Glitter & Yarn

Years ago, when my partner and I started dating, I wanted to impress him with my cooking skills (I’m a pretty good cook if I do say so myself!), so I came up with the idea to have a Pumpkin day.  We would go to the Pumpkin Patch and pick out some pumpkins to decorate and carve.  Then, to finish off the day, we’d have a delicious Pumpkin themed meal. I can be a bit extra when it comes to hosting and planning things, so this was right up my alley.  Off I went to plan a meal, featuring the ever so versatile, Pumpkin. 

Since then, we’ve expanded our seasonal days to almost 5 a year and try to add more when we can think of them.  One thing remains the same though; they all revolve around the same type of idea.   We’ll go out and pick a seasonal fruit or vegetable at a local farm and then plan a whole day of meals where that food is the focus. 

Sounds delicious right?  We’d also pick out some wine and beer pairings that would complement the meal.

Our next seasonal day is Raspberry Day, so I thought, why not show you how I planned, prepared and executed what has become a fun little tradition in our house.

Picking the Perfect Fruit (or vegetable)

When we are planning out our theme days, we have a few criteria we like to follow:

1. The fruit (or vegetable) we pick is in season,
2. We can source the main featured ingredient locally, and
3. We can actually find recipes that feature our preferred star. 

Some fruits and vegetables are easier to plan for.  Apple Day, for example, is super easy.  There are plenty of recipes that feature the apple, both sweet and savoury.  The same goes for pumpkin.  Berries can be a little trickier, but the internet is a beautiful thing and can be a great source of inspiration.  There are plenty of sweet berry recipes that are great for a sweet treat or dessert option, and sometimes, that’s all you need to make your picking or harvesting days special. 

My first pumpkin day, I stuck with planning dinner, and that was perfect.  If planning an entire day around one singular food seems impossible, or a little daunting, don’t sweat it!  The whole idea of having a themed day is to have fun and share some yummy food with the people you love and care about.

Planning the Menu

I tend to be a bit of a planner when it comes to things I look forward to, so I plan my theme days well in advance.  That way, I can figure out what to make, any additional ingredients we may need, timing for meal prep and more.

One of the first challenges I would encounter was finding a savoury dish that featured the raspberry.  Raspberry day is a newer addition to our theme days, this being the second year we’ve added it to our repertoire.  I scoured the internet looking for some sort of recipe that I thought would taste good.  I’m, pretty good at flavour profiling, and I can usually figure out which flavours will go well together, but it’s always a bit of a gamble when you’re trying something new.  This year, I found a recipe for a Raspberry Balsamic Glazed Chicken and a Raspberry Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette.

Once I settled on my savoury meal, I just needed to narrow down on my sweeter dishes.  Raspberries are one of my favourite fruits, so that was challenging in itself because so many of the desserts sounded delicious.  By the end of my search though, I settled on the following menu:

Breakfast – Raspberry White Chocolate Scones

Appetizer – Raspberry Goat Cheese Crostini

Dinner – Raspberry Balsamic Glazed Chicken with Raspberry Salad

Dessert – Chocolate Raspberry Tart

Setting the Table

Again, I am a bit extra, and I really wanted to show off a bit this year, so I added a little bit of extra flair to our day.  I decided to go out and get some raspberry-coloured flowers to complement our table setting. At the end of the day, do what feels right for you and your family.  Get the kids involved in not only the picking days, but by making some of the decorations too!

Final Thoughts

One thing about me, which I’m sure you’ll learn if you keep up with my blog, is that I’m a pretty “go with the flow” kinda gal.  While I might seem to be a bit over the top when it comes to hosting or planning out special days, I’m also very much aware that those are things that I enjoy doing, so I will probably be a little more enthusiastic about them.  That doesn’t mean that you have to though.  Do what makes you happy and what makes sense for your lifestyle.  Don’t have time to spend a day at the farm picking berries?  Your local farmers market or grocery store probably has the item you are looking for, no added pressure. Theme days are meant to be fun, and you can plan them however you want. So go out and plan a fun day with lots of memories and good foods to enjoy either on your own or with your loved ones!