Sausage+Beer Soup w/ Brussels Sprouts+White Beans – Scroll down for recipe
After nearly a month away from the blog and home
…first to see our daughter Emily in Pennsylvania..
…and then to cruise via some stormy, leftover hurricane seas with my sister Helen from our favorite foreign spot, Quebec City, to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida… …
The blog, along with Dave,”the babies,” and I, will be on vacation until late in October. Until then, make my easy Slow Cooker Pumpkin-Black Bean Chili. Happy Fall!
I’ve been making pumpkin chili off and on for years now… It seems to be my fall go-to for chili because ,#1 I’m not happy unless there’s chili in the freezer and, #2 making different kinds of chili changes up the menu and wakens the palate. Today’s version creates a pretty smooth, but not-too-spicy chili that doesn’t taste pumpkiny, but still has all the potassium, fiber, nutrients, and overall health goodness pumpkin offers. Pumpkin is also low in calories: go, pumpkin! If you are partial to chunky Pumpkin-Chicken Chili, try my stovetop version made with boneless chicken thighs and lots of vegetables like zucchini, along with both pureed and chunks of pumpkin. Continue reading
In the cooking world, there are recipes most everyone just knows, loves, and admires. If you don’t make them, you’ve heard of them. Famed cooking guru and writer Marion Burros’ Plum Torte (New York Times, 1983) is one such recipe. It may be one of the best and tastiest examples I know. Continue reading
Trying to figure out what to name the dishes I dream up is not always easy. Many times the right recipe title does just pops up. Because, in my book, t should say what it is. Not be misleading or uninformative. (If you say, “Mother Morgan’s Favorite Dinner,” what does that mean? Steak and Garlic Green Beans on Mushroom Rice, however, says exactly what it is.) Other times, I’m lost. Nothing sounds right. I mull. I ponder. Here’s an example:
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My niece Jamie is a married mom of three with a demanding full-time job as an accountant for a big company. With no time to cook, she just laughs and says, “I don’t even know how to feed my family!” Husband Jerry is not an admitted cook, either. And that’s the way it is for lots of young moms and dads. Continue reading
BBQ Sauce (top), Chimichurri Sauce (right), and Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (bottom)
Dave’s the rib guy. I eat them. Of course I do. But they aren’t the passion for me they are for him. You know these people. They all swear by the best local ribs places and even run by, bringing home a rack or two for take-out at lots of bucks a pop. Continue reading
Every Labor Day weekend, Colorado Springs, Colorado hosts an eye-popping hot air balloon show (Labor Day Lift Off) that begins not too early in the morning, but around a civilized 9 when the atmosphere just starts to warm up. Continue reading
Before we went camping up near Rocky Mountain National Park last week–a post on that coming up —
Truth in blogging: I took these with my iPhone in horrible weather.
When I was a young, newly-married cook, my mother-in-law Lorna often made kebabs for a treat or company dinner. 
Her ’70s old school style was to take pot roast — yes, pot roast — cut it up and marinate it for a day or so– before grilling the pieces along with whatever vegetables hit her fancy. I seem to recall canned small potatoes. I’ll admit I liked this meal just fine. I couldn’t believe it was pot roast and neither could anyone else. It was just like steak. Well, nearly.
(June, 2017 addition: my MIL tells me the marinating was just overnight–not days and days!) Continue reading
As summer wanes –– it was 50 degrees F this morning when I got up — the vegetables come in huge, lovely fragrant warm piles and a fresh, toothsome pasta salad feels perfect for supper in the lingering heat. No muss, no fuss, with fresh pasta that cooks in just two minutes; dinner is on the table faster than you can make the basil vinaigrette (thanks to David Lebovitz–scroll down for more) that simply makes this meal. Continue reading