Fall

This soup, along with a green salad and some nice bread, is a great dinner for a chilly night.  This soup is loaded with sausage, beans and ditalini pasta.  It's really a pretty traditional "Pasta e Fagioli" soup, but with sausage. I've made the soup with turkey sausage, but you can use any sausage you like.  

I've used dried beans to make the soup.  You can certainly use canned, but if you've never cooked with dried beans, you should try it.  Some people are confused about dried beans and don't know how to soak them and cook them.  But there really is no mystery to it at all – it's very easy.  Soaking simply softens the beans so that they have a shorter cooking time. That's all.

And you don't really even have to soak them.  If you forget to soak them, simply cook them longer. I just throw the beans in a pot and cover them with water and let them soak all day. I drain them, add fresh water and then cook them until they are tender. That's it.

No, this is not a picture of a sea anemone. It's spaghetti squash. And though my mom doesn't like it, she makes it all the time for my dad since it's his favorite type of squash. Her favorite, by the way, is buttercup. I know this because the three of us have the same conversation every year as if it's a revelation:

Dad: "What did you buy at the farmers' market this week?"

Me: "Some butternut squash."

Mom: "Ooh, yeah? I love butternut squash. But you know what's even better? Buttercup. You should try it."

Me: "Yeah, Mom, I have tried it, but I don't like it as much as butternut."

Mom: "How could you not like buttercup squash?!"

Dad: "You know what the best squash is? Spaghetti squash. Your mother makes it with tomato sauce and cheese. Oh, I love it like that. You should try it."

Pumpkins are EVERYWHERE! It is just starting to cool down in L.A. and the flavors of fall are creeping into my home. Meals like Shepherds Pie, Claire’s Brisket, Butternut Squash Soup, Lasagna, and Chili are cooking in my kitchen. Making pumpkin soup is a weekly request. With left over pumpkin puree I am always finding ways of using up the left over puree.

The usual suspects; pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin doughnuts, and now pumpkin ice cream. Having a few egg yolks in the fridge always ingnites my desire to make ice cream. I have to admit, I have become a little bored with our old favorites (butterscotch pecan, coffee cookie dough, sweet cream). Don’t get me wrong, they are good, better than good. But I wanted a new flavor and with this being fall, all I can think about is pumpkin. So glad I did. While the custard was cooking on the stove, it smelled just like fall. The smells of cinnamon and nutmeg infused my house.

It was so overwhelming that I couldnt help myself, I did stick my finger in the warm custard, before putting it into the ice cream machine. I was tempted to drink it. Really tempted. But didn’t.

Who doesn't love pumpkin cheesecake (a million hands just went up, right?).  And who wouldn't love pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap-pecan crust?  Well you've come to the right place.

I often prefer pumpkin cheesecake to pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, it has such a creamy, yummy texture and is a good addition to all the other desserts I will be making for the Thanksgiving dessert buffet.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Crust:
1-1/2 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar