small business saturday

today was all about hoopla. black friday is essentially the sabbath day for retail giants. tomorrow is 'small business saturday,' albeit much lesser known, but hopefully it brings lots of folks out to the market & downtown halifax in general... there's a sale at biscuit that i'll probably have to check out post-market...

ok back to business! it is a reasonable hour on a friday night & i'm finished all of my prep! the first christmas miracle of the season.

so first up - i made a ginormous batch of chicken parmigiana this week. this one is always a big hit and one of my faves to make. there's something very zen about making an epic marinara sauce and letting it simmer and come together all afternoon. there's buttermilk marinated chicken in a panko crust, parmesan marinara with spinach, fettuccine, basil & loads of cheese.

small $10 large $20

i also made a new vegan tagine this week. per usual it incorporates lots of moroccan flavours - sumac, ginger, fennel, coriander, lemon, olives, dates & harissa. this batch is loaded up with spice-roasted pumpkin...

... red peppers, tofu, tomatoes & swiss chard. it's served with harissa quinoa that's studded with almonds and citrus. not the most photogenic dish of all time, but i'm pretty satisfied with the flavours :)

small $9 large $18

there are three salads on the menu this week.

i'm still going strong with the tried & true broccoli salad.

this version of the quinoa salad has green beans, artichokes, lemon & pinenuts. it's seasoned up with a plethora of herbs - basil, dill, parsley, tarragon & arugula - and is super bright & fresh.

i also brought back the sweet potato salad, complete with bell peppers, pumpkin seeds, tomatoes, green onions, cumin, lime & the most perfect avocados ever.

oh yeah, it went against every fibre of my being, but i skipped the cilantro in the sweet potato salad. it seems that the cilantro-averse population in halifax is growing exponentially. it won't happen often, but this week i caved to your demands.

i also made a double batch of maple bourbon bbq sauce this week. i'll have lots of larges (500ml $7.50) & smalls (250ml $5) at the market this weekend. i'll probably make a few different flavours heading in to the holidays - last year they were pretty popular for stocking stuffers.

all of the sweets are the same. i may be stuck in a bit of a rut. i'll mix it up soon, promise. i see eggnog cheesecakes in my very near future...

hope to see you at the market over the weekend.

ps: i'm now set up to accept visa & mastercard... but my card swiper thingy hasn't arrived yet so i'll have to key everything in... please bear with me :)