With Fall coming up, now we can start making "comfort food" and bake. What are you looking forward to making once the cool weather rolls in?

chili! :-) and taco soup! and enchiladas!  for some reason these all taste better to me the colder it gets!

Chilli for me too. Only I make it one way and everyone else has their own way so depending on who makes it its always different.

I like to get a pot of soup going when it gets cooler---Vegetable beef, cream of potato, chicken corn, or bean etc. It doesn't matter. We love soup especially when I have a fresh loaf of homemade bread coming out of the bread machine to go with it. 

And fall means  baking with apples--apple pie, various apple cakes, apple pudding (not really pudding, more like cake), apple crisp, etc. later there will be pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread etc.

stew....

soon I will get my apples and make applesauce....pies....bread.....

Soup- lots and lots of soup!  Also, roast chicken, pot roast, homemade spagetti sauce, fruit crisps, and lasagna.

I love fall cooking... I'm a big fan of anything pumpkin or squash. I also start roasting again... I have a Gruyere-chicken crepe casserole recipe that's fab comfort food.

And soup. Lots of soup. I have a quickie Potato-Pea soup that goes into "heavy rotation" in late fall/winter...

(Right now we have a bit of a heat wave in CA-- I won't be roasting anytime soon!!)

I would say Chili but I live in Oklahoma--we have chili year round here! Especially Frito Chili Pie! Yum.

Jenny--that Potato-Pea soup sounds wonderful! Can I get a recipe? Please?

Beef Stew, thick with gravy, and mopped up with fresh bread slathered in butter!  uh oh, I put on 2 lbs just writing this!

I also like to bake when Fall arrives.

By Popular demand--

Split Green Pea and Potato Soup -- Zuppa di piselli secchi e patate

From The Classic Italian Cook Book by Marcella Hazan (A fantastic cookbook from the '70s, but I cut back on salt and fat on just about every recipe...)

• 1/2 lb. split green peas, washed and drained
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and roughly cut up
• 5 cups meat broth (I've substituted canned chicken stock)
• 2 tbs chopped onion
• 3 tbs olive oil (I halve the amount)
• 3 tbs butter (I halve the amount)
• 3 tbs freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt

1. Cook split peas and potatoes at a moderate boil in 3 cups of broth until tender. Puree the peas and potatoes, with their cooking liquid, througha  food mill and into a stock pot. (I use a blender)
2. Put the onion in a small skillet along with the oil and butter and sautee over medium-high heat until a rich golden color.
3. Add all contents of the skillet to the stockpot; then add the remaining 2 c. of broth and bring to a moderate boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the oil and butter are dissoved in the broth. Just before turning off the heat, mix in the grated chees and taste to correct for salt. Serve with additional grated cheese and crostini on the side.
4. Note: if you are doing the soup in advance, add the cheese only when you reheat it. Allow the soup to cool thoroughly before refrigerating.

From The Herb Book by Arabella Boxer and Philippa Back (my all-time favorite cookbook)

Chicken Pancakes with Chervil

• Chicken prep
  • 3 lb roasting chicken
  • 1 onion, peeled, coarsely chopped
  • 1 carrot, peeled, coarsely chopped
  • 1 stalk celery, scrubbed, coarsely chopped
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 stalks parseley
  • sea salt and black pepper
• Batter
  • 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 - 1 1/4 c. milk
  • lard for frying (I use spray canola oil)

• Sauce
  • 1/4 c. butter
  • 3 1/2 tbs flour
  • 2/3 c. light cream
  • sea salt and black pepper
  • 1 tbs. chopped chervil (or parseley)
  • 1 tbs. chopped tarragon
  • 1/4 c. Gruyere cheese (I generally use more...)

Put the chicken in a close-fitting flameproof casserole. Tuck vegetables around the chicken with the bay leaf and parseley. Add salt and pepper and enough cold water to come halfway up the side of the pot. Cover the casserole and bring to the boil slowly. Simmer gently for 50 minutes. At the end of the cooking time, test a leg with a skewer to make sure the meat is tender. Continue cooking for 10 minutes if necessary. When the chicken is cooked, lift it out of the casserole, drain it and leave to cool. Strain the cooking liquid into a bowl and leavel to cool. Cut the chicken meat into small neat pieces, discarding the skin. Remove all fat from the surface of the cold stock. Measure out 2 cups and reserve. (Note: Obviously this step could be simplified if you use leftover cooked chicken and pre-made chicken stock)

To make the batter, put flour in a mixing bowl with the salt. Make a well in the center with a wooden spoon and drop in egg and egg yolk, beaten together, and 1 cup of milk. Beat vigorously until it has the consistency of thick cream, adding a little more milk if necessary. Leave the batter to stand for 1 hour before use. (Note: I just use a blender)

To make the sauce, melt the butter in a pan, stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring. Heat the reserved stock and pour it into the pan, stirring all the time to blend as the sauce thickens. Stir in the cream and cook gently for 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper to tasste. Mix half the sauce with the chopped chicken in a bowl and stir in the chopped herbs. Add most of the grated cheese to the other half of the suace and keep warm.

