Soup's On! by Barbara Quinn

The last of the season’s peaches and tomatoes are almost gone at the farm stand replaced by fall’s produce. Last time I visited there were more varieties of apples, pears, and squash than I could count. The pumpkins were happily piled up on hay bales. And potatoes and sweet potatoes filled the bins. I’m partial to honey crisp apples, and Bartlett pears. It’s time to turn on the oven again and fill the house with the scent of apple and pear crisp, and simply baked apples. I’ve been buying pretty striped squash and stuffing them with figs and a little cinnamon and honey. Baked sweet potatoes, and baked sweet potato fries have also been on the table.

And then there are the soups of fall. Butternut squash soup, red lentil soup, ghoulash soup, all have made an appearance on my table these past couple of weeks. There’s something comforting about a steaming bowl of soup, something right about a pot of ingredients simmering on the stove filling the house with warmth and life. None of the soups I make are difficult but they are tasty.

I lose myself in the chopping of carrots, the dicing of onions, the cubing of beef. I love the way the ingredients come together to make something better. Think about it. Soup is the perfect example of teamwork, each ingredient offering its essence, combining with the others, and becoming something new, nourishing, and bursting with flavor. Is there anything better than a bowl of chicken soup when you're feeling yurky?

All is right in my world when there’s a pot of soup simmering and ready to spoon up for lunch or dinner. A world without soup? Oh no..that's a nightmare. It reminds me of the Seinfeld epidsode where the "Soup Nazi" refuses to serve Elaine soup stating, "No soup for you!" Whatever kind you like, take it from me, soup cures what ails you. The world needs more soup.

Too Tired to Think by Angie Ledbetter

Boy, what a day I had. Twelve hours of working the football jamboree! Can I tell ya? It's no fun to work over a hot fryer or grill cooking food when it's about 200 degrees outside and so muggy you're breathing wet air. Having an internal thermostat that tends to run on Warm anyway, added to a stadium filled with teenagers, and you get sweat dripping in your eyes.

Selling raffle tickets wasn't too bad, and when I cut up 6 bags of onions into thin rings to grill for burgers, at least I was sitting down. That our home team lost in the very last seconds of the game after running the first kickoff back for a touchdown in the first play was deflating for all the moms and dad who'd been out there working since noon.

Even with the loss and the running sweat and my onion-smelling hands, there are still things I'm grateful for, like working with great and generous people. We've made as many preps for hovering Hurricane Gustav as we can, the little school band of about 15 kids which one of my sons plays in did a valiant job with the Star Spangled Banner, and I got to take a break to go serve and eat supper with the men at one of our local shelters...always a great pick-me-upper! The 30 or so guys there loved the food and enjoyed visiting with us over dinner.

It's past midnight and my bed is crying for me. Please excuse any typos or bad sentence structure. Too tired to edit. I'm grateful for the coolness of my house and that I now get to go to sleep. Simple things, but things which many people do not have. (The shelter guys sleep on hard cots or bunks!) I will keep the many Gulf Coast evacuees traveling north and west away from the eye of the storm in thought and prayer tomorrow as our main Interstate switches to contraflow. It's just too hard to think of another Katrina coming toward us on the exact date of "her" third anniversary.
I'm grateful we have supplies and the means to flee should it become necessary.

Good night.

Dishin' in the Kitchen by Angie Ledbetter

I'm leaving in a few minutes for a school meeting, then on to my parents' house where I'm going to prepare a really good recipe with one of my sisters and our mom. I love spending time in the kitchen with family and/or friends. It's a relaxing hobby with something good created for all to share. Old stories invariably come up also, and although you've heard or told them hundreds of times, they're still amusing. It's also nice to catch up on how nieces, nephews or other friends are doing, and just generally being together in unhurried circumstances.

Grateful for these kitchen klatches, I want to share my Chicken Salad recipe with others in the hope that they might have a get-together with utensils and stories mixing up the atmosphere. It's an easy and convenient food to keep in the fridge for a decently healthy snack that's also delicious.

Best Chicken Salad Ever

1 Roasted chicken prepared and sold at grocery store delis (cut into small chunks)
1 Cup Duke's sugar free mayonnaise
1 Cup Craisins
1/2 Cup nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, whatever)
1 Cup red or green seedless grapes

Ready for the complicated directions? Mix all the ingredients in an air tight container and voila! Great as sandwiches or on crackers. Enjoy.

Oh What a Crock by Angie Ledbetter

I woke to the delicious aroma of a roast cooking this morning, at first thinking it was a dream. Then I remembered I'd put that roast in my beloved crock pot last night so it'd be ready for my daughter and friends to take on their beach vacation. On busy days, my trusty crock is indispensable, and it also helps me save money as I can buy lesser cuts of meat and still have them come out tender and yummy when everyone lands home from work, school, etc.

