Foodie Friday - It's Fall

I know, I know. It's technically been fall for a couple of weeks now. But if you live anywhere near me, you know that it certainly hasn't felt like it. Tuesday of this week was the first taste of fall that we've even come close to.

So many people in blog-land have been talking recently about how October is their favorite month or that fall/autumn is their favorite time of year.

I can't claim either of those things.

But I do love college football. Especially when the Aggies are winning.

Which they are not.

But I still love it and this is a typical fall Saturday in our house.



I will, however, agree with the rest of the blogosphere that the food of fall doesn't get much better. And one of my absolute favorites... chili.

And it was a big night in our household on Wednesday. The first chili of the season.

Now, I will admit up front that I don't do chili the way most Texans think it ought to be done. But where there is spice, there is much grace. In other words, don't beat me up because I use beans in my chili.

I didn't start out as a pro-bean chili person. But my (technically) non-Texan husband converted me.

Now I'm a believer.

Normally I just add stuff until it tastes right. However, for you and for the purposes of the ol' blog, I documented what I did this time. Click to see the full Chili Recipe.

As this recipe stands, it is a nice mild amount of heat (in this Texan's opinion). Hey, my kids like it, so it's not too hot, right? But the nice thing about chili is that it's easy to adjust the heat. For more heat, use the Extra Hot Ro*Tel and Ranch Style Beans with Jalapenos. For less heat, use the milder Ro*Tel or just plain diced tomatoes as a substitute.

One interesting thing to note is that a while back, I either heard or read somewhere to not add chili powder (and other peppers) to liquid. In order to get the most out of the flavor of the chili powder, paprika, cayenne or whatever you should add it to oil and cook it just a bit first before adding your liquid. I tried to research this a little bit and confirm it through my good friend google, but I could find no corroborating evidence to support my claim (ooh, I just sounded like a lawyer there). But I did find this site with a history of chili powder. It's kind of interesting.

If you live outside of Texas and can't get your hands on some of these ingredients, I've been there and I feel your pain. Here are some suggestions:

If you can't get any appetite pleasin' Ranch Style Beans, Bush's makes an o-kay chili bean to serve as a starting point. Just add some extra chili powder. Or you could make your own.

Ro*Tel or similar products are fairly widely available these days, I think.

Shiner Bock, however is sometimes a little bit harder to come by. I'm not going to say that just any ol' beer will do, because I just don't know. The whole thing might very well implode with the use of some vile non-Texan non-microbrew beer. However, for a non-beer alternative you could use beef stock.

What about you? Do you have a particular recipe you use for chili? Or are you just a fly by the seat of your pants kind of chili cook? Care to share your recipe?



***

As a side order of Foodie Friday business, I'm pondering doing a blog carnival in the first couple of weeks of November for people to post their Thanksgiving favorites. Watch for details as I iron them out.

Confirm, Ignore or Block

I think I mentioned recently that I joined the Facebook community. I understand it about as much as I understand Twitter (aka not at all), but I'm doing it.

I do have to admit, though, that it's kind of fun to see my friends and their status updates... you know, what they're doing through-out the day. Let's see if I can remember some recent ones...

"Tabitha* is wondering when showering every day became a luxury."

"Glenda* is avoiding science curriculum writing."

"Joe* is wondering if Dish Network is really going to call him back like they promised."

And my personal favorite..

"Sheila* was just listening to (her husband) pray with (her daughter) to ask Jesus into her heart."

(*names have been changed to protect the guilty)

My most recent Facebook status update:

"Donna is trying to decide whether or not she wants to reconnect with High school people on FB. UGH. High school."

So that's the deal. I have someone from my high school that is asking me to be their "friend" on Facebook and join a FB group of people we graduated with. I'm just not sure I want to.

Maybe you had a much different high school experience than I did. Maybe you were the popular kid. I just wasn't.

College is a different story. Not that you can really be "popular" at a school of 40,000 undergraduates. But I certainly had a much better time in college than high school. Of course, that may have been due to the introduction of Shiner Bock into my diet.

I'm just sayin'.

At any rate, high school is just not one of those "look back wistfully on" memories of my life. It wasn't terrible by any means. I just didn't like it.

High school was difficult academically for me and my little pea-sized brain. I actually had to work at it. And socially... I was a band geek - not a cheerleader. I was a flag corps officer - not a drill team officer. I didn't have many close girlfriends. And with my tomboy upbringing, I got along better with the guys. But dating, well, let's just leave it at this: What boy on earth would want to date the daughter of a Dallas police officer? Not many.

So, why would I want to reconnect with people from a time in my life that I didn't enjoy?

I'm really struggling with this for some reason and it seems like such a silly thing to be concerned about.

It's like I don't want these people to think that I haven't moved on in life from high school stuff. But I suppose the reality is that I haven't.

I supppose I am jealous of those who look back fondly on their high school experiences. Maybe I still harbor some ill feelings and possibly even bitterness over the thought that I missed out on something.

But if I really stop and think about it, I didn't miss out on anything. The friends that I did have were good friends at the time. And we had a good time together. And obviously, the Lord is not in the business of withholding good things from His children. He gave me what must have been good for me at the time.

So, high school friends on Facebook. Confirm? Ignore? or Block?

What do you do?

Secret Pain

There are white crosses in front of the church that originally started my daughter's school.

The other day she asked me about them. I found myself in a position that I never anticipated back on that day in 2001 when I heard her screaming her fool-head off as she was delivered out of the womb and into the world. I had to explain to my 7 year old daughter what abortion is.

