Holy Cow!


My blog has almost had 3000 visits! I can hardly believe it. In honor of the occasion, I've decided to spruce things up around here. Don't be surprised if there's a new look, shortly.

And please, share my blog with your friends. Monthly reader give-aways to start in October!

I know, you can hardly contain yourselves ...

On a completely separate note, here are a few things that have me smiling this afternoon:
- It's sixty degrees, overcast and drizzly. Autumn is arriving and today is the first day it has really felt nice in a while. Jeans, wool sweaters and boots, here I come! Not to mention our fall mushroom hunting season is here, grouse hunting is just about to begin up North (and I can legally hunt now!) and  our cabin is getting an addition. Just a few more weeks and I'll be lost in the north woods. 

- I have a crock of pumpkin chili with rib eye steak simmering away in the kitchen. When my other half gets home, I'll heat up the cast iron skillet and make us a bit of corn bread and crack open the last two bottles of New Belgium's Red Hoptober from our fridge. Comfort food season has arrived. I think the crock pot might just stay out of storage for the time being!

- I helped my Grandma customize her first computer. At 90 years old, she has a laptop and can send emails from the comfort of her own home. Before I know it she'll be setting up a Facebook account!

- My other half got home. Time for dinner :)

Comments

  1. Bethany AndersenSeptember 17, 2012 at 7:34 PM

    absolutely looove the blog! such a creative genius has such a fan following! :) and please - Recipes Please! your pumpkin chili sounds yummy... and i am such a pumpkin nut and try to us it sooo manyu ways in the fall.

    Always excited to see and hear about your creations!
    Bethany

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Valerie JoySeptember 18, 2012 at 8:08 AM

      Thanks, Bethany! I'm so happy you're reading and we can keep connected through the internet. Since you mentioned that pumpkin chili, I had a bowl yesterday with a bit of rice thrown in. Still yummy. No recipe for that one, though. Here's what I did ...

      In a saute pan I caramelized two small yellow onions over medium heat, sprinkling a dash of salt on the onions to help them caramelize faster. Just before the onions were done, I added two cloves of minced garlic to the pan and sautéed them for approximately 1 minute. I removed the onions from the pan, added two tablespoons of butter and returned the pan to the heat. Then, I added my meat to the pan. (I used one very large boneless rib-eye steak, cut into bite sized pieces, but you could use ground beef, or any meat you have on hand.) I browned the meat on all sides, approximately 8 minutes in the pan, and then removed that from the heat, discarding any extra drippings. Then, in a crockpot, I combined the following ingredients; the caramelized onions and garlic from earlier, the browned meat, three diced tomatoes, 2 cups of pumpkin puree, 1 bay leaf, cumin, chili powder, a dash of cinnamon, cayenne, and 2 cups of beef stock ( but would have preferred to use tomato juice). I then let everything cook together on low heat in the crock pot for the rest of the day.

      Delete

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