Christmas Brussel Sprouts

In our house we fight for the Brussel Sprouts.  Usually we have to count so we can be fair to all.
Derek bought 4 lbs. for us, 5 people,  so we would all have as much as we wanted.
Lexi loves cherries, so in her honor I came up with this recipe!  A winner for sure!

Christmas Sprouts
4 lbs. Brussel Sprouts, cleaned and trimmed
3/4 cup dried tart cherries
2 cloves garlic
4 TBSP butter
1/4 cup real maple syrup
1/2 cup cabernet sauvignon wine

In a small sauce pan add the cherries and other 4 ingredients.  Simmer on a low heat until cherries become tender and flavors are blended, about 20 minutes.  You can do this while washing and trimming your sprouts.
Place sprouts in a large bowl and add the cherries mixture.  Toss until well coated and pour into a sheet pan.  Roast in a 400 degree over for 40 to 50 minutes, depending on the size of the sprouts.
Serve. Yummy!
Merry Christmas to all!

Growing Totals for 2013

Since I have some down time and the garden is covered with ice and snow and the kitchen renovations are taking all our project time I decided to total all harvests for 2013 to motivate myself for the new growing year.
Totals are in pounds or each, for larger individual picked items.
Here they are:
Apples 5 lbs.
Asparagus 15 1/2 lbs.
Acorn Squash 6 ea.
Beets 4 lbs.
Broccoli 2 lbs.
Butternut squash 8 ea.
Blackberries 1 3/4 lbs.
Carrots  3 lbs.
Cucumbers 30 ea.
Cantaloupe 1ea.
Cabbage 3 ea.
eggplant 4 ea.
Garlic Bulbs 24 ea.
Grapes 5 gallons
Honey Dew melon 2 ea.
Lettuce 13 1/2 lbs.
Onions 37 ea.
Pak Choy 4 lbs.
Potatoes 2 lbs.
Pea Pods 1 1/2 lbs.
Pumpkins 1 ea.
Peppers 84 ea. asst. sweet, banana and jalapeno
Peaches 13 ea.
Spinach 20 lbs.
Swiss Chard 21 3/4 lbs.
Strawberries 3 3/4 lbs.
Snake beans 2 1/2 lbs.
Tomatillos 56 ea.
Tomatoes 151 lbs.
Watermelon 7 ea.
Yellow squash 8 ea.
Zucchini 72 lbs.
Some notes for this year: planted the green beans too late and didn't flower.  Squash bugs ruined the pumpkins and killed off the squash too early.  Even though we got more than enough zucchini, the yellow, winter and pumpkins didn't do well.
Carrots and beets were not planted early enough either. The heat of summer was too much for them.
Overall the tomatoes were outstanding.
Fruit trees while all young are looking good. Have to keep watch on them to make sure they grow to maturity.
All -in all not to shabby!

Blue Cheese Cabbage Cream Soup

I traveled up to Omaha a few times this past fall and my colleague, Lisa Thomas, took me to a bistro that has become my favorite.  Taxi's offers this outstanding cream soup which combines blue cheese, cabbage and caraway seeds.  We unsuccessfully asked for the recipe but after trying it a few times, I think I got close.
I would love to have them view my recipe to see just how close I got.  Share with your friends, everyone and hopefully it will make it to the chef at Taxi's.

Blue Cheese Cabbage Cream Soup 4 main servings or 8 cups as an appetizer
6 cups of green cabbage, chopped to bite-sized pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 TBSP caraway seeds
1 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP sea salt
1 TSP  white pepper
Place these ingredients in a stock or soup pot on medium heat, with a cover. Saute and sweat the cabbage and onions until tender, about 15 minutes.

Then add 4 TBSP flour, (I used oat bran flour for the gluten free choice)
Stir the ingredients until thick.

Add 2 cups chicken broth and 1 quart 1/2 & 1/2, slowly and alternating, to make a creamy béchamel sauce. Simmer to thicken.

Then add 3 to 4 oz. crumbled blue cheese.  Simmer and stirring constantly until melted.
Ladle into bowls and enjoy!

