The man wanted soup… well, he actually just commented that he loves a good thick soup, and I, not knowing what else in the local supermarket would thicken a soup, whipped out the cornstarch and a whole bunch of veggies and got cooking. This was easy and actually turned out quite well… Compliments to the chef, I suppose.  

½ c. cornstarch combined with some water

3 c. chicken broth

2 T. Italian seasoning

1 t. salt

½ t. black pepper

 

vegetables:

7 small tomatoes, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium potatoes, diced (Now’s a good time to mention I don’t know the difference between chopped and diced…)

2 carrots, diced

1 ear of corn, de-kerneled

several long green bean strands, chopped

 

Combine all ingredients in the crock pot.  I cooked it on low for 3 hours, covered, then on high for one, uncovered to allow it to thicken a bit more. The man was happy.

  We ate this with some cornbread for a great little lunch.  

An original recipe.

These are a little greasier than our average favorite snack foods, but delicious! (Of course!) With a nonstick griddle, they could be even better! 

1 large baking potato (1 pound), unpeeled
1 small onion
1/4 cup flour
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Oil for frying

Chop the onion into small pieces and grate the potato. (Great job for manly hands... see below.)  Wrap the potato in cheese cloth and squeeze as much liquid out as possible. (Any lint-free towel will work.)

In a  bowl, mix the flour, egg, salt and pepper together. Stir in the potato-onion mixture until all pieces are coated.

In a skillet (or whatever heatable piece of metal that is available in your country), heat 1 tablespoon of oil until shimmering, shining, and glistening. Drop teaspoons of the mixture onto the griddle, flatten, cook 1.5 minutes, flip, cook some more, and voila! A latke treat for all!

Recipe adapted from: smittenkitchen.com

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups oat flour*
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
 1 Tbsp sugar
3/4 cup canned pumpkin**
1 cup milk (skim or plain soy)
1 egg

*The original recipe suggested whole wheat flour rather than oat, but I decided to give oat flour a try, and it worked really well. We just use ground oats.
**Of course we don't have canned pumpkin; I just boiled some pumpkin chunks for a few minutes and they mashed really easily.

Mix together the dry ingredients, then mix in the wet ingredients. Pour into a nonstick pan (or a huge, cast-iron griddle) that has some cooking spray on it. Flip when you see bubbles forming at the top of the pancake and cook for another minute or two.

This recipe was super moist and delicious. They were some nice, thick pancakes!

The first weekend Austin came to my house in Tennessee has been deemed "The Weekend of the Pumpkin." We went pumpkin picking, did some pumpkin carving, and made a pumpkin feast! We made pumpkin-y fruit salad, pumpkin seed- crusted chicken, salad with pumpkin salad dressing, pumpkin soup, and pumpkin ice cream. Pumpkins have earned a warm place in my heart.

We had some extra pumpkin in the fridge, so I decided to give this pumpkin cinnamon nut roll recipe a try.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 small packet rapid rise dry yeast
3 T. sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup canned or mashed pumpkin
1/3 to 1/2 cup water

Filling:
1 cup chopped walnuts*
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
a bit of oil and water for moistening the filling

*If you're shopping at our local market, you'll find these labeled as "Malnut Meats." Don't be fooled! They're the real thing.

First I combined the dry ingredients then mixed the wet ingredients into it to form a dough. Then I kneaded it for 12-15 minutes until it seemed less gooey.

After that I let it sit in a covered bowl for about 15 to 20 minutes. The original recipe advised spreading the dough over an area, sprinkling the filling on, then rolling it as a whole and cutting it, but my dough was still a little messy, and my countertops are not ideal for rolling. So I opted to tear off small portions of the dough, stretch them into 8 inch strips, sprinkle some of the filling on them, and roll them individually. This was fast, easy, and pretty fun in my opinion.

I placed them all in a 9×13 pan and let it rise again for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Then it was into the oven set at 350 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes.

These were a great breakfast treat (and there have already been requests for seconds!)