The leaves are changing colors… the air is cooler… the nightime darkness is earlier… even though I’m not a big fan of the Autumn and Winter, I have to admit I enjoy baking the delicious apple and pumpkin goodies and cooking hearty stews and soups.
Happy Fall Everyone! Stay tuned for some new Fall recipes…
In just a few short days…. our 2nd summer cooking camp will commence!
The kids will be cooking with fresh summer ingredients and making delicious, nutritious foods that all will enjoy! We will bake sweet French crepes and serve them with mascarpone whipped cream and fresh berries….
cook creamy Summer Asparagus Soup….
chop and assemble fresh ingredients from the farmers market for our Summer Panzanella Salad….
Our Food Jules cooking classes teach kids how to enjoy such a large variety of fresh, nutrient dense foods… teaching them the ease of cooking and baking delicious recipes… all while fostering relationships with new friends and healthy food.
Today, November 8th, 2016 marks Julian’s sixth birthday – the day this beautiful, sweet soul came into our lives.
It was a cold, snowy fall day. As a matter of fact, his entire life here on earth with us was filled with lots and lots of snow. It snowed on Christmas while he was home with us. I remember watching the snow fall almost every day while we were at Yale for those three weeks in January 2011. There were such high snow piles in our yard on the evening that I came home on January 19th, the day that Julian died.
So, as you can imagine every time it snows, we think of him and it makes us smile to think about his soft face and his gorgeous big eyes looking back at us.
Even though Julian isn’t physically with us, I know for a fact that he is with us. I am always pleasantly surprised by all the signs that are around. They remind me that he is here, loving us, guiding us and as I write this, I smile thinking about it and about him being present with us on such a deep, emotional and spiritual level. I believe and it makes me happy. I could tell you countless stories of these signs and some would amaze and surprise you. Some may seem “coincidental” if you believe in coincidence, as I used to. Now, I believe everything is around us and guiding us in our path. To me, there isn’t coincidence. It’s much deeper then that. People come into our lives at certain times for reasons beyond what we know. It’s all part of our journey in life here on earth.
Do you think there is more to life then what we can see? That there is “something else” at work here? That our souls continue on? Do you have faith in something extraordinary?
If you acknowledge it and are open to it, it is amazing. We love you Julian and we feel your eternal presence, love and guidance. Thank you for teaching us about what is truly important in life.
Happy Birthday to our sweet, handsome little man.
Well, I hate to admit it but it is officially Fall and it is so very COLD outside. I am starting to hibernate and want to cook warm meals and bake cookies and muffins. Oh wait a minute, I never stopped baking cookies and muffins, but I do miss my tomato and cucumber salads. Oh summer, how I miss you so much!
Ok, back to reality. Fall is very pretty with all the leaves changing colors but only when it’s at least 65 outside 🙂
Last night, I made one of our favorites, Vegetable Bolognese. We haven’t made this dish in quite some time. There are so many great recipes that sometimes you forget about the old ones. I made it with the kids in my summer cooking camp and they all LOVED it. This is a wholesome, hearty meal and you will want to make it over and over during this cold weather.
Serve it with a good bottle of Pinot Noir and it is a fab combination!
Buon Appetito!
Tonight, we made one of our family favorite recipes, Tortellini with Creamy Spinach. This is super creamy and oh so delicious, plus it’s packed with tons of nutrients! Typically, we use frozen chopped organic spinach in this recipe, but since we used fresh ingredients from our garden, we threw in some fresh kale too.
Our garden is growing so well that we were able to use fresh spinach, kale and basil straight from our own backyard. What a great feeling and such a great lesson for the kids, as they helped me pick the fresh vegetables. We’ve been eating tons of lettuce from our garden too, it is delightful. The other day we made this simple salad with romaine and arugula from our garden with a simple dressing – fresh lemon juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt. I sauteed thinly sliced pork chops and it was a complete meal. Â This is one of the beauties of the summer season, fresh produce right in your own backyard and local farmers market.
Oh yeah, tomorrow is our first day of our farmers market here in town. We can’t wait to see what they have available for us this season. The kids and I truly enjoy exploring the market every single week, we even venture over to neighboring towns to experience their farmers market. It’s such a blessing to be able to eat all of this local, organic food.
Ok back to the recipe…. you should definitely make this dish. It is so easy and such a kid pleaser. If you prefer to use plain pasta,  you can do that for sure. We’ve always used tortellini because we just love more cheese in our dish 🙂
Enjoy and Happy Summer!
There has been a tremendous amount of interest over the past couple of years in a Food Jules Summer Cooking Camp. Well, I have some good news… I am thinking about hosting our very FIRST Food Jules cooking camp this summer. I am leaning towards hosting it during the early part of August.
Please email me at liz@foodjules.com if you are interested in learning more… I will post more information in another week once I finalize dates/location.
Thanks for all of your support!
foodjules.com 