Turkey Chili

With all the turkey leftovers, this is my favorite.
TURKEY CHILI (picture posted on my facebook page)

1 lb. white turkey, broken in bite size pieces
2 lb. cut up heirloom tomatoes (or regular if you don't have a garden, I used Granny Smith and orange Branywine to give my chili fresh color)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2  14 oz.  cans of kidney beans, drained
1 lb. bag of frozen corn
1 4 oz. can of tomato paste
1 quart of freshly made salsa ( you can use a jar salsa but results are not as good, I made many batches and froze some for winter chili making)
2 tsp ground cumin
3 tbsp. chili powder,( I use 1 of each, chipotle, ancho and regular hot)
1 tbsp. salt
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup chopped roasted hatch green chilies, (you can substitute a can of chopped green chilies)
1/4 cup dried polenta or 1/4 cup quinoa

Place all ingredients in a crock pot on high for the first 30 minutes, then reduce to low for 4 hours.
30 minutes before serving, add polenta or quinoa to thicken.  Serve with grated cheddar and sour cream.
Yummy!

Winter Salad

Winter Salad
With the last batch of beets from the garden, I roasted them with a bit of drizzled olive oil, salt & pepper.
3 large beets washed and quartered
4 cups of Spring greens, placed in a bowl
1 cup chopped Romaine lettuce
1 granny smith apple washed, peeled and chopped
5 radishes, washed and sliced
1/4 cup feta cheese

Dressing:
1/4 cup Olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup real maple syrup
add to a bowl or jar and mix

The beets will make the apples and feta a bright red and the luscious greens & red look like Christmas.
Enjoy!

No Kitchen! But lots of Yummy Galubki !

So, back in August we gutted half of our house.  I should say Steve and his cousin Daniel did.  They removed 3 walls added beams, bumped up the ceiling in the living room and we now have an open concept Living room, Dining room and kitchen.  Three long months with no kitchen, so the garden is on hold.  I have Swiss chard, much to Steve's dismay, and cabbage and just picked the last of the beets and that's it.  House3 takes priority and I'll start seedlings to go in the hoop house during my Christmas Break.
We are very tired of working but we make progress each night, like install of few can lights in the ceiling or get some painting done. New hard wood floors were installed two weeks ago.  I have to finish them, with a natural clear coat.  I want all the color variation to show.  The counter tops are the project for the rest of November.  The photo above shows the stone material, Turkish Quartz.  It has a sheen with iron colored spots.  It's fabulous!
Rather than sharing stories of the garden, for the winter I will share updates on the progress.  Hopefully we'll be done to reveal by New Years.  Even that will be pushing it.
So, with no kitchen, I am using a microwave in the basement, a sink in the laundry room (also in the basement) and an oven and crock pot in the garage!  I am about to have a nervous breakdown.
Right now, I am getting by with a lot of wine!

But, after picking some fabulous cabbage, and me, being a polish-descent,  lover of galubki (stuffed cabbage rolls) I decided to try the dish unrolled!
Unrolled Galubki
Enter one crock pot.
 Place 4 cups, ripe chopped tomatoes (had them fresh, still from my garden)
1 small head of green cabbage, coarsely chopped
2 cups veggie juice (I like Trader Joe's the best),
 2 cups beef broth,
 4 TBSP brown sugar,
1 TBSP Caraway seeds,
1 chopped jalapeno (seeded),
4 stalks of celery, diced,
1 lb. ground beef, browned in a sauté pan,
 1 tsp garlic powder,
 1 tsp salt,
 1 tsp black pepper
Heat on low for 4 hours, then add 1  cup long grain rice, cook on low for an additional hour, stir well and serve.
Just like I remembered as a child but much easier!  Pollock's unite! Get out of the kitchen.  Use your crock pot and get the same great tasting results!

Hard Freeze Warnings for Tonight and New Babies at the Farm.

I just got back this week from Palm Springs.  Nights have been 39 to 40 degrees, quite a difference from Palm Springs weather.  Starting last night I picked 30 lbs of green tomatoes, cut all my herbs, picked the tomatillos and covered the cabbage, beans and pepper plants.  Hopefully we will have some warmer weather for a while so I can get a good batch of beans before Thanksgiving.  I really only need one more good week.  Plants are full of blossoms. 
We also have 8 new baby ducks at the farm.  Our Mallard female got together with a mallard male and a Peking male, so we have a mixture of black and beige ducks.  One baby seems to be almost all white and the others look like Dalmatians! It will be interesting to see what they look like as full grown.
With the cold weather descending on us, I made a pot of hearty Butternut Squash Soup with coconut milk and ginger with a bit of spice.  Sort of a Thai theme. Recipe below:
1 large roasted butternut squash, peeled and cut into small pieces
4 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp. minced ginger
salt & pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1/2 cup of red lentils
1.4 tsp. cayenne pepper
Cook the above ingredients in a crock pot oh high for 4 hours.  Add 1 can of lite coconut milk and stir to combine.  Use an immersion blender to blend until smooth, adjust seasonings to taste. Serve with crusty French bread and Chardonnay! Yummy

Fall is finally here!

