2 Ingredient Pumpkin Spice Quickies

Apparently this has been a thing since the 60s, but I’d never heard of of it. Makes about 2 dozen, and are quite nice. They disappeared when I served them to family.

1 15.25-ounce box of spice cake mix

1 15-ounce can pumpkin purée

You can sprinkle the tops with sugar and cinnamon before baking or mix in raisins, nuts or chocolate chips to the dough.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine the spice cake mix and pumpkin in a large bowl and mix until well combined.

Use a 1 1/2 tbsp sized cookie scoop or a heaping tablespoon to scoop the batter into rounded balls and place on the cookie sheet. They don’t spread much, but leave at least an inch between each. Bake until puffed and dry looking, and the quickies spring back when gently pressed, about 12-15 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before using a thin spatula to transfer them to a cooling rack. Mix 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle on the tops before baking

Substitute for “Cream of” Soups

This makes the equivalent of one 10.75 oz can
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour (substitute rice flour for gluten free)
¼ tsp salt, if desired
1 cup liquid of choice (See notes after directions)
seasonings of choice (See notes)

Have all ingredients measured and to hand before beginning.

You make a roux. Put the butter and salt in a small saucepan with a heavy bottom, and melt over low heat. Using a whisk, blend in the flour until mixture is bubbly.

Add a couple tbsp of the liquid to the roux, whisking as you add it. Don’t panic after the first addition – the roux may suddenly look all doughy. Just keep whisking and add a bit more liquid, and it will smooth out. After you’ve added about half the liquid in this manner, you may add the rest all at once, whisking it thoroughly as you do.



Continue cooking and stirring over low heat until smooth and thickened. Makes more than1 cup, but not quite 1 ¼ cups, of a condensed creamy soup. You may use it as such in a recipe, or add an equivalent amount of liquid to serve as a creamy soup.

Notes: What liquids and seasonings to use?

Tomato soup: use tomato juice. Leave out the salt, unless you use no-salt juice. You may wish to add a dash of onion powder or a teaspoon or so of very finely minced onion (sautée the onion in the melted butter before adding the flour). Some like a tiny pinch of sugar or brown sugar to counteract acidity in the tomato.

Mushroom soup: use a combination of milk and mushroom stock, made by simmering mushrooms in water just to cover. I like to use half of each. Sautee a few tablespoons of the mushrooms, chopped, and half a teaspoon of finely minced onion in the melted butter, before you begin to stir in the flour. (If you prefer, you can forego the mushroom stock and use all milk, but in my opinion, it really does make the Best. Mushroom soup. Ever.)

Cream of Celery soup: Saute ½ cup chopped celery and 1 tablespoon chopped onion in the melted butter, until vegetables are tender. Use all milk for the liquid.

Cream of Chicken soup: use half milk, half good quality chicken stock, homemade if you have it. Add a fat pinch of sage or poultry seasoning and a dash of onion powder, or saute a teaspoon of onion in the butter before adding flour. A few tablespoons of finely chopped cooked chicken is a nice touch if you have any on hand. If you decide to use broth made from bouillon cubes please leave out the salt.You may also want to reduce or omit the herbs.

Through Darkness to Light

“Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself in a dark wilderness, for I had wandered from the straight and true.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/frmatthewdominic/p/through-darkness-to-light

American Chop Suey

American Chop Suey has been an old standby in New England since the Great Depression. Dishes like it, have been family favorites, and my mother made it regularly for dinner. She passed before I had a family of my own never got her recipe and ended up trying one recipe after another. Despite it being such a popular dish in my neck of the woods, I found that not everyone followed the same formula my mother, school cafeteria’s, diners had for decades. It was the proverbial needle in the haystack. Several years ago, I found Elise Bauer’s mom’s recipe Hamburger Macaroni on Simply Recipes and was happy to find that it was the definitive American Chop Suey. It’s a very adaptable recipe, I usually add 1 chopped green pepper as that is what I grew up with, or a few stalks of celery, chopped. You can stretch the recipe to serve 6 by using 3 cups of macaroni. 

