With a huge grin, I watched people wander in and then gaze…
gob-smacked… where to start… what to choose?
Tables were spread with the most beautiful home-baked goods.
All done up for the occasion with pretty bows, ribbons, wrapping, and boxes.
Lovingly designed to entice♥
How could anyone resist?
Why would they want to?
I highly recommended taking a good loooong look.. before beginning the selection process.
I felt so proud and astonished by the baking talent in our city…
It was doubly awesome to meet fellow-bloggers…
And it was touching to see so many people come out on a chilly winter’s day.
They stopped by to pick up a few pretty items and most overpaid…
“keep the change”
was the order of the day.
After all, these were donations for a worthy cause
Brown Bagging for Kids!
The Bake Sale end Sunday at 5:30… but I’ve heard new goodies will be on those tables!
So toss on your woolen coats and stroll on in!
Pick up a yummy dessert…
Then have a brisk, refreshing walk home.
I guess you could drive if you’re coming from afar;)
Maybe cook up a bowlful of this hand and tummy warming soup…
This soup is from A Year of the Best and has been modified.. just a smidge…
Heartwarming Butternut Squash Soup
- 1 large butternut squash
- 2 carrots
- 1-2 small shallots
- 2 tbsp butter
- 8 cups chicken stock
- 1 apple
- 1 bay leaf
- pinch of nutmeg
- 1 tsp sugar
- salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 8 oz brie cheese
- Preheat oven to 375° F. Cut squash in half lengthwise, using a spoon scrape out the seeds. Line a baking sheet with non-stick foil or spray with a vegetable spray. Place squash halves cut side down on the foil. Pierce all over with a fork or skewer. Bake for about 45 minutes or until tender. Allow to cool enough to handle.
- Meanwhile, chop up the carrots, peel and chop the shallots. Add butter to a large pot and heat on medium. Saute the carrots and shallots until softened but not browned. Scrape the pulpy flesh from inside the squash and add to the pot. Pour over the chicken stock and bring to a light boil.
- Add the apple, bay leaf, pinch of nutmeg and sugar to the stock mixture. Simmer for another 40 minutes or until all vegetables are fork tender. Remove the bay leaf.
- Blend in batches or use an immersion blender to puree all the ingredients together. (*If using blender, ensure soup has cooled significantly first or it will “burst” the lid off when blending).
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- To serve, place a 1/2? piece of brie (skin removed) on the bottom of each bowl. Ladle in the hot soup.
- Garnish with sour cream. Drizzle sour cream in a decorative pattern and use a skewer or toothpick to embellish.
What a bake sale! Looks like a wedding. You really know how to do it right and then some!
I am sad I’m so far away and cannot make a purchase and unwrap it when I get home and enjoy it with a hot cup of tea. What a lovely soup photo too. Your blog is stellar, always.
Thank you! It was pretty impressive! I’ll have to have some tags next year for mine. What talent there is in the baking world!!
Wow everything at the cake sale was so very prettily presented.
I know, eh? I thought I’d done enough but, my goodness, these bakers were amazing!
Looks like tasty bake sale items and a delicious soup to match!
Thank you.. they were yummy, our family picked up and sampled several of the items:)
Looks absolutely fantastic. The baked goods look yummy and the packaging is done so beautifully!!!
Absolutely gorgeous bake sale! Everything looks so tempting 🙂
It sure was, I highly recommend doing this wherever you live!!
Brie and nutmeg, what a wonderful recipe!
It’s a good every day warm soup, that’s for sure!
What beautiful packaging and reading the labels just makes me want to try them all 🙂 It all looks so smart and beautifully enticing.
Vincci did an unbelievable job with labels, and the bloggers packaged things up so pretty!
Beautiful photos, Barb! Thanks SO MUCH for helping out and baking for the bake sale! It was a pleasure meeting you and I hope we can do more Calgary Food Blogger events soon!
You’re so welcome.. borrow them if you wish! It was a lot of fun working there, well, it wasn’t really work, was it:) It was a pleasure meeting you as well!!
ooo the brie!! how can you take an already-heartwarming, lip-smackin’ soup over the top? You just did it! and by a mile, not by a smidge! 😉 Really wonderful seeing the sort of turnout you had and knowing where the “dough” is going! xo spree
spree.. how do you do that? I love your playful words today.. espec the “dough” metaphor.. Thanks so much 🙂 xo Smidge
Wow! Just look at all of the tasty treats! It was a wonderful idea and it sounds like the charity did well, too. A win-win, to be sure. Your soup sounds delicious, Smidge, just like all of the recipes you share. You really do spoil us, you know. Thank you! 🙂
You’re welcome, John. I think this Bake Sale was such a great way to meet other bloggers without a “formal” event and to raise money was, indeed, a wonderful thing.. I felt so lucky to participate!
OH MY I would love to find myself in front of a bake sale with such beautifully packaged choices !! that’s pretty amazing!!
Thanks for stopping by and leaving such a sweet comment.