It was 98 degrees yesterday with humidity in the 60's and today after thunderstorms all night, fall has finally arrived.  Crisp 70 degrees this morning and all the animals are happy! 
I picked all the apples this morning and will make sauce.  Last year we had more apples and pears than we knew what to do with them and this year I only yielded half of a 5 gallon bucket.  Crazy!

Tomatoes are still doing great since we had Indian summer weather, up until yesterday.
I have to make Salsa Verdi today, I am making a batch of Gazpacho for dinner.  I'll serve it with spicy grilled shrimp, yummy!

Kitchen reno going slowly so I am freezing as much as I can.  Spinach, chard and roma tomatoes are all going in the freezer.

Updates on Reno soon.

Fall planting with 100 degrees? Let's make salsa instead!

Its moving toward mid-September and its been over 90 for the past two weeks.  I have processed at least 40 lbs of tomatoes, and made salsa enough for a year in a Mexican Restaurant.  We will be able to enjoy tomatoes for the entire winter.
But, alas, the heat won't help my cool weather planting.  Its too hot to plant my greens, beans and cauliflower.  I'll just have to wait until the weather breaks.  I am busy running events for my day job anyway, but when I get back next week I'll have to start picking my apples.  I ate one yesterday, right off the tree and they are just about ready.  Another two or 3 weeks will do it.  We could use some rain too.  No new tomatoes are sprouting and all the green ones are ripening at the same time.  Too many at once!!!!  We'll be eating tomatoes 24/7!
Along with the crazy weather, we are renovation our home.  Steve has removed two walls in between the living room, dining room and kitchen.  We now have a true Open-Concept house. He is now busy building custom cabinets, our sink, pot-filler and faucet will be in this week.  Now to pick out the counter top and have them come and make a template. Ouch, its all expensive when you do so much at once.  Thank God we have free labor.
Our mallard duck has begun layer her eggs.  I have moved 4 of them this week, under the road runner nesting chicken.  We'll see in 3 weeks, we may have more babies this fall.
We now have 3 male ducks and 1 female.  Two males are pekins, you know, the Aflac ducks, and one male is a mallard.  One of the white ducks wants the female, so he keeps chasing the male mallard away.  He is being terribly obnoxious and we have to go out there and yell at him to make him stop. Crazy ducks. The other white duck is sedate as he lost his mate to a critter awhile back.  He just follows every other bird we have.

Here is the salsa Recipe I used last weekend:
4 lb. ripe red tomatoes
2 tbsp. lime juice,
2 fresh jalapenos, seeded and diced
2 tbsp. fresh cilantro
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin, ground
1 small onion, minced
1 fresh garlic clove, minced.
I threw all ingredients into the food processor and pulsed, adjusted seasonings (like add more jalapenos if needed) then pulse until chunky but blended.  This makes 1 quart.

What a harvest after being away for a week!

After being gone from home a week, I walked through the garden and picked what was ready.  Steve picked at least 20 lbs. of tomatoes which I cleaned and froze the night I got home.  We have at least 40 lbs. frozen so far for winter! Yummy!
So, this is what I picked the next day during my lunch break. three cucumbers, 12 peppers, both sweet green and yellow banana, 1 pie pumpkin, 1 lb. of broccolini (rapa), 1 lb. of spinach (vine type),
a cantaloupe, an eggplant, 12 tomatillos and another 10 or so tomatoes.
The squash bugs have devastated my zucchini, yellow squash, pumpkin and now cucumber plants. Buggers.  There were thousands in the garden about two weeks ago.  I planted mint and sprinkled organic dust, but too late.  We'll have to make it through the winter with the 40 lbs.
 we already harvested.  Ha! Ha!  Who could eat more in one winter?  In the area where all the squash plants were, I will till and plant my fall batch of cauliflower and green beans.

