It's Friday which means date night. We had an early reservation. My favorite dish is no longer on the menu, so that means time to try and duplicate it at home ... Pappardelle with Pancetta, Broccoli, and Pine Nuts.

We're still having a few days of lingering summer temps, but fall is slowly settling in and that means soup time. Have a curry butternut bisque I want to try this week. Bought a few pounds of wings today. Making a pot of stock tomorrow.

What's cookin' in your kitchen?

It's COLD here during the nights, so yesterday I made a large pot of Ham and Beans w/Tabouli & biscuits for our homemade Peach jam.

It's getting much colder next week so on Sunday I'm going to make a Beef Stew. I could eat stew every day for the rest of my life!

Also use Tabouli as a side dish. Oh, I'm going to make a Corn Salad sometime this week.

Scallion pancakes have been a recent favorite and bread from the 5 minute no knead healthy recipe book and I did spend a morning the other day making french onion soup for the freezer.
Nothing exotic happening here though. I need to make a batch of summer rolls and eat those for a few days.
Fall gardening is the big thing at the moment.

Last night I roasted some thin zucchini strips with cherry tomatoes and garlic, then tossed it with pasta, ricotta and basil. The picky kids even ate it.

I was trying to make a chinese orange chicken tonight and I was not impressed, back to the drawing board on that one. This week we did have acorn squash stuffed with corn custard but I have been rather uninspired in the kitchen of late, I do not have half the things I need right now and am rather tired of trying to pull a rabbit out of the hat. We had our first freeze last weekend and another one will be here on Tuesday so I think my funk is from adjusting to the weather changes.

The main thing to do is roast the squash and the apples at 400 til very tender. I used Mutzu apples and used the peelings in the soup too...pureed them and they were great. I also had 3 leeks sauteed them and added them in.

I make my own curry powder...use Alton Brown's recipe...it is the best you will ever try. Do cut the cardamom in half though as it is very pungent and takes over. Otherwise it is just the right amount of heat.

I caramelized a diced up apple in brown sugar and butter for the garnish. it really was exceptional. The soup also keeps very well and is better the next day.

I am going to try the Ina recipe as we love ginger. Also going to try the roasted zucchini...all nice ideas. c

Question, here in OK. we call scallions, "green onion." What part of the country are you from?

For the longest time I'd see a recipe that called for Scallions, and I thought, "what are those??" LOL

Also on my list to make soon is a honey roasted butternut squash and spinach salad. I found that on a website linked over on the cooking forum - skinny taste or something like that. It looks lovely - orange squash, green spinach, red dried cherries (although I'll use cranberries since I have them), white from either feta or gorgonzola.

Last night we were out and I had butternut squash agnolotti (basically a ravioli)with browned butter and sage. Tonight will probably be my favorite Silician style pizza since I haven't had it in over 5 weeks. The staff probably thinks I died it's been so long since I've been there. They all know my order and hand me my glass of wine as we sit down. It's my Cheers, where everybody might not know my name but they do know my standing order.

My cooking this week has been uninspired and I am determined to get my mojo back. After I get my Silician pizza. :-)

It is sunny and 58* right now, the wind is seems like it may blow the house away. If it doesn't calm down before we start the fire around 4:30 we may have to huddle around the bbq grill. How charming is that!?!?

I have plenty left to do yet. I always wonder why I wash the floor the week BEFORE this party, when by the end of today it will be completely covered in dry leaves and footprints. Maybe it's time to have my loose screw tightened.

Gotta go.....

Caroline, I like Penzey's curry powders. When you mentioned cardamom had to check if the jar was still in the baking drawer. It is. Fancy green pods dated March 08. Bought them to use in Dirt Bomb Muffins, but didn't care for the smell. Cracked a couple open ... have no idea if the black seed should be as dry as it is. Guess I should just toss.

Went to the farmers' market this morning. Picked up satsumas, yellow squash, green beans (mine are still too tiny), tomatoes, and honey. Chicken stock is simmering for the next few hours, so I need to change and get some work done outside. Grilling burgers tonight.

Try Alton's recipe...it is so so good. Lots of nice ideas. I am definitely going to make the roast bn salad...I have everything including the cherries. c

We use a lot of cumin so the jar is always almost empty. Turmeric keeps for at least a decade or more LOL. So you will use it all up. We make curry powder about every month or two so we use a lot of it too.

Try putting curry powder in your catsup the next time you want it for a burger or fries. It is SO yum. That is the way everyone in Holland eats their patat frites....french fries. c

Tried a new squash tonight ... buttercup. It reminded me of acorn except it was drier, but a little more flavorful. I seasoned it with chipotle powder and a little butter. Dh grilled country style ribs with raspberry chipotle bbq sauce. Also had cole slaw and cranberry Jezebel.

Imagine my surprise when I checked on it an hour later and realized I had put an already cooked roast from Friday in the oven.

I had prepped the chicken this morning and put it in the same type of corning bake-ware dish as the roast beef was in - and grabbed the wrong dish.

We are now having fish tonight...

Anyone have a good recipe for extra dry extra tough chuck roast?:)

It's still in the 80's here, but nice at night and a cool front is on the way, so I'm thinking it's time for soup, too. I recently started back to work, so tonight I am going to make a big pot of taco soup (with ground turkey instead of ground beef), freeze in small containers so I can take for my lunch.

I didn't flip the muffins, but I did add a pecan half to the top before baking. They were wonderful hot out of the oven and equally good the next day reheated for 10 seconds in the microwave.

We are back to sunny days...but 40's at night. Will be mid 70's again next week.

I posted on the Kitchen forum the pretty cookies that DH made...they are Italian and chocolate...what else can you ask for ???

DH made omlettes tonight with sauteed red onion and red bell pepper. He added cheddar and finished them under the broiler...they puff so nicely. I had some tomatillo sauce leftover so i heated that up and we spooned it over...oh wow...it was so yummy. I also made grits in the double boiler. Never have done that before. They take longer but are really creamy and no sticking and also no stirring.

Had homemade Challah and homemade elderberry jam and that was that. c

Made a German apple pancake for breakfast. Saw it on a blog recently and I think someone here shared a recipe too.

Dh went to the LSU game yesterday and got home around 6:30. Since he wasn't starving I decided to roast a chicken. Only took 90 minutes, so it wasn't too late. Sides were mashed rutabaga and roasted green beans.

tina

Caroline I am definitely going to try your soup!

Shermann - do you have a recipe for your carrot soup that you wouldn't mind sharing? I've always wanted to try it.

Fall means it's time for me to make tomato fennel soup w/ grilled gouda cheese & cayenne sandwiches.