A Note Before We Begin
This week, our thoughts are with everyone across Inverness, Richmond, and Victoria counties, and everywhere else on the island touched by this storm. Over 200 millimetres of rain in a matter of days is almost impossible to picture until you've seen what it left behind — washed-out roads, damaged homes, communities cut off from each other, and neighbours checking on neighbours in ways that remind us exactly what this island is made of.
If you've been affected, please look after yourselves and each other first. Recipes and comfort food matter, but they matter most in service of the people making it through something hard. If you need information on road conditions, emergency supports, or community resources, please check with Nova Scotia Emergency Management and your municipal office for the latest updates, as conditions continue to be assessed and change day to day.
For everyone else, this is a good week to check in on friends and family in the affected counties, and to think about how we can support each other through the recovery ahead.
From the Pantry Shelf
This Week on the Pantry Shelf: Hodge Podge — The Dish That Asks for What You Have
There's a reason certain recipes survive for generations on this island, and it isn't because they're fancy. It's because they work. Hodge Podge is exactly that kind of dish — a humble, one-pot meal built from whatever root vegetables and garden produce you have on hand, simmered together with butter and cream until it becomes something greater than the sum of its parts.
This is old Maritime farmhouse cooking at its most practical. Hodge Podge traditionally comes together at the end of summer, when the garden is giving everything at once — new potatoes, baby carrots, green and yellow beans, peas, sometimes a bit of onion — and a family needs a way to use it all before anything goes to waste. It doesn't require precision. It doesn't require anything you don't already have in the kitchen or growing just outside the door. It just requires a pot, a bit of patience, and whatever vegetables are ready to be used.
That kind of resourcefulness feels especially relevant this week. When roads are washed out and trips to the grocery store aren't simple or safe, a recipe that says "use what's on hand" isn't just nostalgic — it's genuinely useful. Hodge Podge doesn't ask for anything exotic. It asks you to look at what's in your fridge, your garden, or your pantry, and make something warm and nourishing out of it.
This week, we're sharing it not just as a recipe, but as a reminder: this island has always known how to get through hard times by leaning on what we have and on each other. That's exactly what Hodge Podge represents, and exactly what's happening right now across Cape Breton as communities pull together.
This Week's Recipe: Traditional Maritime Hodge Podge
This recipe is deliberately flexible. Use the quantities below as a guide, but let what you actually have on hand be your real recipe.
The Ingredients
Makes 4–6 servings
4–6 small New potatoes, halved or quartered (skins on is traditional)
2 cups Carrots, sliced or baby carrots left whole
2 cups Green and/or yellow beans, trimmed and cut into pieces
1 cup Fresh or frozen peas
1 small Onion, diced (optional)
Water, enough to just cover the vegetables
1/2 tsp Salt, plus more to taste
3–4 tbsp Butter
1/2 to 1 cup Heavy cream or whole milk
Fresh pepper, to taste
Fresh dill or parsley, chopped, if you have it
The Instructions
Start With the Potatoes and Carrots
In a large pot, add the potatoes and carrots first, since they take the longest to cook. Add just enough water to cover them, along with the salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Add the Beans
After about 8–10 minutes, once the potatoes and carrots are starting to soften, add the beans. Continue simmering.
Add the Peas and Onion
With about 5 minutes of cooking time remaining, add the peas and diced onion if using. These cook quickly and don't need as much time as the heartier root vegetables.
Check for Doneness
The vegetables are ready when a fork slides easily into the potatoes and carrots, and everything is tender but not falling apart. This usually takes 20–25 minutes total from when you first started simmering.
Drain, But Not Completely
Drain off most of the cooking water, but leave a small amount in the pot — just enough to keep things from going dry once you add the butter and cream.
Finish With Butter and Cream
Return the pot to low heat. Add the butter, stirring gently until melted and coating the vegetables. Pour in the cream or milk, stirring to combine. Let everything warm through together for a couple of minutes — don't let it boil hard once the cream is in.
Season and Serve
Taste and adjust the salt and pepper as needed. Finish with a scatter of fresh dill or parsley if you have it on hand. Serve hot, straight from the pot.
A Note on Flexibility
This recipe is meant to bend to whatever you have. No beans? Leave them out. Only have frozen vegetables because the roads are washed out and the garden's underwater? Frozen works perfectly well. No cream, only milk, or only butter? Use what's there. The spirit of Hodge Podge has never been about following exact measurements — it's about making something warm and good from what's available, which feels like exactly the right lesson for this particular week.
If You're Cooking Without Power: This dish can be made on a camp stove, a barbecue side burner, or any outdoor heat source if your power is out. It doesn't require an oven, and it comes together in one pot, which makes it a practical option when kitchen resources are limited.
Feeding a Crowd: Hodge Podge scales up easily and is a wonderful dish to bring to a neighbour, a community hall, or anyone who could use a hot meal right now. Double or triple the recipe as needed.
A Dish Worth Sharing Right Now
If you're in a position to cook this week, consider making a large pot of Hodge Podge and sharing it with a neighbour who may be dealing with storm damage, a washed-out driveway, or simply the exhaustion of the past week. This has always been a dish built for exactly this kind of moment — practical, warm, and made to stretch across a table of people who need it.
Local fire halls, Legion branches, and community centres across the affected counties have opened as comfort centres offering support to residents cut off by road damage or without power. If you're able to safely travel and want to help, checking with your municipal office or local Legion about what's needed — whether that's food donations, supplies, or simply checking in on someone — is one of the most meaningful things you can do this week.
Community Corner
"We lost our driveway entirely — the culvert just gave out under all that rain, and now we can't get a vehicle in or out until it's repaired. My neighbour walked over with a pot of something warm the second day we were cut off, and honestly, I don't think I've ever been so grateful for a meal in my life.
It wasn't anything fancy. Just vegetables and cream, she said, whatever she had left in the fridge before the store trip she couldn't make. But it meant everything that week. I keep thinking about how something so simple carried us through until the road crew could get to us.
Thank you to everyone checking on their neighbours right now. It matters more than you know."
— A Richmond County reader
Thank you for sharing this with us, and please know our thoughts are with you and everyone still dealing with washed-out roads and damaged property. That instinct your neighbour had — to bring something warm over without being asked — is exactly the spirit this island runs on. We hope the road crews reach you soon, and that you're surrounded by that same kindness in the days ahead.
Looking Ahead
We'll be back next week with our usual mix of recipes, stories, and seasonal celebrations. For now, our focus is on this island's recovery, and on making sure everyone has what they need to get through the days ahead.
If you've been affected by the flooding, please reach out to your municipal office or Nova Scotia Emergency Management for the most current information on road conditions, supports, and resources available to you. And if you're able to help a neighbour this week — with a meal, a phone call, or simply checking in — please do.
Take care of each other, Cape Breton. That's what we do best.
From our kitchen to yours.