This recipe originally appeared in the New York Times. Seems too simple to be this delicious but it is a wonderful marriage of flavors. Red Wine Pinto Beans with Smoky Bacon Ingredients: 1/2# smoky bacon, diced 1 large onion, peeled and diced 2 celery stalks, diced 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced 4 garlic cloves, minced 1 large sprigs rosemary 1# dried pinto beans, soaked overnight 1 T. coarse kosher salt 2 c. dry red wine Optional toppings: olive oil, coarsely grated Parmesan, black pepper or red pepper flakes In the bottom of a large pot over medium-high heat, brown bacon until golden, about 5 minutes. (I like to remove the crisp bacon and add it back at the end). Stir in onion, celery, carrots, garlic and rosemary. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegies are tender, 5-7 minutes. Drain beans and add to pot along with 1 T. salt. Pour in enough water to just cover the beans (about 7-8 cups). Bring liquid to a boil; reduce heat and simmer gently until beans are just tender, 45 mins - 1 hour. Meanwhile, in a small pot over medium heat, simmer wine until it is reduced to 2/3 cup, 20-30 mins. Remove rosemary branches from bean pot and discard them. Pour wine into beans and bring to a simmer. Cook for 10-20 mins. longer to meld flavors and thicken broth to taste. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan, if desired; add more salt and black or red pepper to taste.

It is from the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery. The recipe is for bacon, but I frequently sub ham, if I have a ham bone with meat left on it that is too hard to slice. In that case, I just cook it with the beans and omit the bacon. Creole Style Beans 1 pound dried large Lima beans 6 cups water 1/2 pound bacon, diced 1 onion, chopped 1 green pepper, diced 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons seasoned salt 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 2 teaspoons prepared mustard 1 teaspoon Worcestershire 2 Tablespoons brown sugar 2 1/2 cups tomatoes (one 1 pound,3oz can) Cover washed beans with water, bring to boil, and boil for 2 minutes. Cover and let stand for 1 hour; then cook until tender. Drain. Cook bacon in large skillet until crisp. Remove bacon and drain. Add onion and green pepper to fat in skillet and cook for 5 minutes. Blend in flour, seasonings, and sugar. Add tomatoes and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add beans and heat. Sprinkle with bacon. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Made this Hungarian soup for the first time, tonight. It sure won't be the last. Kohlrabi Soup 1 small cut up chicken 4 young kohlrabi 1 1/4 tbls salt 2 tbls chopped parsley 4 tbls butter or lard 3 tbls flour 2 egg yolks 1/2 cup cream Cook the chicken for 30 minutew in salted water to cover. Peel the kohlrabi and cut into fine strips. Add to the chicken with the salt and continue cooking untiol chicken and kihlrabi are tender. Wilt the parsley in the fat; add the flour and blend. Stir in a cup of the soup and continue stirring and cooking until thick and smooth. Thin with the remaining soup. Remove the chicken from bones and cut into bite-sized pieces. Return to the soup and heat to boiling. Mix the egg yolks with the cream, and stir into the hot soup. Serves 8 to 12. My notes: Used a family-sized package of 9 thighs instead of a whole chicken, which worked out perfectly. Had six kohlrabi left from a bunch bought at the market the other day, and used them all. Didn't seem to hurt. Was concerned that with no seasoning except the salt this would be overly bland. Bzzt! Wrong! Thanks for playing! It actually is a very tasty soup that doesn't even need pepper. Several things to keep in mind that are not specified in the recipe: 1. Lots of fat comes off the chicken. So skim, strain, or freeze and gather it before adding the chicken back in. I also pulled the kohlrabi until the fat was removed, then returned it and the chicken to the broth. 2. If you're unfamiliar with adding eggs to soups, be sure and temper them first. Mix the eggs and cream well. While stirring add about a half cup of the soup to the egg mix. Add a second cup. Then add that mixture to the pot. Adding eggs directly to boiling liquid can result in scrambled eggs.

I do not like pumpkin pie. I've tried many recipes because it's un American not to have pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. It was my Mom's favorite, my kids love it but i do not like pumpkin pie. I once tried a recipe for pumpkin cheesecake pie and that was pretty good, but pumpkin pie, nope. So I get it, I like pumpkin bread (with lots of nuts and raisins, I like pumpkin roll, but I do not like pumpkin pie. I know not why because I like all the ingredients that go into it but it doesn't work for me. Sweet potatoes? Unless doused in gobs of butter with lots of brown sugar, not my favorite. My club makes the best sweet potato fries ever. Cut like steak fries, nice and crispy on the outside and wonderfully creamy on the inside. Sooo good! I've ordered them elsewhere, not so good. Butternut squash soup and Autumn just seem to go together and it sounds so good. I've had it at my favorite restaurant, what Elmer would call an "upscale" restaurant but what I call "a special occasion restaurant" and it was okay, but not my favorite. I've tried it at other restaurants and not so good. But, it's Autumn and butternut squash soup sounds so good. So, I've tried a number of recipes and for me, the butternut squash, pumpkin, sweet potato soup is really good. So do I think a different recipe can make a difference? Sometimes, yes. JMO