Jalapeno popper chicken chili

Soup and chili season is arriving! I absolutely love making and eating a hot and hearty soup when the weather is crisp and cool. 

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My husband and I took a walk at the nearby park yesterday evening and noticed that the leaves are starting to fall and that they were crunching under our feet. The squirrels were packing away acorns, crane flies were hovering over the grass, and the smell of fall was in the air (although it's still a bit warm). It's my favorite time of the year.

This hearty and spicy creamy chili has the flavors of jalapeno poppers in chili form.

Stir-fried paneer and peppers

The warm weather has arrived here and when it starts to get hot, I like to eat all sorts of Asian foods with Indian food being toward the top of that list. 

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This amazing dish was inspired by this recipe, although mine is quite different. Ever since I learned to make paneer and used it to make Saag paneer, I've been thinking about other ways to use this cheese. This idea of using it with peppers sounded really good to me (plus I had a few different colors already in the fridge). 

The whole dish was bursting with flavor and freshness - perfect for a warm day. You may be able to find paneer at your grocery store, but if not it is quite simple to make your own at home.

My husband and I enjoyed this a lot. I mean, a lot - we ate the whole plate ourselves with no lunch leftovers. I served this with a side of steamy Basmati rice and some sliced cucumber, but Naan bread would also be a good accompaniment. 

This dish has a bit of heat to it, but it is mellowed by the cheese and sweet peppers - the rice and cucumbers also help with that.

Pennsylvania Dutch flannel cakes

Flannel cakes are a type of pancake that is special because the egg whites are beaten separately and folded into the batter resulting in a lighter and softer pancake.

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There's also no sugar in the batter, making these less sweet than a traditional pancake. I made these flannel cakes after finding them in one of my Pennsylvania Dutch cookbooks (pictured below). 

Since I was making an old-fashioned recipe, I decided to beat the egg whites by hand, which was great exercise for my arm. My slightly adapted recipe made about 14 flannel cakes. I served them with some frozen blueberries I cooked with a bit of water and honey along with some butter. Maple syrup would also be great.

These cookbooks came from our family - one from my grandmother and one from my husband's grandparents. They are full of old-time recipes from the Pennsylvania Dutch, who are the early German-speaking immigrants to Pennsylvania. 

This is where my grandfather's family is from (and probably why my grandmother had this cookbook). I love flipping through old cookbooks like these and finding recipes to try. You can bet I'll be making more soon.

Chicken chop suey

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 The weather is starting to warm up around here and for me that means that I start to want lighter dinners. As I mentioned in my last post, it's a difficult time of year for cooking -- no fresh local vegetables available yet and most of our preserved goods from last year's harvest are gone. We did start some seeds this past weekend as well as potted a few new herbs. 

We don't have room for a large garden, but we are doing radishes, lettuces, green beans, tomatoes, and a bunch of herbs in containers. I can't wait for the radishes to come up. We found heirloom French breakfast radishes and I'm hoping they are cute and tasty! They should be ready to harvest in just over 20 days.

But, back to this meal. I've made this dish inspired by a similar recipe at Brooklyn Farm Girl a couple of times now and we really like it. This time I used a green pepper, but last time I used some baby bok choy in its place - both were good. 

You can use both or pack as many veggies into this stir-fry as you want. Chinese cabbage, bamboo shoots, and bean sprouts would all be good in this, too. Stir-fry is one of my favorite warm-weather weeknight meals. They are a cinch to put together and they are so versatile. Plus I love making take-out foods at home. This dish will serve four people.

Lemon buttermilk pie

In this household, we love pie. As a kid, I much preferred cake, but now I'll take a slice of homemade pie over most other desserts - I especially like custard and cream pies.

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This lemon buttermilk pie was inspired by a post at The Merry Gourmet - it was one of those pies that as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to make (and eat) it. 

This time of year I find myself often feeling rather uninspired when it comes to cooking. There's no fresh seasonal foods available yet, and I have used up most of my winter stash. Plus the weather varies from warm to cold almost every day, making it difficult to plan meals that fit the season. 

While not really local, you can still find good citrus this time of year, so I was feeling pretty excited about this lemony pie (lemon is one of my most favorite dessert flavors). Plus we had a bunch of farm fresh eggs, which make up a lot of the filling.

My little pie making helper (though she's a little blurry - I had to be quick!)