Zucchini Apple Pecan Cake

I love zucchinis! They're so yummy! I bake it, roast it, bbq it, stir fry it, and bread it, so I always have lots in my fridge. Since, it's apple season, I have tons in my fridge too. I don't usually have nuts kicking around in my house, but I did make pralines recently. I was craving zucchini cake (or bread) but wanted to change it up a little. I have been working on this recipe for a little while now. I have tried making a vegan, sugar and gluten free version, but haven't had much luck. However, when I used all-purpose flour and sugar, it was great! :)

Meal Planning

Although I love to cook, I really hate meal planning. I really REALLY hate meal planning.

Problem is: Not only do I love to cook, I love to eat! I only like to cook what I want to eat. So there is no planning around that. Plus, I cater around my kids and husband too much. Plus, near the end of the week I have to start planning my meals around what is going bad first. So many factors. :(

At least, I know what they like to eat. They have pretty simple tastes. At the same time, Kat's favourite food is sushi. Alyssa and Logan  both love Vietnamese food, especially vermicelli. Garrett loves his comfort food. This is actually his favourite season.

Garrett loves the fall and winter months because he loves Chili, Sheppard's Pie, Beef Stew, etc. You know, all the stuff mom (well, not my mom, seeing that I'm Asian) use to make to warm up the house. I know my mother-in-law did at least. She used to make lots of stews and other hearty meals in the winter. My favourite one she makes is her Lazy Man's Cabbage Rolls (basically cabbage rolls, just not nicely wrapped up). Funny thing, it is my husband's least favourite of his mom's stews. He doesn't like anything that has cabbage as a main ingredient. Needless to say, I never make this at home.

Butter Chicken

I love LOVE Butter Chicken! It is my favourite Indian dish. I really enjoy Indian food, however it is was the only cuisine that gave me grief in my own kitchen. I can make pretty okay curries. I have never made a successful Butter Chicken recipe at home. Most of the time, I finish the recipe and we end having pizza or a really quick pasta. Yes, it ends up that bad! Not this time!

Squash Day

Today was my ode to squash day. :)

On the menu today was Pumpkin Syrup, Homemade Butternut Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter Sauce, and Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes topped with Cream Cheese Buttercream, Pumpkin Syrup and Cinnamon. It was a pretty aggressive cooking day for me, especially making homemade ravioli.

The Pumpkin Syrup took longer then expected, so I was a little discouraged. (We didn't get to eat it over our pancakes.) But I sucked it up and on with the next recipe, homemade ravioli. I have been looking forward to this dish for a while. Making the pasta was pretty simple, a little time consuming, but worth the time and effort. I love fresh pasta, but always thought it was too complicated to make it at home. I decided to do the "easy" method and use my food processor. Never again! It wasn't any easier. I still had to kneed the dough, so not much time saving. Here's a YouTube video I found, which made pasta making not so scary. But here's my finished product. :)