Sunchokes (also called Jerusalem artichokes) are a beautiful perennial related to sunflowers. They are prolific and indestructible. They are a very nutritious root harvested after first frost. I store them by dicing them, blanching them and freezing them in food saver bags.

Some people have issues with them which have earned them the nickname "fartichokes" so maybe don't have them for the first time just before going to a long funeral service or something like that. This is my easy version of the recipe, adapted for the instant pot. It's been adapted from this one for the stove top. 

Ingredients:

• 2 big potatoes or the equivalent
• About the same amount of sunchokes
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• Rosemary
• 6 cups of vegetable stock
• Cream or milk (1/2 cup approximately)
• Butter (optional)
• Pepper

Steps:

1. Peel the potatoes
2. Dice the potatoes, sunchokes, onion, mince or smash the garlic. 
3. Put all the veggies in the instant pot. Sprinkle on some rosemary or other herbs to your taste.
4. Add the vegetable stock. 6 cups will make a potage-consistency soup. If you want a creamier soup you could reduce the vegetable stock.
5. Pressure cook on high for 8 minutes, then vent.
6. Add cream, milk, or milk and butter to taste.
7. Blend with a hand blender.
8. Season with pepper and/or other seasonings to taste.

I freeze this pesto in ziploc bags. I make as many portions as I can at a time.

Ingredients (multiply as needed):

• 1 cup basil leaves
• 1/2 cup parsley leaves
• 1/2 cup parmesan
• 1/4 cup nuts (I used almonds because they are the most affordable as costco. Pine nuts are more traditional. Walnuts are another choice)
• 2 garlic cloves, or more
• olive oil 

Put all the ingredients (except oil) in a good processor, and chop. Add enough oil to make mixture stick to itself. Portion out and freeze (I freeze supper sized portions in ziplocs inside a foodsaver bag. It can also be frozen in ice cube trays). When ready to use, thaw and add oil to desired consistency (I add oil until it is the consistency of soft butter). We like to serve this on rotini, pizza, or butternut squash ravioli.

I multiply this recipe by many times and freeze supper sized portion, this way I only have to clean the pasta machine once. It's a great recipe to make when the squash starts to need to be used up (sometime in the December-February time period for us, depending how well it was stored). These ravioli are delicious and they make a quick meal, they don't need too much in terms of sauce. I use my homemade pesto, which I also freeze.

Ingredients (for 4 servings - multiply as needed).

• Filling:
  • 1.25 cups of butternut squash purée - could be from roasting fresh squash or from a pint of canned squashed. Squash that is canned in cubes is very mushy and can be reduced to purée very easily
  • 1 cup parmesan (I use Kraft but fresh would likely be even better
  • 1/2 cup of Ricotta, freshly made or bought from the store. Ricotta is the easiest cheese to make
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • Salt
  • Pepper
• Pasta:
  • Ravioli pasta dough - I use my pasta maker and the recipe that came with it (just flour and water). If you don't have a pasta maker, you can find a recipe online
• Sauce:
  • Some recipes use brown butter and sage, personally I prefer my homemade (frozen) pesto

1. Making the filling: in a large bowl, combine squash, parmesan, ricotta and brown sugar. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
2. Using pasta maker directions, prepare the pasta dough. Lay out long rectangles of dough, and using a spoon (I use a cookie scoop), deposit 1 tbsp of filling, leaving 1 inch between each glob. Lay another rectangle of pasta on top of it, seal into raviolis and cut.
3. Once they aren't tacky anymore, freeze in supper sized portions (We use about 8 raviolis per person). I freeze these in FoodSaver bags with some parchment paper to separate the layers. Don't squeeze too much.
4. Thaw (if needed) and boil for one and a half minutes. Add to a skillet with brown butter and sage sauce, homemade pesto, or other sauce.

Lovely fall treat with fresh apples. I fill my two fridge drawers with apples to use throughout the fall and winter.

