Pinching your pennies, but still looking for earth-friendly produce? Here’s how to eat responsibly on a budget.

With one out of ten Americans unemployed, money is tight and grocery store options can seem scarce. Still, 34 percent of Americans say they are more likely to buy environmentally responsible products today than in 2009, according to a recent Cone Survey Report.

Sustainable products may often seem more expensive than the alternatives. But a 2009 Leopold study found otherwise. “When they compared the prices of locally grown produce to those in outside areas, they found it was cheaper to buy locally,” says Melissa Graham, president of Purple Asparagus, a Chicago non-profit that promotes sustainable eating.

Nonetheless,  many Americans struggle with budgeting. Here are ways to fit responsible foods into a tight income.

Head to the market
“One of the first things I recommend is to go to some of the city’s farmers markets,” says Nancy Johnson, who operates the Chicago based Web site Sustaneity, which promotes sustainable living. She recommends  the Green City Market, which is held at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum during the winter months, among others.

Katherine Sacks

Make a plan
Overwhelmed by all the choices  farmers markets offer, shoppers may impulse buy more expensive convenience products later on. “Go in with a list,” says Graham, who suggests shoppers outline their weekly menu out ahead of time.

David Rand, a farm forager for Green City Market, prefers to plan a few weekly shopping trips, doing his staple shopping at the farmers market and then purchasing “feature ingredients” a few times a week.  “That way you don’t waste as much money and you end up spending less,” he says.

Arrive late
“The best time for someone on a budget to go is a half an hour before the market ends,” Graham recommends. Farmers are often willing to offer last-minute deals on items they don’t want to bring back home. She also says to buy in bulk for a better value.

Stretch your food
Think about how to use all the parts of your foods, says Graham. She suggests roasting whole chickens and using the bones for soup, and using vegetable stems and scraps for stocks. “When buying only the chicken breast, there is a lot of waste involved,” she says, with added expense for the shopper.

“A lot of people aren’t aware of the best ways to make the food last,” Rand agrees, “or how to preserve its shelf life.” He suggests wrapping fresh herbs in paper towels and then placing them in plastics bags, which will increase shelf life up to a week.

Stick with the seasons
The most cost-effective tip is buying what’s in season, says Johnson, who adapted a sustainable lifestyle more than 15 years ago. “If you buy what’s locally produced, it’s less expensive, and if you buy what’s in season, it’s less expensive,” she says.

“To be really sustainable, you have to be willing to adapt to the seasons,” she says.

Katherine Sacks

After the massive earthquake hit Haiti in early January, the world reacted. Aid poured into the struggling country  from every corner, as relief workers fought to rescue survivors and distribute supplies to the thousands now in need. From large scale text-message donation services to the highly-successful Hope for Haiti Now telethon, huge efforts have been made to raise money. Restaurants have held benefit dinners, stores have started to collect donations, and performers have released benefit songs.

Chicagoans are among the many contributing to the aid effort. While not all of the fundraisers are on the national level, each endeavor can be an effective way to raise money for the Caribbean country, as a group of local Yelpers proved this past Saturday, January 25th. They took a small idea, a bake sale, and turned it into a big way to raise money for Haiti.

As event coordinator Tina Bennett said, “It was a very organic process. I’m a parent, and so the idea of a bake sale to raise money seemed like a very natural one. I know how to bake, I know how to have a bake sale. So it seemed easy and I just figured why don’t I just ask a bunch of businesses that were my favorite businesses to help and basically everybody just said yes and it all came together very quickly and easily, kind of amazingly.”

Bennett, with the the help of volunteer organizer Cassie David, was able to enlist over 30 volunteers and garner donations from seven Chicago area bakeries for the Yelp sponsored event, including Angel Food Bakery, Luscious Layers Bakery and Bleeding Heart Bakery. Hyde Park restaurant Medici on 57th donated its upstairs space, where the sale took place.Plates of cookies, cupcakes and brownies lined long tables, as volunteers clad in Yelp’s signature red shirts sliced into rich chocolate cakes and bagged cookies. One volunteer even sold doggie treats. Attendees were asked to purchase tickets, which they then traded with the volunteers for baked goods.

