Happiness in a Warm Bowl

Delicious peanut pumpkin pepper soup

Chicago is still deciding if it wants to be cold this week. We've been blessed with some relatively mild temperatures these past few weeks and I've been making good use of it wearing my favorite fall jacket (probably one of my best shopping buys btw), walking all over the city (I do this regardless of the temperature, but this is the favorite season for my walks) and cooking some fall favorites. Winter brings with it the desire to cook hearty warm food, but fall lets us do that with still seasonal produce - bonus!

Butternut squash risotto

I have been looking for every excuse to be cooking items with pumpkin and squash. I have been making my pumpkin smoothie regularly now that pumpkin's back on the shelves, but it's the warmer dishes that are the stars of the show. I cooked a butternut squash risotto using Martha's recipe for my brother and his GF. I love making risotto and was surprised that this recipe called for absolutely NO heavy cream! I usually finish my risotto off with a bit of cream, but the butternut squash was so sweet itself that I think it took Mr. Cream's place. Fabulous and I can't recommend this recipe enough! Next up was my pumpkin peanut soup (recipe courtesy of Women's Health magazine.) There is some heat from dried chilies, and a bit of a Thai feel with the peanut butter in the soup, but it's the smoky red peppers hidden in the recipe that give the soup its vibrant orangish/redish hue. So warm and fall-like!

Please let me know if you have any can't miss fall recipes you'd like to share. I'm always looking for some more recipes to test out.