It seems like late-summer and early-fall activities completely consumed us for a while. They still are really. But, alas, food fans I'm going to do my best to get back in the swing of things. My dilemma at the moment is fall cooking. I love it. I love the flavors and the comfort and the cozy feel of a hot and rich meal. The problem...it's been hot. Not sweltering hot but near 80 hot which does not make for very good chili or beef stew weather. My other problem are veggies. The summer veggies are no more. I made the mistake of buying a tomato the other night and it was a sad sad tomato. Yet, the male counterparts in my household are not big fans of squash which I could go crazy with if they let me. So this weekend I'm defying the weather and cooking what I want. What's on the menu?
Friday is usually a fun meal and often involves pizza delivery. Fortunately on this particular Friday I am off work and will have more energy for cooking. And since it is nearing Halloween, tonight we will dine on monster eyes and finger bread sticks. Our monster eyes will involve cheese filled pasta shells with a meatball and sliced olive for the "eyes". The fingers are breadsticks with an olive "nail". I'm sure this will be a popular meal for the 5 year old in the house.
Saturday I'm ignoring the forecast of 82 degrees and throwing beef stew in the crockpot in the morning. Normally I would simply make some refrigerator biscuits to go along with that but now that I'm blessed with a bread machine I'm going to try homemade rolls. I found a recipe for Housewarming Rolls that involves dough dipped in butter seasoned with parsley, marjoram, sage, and rosemary. They sound like the quintessential fall roll to me. I'll let you know how they turn out.
My other quest into the experimental world this weekend will come Sunday. I got inspired by latkes and decided to try a fall version so the plan is to combined shredded potato, carrots, parsnips, and beets. Yes, beets. Just don't tell anyone. Again, I will let you know if they are a success. Mental note: pick up some rubber gloves before shredding the beets.
If I get really energized this weekend I have a layered pumpkin cheesecake I'm dying to try but that will be a wait and see recipe.
I hope everyone is enjoying fall so far. We have been but I'm very grateful that, as of this moment, we really have no plans for the weekend. It's been a while and I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend with my boys and cats.