“It was all over twitter and people were really excited about it,” said attendee, Lincoln Square resident Page Worthy. “With Yelpers, usually it’s just all about drinking and getting free stuff, but when it really matters they’ll come out and support a cause.”

Click above to view a slide show of the Baking for Haiti event

Contributors and volunteers came from all areas of Chicago for many reasons. Some were enticed by the big name bakeries, others wanted to make a donation or help aid efforts for Haiti. By mid afternoon, many of the tables and platters were bare.  After several hours and pounds of sugar, flour and butter, Baking for Haiti raised over $1500. These proceeds will go directly to both Doctors without Borders and Oxfam.

“It’s pretty amazing  how this has come together,” David said. “I think that this has been really great because it shows that you just have to have this little idea and get a community of people behind you and you can do it.”

In the winter time, one of my favorite breakfast treats is often a bowl of granola, filled with steamed soy milk. I love the way the heartiness of the oats and nuts mixes with the hot, sweet milk; it’s a great way to warm up before starting a chilly day. When I first developed this recipe a few years ago in Los Angeles, I was so happy with it, I ate a bowl almost every morning for breakfast. Now a days, I only make a batch occasionally, usually as a special treat or sometimes as a gift. Still, it  holds a special place as one of my favorite eats.

My preferred recipe includes zesty orange juice, rich Marcona almonds, and tangy dried apricots, but the great thing about homemade granola is you can use whatever you have in your cupboards to throw a batch together. Leftover nuts and dried fruit from cookie and bread recipes can all get tossed into the mix; the secret is the right amount of sugar and slow cooking to ensure big, crunchy crumbles.The possibilities really are endless, so try different variations of nuts, dried fruits, and fruit juices to see what you like best. It makes a wonderful wholesome breakfast with steamed milk, or a great snack for midday.

Granola
1 container rolled oats, 18 oz
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup white caster sugar
1/2 dark brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup Marcona almonds
1/2 cup hazelnuts
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup dried apricots, quartered
1/2 cup dried cherries
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste
1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. In a small, heavy bottomed sauce pot, bring the orange juice, sugars, and oil to a boil over medium heat.

3. Place the oats and nuts in a large bowl. Line one baking sheet with a silpat, or non-stick baking mat for easy clean-up later on.

4. Pour the liquid onto the oats and mix with wooden spoon until completely coated. Pour mixture onto the baking sheet and spread out evenly. Work quickly before the oats become too sticky.

5. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and using a spatula, move toss the granola around carefully. Bake for another 20-30 minutes until golden brown.

6. Remove the tray from oven and place dried fruit and spices on warm granola. Toss on sheet tray and allow to cool. Store in zip lock bags.

Planning my trip to stage at The Fat Duck restaurant last summer, I had so many questions. How many chefs jackets should I bring? Which knives I would need? How could I possibly escape making a fool of myself in front of the heavy-hitting cooks I would be training under?  I also couldn’t help but deliberate over whether to purchase the massive tome of The Big Fat Duck Cookbook, which had been released earlier that year(November 2008). Flipping through a friend’s copy, I fell in love with the words, the history of the place, the imaginative photographs and the bright, playful artwork. I dreamed of bringing the book along with me; having each cook I worked with sign it. (I secretly hopped I would meet Heston Blumenthal, the infamous chef behind the restaurant, and have him autograph the book as well.) At $250, the price of the book dug deep into my Europe spending money and the thought of lugging an 11-pound book around Rome and Paris in my backpack for two months was simply frightening. And so I refrained, deciding to pack lighter instead.