I have to walk over to our satellite garden at Jim's next door to see what needs to be picked there. I also have to go check the rest of the grapes.
I did check the satellite garden.  The squash still looks good there and I just picked two 2 lb. zucchini.  I also picked another 10 lbs. of tomatoes and 2 large beets.  As I swung on home I passed the grape vines and picked two more pounds of grapes.  This weekend I will make my concord grape jelly, peach jam, from the peaches I picked on our tree and tonight I better make another batch of Tomatillo Salsa Verdi.  Yummy!

Satelite Garden doing just fine

Now that we have two gardens, we have been weeding and mulching much more!  The top photo is our satellite garden just after weeding and mulching with hay.  Two rows of tomatoes, one  row of squash, zucchini and summer, two rows of carrots, one row of beets and one row of winter squash and melons.
This year we tried growing tomatillos for the first time.  How interesting and beautiful they are.  The plants look like tomatoes, many tiny yellow blossoms appear, like dots on fabric.
 Then  Japanese lanterns appear, hovering just below the bright green canopy of leaves.  They grow bigger and more opaque.  The fruit will grow in them.  So cool and pretty!  Like their own protection from pets.
The last photo is of one garlic bulb I dug out to see how big they were.  The two red ions were left over from last years and got lost in the weeds. Little surprises.  The garlic will be ready soon.  Now that we have some sun, the onions are really taking off. 
The last part of the weekend was spent digging out nasty hay in the duck stall and laying new fresh bedding for them.  They are very happy now.  While I was working one of the hens came in to see what I was doing.  She quickly disappeared under the huge pile of fresh hay.  As I scooped up a bunch with my rake, she came with me, got a quick ride,  then hopped and ran off.  She left me a gift though, a bright blue egg!

Next Garden Project - we are building an ARK

Drought last year in Missouri devastated many crops and farmers had a very rough year.  This year we have so much rain, our fields are flooding.  Can we get a bit of a break without extremes please?
This past week we received so much rain, our tomato plants were turning yellow.  This past weekend, we dug up all the tomato plants, engineered bigger and higher raised beds and replanted all the tomato plants.  A lot of work, but we hope to at least get half the yield we hoped for.
The squash and cucumber plants all look really good but if they don't get sun now, the blossoms will whither and drop off.  Two days of sun between rain days would be ideal.  I'll keep praying for that.
At least I have an excuse not to be out there weeding.  Much too muddy, my boots weight 50 lbs after walking 10 feet! Great work out for the legs though.
I have to say the ducks are in heaven.  They don't know where the pond ends and yard begins because its all under water! Ha Ha!

Summer has arrived early

This is my usual morning pick before I go off to work.  With the weather less wet and a lot more warm now, we have 90 degrees in the afternoons, my strawberries are ripening as fast as we can eat them. I have never had strawberry shortcake 3 times in one week before. I am NOT complaining.  Now I will save the rest for Jam!
Asparagus is coming in nicely, although it was slowed down with the drought last year.  Its like we are back to picking for the first year instead of the second full spring of picking. I will freeze a bit too, to have for the winter.  Especially since I have found a fantastic and delicious way to make Quiche that has been one of my favorites this spring.  It would be great in winter too.

French Herb Cheese & Asparagus Quiche:
1 pastry crust, cooked in a 9 inch pie pan
1/2 cup French Herb cheese (see recipe below)
1/2 pound of asparagus, cut in 2" pieces and blanched until soft  .
6 eggs
1 cup cream
salt & pepper to taste
Place cooked asparagus pieces in bottom of crust.
Combine eggs in a bowl and whip by hand while counting to 80. Add salt & pepper to taste.  Pour eggs into pan, over asparagus.  Drop small dollops of French herb cheese (about 1 tbsp. in size) in  egg mixture until distributed evenly.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Check that crust does not get too brown, cover with foil if needed.
The French herb cheese gets bubbly and delicious.  I serve this with a mixed green salad with balsamic vinaigrette.  Outstanding but light. Oh and a glass of chardonnay too, of course.