–B
It was so much fun seeing what other food bloggers baked and brought in! You’re so welcome, Brianna, I really loved your blog post today!!
Wow…what a display!! You don’t normally see so many creatively displayed treats at ordinary bake sales!! You just know this had to be from a group of foodie bloggers!! As always, your photos are so tempting and well done they make me want to sit right down and enjoy your food! Your soup sounds warming delicious!!
You’re so right! I was going to wrap them pretty casually then thought better of it.. thank goodness, because everything was so beautiful!
Delicious pictures!
I was hoping that I would get to meet you. I even played it in my brain what our conversation would be like! The pictures I took even feature your cookies, so we were in the same place at the same time!
Oh… I wanted to meet you as well!! How did I not if we were both there?? Maybe I was surrounded by my family:) It was so much fun!! We have to do it again so we can meet!! Xo Barb
The bake sale was clearly spectacular. Marvelous, marvelous, and I am drooling in an unseemly manner just looking at it all.
That soup! Oh, yes. A wonderful combination. You know, I appreciate bay leaves more every time I make a soup or roast with them. I believe I feel a bout of experimentation with them coming on . . . 😉
Oh, dear, I think drooling would have been overlooked, though? Who wouldn’t drool, I had to resist the urge to buy one of everything. And Bay Leave… I used to despise them.. and wondered why on earth my mom would put that in our stews. It was like the opposite of finding a foil wrapped coin in a birthday cake! Hahaha, clearly I’ve come a long way!
They are all so beautifully presented, so much time and effort must have gone into not just the baking but the preparation. Fabulous!
and your soup, perfect for a chilly day, and I love the addition of brie 🙂
I’m so glad to hear it was a success. I don’t think I’d’ve known what to choose – it’s all so tempting!
How fun and your soup looks absolutely wonderful!! 🙂
What a great cause and that must have been a fun day out. I do love how beautifully everyone packaged their goodies. And to arrive home after a long but productive day and have a bowl of yummy soup waiting – that would be the perfect finish.
The goodies look delectable and the packaging is wonderful. I wish I lived closer!
They all look fantastic, absolutely fantastic. Perfect packaging.
Impossible to choose between them all. One of each?
Beautiful! Wonderful!
Beauitful, Lovely, Delicious,…. admirable too.
This weekend I was talking about this “Calgary Food Blogger Bake Sale” with some of my friends… How made us all so excited and we all wished to be there! Really seems amazing. If I were there probably I would have bought all of them 🙂 Thank you so much dear Barbara, I am so glad it was a wonderful day for you too. And also Thank you for the recipes too… Your photographs are beautiful again, especially the last ones… Fascinated me your composition.
Have a nice week, with my love, nia
I am so touched by this concept that I am going to try and get something here going!
I’m so glad it went well!!!!
It was so much fun bakig for the event though I clearly did not package my gooedies in the beautiful way the rest did. Cannot wait for the next event 🙂
I don’t remember seeing anything that was pretty and yummy looking (and tasting.. oops, yes, I did buy quite a few!) It was fun and I would like to do tags for mine next year! Or soon, I hope!!
I am already checking new recipes. I cannot eat it all by myself so Bake Sales are my kind of diet 🙂
I wish I’d been at that bake sale…everything looks so beautiful and no wonder it was a success! A delicious sounding butternut squash soup and one I’m going to try for sure.
It was so much fun, I also wish I could have been there the whole weekend.. But there’s always next year!
How fun! The soup sounds amazing.
What a fun way to raise money for a cause and showcase the local talents! I’ll have to try your butternut squash soup as that’s simply perfect with the weather we have at the moment. 😉
It was awesome, I think we made over $1,800 without any overhead costs:)
Everything is so beautifully presented!
🙂 Mandy
Love it! Doing something you love and helping out a good cause while you’re at it. Perfect combination! ~Ruth
Look at all those pretty packages! But you didn’t give us your cookie recipe. Is that because you have already posted it somewhere, or is it coming soon?
Hi Barb! I wished I could have met you at the bake sale! Your cookies look terrific! I heard it was a bit of crowd right from the morning! Also, thanks for posting some pictures from the bake sale. By the time I got back there everything nearly sold out!
Beautiful blog…. 🙂
[…] I didn’t get any pictures but a fellow food blogger, Barb from Just a Smidgen took some photos from the bake sale (doesn’t she have such an inspiring blog?). I went back to the bake sale later in the day […]
Sounds like a success all the way around! Glad to hear it!
$1900.. not a bad haul for baking:)
Wow those home made goodies look almost too good to eat !
I’m so glad you took some pictures Barb. I brought my camera on Sunday, but by then everything was gone! It was so much fun taking part but I also wish I had put more effort into my packaging, my last minute thoughts consisted of “hey! Here’s some plates! Here’s some saran wrap! Done.”
I hope I get the pleasure of meeting you at the next event.
Our current house comes coplemte with a larder, small high window, north facing. Even in summer it stays at a reasonable temperature for most food stuffs. This and the kacheloven are two traditional elements of the house we will take with us when we move on.