{at home in my kitchen}

There's something about being back in the kitchen that makes everything feel normal again.
Reading a recipe and following the process step by step (with little room for detours) brings about a certain level of comfort.
Scooping my lovely delft blue teacup into my apothecary jar of flour feels---oh, I don't know...familiar.
During a season in which not many things feel normal,
I had little idea how much I'd relish being back in my kitchen:
creating, baking, cooking, and finding structure.

Of course, this is the time of year I always renew ties with my kitchen.
Following a hectic summer of running every which direction and a few too many take-out pizzas,
I feel giddy to be "home" in my kitchen doing one of the things I love most:
creating delicious food for my family and friends.
So this weekend felt like a homecoming, of sorts,
as I cozied up to comfort food.

Fall food.
Is there anything better?
I mean, really.
Friday night found this on our menu:

 Old Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie

And of course, where there's comfort food, there must be dessert.
Breaking out recipes that have become fall standards at our house is always cause for celebration.
And this was no exception.

You may recognize this one:
pumpkin bread pudding.
I've shared it here before.
This time I substituted hazelnut creamer for the half and half,
and I happened to have salted caramel sugar on hand,
so I topped it with a generous sprinkling of that before baking it.
It offered just the right amount of crunch to complement the warm bread pudding.
Oh, and of course it has to be topped with caramel topping!
Dee-ee-licious!

I've mentioned that baking, for me, is about so much more than producing some kind of yummy treat.  
It's even more than feeding and encouraging the souls of the men who live within these four walls.
For me, baking is about quietness and stillness;
time to think and pray and worship.
Yesterday was no different.
For as I measured and cracked eggs and poured and mixed,
I prayed for the dear ones with whom God has called me to do life.
As I communed with God,
He filled my heart with peace and joy and contentment.
And together, we produced these:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

And then for supper,
I surprised even myself.
I've been trying to do this more over the last few years:
to let go of my previously held prejudices toward certain foods;
to overcome my preconceived notion that I don't like certain things when, truth be told, I've never given them a fair shake (at least not in my adult life).
So this 40-year-old wife and mom did something she'd never done:
I bought sweet potatoes.
'Cause I was determined to make this;
to make it AND like it.

Curried Sweet Potato and Rice Autumn Stew

And when I realized I didn't have enough time to throw together naan bread for supper,
I opted to make Indian Fry Bread.

And we tore off hunks of the warm, fluffy bread and dipped it in our perfectly spiced stew.

And we enjoyed it (well, Jon and I did.  After politely eating a few bites, the boys gratefully accepted my offer of the previous night's leftovers).

We didn't LOVE it.
I won't make it more than once a year.
But I was delighted that I was able to greet one of my phobias head-on and learn that it wasn't as bad as I'd supposed.
I even ate the leftovers today for lunch!

So what's been cookin' in your kitchen this weekend?
Have you broken out the fall comfort food and confections?