Here's a great recipe for a busy day! Throw a few easy-to-find ingredients into the pot and enjoy the sweet smell of curried pork all afternoon. Prepare it on a weekday and come home to a house that smells like heaven, assuming Fido spares you some leftovers.

As with any meat, I recommend acquiring the best pork you can afford. Bone-in cuts like chops, ribs, or shoulders work great for slow-cooking, as do odds and ends like country-style spareribs (boneless but highly marbled bits).

Scale quantities up or down depending on the size of your army and whether you like leftovers!

Think of tired apple branches sagging under the weight of ripened fruit, swollen root vegetables that have diligently stored every last bit of solar energy before their supposed long and restful winter...

Whether you are a farmer or a grocery store forager, fall is harvest time and, while the ingredients in this simple soup recipe are easy to find year round, they are at their best right now.

The fresher the ingredients, the better the result--but worry not, you don't need carrots that look like they were plucked from the cover of an organic gardening magazine, the plain old orange kind work just fine. I found this bunch too good to pass up. If you suddenly find one yourself within reach of a similar one I recommend snatching it up at once. If you then find yourself with twenty spare minutes and a desire for a delicious meal, here's a suggestion...