DIY Pumpkin Soup

This is an unusual use for pumpkin, but we all (except for Aaron) love it. Like most soup, you can customize the taste quite a bit by varying the meat and vegetables to your liking.

Homemade Pumpkin Soup Recipe

• 4 cups chicken broth or water
• 2 cups pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin
• 2 cups whole milk or half-and-half
• 1 pound of sausage, chicken, or ground beef (cut and cooked)
• 4-6 potatoes
• 3-4 cups carrots, corn, celery, peas, beans or a combination (cut)
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• 2 tsp salt (unless using salty sausage)
• 2 tsp oregano or cinnamon (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a large pot, and simmer for 30-60 minutes. Or combine all ingredients in a crock pot, and cook for 4-8 hours.  These are great served with pumpkin or cheesy biscuits.

DIY Potato Pancakes

This is a easy, hearty side dish to accompany anything from eggs to pork chops to meatloaf. You could even top with a little sour cream and cheese, and call it a light dinner all by itself. Just like with homemade hash browns, pre-baking the potatoes makes them cook up really fast.

Homemade Potato Pancake Recipe

• 4-6 baked potatoes grated
• 2 or more cloves of garlic chopped
• 1/4 or more of an onion chopped
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup flour
• 1/4 milk or water
• 2 Tbsp oil (plus oil for frying)

1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. Heat a small amount of oil in a non-stick or cast iron skillet.
3. When the skillet is hot, scoop about 2/3 cup potato batter into pan, and press to flatten about 1/2 inch thick.
4. Fry until bottom is golden brown, flip over, and fry until other side is golden brown.

These are great with homemade ranch, ketchup, or barbecue sauce!

Easy One-Dish Dinner: Pancit

This is a easy Asian style dish that is really popular in the Philippines. It is similar to the fried noodles (chǎo miàn  炒面) that are popular in China as well, but there is less oil and more meat and vegetables in this version. When I was working in a hospital, I worked with Filipino nurses and love it when they brought this dish to share. We had a Filipino friend over recently, and I wanted to try making pancit for her. She thought this recipe was pretty similar to what they make back at her home.

Easy Pancit Recipe

• 1 (12 ounce) package dried rice noodles
• 2–3 Tbsp oil
• 1 onion (diced)
• 1–3 cloves minced garlic
• 2 chicken breasts (diced)
• 1 small head cabbage, (thinly sliced)
• 3 carrots (thinly sliced)
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 lemons cut into wedges (if desired for garnish)

1. Soak your rice noodles in water, or boil briefly to soften. The noodles should still be a little al dente.
2. In a large frying pan or wok, heat the oil, and begin to cook the onion and garlic.
3. Add in the chicken, and cook meat thoroughly.
4. Then add the vegetables, frying just until they begin to soften.
5. Last add the noodles, frying to mingle the flavors and finish cooking the noodles.
6. Season with soy sauce and lemon wedges if desired.

Easy One-Dish Dinner: Fried Eggs and Tomatoes

I am going to share a Chinese recipe with you today. This dish is always a favorite among foreigners living in China because it doesn't have any ingredients that you can't tell (and don't want to know) what they are. Simple and fast, this is one Chinese style dish we eat a lot in our house. I am going to share both how the Chinese people prefer to eat this dish and how I adapt it for when I make it for just our family.

Fried Eggs and Tomatoes

• oil
• 10-12 eggs
• 4-6 tomatoes (washed and diced)
• salt to taste
• cooked rice

1. Put some oil in a wok or a large frying pan. If you really want it to taste authentic, add what you think is a ton of oil to fry eggs in and then double or triple that amount. I usually just add about 1-2 Tbsp when cooking this for our own family. 
2. Turn on the heat. Again, if you want it to be authentic, you have to turn it up until it is smoking and you need to turn the hood vent on. But I usually fry over medium heat for just our family.
3. Crack eggs into the pan and stir, cooking as you would regular scrambled eggs.
4. When the eggs are almost finished cooking, add in the tomatoes and continue cooking until all the tomatoes are hot.
5. Salt to taste (and msg if you want to be authentic).
6. Serve over rice (only white rice to be authentic).

We also prefer to eat fried eggs and tomatoes in a completely unauthentic way—we put them in tortilla shells for breakfast burritos. But we like them so much that we eat them for breakfast, lunch, or dinner (though not in the same day), with plenty of ranch, please.

Easy One-Dish Dinner: Potato Soup

This is a favorite around here, especially if I make it with purple potatoes. I hadn't heard of purple potatoes until recently, but they taste the same and the boys love the fun color. This tastes just as good with any other kind of potatoes though, so you can use whatever you have on hand. It just won't be as colorful.

Potato Soup Recipe

• 4-6 medium/large baking potatoes
• water
• 2 cups milk or yogurt
• 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp garlic powder (or one clove fresh chopped garlic)
• salt to taste

1. Wash, and chop potatoes into small pieces.
2. Boil until soft.
3. In the blender, first add some milk or yogurt and the seasonings. Then add about 1/2 of the potatoes and some of the water, and blend until smooth. if you didn't bother to peel your potatoes like me, don't worry. You can't even taste them at all once they are blended.
4. Repeat until all of the potatoes are blended, and then stir together to distribute seasoning evenly.
5. Top with cheese, crumbled bacon, peas, sour cream, or ranch if desired, but it is great plain too.

Easy One-Dish Dinner: Complete Potato Salad

This is an easy, one-dish summer meal. It combines egg, potato, and green salad into a one-dish meal. Like green eggs and ham, we want to eat it everywhere in the summer.

Greens, Egg, and Potato Salad

4–6 medium potatoes washed, chopped, and boiled (you can peel them if you like, I am generally to lazy to peel things, and besides I like the extra nutrients found in eating whole foods)
8 eggs boiled and chopped
1 head of romaine lettuce washed and torn, half a bag of washed spinach, or your choice of salad greens
mayonnaise, ranch dressing, French dressing, or Italian dressing to coat the salad

Prepare the potatoes and eggs and refrigerate until cool. Mix with greens, and then coat with dressing of your choice.

This dish is best eaten right away, although I have saved leftovers and eaten them the next day, and the salad was still good.

I would eat this here or there. I would eat this anywhere.