fall recipes

Autumn is my favorite season, and has been since I was little. The colorful leaves, the crisp smell outside, back to books and learning-ah. I love it all. But one thing I especially enjoy is getting back into the kitchen! We're a family of 5, and 4 of them are MEN, so I don't ever actually leave the kitchen. It's just that in the Summer it's all about the refrigerated desserts, so as not to turn on the oven and add to the heat of a non-air-conditioned abode. Leafy salads and grilled meat are what's for dinner most nights, with sandwiches and fruit for most lunches. It's all wonderfully simple and easy and fresh but also very HO HUM. But with Fall? Oh boy! We NEED to turn on the oven in the morning, for it chases that first chill away! Of course, now that we are back to books and learning, shouldn't there be hot tea with milk and thick slices of pumpkin bread for the afternoon snack? You know that dinner is just calling for a spicy, hearty soup with a crusty artisan bread to sop it up...

Even though I enjoy cooking; I detest monotony. And three meals a day is 1,095 meals to prepare ladies and gentleman! Therefore, I must keep it interesting. So I'll hunt recipes in magazines, from friends, cookbooks, and from the Internet. Print them off and stick them in my recipe drawer. When it's time to make a trip to the grocery store I just pull out a few new recipes that sound good that week, add their ingredients to the list. Everyone is warned "this is a new one!" and gets to critique the latest dish. If they "turn out"(majority vote) they become Keepers, and go into the Family cookbook. This soup recipe came from Dana, at HoldtheToastPress (online). It wasn't a majority win-only Josiah and I liked it. But we liked it SO MUCH that it's a keeper. Then two friends tasted it and asked for the recipe. If I am going to type it out in an email well, it might as well be a blog post, right?!!

AFRICAN PEANUT SOUP

1/2 large onion-chopped

1/2 cup diced celery

2 t. butter

1 1/2 quarts chicken broth (or 3, 14 ounce cans)

1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cubed (I used about 1/2 of a Costco rotisserie chicken, chopped-less fat and easier)

14 ounce can of Rotel tomatoes (those are the toms with chiles in them-I love them and will pretty much make anything that calls for them!)

4 cloves minced garlic (I did 6)

1 t. paprika
1/4 t. cayenne pepper, or to taste (I use about 1/2 because we like it hot but it does get hotter the next day, so if you are planning on leftovers take that into consideration)

1/2 t. curry powder

3/4 c. chunky peanut butter (you can use creamy but we prefer the chunky)

In a large stockpot, saute the celery and onion in the butter until soft.

Now add the broth, diced chicken, ro-tel, ginger, garlic, paprika, and curry. Turn up the burner to bring to a simmer. Turn it back down, and simmer about 30-45 minutes. Now whisk in the peanut butter, stirring until it melts in. Add the 1/4 t. of cayenne, check for spiciness, then add more if you like. Simmer another 15 min., whisk again and serve.

(6 servings-296 cal, 20g fat, 18g protein, 12g carb, 3 g fiber.)

John wouldn't even taste-test this. He said it smelled too much like Thai food, which I love and he detests. Once he pointed it out I realized he was totally right-it definitely has a Thai feel to it. In fact when I make it next time I plan on substituting 1/2 of the chicken broth with coconut milk, and add then adding some cilantro to the top, at serving time. I'll let you know if we jump continents with those changes!

And here is my tried-and-true, never fail, always thick and moist, Pumpkin Bread recipe. It's been in our book since the fall of 1997! One Christmas when the budget was tight, I had a dozen "buy one get one free" coupons for Libby's pumpkin. So everyone we knew got a loaf or two of this bread! Since then it's been my most requested recipe!

PUMPKIN BREAD

3 c. sugar

1 c. vegetable oil

4 eggs

1.5 cup pumpkin (This is a little less than 1 full can so I just dump it all in. Oh and be sure to buy the straight up pumpkin, not the nasty spiced/sugared one they make)

2/3 c. water

3 1/2 c. flour

2 t. salt

1 t. each baking powder and soda

1/2 t. cloves

1 t. EACH cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice

optional-1 c. chopped nuts (John hates nuts in baked goods. He calls them filler.)

Combine the first 5 ingredients, set aside. Sift together remaining ingredients, add to above. Pour into three greased loaf pans and bake at 350 for 1 hour. Cool 20 minutes, then take out of pans. Freezes very well, if you want to get a head start on holiday baking.