I would say “happy October,” but we’re now halfway thru the month. Where does the time go? I don’t know about you, but I sometimes find myself just getting caught in the headlights of the pandemic and the non-stop news cycle. I “hide out” in a book or watching old movies, something mindless, you know? When I resurfaced my blogging platform had introduced a whole new format. Yikes! I’m still on that learning curve! But, October is sunny and cool, full of pumpkins and other fun stuff, so here goes…
As part of my never-ending quest for doses of normalcy in this anything-but-normal year, I forged ahead into fall last week and my pumpkin decor for the season. I love these wart-y, non-orange pumpkins that show up everywhere at this time of year. Because I have waaaay too much time on my hands, I give my pumpkins a soapy bath to remove dirt and then spray them with a clear sealer. Presumably this keeps the squirrels and chipmunks away? I arranged them with a few mums and liked it so much I thought I’d buy more to stage a second display.
But I was wrong; before I could move on to more pumpkins and mums, the hungry critters had nibbled the warts on one pumpkin, then tried a smoother one, and finally truly feasted on an especially striking orange gourd with a quirky twist at the top. If anyone knows of a proven repellant, please let me know!
Is Ina Garten your hero?
If you read many of my cooking posts here or on Instagram you know that Ina Garten, a.k.a. The Barefoot Contessa, is a favorite cookbook author of mine. I find her recipes to be spot on: clear instructions, (usually) uncomplicated lists of ingredients (though thanks to Ina we have expanded our repertoire of alcoholic libations), and always a good result — if you follow her instructions. As more than one of my friends has said, “Ina doesn’t disappoint.”
If you follow her at all you know she started out as a budget analyst in the White House, acquired a boutique food store in The Hamptons (The Barefoot Contessa) and the rest, as they say, is history. Or is it? I just came across this recent interview with her and found it to be more revealing than most. It puts some meat on the bones of her story. If you’re an Ina fan, and who isn’t, I think you’ll enjoy it.
In my October kitchen…
Once I got past the quart after quart (after quart after quart) of tomatoes my husband’s garden produced, which we then skinned and, chopped and cooked down just a bit, then froze for winter soups and stews, I tried a few new recipes that turned out to be simple, delicious, and perfect for fall. And — no tomatoes!
Peas, pasta and prosciutto is one of those dishes that could be made from pantry staples. Frozen peas are a staple in most kitchens, as is dried pasta. Lately, I’ve been keeping a small package or two of prosciutto in the freezer, mostly as an addition to a fruit and cheese platter that we sometimes assemble as a light supper. The flavor in this recipe relies on quickly, gently crisping bite size pieces of the prosciutto in a frying pan, adding the peas, al dente pasta and some pasta water. I used a recipe from Bon Appetit, here.
My daughter-in-law turned me on to Half-Baked Harvest, a blog/website packed with recipes. Tieghan Gerard got her kitchen start helping cook for her family of nine. Subsequently her recipes feed a group and are slow cooker and
InstaPot friendly. (Happily, she usually includes stove-top directions!) Her healthier creamy tortellini vegetable soup appealed to me. I have made another tortellini soup that featured sausage and spinach, but little else. I really thought it was a little bland. That’s not the issue here.
This recipe includes a handful of spices — sage, fennel, basil, oregano, thyme, red pepper and paprika — that give it a lot of flavor. There’s also onion, celery and carrots and I subbed fresh spinach for kale (a non-starter at my house). But I think it’s the half cup of milk or heavy cream (I used the latter) that really makes a difference in this recipe. I don’t think it’s enough to make a real difference in the fat or calorie count, but it does make the broth richer, especially appealing when you’re serving this as an entree. (Note: I added just a drizzle of cream to each serving. I knew we would be saving some for future lunches and did not think the cream would hold up. I just served leftovers with a last-minute dash of the cream.) If you want to try this recipe, you can find it here.
An unforgettable read
My daughter passed along The Sound of Gravel: A Memoir by Ruth Wariner. Wariner was raised by her mother and stepfather in a polygamous Mormon sect in Mexico, founded by her late father. She had nine siblings; stepfather had other wives and a total of 39 children, making financial support for her family sketchy at best. They lived without electricity or hot water on a “farm” in Mexico and borrowed trailers in El Paso, Texas, where her mother collected welfare.
Like The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and Educated by Tara Westover, this is the story of a wildly disfunctional family. And I felt — having read both of those books — that this would be just the same. And in many ways it was, but in many ways it wasn’t. This was, after all, Ruth’s story, not Jeannette’s or Tara’s. Her father was absent more than he was physically present, although his role in the family was clear. Ruth’s mother’s unyielding commitment to her husband and her religion, despite the impact on her and her children, drives the story. I had to keep reminding myself that this was not a novel, it was true. And it happened just a few decades ago. Ruth would be a contemporary to my adult children.
So that’s at least some of what’s happening here. Enjoy the season and I’ll be back soon. Thanks for stopping by.
Ivy & Ironstone 
Thanks for sharing. The tortellini soup sounds good. Will try it. Regarding critters eating pumpkins, etc. I read about coating them with a vinegar and water mixture (1:10 ratio). I tried it. So far so good, but think I will need to apply often.
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Vinegasr to the rescue again! I should have guessed. I’ll have to try it. Hope you and Ernie are doing well in the pandemic. What a year this has been!
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The soup and the pasta dish both look perfect. I like the tip to keep prosciutto in the freezer! I do have a few of Ina’s books, one of my favorite recipes of hers is fish in crème fresh sauce.
Thanks for the book recommendation. I saw Amazon reviews for Educated from people familiar with the family that questioned a lot of the facts in the book, so I decided to skip it for now.
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Both recipes are really easy and tasty. I really like have a few “pantry recipes” up my sleeve. I did not see those negative reviews of Educated, but it was sometimes hard to read. On the other hand, what she and a brother did to educate themselves was truly remarkable.
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