Ingredients:

• 1 unbaked pie crust (premade or your own)
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 cup sour cream
• 5 apples or so, peeled and sliced
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 c brown sugar

Instructions:

• Put the sliced apples on the crust
• In a bowl mix flour, cream, white sugar, and pour on top of the apples
• Bake at 425F for 15 minutes then 350F for 35 minutes
• Sprinkle with brown sugar and melt a few minutes in the oven

Butternut squash keeps a long time on the counter (up to February here). If you want to keep is longer, it can be pressure canned. It can only be safely pressure canned in cubes, not as a purée, because the heat can't penetrate dense purée. I store carrots in sand and apples in the veggie drawer of my fridge. I haven't had much luck with storing onions so I usually chop them and freeze them in portions. So, I usually have everything on hand for this soup during the winter.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 apple, diced
• 1 L jar of butternut squash
• 1 bunch of sage
• 1 onion
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/8 tsp cayenne
• cinnamon and nutmeg 
• 1 small can of coconut milk

Instructions:

• ​Put everything in the instant pot and pressure cook on high for 8 minutes -or- simmer on the stovetop until fruits and veggies are tender
• If you remember, take out the sage (I always forget...)
• Add coconut milk and blend with immersion blender (or traditional blender in batches).

This delicious spicy bread had completely replaced banana bread in our household. I can lots of pumpkin in the fall and we have this all winter long. It's a great dessert and treat. I sometimes make it as bread (I use two bread pans), sometimes in muffin tins, or half and half. Lately I've been leaning more towards muffins because they cook more evenly.

Pumpkin can only be pressure canned safely in cubes, not as puree, because puree would be too dense to ensure sufficient heat penetration. However, after pressure canning, the pumpkin is completely cooked and it purees very easily during the making of this recipe. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 pint to one quart of canned pumpkin. 

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 325F
• Grease two bread pans or muffin trays
• In a bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, spices, and whisk.
• In a large bowl beat butter and sugar (ideally with a mixer) until just blended. Add eggs and beat until it's very fluffy. Add in pumpkin and mix. 
• Add flour mixture and mix
• Divide into pans and bake 65-75, use a bread knife to test for doneness inside. 

Good recipe to use up carrots! You can't use canned carrots. Good with fresh carrots or carrots stored in a bin of sand. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup carrots
• 3/4 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 1.5 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• cinnamon

Optional frosting:

• 3 ounces of cream cheese
• 1/4 lb butter
• 2 cups icing sugar
• vanilla

Instructions:

• Mix cake ingredients, bake at 350F for 1h
• Cool down
• Mix frosting and frost the cake (optional)

Perfect when green beans are in season. 

Ingredients

• Green beans
• butter or margarine
• garlic
• seasoning of your choice (for example lemon-pepper, lemon-dill, etc and salt

Instructions

• Submerge beans in water, bring to a boil.
• Simmer 3-5 minutes until beans start to soften
• Drain off water, add butter and cook 1-2 minutes 
• Add garlic and cook 1-2 minutes
• Season and serve

Good recipe when you have a lot of carrots! We store our carrots in sand bins and eat this pie as a side dish in the wintertime. The leftovers are good cold as well.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cups of carrots sliced or diced  (could also use potatoes for part of it)
• 1 tbsp butter or margarine
• 3 tbsp cream or milk
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• salt and pepper
• Precooked pie crust of some kind (I use pillsbury crescent rolls
• Parmesan

Instructions:

• Cook carrots, mash them, add margarine, cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper
• Put it in the pie crust
• Put a bit of parmesan on top
• Bake at 425F for 15 minutes

Stinging nettle soup is a hit at our place. It takes a little bit of time to pick the nettle leaves but the cooking itself is very easy. It is adapted from a recipe on Allrecipes .

For tips on handling stinging nettles, read my blog post about this useful weed.

Ingredients (the quantities are all pretty flexible)

• 20 cups of stinging nettle leaves, somewhat packed
• Rice - about 1/3 cup uncooked or 1 cup leftover cooked. I used basmati rice since that is what we typically have around
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 onion
• salt, pepper, olive oil

Instructions:

• Heat olive oil and cook onion. Set aside.
• Bring salted water to a boil and boil leaves for 5 minutes or so, drain off water.
• Add broth, nettles, and rice if uncooked
• Simmer 15 minutes.
• If the rice was cooked, add it at this point and warm it up. 
• Blend it with an immersion blender. Adjust texture with additional liquid if desired.
• Season with salt and pepper if you like.