As Thanksgiving nears and the weather here in Texas cools off more and more, I'm all the more in the mood for all things pumpkin; and couldn't be more excited to really get to use my oven again!
Now, as I get older I've started to crave the more salty and savory things when I used to be a sweet fanatic through and through. However, from time to time... all I want and all I crave are warm, fresh-baked, homemade cookies. 'Tis the season, y'all...
Haven't you ever wondered how pumpkin pie got started? Did the pilgrims really make 'pumpkin pie' for the first Thanksgiving? I guess we'll never know. But, if they did, it probably would have been a lot different from today's standard pumpkin pie. And according to one source, it's thought that it would have been more of a 'pie in a pumpkin'.
This more 'traditional' pumpkin pie is basically made by baking a pie pumpkin and filling it with a delicious lightened up custard mixture that bakes into the whole pumpkin; giving you all the flavors of the pumpkin pie that we all know and love...
Pumpkin, pumpkin everywhere! My pumpkin game is strong today. In years past, I've made pumpkin flavored... almost everything. From mac-n-cheese to chili, and so much more. Today though, with a bit of some sort of light allergies among the household, I decided some noodle soup would be the best way to go.
And what's more comforting than a nice warm bowl of homemade Chicken Noodle Soup? You know the kind of soup. The kind where it's just a handful of ingredients and scratch-made noodles? The big thick hearty noodles that fill you up...
Holy moly! It's been a busy weekend over here. I'm ready for the monotony of a Monday. For sure. It's still pretty warm here in Texas, so while the weather is working on slowly cooling off, I'm working on salads still over here.
Of course, I still need to get my fix of Fall inspired veggies. So... I decided to load this salad up with plenty of Fall-friendly veg. I started this salad off with a base of baby spinach. It's one of my most favorite salad starters, and I think that's because it's such a versatile and nutritional green...
We're getting into that time of year when winter squash and hearty vegetables are in season, and one of my favorite ways to use them up is a good soup! This soup is full of the bounties of a Fall harvest.
It's completely vegetarian and as filling as they come. Plus, it's completely guilt-free and feeds a crowd a pretty hefty sized bowl of soup...
So, this salad today is actually somewhat inspired by my dad who is having some health issues at the moment. We're not entirely sure what's going on, but he's been told to eat better for the time being until his next round of testing. One thing he was told to do was to 'stay away from white stuff', which clearly isn't something I stuck to here because I have to have cheese in my life. I literally think I might explode if I didn't have at least a bit of cheese every day.
What can I say? I've got to be honest here! I'm one that believes strongly in that you can enjoy everything as part of a healthy diet as long as it's in moderation. (Except of course if it's something you've been warned of by a professional.)
A few days back now, my dad and aunt were chatting at me on Facebook about how my dad is now eating more healthy and that he had tried quinoa. He wasn't a huge fan. So, I gave him some suggestions and got to thinking that some quinoa sounded really good actually. And here we are with this lovely Kale & Apple Quinoa Salad!...