lowered.

I don't know why but it seems I have to work so much harder than anyone else I know with diabetes just to drop my glucose levels even slightly. Alas, that means getting back on the food kick. It takes so much time to manage diabetes properly but I'm learning it is oh so necessary.

I've read along the way that dandelion leaves are good for you so I purchased some this week and decided to make a salad.  It thought it was quite good and plan to make it again.

Dandelion-Beet-Romaine Salad

Ingredients:

• washed and shredded or torn romaine lettuce leaves
• washed and torn dandelion leaves
• washed, peeled and chopped baby beets
• washed and shredded green cabbage
• washed and shredded pear
• raw pumpkin seeds

Dressing: 

• few spoonfuls of hot mustard
• few splashes of apple cider vinegar
• a few drops of honey 

Place all vegetables in a large bowl. Use as much of eat of the vegetables as you would like. Shake together the dressing and toss the vegetables together. Sprinkle the pumpkin seeds on top and enjoy.

Note: The dandelion leaves and the beets can have a strong taste so the honey in the dressing and the pear in the salad help to balance the flavours.

~~~~~~~

I made a roast chicken with heirloom (colourful) baby carrots and chick peas. Some of the chicken was for Friday's lunch. For dinner I made stir fried chick peas/cabbage/zucchini/garlic, curry chicken and couscous. Usually I like curry chicken but today I'm afraid it didn't sit well with me. My digestive system is sensitive and there are some days I cannot stomach certain foods. I think I need to start on a course of digestive enzymes and see if it helps.

I'm not quite sure what is on the menu for Saturday. I'm thinking a lunch of lentil soup and for dinner some boiled yams and the rest of the curry sauce. Somewhere in there will be a green salad or at least some spinach mixed into the lentils.  I'm also preparing some dried kidney beans to make a stew for Sunday or later in the week.

The weather was nice today but I didn't have the energy to start planting the garden or put up the new patio table. That will have to come a bit later.

Brussels sprouts and kale starter plants.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Weekend Bake: Banana Loaf

Hi friends,

There are certain recipes I continue to search for and refine. One of them is Banana Bread. For something so seemingly simple, I still haven't found a Banana Bread recipe I really like.
Most of them seem to be too moist. I want a dense loaf that is more like a bread but with banana taste.  I don't want a loaf so moist that it is like pudding.  I also don't like big chunks of banana in my loaf though I do like to see the seeds. I'm also looking for a recipe that doesn't use such a lot of sugar and oil.

I tried this recipe tonight.

BANANA BREAD

Ingredients

¼ cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar (I used 3/4 cup)

2 eggs

1 cup sour cream (I use Greek style plain yogurt instead)

1 cup mashed fully ripe bananas (I used 2 bananas because that is all I had today)

2-1/4 cups flour

1-1/2tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 cup chopped walnuts (I meant to add the walnuts but forgot)

Instructions

HEAT oven to 350ºF.

BEAT butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until blended. Add eggs and sour cream; mix well. Add bananas and combined dry ingredients; mix just until moistened. Stir in nuts.

POUR into greased and floured 9x5-inch loaf pan.

BAKE 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 min.; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely before slicing. Refrigerate leftovers. 

When I transferred the batter to the loaf pan I was immediately pleased.  The batter is much thicker than the previous recipes I've used. However I could tell it was also going to be very dense.  I also could have used slightly more banana in the mix but I only had 2.  It was enough for a pleasant banana flavour.

Sorry for the shadow on the banana loaf.  It was late and the lighting was poor.

Taste test:  Good but rather rubbery. I over mixed the batter.  You are only supposed to mix until moistened not beat it together well. It was getting late and I wasn't paying good attention  I will be more careful next time.  I used my tin loaf pans rather than the silicone pans. I find silicon bread pans are terrific for bread but give my muffins and quick breads a "jelly like" consistency at the bottom. Good for certain types of muffins like strawberry or raspberry but not so good for things like banana bread, IMHO.

I like this recipe much better than the other recipes I've tried so far. I'm going to enjoy tonight with a cup of rooibos tea before bed.

In weather news, we've been having a lot of high winds.  It is helping to chase away the clouds and bring out blue skies and sunshine for several hours a day though there is still an unseasonal chill in the air.  Several of my friends have been battling with the flu bug or bronchitis. I myself have not been feeling that great for about a week but have managed to thwart getting a bug. I am trying to get more rest and drink plenty of fluids.

 I hope your weather is cooperating wherever you are and that you have a wonderful weekend. Hugs. xx

