Sunflowers, Sausage Rolls, and Cake-tastrophes
Hi friend,
I’m filled with peace as I write this letter to you. I love meeting you here each Friday, connecting you to pieces of my heart that I hope you’ll find lovely as well — perhaps helpful, most certainly delicious, maybe even a bit entertaining.
After a hot, dry, and slightly uninspired end of summer, it feels very refreshing to be in a new season with new beauty and new possibilities. Though I often dread the turnover of seasons when I’m busy enjoying the one at hand, they always seem to come at the right time. Thinking of pumpkins in June makes me upset. But September? Yes please.
The gardens are an absolute wreck, sunflowers once again have dominated all my beds, and I’ve only myself to blame for the dry corners and shriveled perennials. But in the fall, dry and crispy is in fashion so much so that we gather the dried corn stalks and put them by the kitchen door to celebrate!
What’s old is new once again.
Pour a cuppa and let’s enjoy some time together.
My Autumn Kitchen
Though many of you are no strangers to my kitchen, in this week’s new video, it’s time to clean and transition it to the season ahead once again. Our kitchen is used heavily during the summer, leaving it sticky and stale.
By the end of September, it’s time for a reset. Or at the very least — a good scrubbin’. Perhaps you find yourself in the same boat?
Come along with me today as we enjoy some inspired, beautiful, clean time in the kitchen and prepare it for company:
Click here to see all the Limone products featured in the video.
Speaking of prep in the kitchen…
In addition to readying my physical kitchen for autumn, we just did a reorganization project in the Recipe Archive of the Elliott Homestead Cooking Community… and it is already changing my life. I sat down for five minutes this week with my phone, my notebook, and a cup of tea, and was able to zip through all 400+ recipes to find the ones that work for my family’s life this week.
One of the reasons I made the Cooking Community was because I got so tired of dodging videos and pop-up ads on all the free recipe blogs, and because I got so frustrated having to constantly swap out ingredients for the whole ingredients I’ve committed to serving my family.
If it would be of help to you to simplify your cooking work as well, the newly remodeled Cooking Community is here to help. Warm and hearty October recipes coming soon.
Whoops…
I’m unsure if my brain just broke, but I accidentally dumped a birthday cake onto the floor this past weekend.
The cake was for my dear friend Amber — chocolate is her true love, and I’ve been working on some gluten-free cake recipes to share. Her birthday seemed like the perfect opportunity to showcase how much progress I’d made — almond flour, maple sugar, and olive oil — oh my!
We’d planned to visit the farmers market, walk by the river, and then sauna back at her house… I figured a chocolate cake would be welcomed somewhere along the way. So I made it — glory! — and then somehow managed to dump the cake. Just dump it. I still don’t really know what happened.
Luckily, my four-child-bearing hips squished part of the cake against the table before it completely fell on the floor, salvaging a slice. Okay, it wasn’t quite a slice… more of a pile?… but I shared it with her nonetheless. I topped it with homemade hot fudge, figuring she’d look past the disaster if enough chocolate were involved.
(She did, and I’m making her a redo cake this weekend!)
Beauty for men?…
We talk much here about what is good, true, and beautiful. While it’s easy for me to point to women cultivating beauty, what about our menfolk?
Does beauty hold a role for men?
Stuart will address this topic in his new newsletter, Beautiful Masculinity. He will bring the art of cultivating the beautiful life to the realms of theology, culture, education, and men.
Truth is, I value his input and wisdom greatly. If you have a husband or a boyfriend, are homeschooling, or are raising sons, I think you will potentially find a lot of value in his newsletter. You can subscribe to it right here.
More to come!
Cozy and delicious…
Sausage & Squash Soft Supper Rolls
This is as comforting as it comes: yeasted, soft supper rolls that can easily be served for supper or breakfast. I stuff mine in a cast-iron skillet and let them smoosh together as they cook. You can use a spicy sausage, such as chorizo, if you’re so inclined. If desired, the rolls can be added to the pan and refrigerated overnight to bake in the morning.
Ingredients:
2 cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into ½” cubes
½ pound sausage, broken into ½” pieces
1 teaspoon olive oil
Pinch sea salt
1 cup water
½ cup milk or substitute
2 tablespoons butter, melted or olive oil
1 tablespoon instant yeast
4 cups (480 grams) all-purpose flour (I use einkorn, but use what you’d like)
1 ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions:
Mix the squash and sausage with olive oil and sea salt, and spread evenly over a baking tray. Bake in a preheated 425°F oven for 20 minutes, or until the squash is soft and the sausage is thoroughly cooked. Set aside to cool. Keep the oven on.
Combine the water, milk, and butter in a small saucepan. Warm until it’s around 100 degrees, or just warm to the touch.
Pour the warm liquid ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast over the top (don’t stir!) and allow the yeast to hydrate for 5 minutes.
Add the flour into the bowl, along with the salt, and use the dough hook on the mixer to knead the dough until it’s smooth — about 5-7 minutes.
Add the squash and sausage into the dough and mix it until just combined.
Cover the dough and let it rise for 30 minutes.
Dump the dough out onto a floured work surface. Divide it into 12 equal pieces.
Gently roll the dough into a smooth circle and place it in a buttered 9x13” baking dish or a cast-iron skillet. It’s fine for the rolls to touch. Repeat until no more dough remains.
Cover the rolls and let them rise an additional 20 minutes.
Remove the cover, place the rolls in the warm oven, and bake for 15 minutes or until they’re just cooked through and golden on the top.
Brush the warm rolls with melted butter and top with freshly chopped rosemary, if desired.
“For awhile the hobbits continued to talk and think of the past journey and of the perils that lay ahead; but such was the virtue of the land of Rivendell that soon all fear and anxiety was lifted from their minds. The future, good or ill, was not forgotten, but ceased to have any power over the present. Health and hope grew strong in them, and they were content with each good day as it came, taking pleasure in every meal, and in every word and song.”
*Yes, I’m still in the first book… It’s been a wonderfully busy spell!
Cultivating the beautiful life is beautiful indeed!
