One of the cool things about food blogging is that it forces us to discover new ingredients, new techniques, new dishes. We had no idea what panzanella was until recently. If you would have asked me, I would have probably answered that it’s some type of pasta from Italy or some kind of pancetta. No, in fact Panzanella is a Tuscan salad with a base of croutons and tomato chunks. It’s a simple dish but really flavorful. If you like tomato bruschetta, then you’ll probably like it, it’s exactly the same but in a salad form.

Lately we’ve been craving for pot stickers. We also wanted to write a recipe for pot stickers since the first day we started this blog. The timing was perfect so we spent a good part of the weekend handcrafting these delicious dumplings. Nico suggested that we use kale and corn for the filling. I have never seen kale used in chinese cuisine but after giving a try I am very satisfied with the results.

7 days and 6 pumpkins later, our pumpkin week is coming to an end. We discovered a great ingredient to cook with and no longer will it be ignored when we go grocery shopping. Pumpkin is not the kind of product that is great on its own but combined with the right ingredients, it can be delicious. Possibilities are endless but here are a few ideas if you’ve missed them:

• Pumpkin Pancakes with Salted Caramel Apple Sauce
• Pumpkin Gnocchi with Bacon & Peas
• Roasted Garlic, Pumpkin & Leek Soup

To end this week on a sweet note, here’s a delicious pound cake recipe. It’s perfectly moist, fragrant and it has chocolate! Orange and chocolate are like best friends, they go together so well! I can’t wait to make chocolate covered orange peel again this year.

Concerning the blog, we just added email updates so if you like our recipes, don’t hesitate to subscribe. Also, Nico has been working on improving the usability of the blog. You now have a better way to browse all our recipes and it’s all here.

As the weather is slowly getting colder, it seriously starts to reflect on our cooking. The traditional soup is back on our table. Our pumpkin week is still ongoing, so guess what kind of soup we made? Pumpkin! (okay, that wasn’t too hard) But let’s be honest, the true star ingredient in this soup is the roasted garlic. I’ve already mentioned it here, once it’s roasted, garlic becomes sweet and nutty (and no bad breath!). We use it quite a lot but never thought about using it in a soup. And it worked beautifully. It gave a richness to our soup that we would have never expect.

I don’t know for you but I love everything homemade. There is a satisfaction to make something by yourself that really can’t be matched. More and more Nico and I are making homemade goods. We stopped buying bread few months ago and we now make our own every couple days (you should see our stock of flour!). We recently made our own noodles and there is a lot more we want to try, from pickles to bacon and even cheese. Gnocchi is also one of the things we make at home.