Not Quite Spring; Soups Make Me Sing!

It's trying hard to be Spring here but it isn't quite coming together yet. Every other day it is raining heavily, alternating with days that are very gray and then windy and sunny.  I see some of the trees are blossoming. That means the weather has warmed up quite a bit though at night it is still quite chilly.

The best thing for me when the weather is so unsettled is to have home baked bread and made from scratch soups.  This week I've had more home made soups than usual.

Sunday I made hamburger (minced meat) soup.  I usually make it like my mom used to make it but from time to time, I like to mix it up.  For the first time I made it with eggplant, butternut squash and chickpeas all added to the usual base of cooked hamburger pieces, celery, onion, carrots and seasonings. It was quite yummy.

Monday I skipped the soup making because I went to my cooking session where we made sushi with celery, avocado and mango. It was quite good but I confess I will need a lot more practise with the rolling aspect. We also had Teriyaki Drumsticks which were quite tasty.

Tuesday I made potato leek soup. I've made this before in case you'd like the recipe.  Yesterday I decided I wanted to eat it with all the vegetables intact, rather than all blended together. Perfect for an overcast day.

Today is Wednesday and we've had all kinds of interesting weather.  When I awoke there was blanket of cloud over the whole sky.  Then the wind came up and blew away the cloud cover. I was able to see that there is fresh snow (again) on the mountain tops.  Right now there is still some blue sky but it is quite windy.

Bubbling away on the stove top right now is some fresh tomato soup. It is my first time making it. It smells delicious and I plan to have it with some home made bread.

Here is a quick recipe for the soup.

Fresh out of the blender and piping hot!

Tomato Soup

Ingredients

- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 celery sticks, choppped
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 or 3 cloves of garlic to taste
- 6-8 large tomatos
- 6 cups of chicken stock (or use buillion cubes with appropriate amount of water).
- a bit of oil

Method:

Saute the onions, celery, carrot and garlic together in a bit of oil in a large saucepan.
Once these are a bit softened (10 minutes or so) add the tomatoes and cook until the tomatos start to break down. Add the chicken stock.  Bring to a boil and then simmer together another 10-15 minutes.

If you want to eat the soup without blending it smooth, take care to chop your vegetables up nicely and uniformly. I'm blending my soup today.

As always, when you blend the soup in a blender be very careful to place a tea towel over the blender top and hold it down so it doesn't splash out and burn you once you turn the blender on.

Before serving garnish with some fresh cilantro. Makes 2 gigantic servings or 4 med-large servings.

Eat and enjoy.

Frugal Notes:  Some people make tomato soup with a combination of canned tomatos and fresh tomatoes.  I do use canned tomatos but given they are quite expensive now I save them for things like chili or soups I make with hamburger.  In order to save money on making vegetable soups, I purchase the vegetables at a store where they only sell produce. The prices are usually much cheaper than the supermarket.  I often buy bags of vegetables that are starting to go bad. I get them at a produce store down the street. The nice thing about it is even if there is one vegetable that has gone bad, the rest are usually good. Also the store peels them and cuts out the bad parts before they put them in a bag for $1.00.  These are great for making soups but you have to use them up right away,

Easy Loaf of Bread

I used this bread recipe for the first time today. The recipe makes only 1 loaf of bread. I decided to make two loaves but mixed them up separately.  I don't want to stress my electric mixer too much.  My mixer handles about 5 cups of flour.

The loaf on the right was mixed first so has been rising longer.

One loaf of bread will be for me and the other loaf for a friend I will be visiting on Tuesday.   This recipe is quite good so am going to make another loaf or two for an elderly friend and her neighbour soon.  I've been promising her that I will do that.

I've been looking for a great bread recipe for a long time and have tried many recipes.  I am usually disappointed by the size of the loaves. I like a more substantial loaf and a good, crusty top as well as a moist interior.  This one delivered on all the above.  The finished loaf has quite a strong taste of yeast. I may experiment with the amount of yeast for the next loaves.  After the loaves cooled I sliced them with my meat slicer and wrapped them in cellophane and tin foil before putting one in a big plastic bag for my friend.

The loaves came out nicely.  This time the first loaf I mixed is on the left.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 1-1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, approximately. I used 2 cups white flour and 1 cup whole wheat.

Preparation:

1. Pour the lukewarm water into a large bowl and add the yeast while stirring. Add the sugar, salt, shortening and milk. Stir well.