My week at The Fat Duck was a whirlwind of watching some of the world’s best cooks prepare some of the world’s best food.  The system of the Fat Duck is one with a million tiny little components; each job done with the up most care. From a perfectly centered sticker on a treat bag to vanilla beans cut into “cherry stems” with an exacto knife to cleaning and pureeing cases of parsley at a time, an army of stages was grease for  the machine of cooks who made Blumenthal’s recipes come alive. Near the end of the week, one such stage mentioned the discount we would receive on the book, and the offer to have Blumenthal personally autograph it. At a discount of 70 GBP($113), I forgot about the weight of the book and pre-paid for a copy. Unfortunately it was Saturday, and the office holding the books was closed. I left England on Monday, hoping to arrange a way to recieve my book. After weeks of mis-understandings and my reluctance to pay shipping fees, I sadly left Europe just as I had been when I arrived, without a copy. For the time being, it would simply be a sour note in my European experience story.

And then, this past October 2009, publishing house Bloomsbury decided to re-print a slightly smaller version of the book, presenting The Fat Duck Cookbook. With all the content of the original, at the reduced price of $50, it was like a gift from the cookbook gods. I finely managed to have my very own copy of the volume, albeit sans Blumenthal autograph. Never the less I was thrilled.

The Fat Duck Cookbook is all at once impressive, inspiring, and thought-provoking.  Beginning with an introduction by Harold McGee, a genius in his own rite, it is in essence three books: one covering the history of The Fat Duck and Blumenthal, one showcasing the recipes of the restaurant, and one explaining of the science used to create the innovative cuisine. The pages are dotted with bright, flashy drawings from artist Dave McKean and incredible photographs from Dominic Davies. It is a true introduction to the restaurant twice voted best in the world; flipping through its pages you can almost hear Blumenthal’s voice, smell the foods, touch the plates.

For a true gourmand, the details of the beginnings of this unconventional chef and his three-star Michelin restaurant are captivating. A young boy growing up in middle-class England, Blumenthal describes how his early interest in food led to a job trimming large piles of green beans to transforming a village pub into The Fat Duck. As a child, the self-taught chef poured through classic cookbooks, teaching himself technique and flavor. As an adult, he continued to look at books for the answers, only his questions became more complex. Sharing the experiences of building the restaurant, receiving Michelin stars and testing concepts beyond their conventional limits, Blumenthal’s first section of The Fat Duck Cookbook is a full of wonderful insight into the wizard of a chef and the restaurant he created.

Of course, their would be no history of The Fat Duck without the food. These are recipes that take months to develop in a special test kitchen at the restaurant. Reading through the recipes Blumenthal offers, you have the experience of sitting in the dining room and being personally served each dish by the chef himself. The minutia of detail and the thought process behind it is laid before you to enjoy. Every element of the experience is picked apart; from the flatware to accompanying sounds and smells, each is particularly chosen for the dish. Blumenthal explores every curiosity, testing sound, pairing an iPod playing ocean sounds with a sushi course; playing with temperatures, serving a half hot/half cold tea; and testing the mind, serving red jellies that taste like orange and orange jellies that taste like red beets. These may not be recipes you will whip up for Friday night dinner, but Blumenthal’s curiosity comes alive in the explanation of each; they sure are fun to read and understand.

The determined curiosity of Blumenthal is answered by combing science with food. The third section of his book explains the techniques, tools, and ingredients necessary for the scientific chef. Reading the theories of cookery, viewing the laboratory-like equipment, and reading about the chemicals Blumenthal uses, you can really understand the difference in approach this restaurant takes than most others in the world. The section ends with articles written by scientists throughout the world, reporting on the theories of flavor, smell, and taste.

Not only an autobiography of one of the world’s most innovative chefs and restaurants, a cookbook, and a scientific exploration, The Fat Duck Cookbook is also a beautiful piece of art, a mash-up of chef and style. Creative photographs place Blumenthal’s dishes in a mossy woods scene, a dry dessert, or a sky of fireworks. Colorful art swooshes in and out of the prose: a world of birds with human hands for heads and flying chefs is created in the text. Comic strip stories and the drawings of adult and child Blumenthal interspersed throughout the chapters show the chef can let loose and not take life too seriously.

