Friday Favourites – Harvest Time, New TV Shows and Loving Fall

Happy Friday! Four years ago today, Garrett and I officially started dating. Normally we celebrate this as our anniversary, but now that we’re married we’re going to start celebrating on our wedding anniversary. Tonight we’re just going to have a low key night in – pizza, wine, an action movie snuggled up with the dogs and maybe a couple little treats I picked up from a nut free bakery. We’re a wild bunch, ha! The weather here has been fantastic this week, so I’m hoping that we’ll get to soak in as much of it as we can this weekend while hanging out with friends and family.

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Farmers Market Haul: I was so giddy when I got to the farmers market this week and saw all the amazing produce. The vibrant colours were so inspiring! Here is what I picked up and what I made with it, in case you’re looking for some recipe ideas for this season’s bounty:

Purple and White Cauliflower: I chopped and washed all the cauliflower up when I got home. Then I steamed half of it and made a cheesy casserole (similar to this Leftover Cheese Fondue Broccoli Cauliflower Bake) and then the other half was roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper for another night. I love it when I have the time to prep the vegetables in advance, because I’m much more likely to use them that way.

Black Kale (also known as Dino Kale): I grabbed this without having any real plan of what to do with it, just knowing that I was trying to incorporate more dark greens into our meals. When I got home from the market, I cut the hardy stems off all the leaves and then stored the unwashed leaves in a large freezer bag in the fridge (If you store them wet, they’ll go soggy). A few days later I was making a big batch of chicken curry (with some of the roasted cauliflower in it!) and remembered the kale. I gave it a thorough wash and then cut the leaves into small pieces and added them to the onions I was sauteing. The whole head cooked down into barely anything and you couldn’t even taste it in the curry – but I know we got our dark greens in that night!

Red Leaf Lettuce: Washed up and then dried in the salad spinner, this lettuce was great to have on hand for side salads with our lunches. More healthy dark greens!

Apples: I made these into some more Individual Mini Mason Jar Apple Crisps to stock up the freezer. We’ve been loving them for weeknight desserts or for a quick treat to toss into our lunch bags.

Acorn Squash: I’m using these in our fall decor this year, but eventually they’ll be turned into Savoury Stuffed Acorn Squash.

Sunflowers: At $1 a stem, I couldn’t pass us a bundle of five sunflowers to brighten up the kitchen table.

I’m excited to go again this weekend to pick up some more goodies. I’m thinking that some local carrots and potatoes would be great in a pot roast for Sunday night dinner. Fall comfort food at its finest!

Filming in the Woods: For this week’s video review of the Walk In Sync Humane Dog Walking and Training System, we took to our favourite local forest to film it. It was during rush hour, so the rest of town was busy with people coming home from work or running off to afternoon school activities, but once we walked into the woods, all the sounds just disappeared. It was quiet and cool and serene (until we walked by a soccer game…you can hear kids yelling in one part of the video, ha!). I really need to make more of an effort to come out here over the next month or so before it gets too cold and dark for walks in the evening.

While we were walking the way back home, we came across so many lovely late summer / fall flowerbeds.

I smiled as soon as I saw these cosmos. They always make me think of my Poppa and his garden – and I love that whenever I see them, I get a happy reminder of him even though it’s been eleven years since he passed away. Memories like this are one of the very best and most bittersweet parts of life.

New TV Fall TV Shows: One of my favourite things about fall are all the new TV shows. I usually read up on the pilot reviews in the summer and from that I make a list of the new shows that I might like, or that I think Garrett will like. Although I may start watching a whole bunch of new shows when they first come out, by episode two or three I know if they’re going to stick around. This week I watched Madam Secretary and The Mysteries of Laura, and I was surprised how much I liked them. I don’t usually go for political or police themed shows, but I loved the female leads in both.

Some of my favourites have returned this year and that means that we have lots of TV to watch, but I don’t want you to think that we just sit on the couch every night, so I thought I’d share how we watch TV around our house and multitask. I haven’t had cable for seven years, which means that we either stream the shows or download, making it much easier to work around our schedules or stockpile for binge watching on a rainy Sunday.

• When I’m cooking dinner or chopping up vegetables, I setup my laptop on the front hall dresser, which faces the kitchen. I put on shows like Parenthood, Modern Family or The Vampire Diaries or some of the new ones this year and watch them while I’m working away in the kitchen. I like having the background noise and I find it easy to follow along with the storyline while I work away. I’ll also watch these shows on our big TV while I’m editing photos for the blog or working on projects and crafts.
• There are some shows that I just have to sit down and watch on the big screen with no distractions – Downton Abbey and Once Upon A Time. These require a cozy blanket, two snuggly dogs and usually a snack or a glass of wine.

• Garrett isn’t a huge TV fan, but there are some shows that he likes too, like Sleepy Hollow, The Goldbergs, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, American Horror Story, The Walking Dead or the new series Gotham. We usually watch one of these together after dinner. I’m just happy that the colder weather means more cuddling on the couch with these three.

Decorating for Fall: I’m finally getting around to officially decorating this weekend. I’ve but little pumpkins here and there, but this week I dug out the fall decor bin and I’m going to have some fun playing around with the decor in our newly re-arranged living room. I’ll share it on the blog next week!

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I hope you all have a lovely fall weekend! What are your plans? Are there any new TV shows that you’ve been loving (or ones that you’re excited came back this year)?