Summer Endings, Fall Beginnings

It's that time of year again folks, the changing of seasons. I'll be the first to admit it. I'm not exactly sad to see summer go. Not that I'm over here doing a little jig, because deep down I do know, that summer ending eventually means winter is coming. And there is nothing I hate more than a long, cold, dreary Michigan February. But I do have a secret weapon to get me though. I LOVE fall. Like serious white-on-rice kind of love. Fall brings the return of college football and wearing hooded sweatshirts every Saturday. Apple picking and fresh donuts and hot mulled cider. Mums, falling leaves, pumpkins and gourds galore. I could go on for hours, but you'd probably get bored reading, so I'll just end my little fall rant by welcoming back one of my favorite seasons. I heart you fall!
With the end of summer though, does come the end of delicious fruit. I'm mourning the end of fresh peaches and blueberries. So I decided to honor them. With dessert of course. I was also contemplating the fact that I've been a fairly bad wife lately (I've been seriously so busy that I've had no time to cook for Brad and I), so in addition to a fun dessert, I even made dinner to go along with it. Go me!
Tonight's dinner menu consisted of a pretty simple salad, and something I've been dying to try ever since I ran across the semi-recipe here, Pasta Fagioli. I say semi-recipe, because while the gentleman making this soup makes it look fantastic, he provides absolutely no ingredient measurements whatsoever. I happen to not be intimidated by this, so I got to work.
First up for this delicious pasta/stew/soup, a pastoup, if you will (humor me here), is making some homemade meatballs. I've tried several different meatball recipes, but I admit, Food Beard Guy's way, with wet bread, has me sold.

Delicious Balls (in new meat flavour)
1/2 lb ground beef from chuck
1/2 lb ground turkey (breast meat only)
1 large ciabatta roll, cut into small pieces and soaked w/ water
1 large whisked egg (I use brown free-range)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tsp red pepper flakes
salt & pepper to taste

Squish this whole thing together. Use your hands people! Play like a kid again.Then roll that mushy mess into meatballs. Mine were about 1" round, and this recipe probably yields about 40 meatballs. You only need half that for the pastoup, so freeze the remainder after cooking them over medium-heat in a little olive oil until browned and cooked through. Mmmm, meat-ball-ee.Okay, so onto pastoup. Here's the complete list of ingredients I used:

Lady Pastoup Fagioli (teeehee)
2 bell peppers (1 orange, 1 yellow), roughly chopped
1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
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1/2 cup diced pepperoni
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
5 cloves minced garlic
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1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 small can diced tomatoes
1 box chicken broth (~4 cups)
2 bay leaves
2 tsp red pepper flakes
3 long sprigs fresh oregano
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20 cooked meatballs
1 cup grated Parmesan, plus the Parmesan rind
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4 (1/4 lb each) spicy cooked Italian sausages, sliced
1 15 oz can canneloni beans (drained & rinsed)
salt & pepper to taste
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1/2 lb cooked ditalini pasta

I can give you a recipe, but I have no intention of giving you complete step-by-step instructions, mostly because I forgot to take pictures of everything. First order of business though is to sautee your onion & peppers. Do this for about 5 minutes, then throw in the pepperoni, garlic and parsley. Keep throwing in ingredients in the order of the recipe above. Stir occasionally, letting simmer on low for about 1 1/2 hours. During the last few minutes, place the cooked pasta in the bottom of your bowl, then ladle the simmering pastoup on top. Shave on a bit more fresh Parmesan. Serve with warm crusty bread to mop up the mess, a tasty salad, and a really frosty cold beer. Righteous.Now that your belly is full of dinner, it's time to start thinking about dessert. As I mentioned earlier, I was mourning the end of peaches and blueberries, so I made a quick crumble. Crumbling goes something like this.

Lady Crumbles her Fruberries
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cold unsalted butter
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1/4 cup quick oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
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3 large nectarines, chopped in pieces
3 medium peaches, chopped in pieces
3/4 pint Michigan blueberries
1/2 pint blackberries
2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp almond extract

Pulse the flour and butter in a food processor until it resembles cornmeal crumbs. Mix w/ the other dry ingredients and set aside. Mix all the fruit with the cornstarch/spice/sugar mixture, and spread in the bottom of a buttered 13"x9" pan. Sprinkle the top with the oat/dry ingredients, and bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes. Serve slightly warm with vanilla ice cream.How's that for sending out summer and ringing in fall?