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Photo Credit: Neighbor Food

Every where you go it has been BACK TO SCHOOL for the last couple of weeks, hasn't it? Parker won't be starting school until next year so I will have wait one more year for fun school shopping (although I may buy myself a cute lunch bag- hey, I take my lunch to work every day to avoid eating crap in the cafeteria, I think I need something cute to carry my lunch in finally).

If you have school-aged kids you'll have seen the crazy creativity that's going on in lunch boxes these days. Good thing I have a year to brush up on my (currently non-existent) skills of making a sandwich into an owl... or a bear... or a mourning dove, or something equally as ridiculous.

Back To School Lunch Tips via Boulder Lovacore These tips are doable. And I want the cute hard boiled egg molds for myself.

Apple, Bacon, Dubliner Cheese Stuffed French Toast via Neighbor Food Yum

Gingerbread Cake via Yummy Mummy Club As soon as fall sets in I am making this cake.

Curried Vegetable Lentil Soup via Fitness Magazine Again, once the temperature drops I am making a big batch of this to stick in the freezer for lunches. You'd think I was looking forward to summer being over or something (I emphatically am not!)

Bangers and Mash with Parmesan Polenta via All You Need is Cheese Have we talked about how much I love polenta? It must be in my blood, a quarter of which is Italian. Although that does beg the question why the Estonian part of me doesn't crave, say, smoked herring. Like, ever.

Homemade Merguez Sausage via Serious Eats Some girls ask for jewellery for Christmas, some ask for a day at the spa... I asked for a meat grinder. Bring on the homemade sausage.

Fresh Corn Soup

Guys. It's corn season! Oh my gosh I love fresh corn from the farm market. And I mean fresh. Sometimes, if you're there at the right time, at the market we go to close by home they open up the bay doors and dump in some corn fresh from the field. Literally just picked. It doesn't get any fresher than that unless you grow it yourself, does it?

But then I get tired of grilled corn. Enter Gwenyth Paltrow's Corn Vichyssoise. I'm going to go out on a limb and say I actually like this soup better than just the corn itself. It doesn't get stuck in your teeth and spray the person sitting across from you when you bite into it. Unless you are sitting across from a 3-year old who thinks it's funny to blow raspberries with his mouth full sometimes. Yep, we're working on it.

The last step in this recipe is to strain the soup through a sieve. Don't be tempted to skip this part. This is what makes the soup velvety and creamy. There is no dairy in this soup (unless you sub butter for olive oil, cause corn and butter are BFFs. Oh, and omit the creme fraiche topping) but you'd think it was made with cream. Like the Parsnip, Apple and Brie soup I made before, the creaminess comes from a potato. Amazing.

This past week when I decided on a whim to make this I didn't have any regular potatoes or leeks, but I did have sweet potatos and onions. Turned out great too. Also, vichyssoise refers to a cold soup, but I just can't get into that. I eat it warm. Either way, go make this now before corn season is over. It's like summer in a bowl.

No, seriously, you're still here? Get to it!

Get the recipe:

GWYNETH PALTROW'S CORN VICHYSSOISE

via Bon Appetit

One Year Ago: Lentil Brownies (aka Special Brownies)

Two Years Ago: Cacio e Pepe

Three Years Ago: Vanilla Iced Coffee + Ham, Swiss and Asparagus Crepes

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Photo from Food52 Provisions

We are on vacation this week so there's not a lot of cooking happening this week at my house. We eat out a lot on vacation, even if it's a stay-cation (oh how I hate that term. I dislike it as much as "jeggings"- the word and what it stands for). Once I get back in the kitchen next week here's what's on my radar.

Pie Box via Food52 Provisions This isn't a recipe but isn't the cutest product ever? A handcrafted wooden box for transporting pies! C'mon. (I am also swooning over their blue Ball jars)

Fusilli with Fresh Tomato Sauce via Bon Appetit I am lamenting my lack of tomato garden this year. I think this is the first year since I've owned a house that I haven't grown tomatoes. Luckily I have the second best thing on my counter- tomatoes from the farm store the next town over.

Braised Eggplant with Garlic and Basil via Serious Eats I don't love eggplant, but it does a great job soaking up flavors. I'm hoping this tastes like my favorite Dim Sum dish of pan-fried eggplant stuffed with tofu with black bean sauce (great, now I'm really craving some Dim Sum).

Red Lentil Dip via Fresh Juice I'm thinking this would be like hummus. I plan on trying this recipe out this week actually.

No-Ice-Cream-Maker Brownie Chunk Ice Cream via Young, Broke & Hungry I have an ice cream maker, but this looks good and super easy regardless.

Sweet Tea via Food52 I've made iced tea many, many times before. In fact, when I was pregnant I drank an entire pitcher of Red Raspberry Leaf iced tea every day for a month (no, it didn't help with labour as far as I can tell, but it was delicious). I like having a ratio to follow though, usually I just dump in some sugar and hope for the best. I will also combine this method with a tip I saw on Pinterest to add baking soda to make your iced tea nice and clear rather than cloudy.