Melt a little lard in a frying pan and use the batter to make 10-12 pancakes. (Funny how the book is so detailed with every other step but doesn't say a thing about making the pancakes-- follow any crepe recipe for full instructions...) Divide the chicken filling evenly among the pancakes, rolling them up into a cigar shape and laying them side by side in a buttered gratin dish. Pour the reserved sauce over the pancakes and scatter the remaining cheese on top. Cook at 350F for 20 minutes until the cheese has melted and the top is golden brown. The dish can be made in advance if reheated in a moderate oven for 30 minutes before serving.

Serves 4-6 as a light main course. Serve with a lettuce salad.

I'm hosting a pumpkin party this year and I'm making a few things with pumpkin in the recipe. I can't wait!

 Sweet Pumpkin Dip

• 4 c. confectioners sugar
• 2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 (3 oz.) can pumpkin pie filling
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp. ginger
• Dash of nutmeg, cloves, allspice
• 1 bag gingersnaps, graham crackers and sliced fruit

Blend sugar and cream cheese until creamy, then add remaining ingredients except gingersnaps. Dip them in and eat - serve in hollowed out small pumpkin.

Southwest Layered Pumpkin Dip

Servings: 16
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients - 1 can pumpkin (15-ounces) - not pumpkin pie mix - 1 package (8-ounces) cream cheese - 1 container (8-ounces) sour cream - 2 tablespoons jar Jalapeño (chopped) - 1 can Diced Green Chilies (drained) - 1 tablespoon Taco Seasoning Mix - 1 cup shredded lettuce - 1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese - 2 cups med. salsa (drained) - sliced black olives - Tortilla Chips

  In bowl, combine pumpkin and cream cheese until well blended. Spread pumpkin mixture into a 11x7-inch baking dish. In another bowl, combine sour cream, jalepeños, green chilies and seasoning mix. Spread over pumpkin mixture, then spread a layer of salsa. Top with lettuce, cheese, black olives. Cover and refrigerate several hours before serving. Serve with tortilla chips, for dipping.

Meatloaf! I made meatloaf and mashed potatoes a couple of nights ago.

Soup and pot roast are good ones too.

anything! as it's been too darn hot to use the oven....

Split Pea and Ham Soup heads the list though.... and I've been wanting to try some bread recipes. and Beef Stew.

We had a nice hot pot of chili on sunday to kick off football season!

I can not wait to fill my house with the smell fo turkey!!

Cooking Po Boys in the  coals  of the fire while camping...one of our favorite Girl Scout foods, a ground beef patty, onions, potatoes, and carrots wrapped in aluminum foil and roasted on the coals. add roasted corn on the cob and S'Mores for dessert and you have the most wonderful meal!

Pumpkin Stew (cooked in the pumpkin), apple bread, pumpkin bread, chicken and dumplings, spicy chicken penne, fruit cobblers....basically anything warm or anything with apples or pumpkins!

Mmm, fall.

• Pot Roast
• Chili
• Sun-Dried Tomato Meat Loaf with Red Currant-Wine Sauce
• Beef Daube Provencal over Egg Noodles
• Belgian Winter Vegetable Stew (Hutsepot)

Amanda, how do you cook pumpkin stew? that sounds good to me right now!

Yum - I'm getting hungry reading about all of these ideas!  I love fall - and soups, stews & crock pot meals!!  One of my favorites is my Dad's Hamburger-Vegetable soup.  Mmm...

Chicken and dumplings. Love them but cant make them to compare even close to my moms unfortunately.

Sherry;

recipes to here

carolyn

This soup is awesome!

Roasted Winter Squash and Apple Soup (lite) 1 large winter squash (about 2-1/2 pounds) such as butternut, buttercup, or kabocha, peeled, seeded, and cut into 2-inch pieces 2 Medium onion, peeled and quartered 3 cloves garlic, peeled 2 tart, firm apples, peeled, cored and quartered 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil salt and chili powder to taste 5-4 cups vegetable stock (I used low sodium chicken stock) Preheat oven to 400. In a large roasting pan, toss the squash, onions, garlic, and apples with the oil to coat. Season well with the salt and chili powder. Roast, stirring every 10 minutes, until the vegetables are fork tender and lightly browned, about 40 minutes. Put half of the vegetables with 2 cups of the stock in a food processor and puree until smooth. Repeat with the remaining vegetables and broth. Return pureed mixture to the pot. If the soup is too thick, add more broth. Correct the seasoning and heat to a simmer. Serve in warm bowls with dollops of Cilantro Walnut Pesto.