Fall in the desert means the temperature has dropped below 100 for the first time since we arrived. Ninety-five degrees. Positively autumnal. I put on a sweater as a joke and sweated through it in four minutes.
Caleb's daycare is the best thing that has happened to me in Twentynine Palms. Six hours a week of writing time has transformed the book from a hobby I squeeze into 5 AM to a project with real momentum. I write on Tuesday and Thursday mornings — two sessions, three hours each — and I'm producing 4,000-5,000 words per week.
Chapter Five is almost done: the blog chapter. Writing about the moment I published the first post and watched it reach two thousand people. Writing about the pandemic column that went viral. Writing about the deployment cooking series that became the thing — the THING — that defined my voice.
The voice. That's what the book is, really. Not a cookbook — there are millions of cookbooks. Not a memoir — there are plenty of those. It's a VOICE: young, military wife, budget-cooking, honest-about-the-hard-parts, funny-about-the-worst-parts. The voice that says 'dinner at 1800' and means 'I love you.' The voice that says 'the meatloaf is love' and means it literally.
Mom has been reading chapters as I finish them. She reads them on her phone (Dad prints them because he refuses to read 'a book on a screen') and her feedback is specific: 'The deployment chapter made me cry.' 'The pot roast recipe needs the wine amount specified — you wrote "a splash" and a splash is not a MEASUREMENT.' 'Your description of my kitchen is wrong — the spice rack was on the LEFT side of the stove, not the right.'
Donna Abernathy, beta reader. Focused entirely on factual accuracy and spice rack placement.
Dad's feedback: 'Good.' One word. Printed, read at the kitchen table, verdict: good. The Kevin Abernathy book review.
I made Mom's autumn chicken tonight — the maple-mustard-apple version. In the desert, where autumn means 95 degrees instead of 65, the autumn chicken feels aspirational. But the taste is fall. The apple is sweet. The maple glaze caramelizes. And for forty-five minutes in the oven (adjusted down twenty degrees for this demon oven), the apartment smells like October in Virginia.
You can cook your way to a different season. You can make autumn happen in a desert kitchen with a recipe card and a wish.
That might be the thesis of the whole book.
Writing about the voice that made me is one thing — actually living inside it on a Tuesday night in the Mojave Desert is another. When Chapter Five is almost done and the apartment needs to smell like October, you don’t reach for something light. You reach for pumpkin. You reach for cream and pasta and the kind of warmth that has nothing to do with the thermostat. Mom’s pumpkin Alfredo with chicken is the recipe I made when I needed autumn to show up and do its job, and it never once let me down.
Pumpkin Alfredo with Chicken
Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 12 oz fettuccine or pappardelle pasta
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced thin
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- Fresh sage or parsley, for garnish
Instructions
- Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water before draining. Set pasta aside.
- Sear the chicken. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken slices with salt and pepper. Cook for 4–5 minutes per side until golden and cooked through. Transfer to a plate and tent loosely with foil.
- Build the sauce. Reduce heat to medium. In the same skillet, add garlic and cook for 60 seconds until fragrant. Stir in pumpkin puree and cook for 1–2 minutes, letting it deepen slightly in color.
- Add cream and season. Pour in heavy cream and stir to combine with the pumpkin. Add nutmeg, dried sage, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes if using. Simmer gently for 5–6 minutes, stirring often, until the sauce thickens slightly.
- Finish with Parmesan. Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan until fully melted and smooth. If the sauce is too thick, add reserved pasta water a splash at a time until it reaches your preferred consistency.
- Combine and serve. Slice the rested chicken. Add the drained pasta to the sauce and toss to coat. Divide into bowls, top with sliced chicken, extra Parmesan, and fresh herbs. Serve immediately.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 620 | Protein: 38g | Fat: 28g | Carbs: 54g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 480mg
About the cook who shared this
Rachel Abernathy
Week 235 of Rachel’s 30-year story
· San Diego, California
Rachel is a twenty-eight-year-old Marine wife and mom of two who has moved five times in six years and learned to cook a Thanksgiving dinner with half her cookware still in boxes. She married young, survived postpartum depression, and feeds her family of four on a junior Marine's salary with a freezer full of pre-made meals and a crockpot that has never let her down. She writes for the military spouses who are cooking dinner alone in base housing and wondering if they're enough. You are.
