Something happens to me when summer gives way to the cool, crisp days of fall. As temperatures drop and the days grow shorter, I start to crave certain foods. I find myself leafing (how appropriate) through my tattered recipe folder in search of old favorites.

Is it the delicious aromas? Or the mental pictures that come to mind? Pictures subtly entangled in memory? Recently, I read that incoming smells have a more direct neurological path with fewer stops to travel before reaching our awareness. Maybe it’s a combination of these factors. In any case, my thoughts have been turning to food and the cooking of it.

The last time my son was home he put in a request, not for his childhood favorite Cheesy Noodle Casserole, but for my dad’s Basque Chicken (I don’t know where he got the recipe from). Furthermore, Adam wanted to help make it so he could do it on his own at a later time. We added an ingredient to the recipe: a can of mushrooms. My son is a firm believer that “you can’t ever have too many onions or too many mushrooms,” in almost any dish.

Another dish I owe to my father is good ole Chicken and Dumplings. He was horrified when he discovered I wasn’t making chicken and dumplings for his grandson, and promptly introduced me to the recipe on the Bisquick box. It soon became a staple in our household.

From my mother I acquired recipes for lasagna and enchiladas and Mexican Spinach Soup. The latter is more of a spring thing because it uses fresh spinach. I have modified the enchilada recipes. Instead of ground beef, I use shredded beef roast.

So, in the last couple of weeks, I have made acorn squash with Kielbasa and applesauce and a big pot of home-made potato soup. My late friend Ellie told me to always use “butter, real butter and lots of it.” One change I have made in recent years is using unpeeled potatoes. Aren’t most of the nutrients suppose to be in the skin? (I am a big believer in the consumption of potatoes to lift my spirits when they are a little low. I vaguely recall a book a few years ago titled something like, “Potatoes Not Prozac.”)

I also decided to broaden my culinary horizons and try something new. In this case, it was spinach and ricotta cheese stuffed jumbo pasta shells smothered in tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. It was tasty enough, but messy and time consuming to make. Plus the left-overs are still appearing in my lunches. I need to hone my cooking-for-one skills.

Whatever it is, I think I feel an urge coming on to make my dad’s Lentil Soup.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 7:00 am and is filed under Rose Street Ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.