While it may seem a cookbook for food geeks, anyone interested in the history of one of the worlds greatest restaurants, the rise and complexity of innovative cuisine, or simply a lavish, colorful book filled with beautiful photography and artwork, can appreciate The Fat Duck Cookbook. It’s a wonderful book to own, even if it merely sits on your coffee table as a means to spark conversation, and the story it tells is captivating. Totally worth all $250 for the original, this newer version puts it grasp of those on a budget, making it available for almost anyone. At that price, it should be on the shelf of every would-be chef, gastronome, and interested eye.

Fresh Pick Box from Irv and Shelly’s Fresh Picks

A week into 2010 are you still undecided on your resolution to start the next year? Why not take a step towards the greener side of life and order this week’s groceries from a CSA(community supported agriculture) program. It may be winter and, unless you live in a warm weather climate, finding produce seems a bit out there. Don’t fret though, in warmer cities you can find CSA’s offering limited boxes this time of year and in chilly areas their are produce deliveries that source local and organic goods.

The traditional CSA involves purchasing a share in a farm in the form of a subscription, which can range from a month of weekly deliveries to a year’s worth of goods. By paying the farmers in advance, the purchaser helps offset the overhead costs of farming and develops a personal relationship with the food they are eating, becoming exposed to fresh, local goods and possibly new items. Many CSAs offer their subscribers the option of visiting the farms directly, door-to-door delivery or convenient pick-up locations, and an assorted variety of produce which can include everything from meat to eggs to fresh flowers. By pre-purchasing your produce in advance, you are also locking in your budget for that time period and guaranteeing you’ll be eating food at its peak flavor.

Most traditional CSAs offer subscriptions for the spring, summer and fall, as the winter provides too small a harvest. However, in many cities there are organizations that put together baskets of local, organic produce from a variety of farmers, even in the cold months. Many also offer similar produce sourced outside your local area when the product is not available there. In chilly Chicago, I managed to find a fresh produce delivery organization that supports local, independent farmers and promotes these items in their produce baskets. My first delivery from Irv and Shelly’s Fresh Picks arrived packed full of eggs and red oak lettuce from Illinois and red onions, potatoes, gold turnips, carrots and celery root from Wisconsin. While I no longer can frequent the farmers market several times a week as I did in Los Angeles, the bounty of crisp produce from my Fresh Picks box made me feel as though I had. Although it’s not a traditional CSA, choosing a produce delivery system like this still supports local, sustainable farmers. And as the seasons change, you can sign up with a more traditional CSA or pick more local produce from these delivery systems.

Many areas also offer the option of a CSA focused on farm raising animals with no hormones in a sustainable manner, such as Chicago area Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm. These organizations are more likely to offer year-round subscriptions and can provide various cuts of chicken, beef, and pork, eggs, and possibly milk or cheese. Supplemented with a produce CSA or order from a delivery system, you can almost cut out a trip to the supermarket entirely.

You may not be ready to purchase nine months of produce by subscribing to a CSA, but most organizations offer smaller commitments, and in the end you can save money buying organic produce directly from the farmers than through large grocery stores. If you aren’t ready to go full swing and sign up with a traditional CSA for your New Years resolution, start out small and order a week’s worth of goods from a service that offers produce baskets sourced from local growers. You’ll taste the difference and that will be all you’ll need to make the change, for this year and the rest to come.

Search your area for CSA’s and other fresh produce delivery options at Local Harvest.

I’ve just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I’m a bit behind, as most people read this book when it was published in 2007. I could have done the same, when my mother gave a copy to both me and my sister that year as Christmas gifts. My sister had already jumped on the band wagon of reducing her carbon footprint, using recycled paper towels and changing all the light-bulbs in our house to energy saving ones, and she read the book almost as soon as she tore the wrapping paper off. As a student in culinary arts school, all I could think about was food, but my mind was far from the food system and I tossed the book aside. I was more concerned with how to de-bone a chicken then how it was grown, and as far as I knew, produce came off a truck, straight from the company our school bought it from.