What a wonderful invention the crock pot is! With a few simple ingredients and spices, meals practically prepare themselves, and I appreciate anything that cuts down on my time in the kitchen. For years I had the old type that was all one heavy piece and a pain to wash. The one I have now is like a huge crockery serving bowl that comes out of the heating element base with ease. I just pop it into the dishwasher and it's ready to go again. Even if I still had only the old 25-year-old model, there are now crock pot liners available which make clean up a breeze. We use these in the school baseball concession stand to heat chili and nacho cheese, and boy does it make cleaning them so much easier.

If you've thought crock pots were only good for making dishes for big gatherings or for keeping something warm for a gathering, or for chili in winter only, it's time to think again. Cooking in a crock pot is fun and produces wonderful meals...like that roast simmering away slowly in my kitchen. All I do for that is add salt, pepper and lots of garlic, cook each side on high for 30 minutes or so, then simmer away until people are ready to eat. If you want gravy, you can add a can of lite cream of mushroom soup after the browning stage. For crock recipes, surf the Net or simply check this site: http://http://familycrockpotrecipes.com/

Oh, great crock pot, I'm ever so thankful for you!

Gratitude for Zucchini Madness by Barbara Quinn

I enjoy going out in the early morning and harvesting my herbs, zucchini, and zucchini flowers. The bright yellow zucchini blossoms definitely are happy, their faces turned up to the sun. This is the time of year when they go into insane production phase so it’s good to have lots of recipes for them.

While I enjoy cooking, I’m a fan of simple, healthy dishes. Here’s a dish that is tasty and doesn’t require you to spend a lot of time over a hot stove. Plus it uses bunches of zucchini. And I am grateful for that.

Zucchini Bisque

2 Tblsp. Olive Oil
1 Medium Onion
1 Cup chopped carrots
4 Cups chopped zucchini
2 Cups Lo-Sodium chicken broth
¼ tsp. sugar
¼ tsp. marjoram
Two or three sprigs of fresh thyme, stripped (or ½ tsp dried)
Two or three sprigs of fresh tarragon stripped (or 1 tsp. dried)
Sea salt
White pepper
½ cup Skim Plus milk

Chop vegetables. Heat olive oil over medium heat and add carrots, zucchini and onion. Cook until onions wilt. Stir in chicken broth, herbs, sugar, white pepper, and salt. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Puree in small batches in a blender. Pour back in pot and add the milk. Adjust seasoning to taste. (e.g., more tarragon or salt). Reheat and serve.

Play Dough by Barbara Quinn

One of my first memories is of playing in the kitchen at my mother’s feet while she cooked dinner. To keep me occupied she threw together some flour, water, and salt, and rolled it together till it formed a ball. It was my own wad of play dough without any chemicals or additives. Sometimes she added food coloring. I prepared the same dough for my son when he was a toddler. The dough and the pots and pans beneath the counter held far more attraction for him than his toys. He loved banging the pots and pans with a wooden spoon, and loved donning the colander as a helmet. That colander still has dents in it from the times he climbed on top.

Here’s one of my family’s favorites for a real dough. I married a fellow of Irish ancestry and decided that I’d learn to make a good soda bread. This recipe has made its way to a number of the Irish relatives households:

IRISH SODA BREAD

2 Cups Flour
3 Tblsp. Sugar
½ tsp. Baking Soda
½ tsp. Salt
3 Tblsp. Butter
¾ cup Buttermilk
1 Large egg
½ Cup raisins
1 tsp. Carraway seeds

Sift all the dry ingredients together into a large bowl. Cut in the butter. Add the egg, buttermilk, raisins, and caraway seeds. Mix lightly, then knead with your hands until it forms a ball. It should come away from the sides of the bowl. Add a little more flour if necessary. The dough will be sticky. Grease a pan with butter. (A nine inch metal pie plate is what I use.) Place the ball into the center of the pie plate and cut a cross in the center of it. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. It should be slightly browned. Remove from pan and cool on a rack. It’s great with sweet butter!

Lovin' from the Oven by Angie Ledbetter

Yeah, I ripped off the Doughboy's saying, but it fits perfectly, so let's just say I'm borrowing it for today. We southern cooks (men and women) really enjoy showing our love by making wonderful meals, preparing delicious baked goodies, and especially by using our tried and true family recipes. I don't know a single person who enjoys cooking who doesn't have dog eared old yellowed recipe cards full of mouth-watering concoctions. The best ones are spattered, splattered, torn and maybe even scribbled on.

My most precious of this type of recipe is in my grandmother's own handwriting, and although I wish she was still around to help me finally learn to make her famous biscuits, my continued failure doesn't keep me from trying it every now and then.

