Up This Week

I'm going to make once again the Sweet Potato Upside Down Cake to perfect the recipe. I'm also going to try a Pound Cake Recipe for Brandi's Birthday and Cranberry Muffins, Maple Brown Sugar Cookies, Pumpkin Nut Cookies. These items, once perfected, will be added to my available menu for purchase.

I'm currently obsessed with anything FALL feeling or Thanksgiving Related. I'm cooking an entire Thanksgiving Feast for my In-laws this year. I'm very excited to bring out a few favorite recipes and try a few new ones. So if you can't find me browsing the web for recipes, my butt is probably parked in front of the TV glued to the Food Network.

It has long been a passion of mine to make a living from cooking/baking and/or gardening. I've never been quite sure HOW I wanted to do that though: Writing Cookbooks/blogging, a Show on Foodnetwork, bakery or small catering business. I just want to feed people and be in my kitchen as much as possible. For now, I'm satisfied playing with recipes, blogging and feeding friends. Will it be more one day? I hope so. Until then, sit back, relax and enjoy my triumphs, my catastrophe's and my unsolicited opinions and reviews!

Big Changes

For the next few days, this blog will be undergoing renovation. I have decided to streamline and expand topics to encompass more of my domestic interests and provide my readers with more variety. Please bare with me as we change it up a bit because I am super excited to bring you the new Garden Gourmet.

Eagle's Chili

This recipe was given to me by a generous friend who passed away in April. Every Halloween he would make huge pots of this Chili and invite anyone and everyone to his house in celebration of Friendship. For our wedding, he passed the recipe to me. It's called Eagle's Chili. I have tweaked it a bit here to make a small pot of simple Chili for the everyday. It's hearty and thick and pairs Great with Cornbread or Garlic Bread. You can eat it plain or garnish it with a variety of crackers, sour cream, and/or cheese, nacho chips or even chives. There is an endless possibility of things you can do with a basic hearty chili.

Eagle's Chili
1 1/2 lbs hamburger, chopped fine or crumbled
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 large green bell pepper, chopped fine
2 large cans of Bushes Mild Chili Beans
1 Large can of Diced Tomatoes
1 jar of V8 Vegetable blend or Plain Tomato Juice
1 Package of Taco Seasoning
1 jar of sliced mushrooms
Chili Powder to taste

Directions:
Brown Hamburger. When hamburger is almost done add in onions and green pepper and saute in the hamburger juice. Add in Envelope of Taco seasoning and stir till well blended. Transfer to a crockpot. Add the rest of ingredients and cook for 8-10 hours. Periodically stir and add chili powder.

Menu Friday

I know menu planning is normally reserved for Monday's but I'm behind due to recent events so today was my menu planning and shopping trip. For Halloween I'm trying Rachel Ray's Green Goble 'em Garlic Chuncks with a pot of chili. This will be easy comfort food for a spooky night in huddled under a blanket watching Ghost Hunters.

Also on the Fall menu for the next week:
Spaghetti
Chicken Fajita Taco's
Roast Chicken and Veggies
Chicken Salad sandwiches
Sausage Balls and Green Bean Casserole
Left Overs (for lunches and maybe one or two dinners)

Hopefully some baking recipes will also show up this week. Possibilities: Sweet Potato Breads or Pumpkin Cupcakes. We shall see.

Apple Pie

Sometimes the simplest things can provide comfort to us and we look to our traditional cultural foods to provide those in our time of need. During a very emotional time for me, I turned to my love of food and cooking to help me cope. Being in the kitchen is comfort. Feeding people things I made from love and hard work give me joy.

Over home made warm apple pie and hot coffee, I found comfort in the simple things today. The things that make living worth it all. A sister who rushed to my aid, a husband who valiantly carried on while I took time to mend. A helping hand to clean my house while the fall leaves fell on a sunny day. A sweet dog lying in a patch of sun, a bag of fallen and bruised apples sent by a neighbor that found their way into an apple pie to be served up for my family.

Simple joys. Simple tastes. Simply comfort.

Ingredients:
Apples. (I prefer four or five gala apples and one granny smith for a kick but any apples will do).
3 tbs flour
3/4 cup white sugar (less if the pie is not heaped with apples)
3/4 cup brown sugar (less if the pie is not heaped with apples)
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tbs cinnamon
1/2 stick butter

One egg
two Pillsbury Roll Out pie crusts

Directions: Roll one pie crust into pan, pre-heat oven to 400 or 425 depending on your oven and elevation. Skin and slice apples thinly and arrange in pie crust. Sprinle lemon juice over it. In bowl, mix dry ingredients and pour over apples, spreading evenly. Divide butter into "pats" and spread evenly around pie. Roll top crust over and pinch together edges of two crusts. I use a fork or spoon to mash edges together and create a nice even sealed pattern. Cut an X into center of top. Whisk egg in bowl, add a bit of water and brush across top of pie crust. and around edges. Cover edges with aluminum foil and bake for 20-30 minutes till crust is startingly to bubble but before it turns golden. Remove tinfoil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes until crust is golden brown and shiny.

Cool and serve warm or cold. American tradition, simple, and oh so good.

Fall Garden

Ideas for Fall Garden Plantings:
(may try a bed of tomatoes, squash and zuchini, green beans)

Beets
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Collards
Cucumbers
Kale
Lettuce (leaf and head)
Mustard greens
Onions
Radishes
Spinach
Turnips

Maybe my fall garden will be better. I like fall anyway. I always have more energy in fall.