After moving to California, my thoughts changed a bit. Tasting strawberries and tomatoes that lacked the starchy, cardboard substance of those found in East Coast grocery stores, I adopted a farmers market focus in my palate. I ate my first persimmons, chard, and fresh figs, purchased directly from the farmers who grew them, and I couldn’t get enough. Living on three years of California produce, I finally traveled to Europe to work on two organic farms, furthering my understanding of the importance of quality produce. After watching the documentary Food, Inc, I realized how this farmer focused produce fit into the picture of our food system. And how corn and soybean additives and government-subsidized, corporate agriculture should not. I changed my food ways, trying to buy goods from stores that supported local, sustainable companies and shopping more at the farmers market.

It wasn’t until I read the first few chapters of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, however, that I realized just how important knowing what you eat, where it comes from, and how it affects out food system, really is. The book tells the story of Barbara Kingsolver, who relocates her family from the dry and arid landscape of Arizona, to rural Appalachian Virginia. There, surrounded by a sprawling farm, the family of four embarks on a mission to eat only locally produced items, found within 150 miles of them, for one year. Throughout the prose of the Kingsolvers raising chicken and turkeys, gardening everything from apples to asparagus, and making bread, cheese, and pasta, is the literature that sticks in my mind: the why. The book tells why the family is growing their own food(because they can, and because food travels on average 1500 miles to get to your local store). It explains why the family raises their own turkeys(because almost extinct heritage varieties can reproduce on their own unlike the genetically modified grocery store version that must be fertilized with human help). And it answers why the family choose to do this at all(because living off of their land means growing vegetables in a way that nurtures their surroundings, creating products without additives). It’s enough to make you want to buy your own plot of land and start fresh.

One of Kingsolver’s main focuses is eating what is in season, because those of us who don’t have the luxury of our own farms must buy from the store or market. When you eat what is in season(i.e. tomatoes in July and August), it is likely the produce has been grown locally and not stored in electricity-draining refrigeration or shipped from a warmer climate. Asking your supplier, where and when the produce is grown is even better, as Kingsolver repeatedly discusses how most produce found in grocery stores nationwide is shipped hundreds of miles from California.

California. Where I am lucky enough to live. As much as I have focused on farmers markets and shopping sustainably, the fact of the matter is, I live in a state and a region, where I can find the best of the country’s produce available for the most amount of time. Produce that makes a New England farmer jealous. Right here, everyday, I can shop at one of the many Los Angeles farmers markets. Unlike other areas, most of the produce sold in California grocery stores is local, because it can be. And all this time, I’ve just been taking advantage of it. Shopping at stores who may not offer me local goods, buying produce with a blind eye.

And it’s almost over. As I close in on my last weeks in Los Angeles, reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle I realize how spoiled I’ve been. While it may be only a few days, all I can do is make up for lost time and try to go local. This week I’ll eat only farmers market produce, buy my chicken and beef from local, sustainable producers, and make my own bread and cheese. In every way I can, I’ll buy local, sustainable products, savoring the fact that it is so easy to do in California.

What does going local really mean?It’s simply doing what you can to buy goods from people producing near you, shopping at farmers markets, and eating in-season produce. It may not be possible to do as the Kingsolver’s and move onto a rural farm to produce your own food, but you can grow your own herbs, buy local produce and meat from markets, and make many of your own products. Even in areas not as blessed with sunny weather as California, you can ask your grocery stores for local items, and buy more from these sections. Sustainable producers treat the land in a way the enriches minerals and keeps it healthy. These farmers grow heritage and heirloom varieties, not genetically modified produce and meats. They treat the land better, and in the process create better products. By supporting local, sustainable producers, you are helping the environment, eating better, and positively affecting our food system. So why not choose local?

Skip the traditional apple altogether and let the Japanese version star in your Thanksgiving Day pie.

This time of year it’s no surprise my favorite thing to eat are persimmons. I love crisp, crunchy fuyus and eat them like apples, as soon as I buy them at the farmers market. Some are sweet, some are tangy, and I use them for everything from salads to jam to an addition in my latest stuffing recipe(added to dark rye bread soaked in stout.)

