Pumpkin has many personalities. Americans have experienced the sweet, spicy version we love so much in our pumpkin pies and pumpkin breads. More recently we have learned to love pumpkin and coffee in pumpkin lattes. And slowly we are accepting that pumpkin is also a versatile ingredient for savory dishes like pumpkin gnocchi, pumpkin ravioli, and pumpkin soup…

I like creamy, rich soups the best. In chilly weather there is just nothing like a hot, creamy soup to warm you up. At the same time I love exotic flavors. This Thai Coconut Curry Soup has it all!
Rich and creamy, with a faint coconut flavor that is followed by a tingle of spiciness. As my dad used to say, “This soup has some authority to it!”.

Eating hot peppers really does cause your circulation to increase and it warms you up more than just a warm soup alone would. You can simmer this in a crockpot or make it on …read more

Happy weekend!
We had two simultaneous sleepovers last night.  BOY sleep overs.
Why do girls have the reputation of being giggleboxes? Seriously? A roomful of boys is just as bad, or worse.  Poor Shiloh braved the testosterone as long as she could and then retreated to her pink room with the antique Victorian bed.  Kyrie, being much younger and yet just as aware of the testosterone condensation appearing on the walls asked to sleep at our oldest daughter’s house with our grandkids.  Smart girl.
I retreated to my room, with the rose themed border and bedpread.  And here I am still, this morning, …read more

 
We don’t go out to eat very much, I think I have said that before.  For awhile we were going to a little Italian place close by but they closed..
I am honestly not a big Olive Garden fan but this soup is a favorite of mine.  It warms you up on a cold day and seems to me to be the epitomy of comfort.

 
We got a blue norther through today. I have not seen one that color since one August in Michigan.  It was my Aunt and Uncle’s fiftieth anniversary and we were having a picnic…a blue norther blew through and dropped it 40 degrees in about 30 minutes.
Our temperature didn’t really drop today..too much..it’s supposed to get down to 42 tonight.  I have no way of predicting the winter..I used to depend on the horses’ coats for that..thick meant a colder than normal winter.
Anyway, all of a sudden it is soup season and I didn’t even realize it!

So, here it is, the first day of fall…80 degrees here in Texas but that isn’t the point..it is now, quite officially…potato soup weather.
I grew up with potato soup.  Not this potato soup but my mom’s version..the one SHE grew up with..and she was born in 1918.  I hardly ever deviate from that recipe, my comfort food both when I was a kid and as an adult.

Yes, I know that slow cooking in a crock pot isn’t exactly baking. You could slow cook this in the oven at 225 if you wanted to though.
Cool, crisp days call for hot, steamy soups. There is not much that speaks of home and all things cozy than a creamy bowl of some sort of chowder. Such a simple meal, paired with a read and a salad, with a perfectly ripe pear for dessert- well that is the beginning to a great evening!
This is a southwestern style corn chowder, rich and creamy but also slightly spicy …read more