A chili-inspired pumpkin stuffing simmers.  photos: alexis stockford

Build-a-recipe stuffed pumpkin

Savoury stuffed pumpkin is an easy way to impress at the next holiday family gathering

If you’re lucky enough to have a big garden, you’ve probably had to excavate new recipes to suit the bumper crop that came from the garden corner that had exactly the right conditions. In some years it might be recipes for green beans or corn, or there might be so many English cucumbers that you

Grilled margarita pork chops.

Manitoba Flavours: Grilled Margarita Chops

Plus, Chicken Salad Chapala and a Honey-Cumin Vinaigrette

Grilled Margarita Chops Ingredients 4 pork rib chops, bone-in, about 1-1/2 inch Juice of 2 limes 2 tsp. chili powder 1 tsp. EACH garlic powder, dried oregano leaves and ground cumin 1/2 tsp. EACH coarse salt and chipotle chili powder 3 tbsp. tequila 2 tbsp. canola oilChopped fresh cilantro and wedges of lime for garnish


Try an unusual fruit, such as dragon fruit. It’s bright pink with green spines on the outside and white with tiny black seeds inside.

Try an unusual fruit this season

Don’t just stick with apples and oranges, be adventurous with the food you buy

What is that thing?” my husband asked, as he pointed at something in the produce aisle. “I have no idea,” I said as I walked slowly toward the bin of fruits. I reached out timidly to examine the bright-pink globular thing with green spines protruding from the sides and top. I was ready to pull

Take steps to avoid kitchen fires

Take steps to avoid kitchen fires

Prairie Fare: Raspberry Applesauce Squares

I recall a little incident that taught me a lesson a few years ago. My nose detected an unpleasant scent. My brain recognized the odour and soon my feet were running down the hall. I think I leaped over my then-three-year-old daughter on the way to the kitchen. “What smells?” my son asked as I


Roasted vegetables are an autumn treat

Roasted vegetables are an autumn treat

Prairie Fare: Beet greens also make a delicious and colourful addition to salads

Look at our bountiful harvest!” my 17-year-old daughter said as she pulled a potato from our backyard garden while kneeling among the foliage. “I want to find one!” I said teasingly as I reached over and tried to grab a potato. She playfully swatted my hand away before I could nab the large potato near

Recipe Box

Where do you get your recipes?

Prairie Fare: Reduced-Fat Morning Glory Muffins

Let’s starting cooking!” I said with enthusiasm to my daughter. “Mom, what’s the difference between cooking and baking?” my 11-year-old daughter asked. We were about to bake some bread, so I think she was associating cookies and breads with baking. My husband chuckled when he saw me wrinkling my brow and pondering her question. Is


Recipe Swap: A $5 shopping spree

Recipe Swap: A $5 shopping spree

I once spent the grand sum of $5 on Christmas presents. That was a lot of money to an eight- or nine-year-old in the 1960s. I remember feeling rich, and heading “uptown” to Hillman’s Hardware and Lawrence’s Solo Store in Newdale, to search for gifts for my family and friends. Five bucks covered it. I



Those “secret family recipes” are heirlooms

Marilynn and Sheila Brass are inveterate collectors and discoverers of cookbooks, including the handcrafted kind held together by pins and long ago shoved in a forgotten drawer. About 10 years ago the sisters began testing the recipes they trolled attics, flea markets and yard sales to find. These “forensic cookbook authors” collected 6,500 cookbooks, some