Thankful for the vast assortment of persimmons available at the multitude of California farmers markets, this year the fruit is my special choice for Thanksgiving Day. Sweet and crunchy, the flavor takes the place of apples in a pie, with the addition of musky honey dates. Cooked with moscavado sugar, vanilla and dark rum, this pie is everything I love about persimmons: rich, sweet, and earthy. I just hope everyone is as thankful as I for all my persimmons recipes.

Apple and Persimmon Pie
Pastry Dough
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1/2 cup ice water

For the Filling
6 medium size fuyu persimmons or 2 Giant fuyu and 3 small fuyu
1/2 cup honey dates
1/4 cup dark rum
1 1/2 cup moscavado sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla paste
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp clove
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup milk
1/8 cup large crystal brown sugar(for dusting top of pie)

1. Stir together flour, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the cubed butter, and using a pastry cutter or two forks, cut the butter into the dough, creating small pieces of butter mixed with the dries.

2. When the butter is fairly incorporated, add half of the ice water and mix together. Add more water until the dough just holds together. Form a ball with the dough, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

3. While the dough is chilling, cut the persimmons into 1/2-inch slices. Pit the dates and cut them into quaters.

4. Put the sugar, butter, cream, and spices into a heavy-bottomed, medium-size pot. Heat over medium heat until the liquid is thick and syrupy, about ten minutes. Add the rum and fruit and stir to combine. Turn off heat and set aside.

4. Pre-heat then oven to 425 F with a sheet tray in the oven. Remove dough from the refrigerator and cut the ball into two pieces, re-wrapping one piece and placing it back into the fridge. Place to dough between two sheets of parchment or wax paper and roll the dough out to 13-inch round. Spray a pie pan with cooking spray and lay the dough into the pan, pressing down into the corners of the pan. Place the lined  pan in the refrigerator and remove the second piece.

5. Place between two sheets of parchment or wax paper, and roll the second piece of dough out to a 13-inch round.  Place back in the refrigerator, removing the pie pan. Remove the top sheet of paper from the pie pan, making sure dough is in all corners of pan. Trim the edges with kitchen scissors, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Fill the pie pan with fruit mixture.

6. Take second peice of dough out and remove top sheet of paper. Using any shape cutter, cut out sections of dough, either one in the center, or several around the dough. Carefully remove cut out pieces, and place to the side. Carefully put the dough on top of the pie and remove the top layer of paper. Trim the edges to match the bottom layer, and using a fork, make impressions all along the pie rim.

7. If desired, place the cut out pieces of dough on the top of the pie. Using a pastry brush, cover the whole pie with milk and then sprinkle the large crystal sugar on top.

7. Place the pie on the hot sheet tray and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 350 F and bake for an additional 40-50 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. Cool pie to room temperature. Freeze if making ahead of time, or slice and enjoy after your turkey dinner.

Planning your Thanksgiving menu? This year forgo the staid staples and try something new. A rich mushroom tart and tangy cranberry compote are sure to please; just a few more recipes to add to your turkey day favorites.

Earthy mushrooms, rich Piave cheese and salty Speck give this tart a lot of flavor.

Thanksgiving comes only once a year, giving us a reason to cook lavish meals, splurge on expensive ingredients and eat extravagantly. It presents quite the conundrum, as many a cook(and a chef), make the same dishes every year, cooking the turkey, stuffing and potatoes just the way Mom may have. Others praise the holiday for the culinary epitome that it is, refusing to waste this cooking opportunity on already-been-there recipes? This year change your menu completely or just add a few newbies to the old favorites. Cook the turkey in a way you never have, add a few new side dishes, and ignore the apple for a different flavor pie all together.

In my family, Mom always made Thanksgiving dinner the same. My sister had to have her mashed potatoes and gravy, my dad wanted the deviled eggs, and Mom’s turkey was always a bit on the dry side. After my first year in culinary school(when I thought I had conquered all there was to know in the world of food), I decided it was my turn to make the meal. I roasted my first turkey covered in a butter and herb soaked cheesecloth(a trick I had seen on Martha Stewart, in fact). My sister turned her nose at my rosemary and roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and Mom still made those deviled eggs, but that first year gave me the boost of confidence to keep trying new things when it came to turkey day. Since then I’ve stuffed the turkey with oranges, made polenta stuffing, shredded root vegetables into latkes, and baked pie after pie sans apples or pumpkin, just to name a few.

