This past month flew by and I’ve been enjoying cooking comfy and cozy meals. With Canadian Thanksgiving upon us, I’m so excited for turkey AND all of the amazing side dishes that come with it.

So grab a coffee and come on over for Autumn food inspiration and all of the #foodlove from our Oregon trip!

In mid-September we headed to one of our favourite places, the Oregon Coast. We spent a few days on the coast, walking the beach, taking in the ocean and eating all of the seafood we could.

We stayed in Cannon Beach and to be honest I think it’s one of the most magical places. The scenery is spectacular and if you love the ocean like I do, it’s complete ocean heaven. In the morning’s we’d grab a coffee and then walk the beach for hours. Then we enjoyed a variety of seafood throughout the days.

We made a quick pit stop on our way from Cannon Beach to Portland at Tillamook Cheese where I was in grilled cheese heaven.

Then we drove to Portland for a couple of days where we prepared ourselves to eat all of the delicious things at Feast Portland! This was our third trip to Portland for the Feast Portland event; every year we go we have such an awesome time and enjoy the unbelievable food that we decide to go again. And this year it didn’t disappoint (again!)

We enjoyed our first night’s dinner at Beast, a restaurant I’ve wanted to go to for ages. Each night is a set 6 course menu based on seasonal ingredients and wow did we ever luck out on the beautiful late-summer ingredients. Everyone sits at communal tables which I really enjoyed because it was like being at a dinner party; the people we sat with were fantastic to chat with too AND of course the food was absolutely divine!

Our weekend was a combination of eating and walking the city! On Saturday we had brunch at Tasty n’ Alder. Then, our evening was spent at Smoked, a Feast Portland event where chefs do their take on barbecue. Let’s just say we ate all the meats and enjoyed a number of fabulous cocktails.

The next day we went to my favourite event, Brunch Village! Imagine just cruising around from booth to booth, mimosa in hand, trying creative brunch dishes from local chefs. Hello heavenly!

Two of the highlights for me were the Breakfast Taco from Smokehouse Tavern and the ‘Yolko Ono’ egg sandwich from the food truck, Fried Egg I’m In Love.

And to top off our weekend of indulgence we attended the ‘Feast Like an Italian’ dinner which was hosted in a beautiful garden nursery.

We started off the evening with a delightful cocktail. Then we thoroughly enjoyed the family-style Italian dinner with all of the other attendees at our table.

Needless to say, it was another amazing trip out to the Oregon Coast and Portland. We’ll absolutely continue to go back!

And with Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend, many of the recipes in my ‘What’s In Season – October Recipe Ideas’ include ingredients that are the perfect accompaniment to your turkey dinner:

Apples: Apple Cinnamon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Brussels Sprouts: Prosciutto Parmesan Brussels Sprouts

Carrots: Roasted Harvest Vegetable Bowl

Pears: Cranberry Pear Chia Seed Jam

Sweet Potatoes: Bacon & Sage Sweet Potatoes

Tomatoes: Roasted Tomato Soup

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends!

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

The post What’s in Season – Monthly Favourites appeared first on Cooking in my Genes.

You see, the day before I made my way to The Italian Store here in Calgary to pickup ingredients and pizza dough for the YYC Pizza Week Food Blogger Challenge. As a part of the challenge, we had to choose two of the following toppings to feature on our pizza – Fig Spread, Housemade pesto, Ricotta or Pitted assorted olives. I was immediately drawn to the housemade pesto and ricotta.

Inspired by the autumn colours and flavours of the season, this cozy pizza creation celebrates my favourite time of year. Starting with a pesto base then topped with roasted vegetables of zucchini, mushrooms, red reppers, red onion and finished off with creamy ricotta and a nutty crunch from the toasted pine nuts – it’s the perfect pizza to enjoy by the fire with friends and family on cool autumn evenings.

Prep Time: 30 minutes (or up to 4.5 hours if making your own pizza dough)
Equipment: Electric mixer (if you’re making your own pizza dough)
Servings: 4

Ingredients:

1 pre-made pizza dough (or make your own)
Cook’s Note: One of my favourite pizza dough recipes that I use regularly is from Style at Home Magazine. The dough has to sit in the fridge for 4 hours so just make sure you give yourself enough time. 

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 Zucchini, sliced thinly
1/2 red pepper, sliced thinly
3 mushrooms, sliced thinly
1/2 medium red onion, sliced thinly
3/4 cup pesto
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup fresh ricotta (may also be called ‘ricotta fresca’ in the deli aisle)
¼ cup pine nuts

Slice the zucchini, red pepper, mushrooms and red onion.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Toss in the zucchini, red pepper, mushrooms and red onion plus the salt and pepper. Sauté for 8-10 minutes, stirring often – this process helps release the water from the vegetables before adding them to the pizza. Once you take the vegetables off the heat, stir in 2 tbsp of the pesto sauce and set aside.

Next, heat the oven to 425F and then roll out the pizza dough. Put a bit of cornmeal on a cookie sheet, place your pizza dough on the pan and then dress your pizza.

Use the pesto as the base, as much or little as you want spread out onto the dough. Then, spread out the vegetables and top with ricotta and pine nuts.

Bake the pizza for 8-12 minutes (depending on your oven) until crust is golden.

Cook’s Note: It will take different ovens more or less time, just depending so keep an eye on the pizza. Also, if you don’t think your pizza is done by 12 minutes keep it in the oven a couple more minutes but watch it closely.

Cook’s Note: If you have a pizza stone, follow the same instructions but instead place the dough on the back of a cookie sheet and let the pizza stone warm-up in the oven as it warms up. Then the cornmeal will help the pizza slide off the cookie sheet onto the pizza stone when your oven is ready to cook the pizza.

If you LOVE this pizza please head on over and VOTE for me in the Food Blogger Challenge! CLICK HERE to Vote!

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

The post Harvest Vegetable Pizza appeared first on Cooking in my Genes.