question of the week: what foods remind you of fall?

[Guest guest]

Hi!

 

    I was away from the computer most of last week visiting my parents and

sister''s family in the next-door state.  I missed the question on the comfort

food--   <:-(

 

    Fall food is probably pumpkin...My mother used to make it up like the pie

filling, only she would put it into a ( " greased " ) casserole dish and bake it--a

crust-less " custard " like dish that we called " pumpkin pudding " and scooped out

onto our plates or into bowls and ate--hot or cold.  I've made the same thing

and have used either pumpkin or butternut squash, and even my picky " I hate

squash! " DH really likes it.   It's gotta have a lot of cinnamon, nutmeg, a

pinch of ginger and cloves and maybe a bit of vanilla to make it taste the way I

like.  I had to look for a different recipe for it when I quit using " Eagle

Brand " sweetened condensed milk--because I've tried to cut out that corn syrup

and such that seems to be in so many foods.

 

    The other food that makes me think of " fall " and cooler weather is

soups--especially chili.  I LOVE making soups of all kinds and could eat chili

just about once a week, it seems. 

 

    A few years ago, after DH and I had made a household move, we had a fairly

stressful first year in the new place and both of us put on a sudden,

middle-aged weight gain.   DH

emphatically said to me, the next year at the beginning of that " fall-weather

food time " ,

" You are NOT to start in making those starchy casseroles you usually make every

year at this time!  I lost weight this summer and I don't want to put it back

on! "

 

    I was CRUSHED!  I love making casseroles (that " comfort food " stuff), and

here my sweet DH was pretty much forbidding me to get in the " fall groove " and

make them!   I put on my thinking cap and came up with a compromise:  " What if

we mainly have SOUPS for our meals this fall and winter?--Would that be okay? "  

I asked DH.  He thought it was probably okay to try that, and I was happy

because my thought was, " What is a soup, really, but just a casserole with more

liquid in it?! "  

 

     I took it on as my culinary challenge that fall and made DH and me (and our

younger daughter, who still lived at home) a variety of soups--a different one

almost every evening of the week.  It was fun and so satisfying to eat a nice

hot soup during the cold months.  DH did not gain back his lost weight.  I did

lose a little (harder for me to do--lol!), and when the spring and warmer

weather came, we switched gears from soup most meals to salad fare.

 

      Now, 4 years later, it is almost second nature for me to start planning my

" soup meals " as soon as the days get cooler and the smell of falling leaves and

" crispness " is in the air.

I made a soup last week with a mixture of large and small beans, some split

peas, a can or 2 of pureed " stewed " tomatoes and some left-over jarred spaghetti

sauce--extra herbs and seasonings added. Oh yeah, and I tried a " Tofurky "

Italian sausage for the first time and added it to the soup--I cut into pieces

and (yeah, I know this sounds weird, but it worked) cut each slice so it would

look like a " meatball " --rounded edges, etc, instead of a sausage " slice " .  I

probably could have crumbled it as it browned in the skillet--next time I'll try

it that way...

 

     My DH did ask me " what are they made of--I know they aren't real meat, but

what ARE they? " --He ate it anyway and LIKED it.  I thought the little " sausage

balls " were quite tasty and had a good texture, too.  I'm going to use that

(Tofurky Italian sausage) again in the future.

 

    This soup was thick and savory when we ate it and the split peas in it made

it get thicker yet when it was time to use the left-overs the next day.  I

cooked some brown and " mahogany " rices and the thick soup was a great topping

for it!  It would have been good with spaghetti, too!

 

     Today is COLD!  We (Illinois and the midwest) are getting an arctic

jet-stream, I saw on the weather today--time to make more soup!  I also bought

my first fresh pumpkin this morning at our farmers' market!  Gotta get that one

cooked!!!

 

    Greetings to all!,

--Laura B., in Illinois