Of course I know more than a few friends who have the same meal every year. Part tradition, fixing the old staples keeps the guess work out of cooking and generally pleases the masses. However, if you look around your larder this year and realize its time for something new, try to change up your menu. Use beer-soaked rye bread for the stuffing, smoked potatoes instead of mashed and orange meringue pie for dessert.

This rustic tart, with its deep flavors, is the perfect addition to your new Thanksgiving Day menu. Earthy mushrooms, cooked with lots of sage, sweet sautéed onions, and salty Speck(German-style bacon), make for the perfect flavor combination to celebrate Fall with. Bored with canned cranberry jelly? This cranberry compote gets a kick of life with pomegranate seeds and a splash of Bourbon. You can even make it ahead of time, saving you time on the big day and you can jar enough to use into the new year. Easy recipes, these two are just the beginning of your new Thanksgiving Day cuisine. The possibilities are endless, and thankfully, you have every year to try something new.

Orange juice and burboun brighten this cranberry compote

Mushroom and Speck Tart
Savory pastry dough
1 white onion, small diced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 bunch sage
2 pints mushrooms, thinly sliced
vegetable oil
1 cup Speck or thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/8 inch cubes
1 cup shredded Piave, or Parmigiana Reggiano
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt
pepper
fluted pie pan with removable bottom

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Remove pastry dough from the refrigerator and, on a floured surface, roll the dough out into a 13-inch circle. Carefully lay the dough into the pie pan and press into the corners of the pan and the sides until the pan is covered evenly. Using a a sharp knife, slice the excess dough off the edges. Dock the dough, making small holes with a fork in the bottom. Place a sheet of wax paper inside the pie pan and fill with baking beans or weights. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove and set aside to chill.

2. Heat a heavy-duty medium saute pan over high heat. Add a small amount of oil, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Add a portion of the mushrooms. In cooking mushrooms, it is important not to crowd the pan, to use high heat for good, caramelized flavor, and to not season the mushrooms until the end(otherwise the leak out water and will become soggy from steaming). Cook the mushrooms on one side, then shake the pan to cook the other. When both sides have a nice brown color, add salt and cracked black pepper. Remove mushrooms onto a plate and repeat until all mushrooms are cooked. If pan starts to get dirty, add a good amount of oil and let the mushroom speck cook off. Carefully remove oil and wipe the pan clean. Continue cooking mushrooms in the above method.

4. While the mushrooms are cooking, heat a second, medium-sized heavy-duty saute pan over medium-low heat. Add the onions, garlic and sage and cook slowly to release the sugars in the onion. When the onions start to become translucent, add the speck. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are translucent. Add the mushrooms and season well with salt and pepper, removing sage. Turn off heat and stir in the heavy cream and half the cheese. Place the tart shell on a half-sheet tray and fill with the filling, topping with the remaining cheese. Bake for 15-20, until the tart shell and melted cheese are golden brown. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes. Slice and serve warm.

Cranberry and pomegranate compote(make 4 4-oz jars)
2 pounds fresh cranberries
4-5 pomegranates, seeds removed(you can find them pre-seeded at some grocery stores or if you don’t want the extra work, and the extra crunch in the compote, substitute with 1 cup pomegranate juice)
16oz sugar
2oz sure-jell or pectin
1/3 cup bourbon or whiskey
1 cup orange juice
1 tbsp cinnamon

1. Place the cranberries, pomegranate seeds, and orange juice in a stock pot over medium heat. Add 3/4 of the sugar and stir. Allow to come to a boil and simmer until cranberry skins begin to crack. Whisk together the remaining sugar and pectin and slowly rain into the pot. Allow to come to a boil again, cooking for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add liquor and cinnamon.