2. Add 2 cups of flour and stir until dough is sticky. I mixed mine in an electric mixing bowl until it was well formed, then transferred it to the counter. Sprinkle your counter top with flour before you transfer the ball of dough.  If you need to you can add a few spoonfuls of flour to your dough in the bowl until you get a good consistency before turning it onto the counter.
3. Knead the flour until it is soft and yet firm. You don't want it too sticky. It should hold together well.
4. Once you have a good ball of dough, oil it with a few drops of oil and shape it.  Place it into a bowl, cover it and keep it in a warm place for 1 hour to rise.  I placed mine in the oven with the oven light turned on for a bit of warmth. Don't accidentally turn on the temperature if you decide to put your dough in the oven too.
5. After one hour, punch the dough down and turn it onto a floured counter to knead. Then form it into a loaf for your loaf pan.  Lightly oil the loaf pan and put your dough in the pan to rise for another 30 minutes.
6. Bake loaf in a preheated oven at 375 F for about 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown.  If you like you can make a few slashes at the top of your loaf for decorative effect. Once the loaf is baked I like to brush the top with a bit of butter. 

Note:  You will see that the loaf I mixed first is significantly larger than the second loaf.  I think this is for two reasons:  I let it rise longer and I also added about half a cup more flour. This is called Easy Bread because you just mix your wet ingredients all together and omit the step of letting the yeast "proof" and then you add the flour. However, I always like to prepare my yeast before I mix it with the other ingredients.  I started by adding the yeast to the water and sugar and letting it sit in a covered bowl for 10 minutes. Once it was all "foamy" I added all the other ingredients as per the recipe.  I meant to slash my dough but forgot at the last moment since I was also trying to watch the Oscar ceremonies and throw together some quick hamburger soup for dinner. Kudos to Lupita Nyong'o from Kenya via Mexico, for her stupendous win as supporting actress.

A quick hamburger soup always hits the spot when I am hungry.

Beef Stew with Shallots, Butternut Squash and Parsnips

I caught the tail end of a cooking show two nights ago where I saw Italian chef Lidia Bastianich ladle out some stew. The gravy looked "to die for" and I couldn't get the image and imagined taste out of my head.

I immediately started looking for her recipe on line but couldn't find it. Then when I found out it was made with veal I decided I'll make mine with beef.

I took my inspiration from this Beef and Butternut Squash Stew recipe and as usual made it my own.

Ingredients:

• olive oil
•  2 teaspoons rosemary
• 2 teaspoons thyme 
• 2 teaspoons parsley
• 8-9 shallots, peeled and cut in half in half
• 1 head of garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 dried chopped prunes
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 2 large parsnips, (cut into chunks of about 1 inch)
• 1 butternut squash (cut into chunks of about 1 inch)
• 1 cup red wine
• chicken broth
• 1 small-medium roast cut into 1 inch cubes or buy stew meat (about 2 pounds give or take a little)

Directions:

Heat frying pan and put in the oil and shallots and herbs.  You can use fresh herbs but if you have none, dried herbs will work just fine and smell divine. Cook the shallots until they start to get transparent then add the garlic until cooked but not browned.

Next add the cubes of meat to a bowl of flour until lightly coated.  Add the meat to the shallots and garlic and cook on low heat until it starts to brown. Take care not to have the meat stick to the pan but this will likely happen anyway. Once the meat is browned, add the red wine and chopped prunes. You can gently scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen the flour. Cook this mixture for a few minutes at boiling point. At this point do a taste test and add more seasonings, more chopped prunes or flour/water mixture for thickening and flavour and cook together for another minutes or two.

Transfer the meat mixture to a large dutch oven or pot that you use to make stews and soups. Add just enough chicken broth to cover the meat and a little more.  Let this boil,  then turn the heat down to simmer.  Cover and cook for an hour. Add the butternut squash, parsnips, tomato paste and turn the heat up to boiling for about 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.  Some people add the vegetables when they put the meat on to boil however this can make the vegetables too  mushy before the meat has been tenderized.

Eat and enjoy with some crusty bread or toast.  A perfect dish for our coolish temperatures. We have had fresh snow on the mountains for two nights in a row. We are expecting more snow and rain starting in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Fresh snow on the mountains for two days in a row. I'm sure the skiers are delighted. Me, not so much.

I make a lot of stews over the winter.  This is the best one by far for rich tasting and savoury gravy.  I'll definitely make it again.