Hungarian mushroom soup

I always get excited when soup season arrives. To me, soup is such a comforting dish to have on a cool day. Plus, there are so many different possibilities when it comes to soup. I think it's impossible to ever run out of ideas and recipes! 

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This Hungarian mushroom soup is inspired by this recipe at All Recipes, the container of Hungarian paprika I had in my pantry, and my huge tarragon plant. I've made roasted cream of mushroom soup before, but I wanted to incorporate the spicier paprika into a soup along with some fresh tarragon. 

This soup is really delicious. It's also very rich from the milk and sour cream. I think it's best served as a cup of soup with a larger meal or as a lunch with some bread and a salad. I could have eaten the whole pot though. 

This recipe will make four servings and is a lovely way to warm up after being outside on a crisp autumn day!

Stewed Indian-spiced eggplant, cauliflower, and chickpeas

It's the time of year when the produce harvest is really coming to its peak. That means I've been doing a lot of canning and coming up with creative ways to work as many vegetables as possible into our meals. 

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I loved this dish because it used up a lot of stuff from my fridge - 1/2 head cauliflower, three little eggplants, a chile, onion.... plus some diced tomatoes I had in the fridge (I ran out of sterilized jars when doing my tomato canning over the weekend). On top of that, this dish is simple and really delicious. 

I've said before that I have a very well-stocked supply of spices. This is essential if you want to try to cook Indian food. I slowly built up my spices, often purchasing them in bulk, at the farmers' market, or at an Indian market near us, to get lower prices (they are much pricier in the regular grocery store). 

Once you have the spices, however, dishes like this are a cinch to put together and very healthy! They are very forgiving, too -- you don't have to use exact measurements of the vegetables and you can use different ones depending in what you have on hand.

Give this dish a try while all these veggies are in season. It makes a lot - so you'll be able to feed about six people. It makes great leftovers for lunch and would also be good to freeze for later. 

Serve with Basmati or other rice and top with plain yogurt that you've stirred a little fresh lemon juice into for a complete meal.

Tomato, bacon, and jalapeño skillet pie

Cornbread, cheese, bacon, fresh tomatoes, and jalapeños come together in this delicious and flavorful skillet pie.

Queso blanco dip

I first ate queso blanco dip at a local Mexican restaurant and loved it. Ever since then I've wanted to make it at home, but I wasn't sure what cheese to use to make it melt and have the proper consistency. Plus I figured it was full of a lot of ingredients that I probably didn't want to use anyways. Then I saw this recipe and was excited to give it a try. I changed the recipe a bit and found a nice organic white American cheese at our grocery store's deli that only had a few ingredients in it. You need to use American cheese so that it melts properly and becomes smooth. Once the dip comes together, it is hot, smooth, creamy, and flavorful. It's a cinch to make, too!

I made this dip to go along with the tacos my husband requested for his birthday dinner recently. It was a special treat, but it makes a lot of dip, so we'll be eating it again. This recipe will make enough for 4-6 people to eat as a side, snack, or appetizer. It's perfect to go along with your next taco night or as a party, movie night, or game day snack. Serve with corn chips.

Skillet zucchini biscuit pie

Zucchini, zucchini, zucchini..... It's here in full force and ready to be made into all sorts of dishes! 

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I decided to make it in a skillet because I love to use my cast iron skillet whenever possible, really. The biscuit is filled with Parmesan cheese, sliced fresh zucchini, and fresh basil. It's really flavorful and delicious and makes a nice light dinner or lunch with a side salad.

While it's called a pie, it reminds me more of a quiche or cake as there's no crust and it contains a few eggs. This recipe will make enough to serve about 4 people as a main dish. 

Feel free to experiment with this recipe - you can change up the veggies, herbs, and cheese to make all sorts of different flavor combinations. If you have some yellow squash, it would be lovely to replace some of the zucchini with it to vary the colors.