2. Place in jars and process using the boiling-water canning procedure and store in a cool, dark place. Or allow to cool to room temperature and store in the fridge(if you are planning to use it quickly)

Turn October pumpkins into soup for a chilly November day. This simple recipe adds honey and cumin to roasted pumpkin puree for hearty soup. Top with toasted seeds for an added salty bite.

Creamy pumpkin soup with toasted pumpkin seeds

Looking around the kitchen for something to cook, October’s pumpkin is sad and lonely, sitting on the kitchen counter. In the true spirit of fall, roast pumpkin soup is the perfect dinner for a chilly November evening. It’s a great supper for one, or an easy starter for dinner with guests.

Without the aid of cream or milk, this soup is silky, smooth all on its own. Honey or molasses adds sweetness to the pumpkin and a touch of cumin and cinnamon give it a spicy earthiness. A childhood favorite, toasted pumpkin seeds are a wonderful snack on their own, and add a salty, crunch when sprinkled on top of this soup.

Pumpkin soup, makes 4 servings
1 medium-sized pumpkin
2 tbsp vegetable oil
salt
black pepper
1 yellow onion
1 clove garlic
4 cups organic-unsalted vegetable stock(*or make your own)
2 stalks sage
1 tbsp honey or molasses
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cumin

* Make your own vegetable stock: Keep all your vegetable scraps in a container in the freezer. Every time you cut an onion, peel a carrot, or mince garlic, save the trimmings, peelings and shells. When you have a large amount of scraps, about 4-6 cups, make vegetable stock. Heat one tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium low-heat in a heavy duty stock pot. Saute one medium-sized onion and two small carrots, small diced, until translucent and tender. Add the vegetable trimmings and fill the pot with water. Add any fresh herbs you have such as parsley, rosemary, and thyme. Cook for 45 minutes to extract the full flavor of the vegetables. Strain. Use for soups, sauces, and braising. To store, allow stock to cool completely and place in a air-tight container. Keep refrigerated for up to two weeks or freeze for future use.

1. Pre-heat the oven to 300 F. Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop the stringy insides out, throwing away the meat and placing the seeds into a colander placed in the sink. Cut the pumpkin halves into two pieces each and place onto a half sheet tray, covering with foil. Bake for 45-60 minutes, until the pumpkin is tender.

2. While the pumpkin is roasting, rinse the seeds until all residue is removed. Place the seeds onto a second sheet tray and toss with the 1 tbsp of vegetable oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and cracked black pepper. Place on a second rack in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove, toss seeds around and back again for 5. Continue baking until seeds are golden brown, tossing every 5 minutes to prevent burning. Remove from oven when golden brown, and set aside to cool.

3. While the seeds and pumpkin is in the oven, cut the onion into 1/2-inch pieces. Remove the skin from the garlic and smash it with the heel of the knife.

4. When the pumpkin is tender, remove it from the oven. Working carefully, as the pumpkin will be very hot, scoop the meat from the pumpkin into a bowl, being careful not to include any skin pieces. Place aside.

5. Heat a medium size, heat duty stock pot over a medium-low flame. Add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil, the onions, garlic, and sage. Continue to cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. When the onions have become translucent, add the pumpkin meat and stir to combine. Add the vegetable stock.

6. Place a towel on your counter top and place your stock pot on top of the towel, removing it from the stove. Remove the sage. Using a hand-held stick blender, carefully puree soup until smooth and creamy, or working in batches, transfer soup into a blender and puree. Transfer back into pot and move pot back onto stove.

7. Add the honey, cumin, and cinnamon. Add a good handful of salt and a sprinkle of white pepper(be careful, it’s more potent than black pepper). Taste the soup and adjust seasoning if needed. Bring to a boil and pour into serving bowls. Top with toasted pumpkin seeds.

8. Cool soup completely before storing(if you don’t eat it all!). Store in sealed Tupperware in the refrigerator or freezer. Store pumpkin seeds in sealed Tupperware or plastic bag in a cool, dry place.