4 servings

2 cups uncooked macaroni
1 tbsp olive oil
1 pound ground beef
1 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
Pinch chili powder
1/2 tsp celery seed
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Get a large pot of salted hot water (1 tbsp of salt for 2 quarts of water) boiling and begin cooking the macaroni as per the directions on the macaroni package. While the water is heating and macaroni cooking, prepare the sauce. In a skillet, brown the ground beef in a tbsp of olive oil on high heat. Stir only infrequently so that the ground beef has an opportunity to brown. When the beef has mostly browned, add the onions to the pan and toss to combine. Cook until the onions are soft, about 4 to 6 minutes. Add the celery seed, a dash of crushed red pepper and seasoned salt. Pour in canned tomatoes, add the Worcestershire sauce and stir to combine. Simmer for 5 minutes. Drain the pasta, reserving a half cup of the pasta cooking water. Mix in the drained and cooked macaroni and the parsley. Cook for another 5 minutes. Add in some of the pasta water if the dish is too dry. Add freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste

New England Cornbread

Butter (for the pan)
Flour (for the pan)
3 large eggs

1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup oil
2 cups plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups yellow cornmeal, preferably stoneground
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Heat the oven to 375F, butter a 9x13 baking pan. Line the bottom with parchment and butter the paper. In a bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients, stir together oil, butter and yogurt until smooth, then stir in the eggs. Add in the sugar followed by the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Keep stirring until no pockets of dry ingredients show. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Bake the cornbread for 35 minutes, or until it is uniformly golden brown on top and firm in the middle (insert toothpick in center to see if it comes out dry). Set on a rack to cool for 10 minutes. Slice the cornbread into 18 squares

Last Hurrah of the Morning Glories

Among my favorite flowers in the garden are the morning glories, they have been prolific, growing up and over the fences, this year the vines are spreading on the ground. A bit of morning cheer and they last from spring til the first frost each year. They are fading, some of the vines have dried and had to be cleared.

I wish I had luck with the moon flowers I tried growing. I had wanted to alternate them with morning glories so I would have the beautiful pale blossoms later in the day with their beautiful scent but they didn't take. I noticed the leaves on the trees in my neighborhood and especially the common (for those not from New England, some cities and most all old towns would have a small park in the center, that was for common usage, in some larger towns a larger common allowed farmers cows and sheep to graze on a market day. Or space for the town militia to muster in the lead up to the Revolutionary War thus the term common) have started to turn, though whether we will have beautiful yellows, oranges and reds on the trees or more brown and tans is anybody's guess. All I see is a hint of dullish color. It all depends on bright hot days, and cooler nights.

Chicken Corn Chowder

This is my family's favorite soup, it's fresh and light tasting, not starchy at all. The soup is thickened by pulsing half the corn kernels to a paste in a food processor. Served with a salad, and you have a meal that will satisy everyone, even your pickey eaters. It's a recipe I adapted in the early '90s from a cookbook I got out of the library, Blue Corn & Chocolate.

Serves 6

2 Tbsp butter
1 large yellow onion chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, with leaves, sliced
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 cups or 4 ears of fresh sweet corn kernels, you can use frozen, but fresh is best
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
1 cup cooked, diced chicken
1/2 tsp dried sweet marjoram
1/2 cup light cream

Process half the sweet corn kernels in a food processor, ’til they are a coarse paste (do not puree), reserve the other half as is, to add much later in the cooking process). In a large saucepan, melt the butter over low to moderate heat. Add the onions and carrots and sauté slowly, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Stir in the celery and the potato and continue to sauté, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes.

To the sautéd vegetables add the processed corn, the stock, the pepper, sugar and marjoram. Bring to a simmer then lower the heat and cook for about 20 minutes, until potatoes and carrots are tender. Stir in the remaining corn kernels and the chicken, bring back to a simmer and cook over low heat for 10 minutes.  Add the cream, and stir for 5 minutes or less til it is hot again but not boiling, sprinkle with fresh parsley, if you wish. Served as leftovers, it tastes even better the next day and freezes well.