French Herb Cheese (borrowed from one of my favorite cookbooks) Beyond Parsley by KC Junior League. Fabulous book.  If you ever see a copy, pick it up. Timeless and classy recipes.
1 8oz. pkg cream cheese
6 tbsp. softened butter
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1 dash of Tabasco or other hot sauce.
(I add 1 tbsp. minced fresh chives as well)
Combine all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.  Chill remaining cheese for another time.

Memorial Weekend- 3 days of planting

3 full days off with Steve ready on the shovel, we began planting.  Steve dug all the holes for 48 tomato plants and I placed and covered them.  We also got 24 squash plants in and I transplanted 4 broccoli plants that needed more room.
Everything is in now except the seeds for the sunflowers.  I have to pick some up this week.
Steve dug draining trenches on the edges of the garden, because we needed a bit more drainage in the center of the garden.
I have lots of cultivating to do this week in the potato area and beans. Lots of grass is already popping up.
Picked 2 pounds of asparagus, we are now getting about a pound every two days. Lots of lettuce and the Swiss Chard just keeps on giving.  I picked about a pound of carrots, they were leftovers from the winter planting.
Steve was highly motivated this past weekend, he pulled up the wall-to-wall carpet in the office and is going to install new hardwood flooring. I can hear the house saying "thank you". We need to get it done before June 8th though.  Will and Lexi are coming to visit.

Planting done, just in the nick of time!

Woke up early on Saturday.  Had a quick breakfast and while we were eating we had a visitor. Our crazy rooster heard us talking because the windows were open and here he came for attention.  He hopped up on our patio table and let us know he wanted an invitation. He would come in the house if we let him.
Steve was on the tractor doing a final tilling in the garden, by 9:00 AM.
I picked some produce while that was happening.  4 lb. of Swiss chard, 2 lb. of asparagus, 4 lb. of lettuce and 1 lb. of spinach.  I dug up a few carrots to test for size and they need another week at least.  Garlic and onions are doing well and finally the potatoes are popping out.  It's been so cool up until this week everything was a bit slow.
So, by noon I was ready to plant.  First I went over to our second garden, which is in our neighbor Jim's yard.  This year he said we can garden in his yard as he is too old to garden the whole area. We tilled a plot that is 20' by 50'.  I planted 18 tomato plants, winter squash (both butternut & acorn) and planted seeds for Bull's Blood beets, two kinds or carrots, (yellow and orange), watermelon and cantaloupe.
Then went back to our garden and planted 22 cucumber plants, 8 peppers, 4 eggplant, 2 honey dew, musk melon and4  tomatillos.  Then I added some lavender plants and Rosemary. Those were the only herbs that didn't come back on their own this year.  I have 16 tomato plants still to go in but I was exhausted by 5:30 PM I just couldn't did another hole. I was going to put them in Sunday afternoon but as soon as I finished making my weekly batch of quiche, the storms came rumbling in.  We got a great dose of rain. Very good for my seeds.
We also stopped and bought some gold fish for our pond. We put in about 30 carp to keep things clean.  We'll add more at a later date, if we need them.
Quiche selections this week, 1. Spinach with bacon & Swiss and 2. Asparagus with French herb cheese. I try new recipes each week. The spinach, bacon & Swiss is definitely a repeat.  That was fabulous and I'll use that recipe a lot.  Then I make an experimental one and will add only the best to the list.  I may start taking orders for these. They are definitely good enough to share!

Where, oh where can she be? The sun that is!

 

The sun has disappeared!  Third straight week of cloudy, dull skies and I am wondering what has happened to the sun!  This spring has been so cold, we really are having a hard time getting our garden started for the growing season.  Finally on Sunday it was close to 70 degrees, although still gray skies, we were able to get a first tilling in.  I planted our onions and potatoes.  After checking with my growing record for last year I see we are an entire month later this year than last year. UGH!
We want warmth and sun.
4 to 6 inches of rain expected in the next two days.  Might as well plan on other projects while we wait!  Cleveland Town Garage Sale coming in a week and our visit to St Louis this weekend to meet our grand dog should be fun.
Now an update on the continuing saga of our crazy pet rooster.  Mr. Grey as we call him, loves us more than his hens. He is now 1 year old and no sign of mating with any of his hens, but sure loves to have sex on our farm boots each morning.  OH well, anyway, since we now only have one adult duck and she does not like to be by herself during the day, she has taken to following the rooster around.  Each morning she waits for him to come out of the chicken coop, eats a bit of breakfast with the hens then when the rooster starts his farm yard patrol, the duck is right there with him.  She makes cooing sounds at him and bobs her head in respect!  So, we have a crazy gay rooster and a duck who is attracted to a chicken, who knew?   A match made in heaven for sure!

is spring here yet? New babies have arrived!

