Stuffed Zucchini Au Gratin

Here's what's up: melting cheese on things. It's a well-known fact that melted cheese can make almost anything better. Just try and think of one thing that some kind of cheese is not good with. My love of cheese is what fueled yet another recipe. This week, I decided to take a standard stir-fry mélange of ingredients and put them inside a zucchini, then melt cheese on top. Thus: stuffed zucchini au gratin.

What I used:
3 zucchinis (Hillcrest Farm)
2 maple sage pork sausages (Getaway Meat Mongers)
1 diced tomato (Noggins Corner)
1 diced onion (Noggins Corner)
1 large hunk of cranberry cheddar (Foxhill Cheeses)
1 large sprig rosemary (Hillcrest Farm)

How I made it:

I began by boiling the pork sausages until the casings turned white, so that the meat would stay intact when I cut them into small cubes. It took a lot of will-power not to eat them right off the bat, as I have a very dangerous love-triangle involving pork and maple. After an epic inward struggle, I managed to pre-heat the oven to 350 and got started on the zucchini. First, I washed and trimmed them. Then I scooped the soft seeded middle out with a spoon, setting the zucchini shells aside on a baking sheet. I then diced the insides and put them in a bowl. Into the bowl went the onion, tomato, rosemary and sausage. I gave that a good mix, then piled it high into the zucchini shells. Then I put the wonderful little mounds of goodness into the oven for about 25 minutes. I then removed them from the oven just long enough to cover them with a thick blanket of grated cranberry cheddar. Back into the oven they went, for about 3 minutes. I then took them out of the oven, let them cool for a minute too and mowed down. Om nom nom.

Creamy Harvest Soup

If there's one thing that screams "Autumn" to me, it's pumpkins. As soon as I see them, I know it's time to start making preserves and cooking up some nice hearty soups to be frozen. So here is my fall season's first hearty soup that is sure to keep me warm throughout the cold season.

What I used:

1 pound sweet potato (washed, peeled and diced)

5 carrots (w, p, d)

1 small pumpkin (w, p, d)

1 green onion

1 litre chicken stock

2 splashes of Keith's IPA

Salt and pepper to taste

How to make it:

In a large, heavy pot, boil the sweet potato, carrots and pumpkin chunks  in water with a pinch of salt until all of them are tender and sweet. This should take about 10-15 minutes Drain and set them aside. Rinse the pot and put it back on the heat, with a fine drizzle of olive oil in the bottom. Finely dice the green onion and add it to he oil. Stir constantly until it is cooked. Add the already cooked vegetables back into the pot, and add the chicken stock on top. Bring all this to a boil, then take it down to a simmer for about 30-45 minutes. Take the pot off the heat, and run the whole soup through a food processor or blender. When serving, finish it with a little bit of cream and a little bit of fresh grated nutmeg. Om nom nom.