BIGMAMA'S BISCUITS:

Use a medium large bowl that will become your biscuit bowl forever. Fill it ¾ full with sifted Gold Medal Self-Rising Flour.

“Doodle out a ‘waller hole’ in the middle of your bowl,” as Bigmama used to say. Make this well by gently swishing your fist in the flour. It will hold the other ingredients.

Pour in ½ tablespoon of cooking oil. In a standard drinking glass, stir together ½ cup buttermilk and ½ cup water. Add to your well.

Work the mixture gently with your fingers, pulling in as little extra flour as possible. Try not to handle or knead the dough very much.

Prepare your heavy iron skillet by pouring in a thin layer of oil. Roll the skillet around to spread the oil evenly. Pinch off biscuits and place into skillet. (Dusting your hands lightly with flour helps.)

When the pan is full and biscuits rest gently against one another, sprinkle on a small amount of oil to the raw biscuit tops. Put skillet into a cold oven, and set at 400 degrees. Put your pan in the middle of the rack so biscuits cook evenly. When they are light golden brown, move skillet to top rack until darker brown. If your oven is true to temperature, the whole process, including preparation time, will take about 25 minutes. The first few times, watch the biscuits' progress in the oven closely to be sure.

Butter immediately...or cover with gravy...or drown in maple or cane syrup. Any way you like your biscuit, you'll love these!

Blessings from the Pit by Angie Ledbetter

I've come to love our BBQ pit. Like several ovens in one, it can cook different meals simultaneously. And since we moved up a few years ago from the old charcoal model to propane, cooking outdoors is even easier and more efficient. I like the convenience of having different foods than my sometimes-boring repertoire, and my husband doesn't mind cooking...as long as fire, hot coals, dutch ovens, seafood boiling/frying rigs or danger of some sort is involved. He's gotten better and better with his grill mastery and actually enjoys it. His outdoor cooking also gives his family gift ideas for birthday and other holidays.

On days when the family's running in five separate directions, leftovers from the grill are a boon. Who doesn't love reheated burgers, fresh vegetables or chicken the next day? Our pit really comes in handy when we lose electricity during storms. When it's too hot or dark to stay indoors, we can sit under the patio and cook what's slowly defrosting in the freezer. During hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we had the camp coffee pot perking on the pit. Talk about an emergency essential!

The BBQ is wonderful for those in the household on different eating plans too...big honking slabs of beef for the Atkins dieter, lightly seasoned grilled shrimp and veggie kabobs for the low cal dieters, and a variety of "regular" foods for the others.

I'm thankful for our trusty BBQ, and that there's someone else to man it besides me. I'm grateful for the bounty of good meals it quickly provides, and for the time it saves me being cooped up in the kitchen. And the best part? There's no clean-up involved if things drip or spill over. All that gunk just eventually burns off, sorta like a self-cleaning oven without the harsh chemicals.

Gifts from the Grocery Store by Angie Ledbetter

Yesterday I had a cook-a-thon. Chopping veggies into minute pieces and stirring good smelling simmering pots is a kind of therapy for me, so having a rare day of "nothing" to do, I spent lots of hours in the kitchen. First, I helped my Mom make an army-sized vat of chicken and dumplings at her house. Oh, the satisfaction of cutting celery, onions, garlic and tortilla strips (for the dumplings) brought. It also allowed me to spend time with my parents, with Daddy acting as chief sous chef. They had friends to share this Southern staple with, and sent some with me too.

Back home before noon, I cooked up several savory dishes. There were fat juicy ribeyes to marinate in Asian Sesame dressing, garlic pods and potatoes to bake, and a black iron skillet of cornbread. As I was furiously flinging pots and pans for the next planned dishes, four of my daughter's college friends arrived to bake goodies for a party. And the guys and girls did it all from scratch! The six of us had fun sharing utensils and jockeying for the oven's limited space. Again, more time spent together.

After they left, I continued my kitchen magic with a marinated veggie salad to go over lettuce and fresh spinach, two pans of BBQ chicken I'd promised to friends' kids, a pineapple upside down cake (who knew there were pineapple-flavored cake mixes now?), and for good measure, I threw a rump roast in the crockpot. I dare anyone in this house to say anytime soon, "Mom, there's nothing to eat! Can I go to McDonald's?"

The kitchen time I got yesterday reminded me how fortunate we are to have every conceivable ingredient available to us at our favorite grocery stores. I can't imagine having to go to several markets, or "making do" with the few food items available in poor countries. I'll remember to pray in thanksgiving for our American farmers and food producers tonight. They allow me to endulge in my culinary therapies and creations as often as I choose by stocking grocery store shelves with a huge variety of good stuff. I'd cook again today, but there's no room in the inn (refrigerator).