Winter is just not going away here.  It is Easter Sunday tomorrow and we have a chance of snow again on Monday.  So we are doing the things we can do to prepare for spring.  My Spinach is doing great, picked about 4 lbs so far since the begining of March and we have 5 new baby ducks in the barn.
They are two weeks old and just as cute as they can be.  Our single adult duck (female) has taken to sleeping with them and doing a lot of quacking at them.  We are hoping she will teach them the ropes.
We received over 30 inches of snow this winter and a lot of rain also.  Our pond is completely full and the ground is mud! As the ranchers say:better mud than dust! We are hoping the drought wioll be eased this year.
Trees are all budding except my fig and olive tree, the last ones we planted in the fall.  With the drought I may have lost them.  I'll wait till mid-April before I replace them.
Our cold frame box kept us in greens over the winter.  We had 3 months of Pak choy, radishes and now I have lettuce. I planted some bush beans, today, for an early pick. 
Our crazy rooster kept eating all my swiss chard.  We had to clip his wings so he can't fly over the fence, that was sadder to Steve than losing the swiss chard!
Now we wait to see if all the fruit trees will bud and bloom in late April. And, if warm weather ever gets here we will plan out last tilling and start to plant.

Hummus recipes

I love making hummus and so many friends love eating it.
Here are a couple of recipes
First, the basic
Ten two different versions

Classic Hummus
1  can garbanzo beans or Italian chick peas (meme chose)
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp salt
2cloves fresh garlic minced
3tbsp tahini. Sesame paste
1tsp white pepper
2tbsp plain yogurt
2tbsp lemon juice
4tbsp olive oil
Place beans , tahini , spices and garlic in food processor, pulse until chopped
Add yogurt lemon juice and process with motor running add olive oil through the feed tube until completely blended.
Scoop out into a bowl
Voila

Artichoke hummus
Same recipe as above but use 1 14 oz can artichoke hearts quartered and omit the yogurt
Add more garbanzo beans if consistency is too loose

Sweet red pepper hummus
Same recipe as above but omit the yogurt and add 1 12 to 14oz jar of roasted red peppers drained and chopped
Enjoy!

Too much snow

Fruit Pruning time!

These are photos of our granny smith apple tree blossoms from last spring.  It won't be long before the warm sun will bring new blooms again. Today Steve and I worked for several hours pruning all our fruit trees.  Our Jonagold trees in Jim's yard were the worst.  They haven't been pruned in 10 years or so, much needed cutting took place and as we left the trees you could almost hear a sigh of relief.  They certainly looked taller too.
So, inventory, we have two granny smith trees,  two Jonagold, two pear,  two Alberta Peach, one mission fig an olive tree and three areas with grapevines.  Defintiely enough to keep us hopping!  Now we have a nice big pile of apple wood for smoking. Bring on the pork butt!

It may be winter but we are still busy!

Over the holiday break from work, we are still keeping busy at the farm.

Here are photos of the mushroom starter we recieved as a gift for Christmas and the first harvest of mushrooms we picked on January 5th.  Yummy lobster mushrooms.  We made chinese stirfry veggies with them and teryiaki chicken for dinner!

Also, I had some pureed pumpkin left from the summer batch, which I had frozen.  I made Pumpkin Bread with marbled chocolate and then tried a recipe adapted from Martha Stewart for pumpkin cream pasta.  It was outstanding!  It will become one of my regular recipes for sure.  Just make sure you go for a good run the next day.  It's not light!

Pumpkin Cream Pasta:

1 lb fettucine, cooked  as instructed

1 medium onion diced

1 tsp fennel seed

4 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp cooked bacon bits

1 cup heavy cream

1 pinch of mace

1 cup pureed pumpkin

Combine onion, fennel seed, butter and oil in a saute pan until the onion is tender.  Add the bacon, mace, cream and pumpkin until warmed thoroughly.  Stir frequently and keep at a low temp.  Add cooked pasta and adjust with salt & pepper.  Serve immediately with fresh grated parmesean cheese.