And then, of course the conversation naturally came around to miscarriage. That was a hard one to explain as well. And emotional for me. I never imagined how difficult it would be to tell my daughter that I'd had two miscarriages after she was born.

But as I think about that conversation and the little bit of lost innocence in her I am reminded of something Beth Moore said this weekend. There are certain things that we need to know, but choose not to - it's called denial. And there are certain things that we insist on knowing that we shouldn't - only God should know certain things. This is one of those things that she needed to know. And although she was a little disturbed by what I told her, it was clear that she was ready for it.

I have also thought about what each of those crosses represent. The life of a child lost in abortion. But, friends, it's so much more. They also ought to represent to us the life of a mother that is hurting and wounded. Maybe the woman next door. Maybe someone you sit next to in choir or Bible Study at church. Walking wounded. Keeping their pain and hurt inside because it's not the kind of pain that is "acceptable" to talk about in church circles.

What if we were to break that pattern? What if we were to really reach out to the hurting in our midst? What if we were to give ourselves permission to acknowledge the secret hurts among so many women? What if we were to help them surrender their secret?

My sweet friend Melinda at Traveling the Road Home is trying to accomplish just that. She has a friend that, together with God, developed the study Surrendering the Secret which has recently been released in DVD form. She is giving away 5 sets of leader kits and study books and you could win one for your church's use.

You can read more about the giveaway here.

Although I don't know the pain of abortion, I have friends who do. It is a pain like no other. Let's break the cycle of the secret pain.

Foodie Friday - Tag, you're it

I got tagged by Sallye at thegardenexperience. She is so sweet y'all. And I do believe this is the first time I've actually been tagged for one of these.





Being tagged requires a response on my part. So, I'll play along...

Answer these questions with one word answers:

Where is your cellphone? Desk
Where is your signficant other? Work
Your hair color? Brown
Your Mother? Asia
Your Father? Asia
Your Favorite Thing? Brownies
Your dream/goal? An Inn
The room you're in? Office
Your hobby? Scrapbooking
Your Fear? Losing it
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Hawaii
Where were you last night? Debate
What you're not? Skinny
One of your wish items? Apple Macbook
The last thing you did? Eat
What are you wearing? NEW
Your TV? Off
Your Pet? Dogs
Your Computer? Home
Your Mood? Ecstatic
Missing Someone? Val
Your Car? Volvo
Something you're not wearing but love to wear? Straw hat
Favorite Store? SteinMart
Your Summer? HOT
Love Someone? Lots
Your Favorite Color? Blue
When was the last time you laughed? Earlier
When was the last time you cried? Thursday

Now I believe I'm supposed to tag someone else. In the words of my 3 year old son, "Hmmm. Let's see. How about..." Brittany because she is such a long time internet friend that I've never had the opportunity to meet in real life. I think I'm supposed to tag more than one... but I'm at work and don't have a lot of time.

Question...

Do you ever get tagged in real life? It happened to me last week. Something was said that required a response on my part. A gauntlet was thrown, if you will.

I made a quick spaghetti meal one night. You know, it's after work, I'm exhausted, the kids are hungry, and so I threw some ground beef in a skillet along with a jar of Classico spaghetti sauce (well, I poured the jar out actually... there was no breaking of glass) and boiled some noodles. Quick, easy, no fuss meal, right.

Until.

My man says during dinner, "For all the big deal you make about doing stuff homemade... you never do spaghetti."

Oh, that was a gauntlet if EVER I've heard one.

And it required a response.

So this past Wednesday on my day off of work, I made me some homemade spaghetti sauce.

Here's what I did.

1/2 onion, chopped
1 shallot, minced (not necessary, I just had it lying around)
2-3 cloves garlic, pressed
crushed red pepper flakes
1 lb ground beef (approx)
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can tamato sauce
1 (small) can tomato paste
1-2 tbsp sugar
1/4-1/2 cup white table wine
a bunch of chopped fresh basil
and oregano
and parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

I always saute my onions first in oil. Then add the shallots (if you've got 'em lying around) and garlic and saute until fragrant. Add ground beef (and any stray sausage you happen to find in your fridge that hasn't gone bad) and cook until brown. (that sounds weird) Then just start adding everything else. Be sure to taste as you go. And don't forget the salt and pepper... very important.


So, that's what I did. My man got home and I had him look around the kitchen and asked him what he noticed. It took a few minutes, but he finally raised his eyebrows, smiled and said, "A-haaah. No jar."

So, now, tag... it's your turn.

Do you make your own spaghetti sauce? I know there have got to be some italians out there who do. Care to share your recipe with us? Either leave it in the comments or post it on your own blog and leave a link in the comments. I'm not prepared to do a Mr. Linky at this point.

A List - because life is too random right now

1) Wow. The whole "I See What You're Saying" thing was an absolute blast the other day. I so enjoyed getting to see some other bloggers and get a feel for their personalities on the screen. I really look forward to doing it again sometime.

2) Thank you to those of you who prayed for my new airplane friend and I as we went to BSF on Wednesday morning. We had a little bit of a hard time getting going (aka Satan tried to interfere) but finally made it and she is very excited about starting the class. What a blessing it is to me to be involved in whatever the Lord has going on in her life. I'm sure He will do a work in mine at the same time!

3) My man is going to a VEEP Debate watching party tonight. (Yeah, he's a little bit of a nerd.) And I'm excited for him. (How big of a nerd does that make me?)

4) A girlfriend and I were talking on the phone this afternoon and in the course of the conversation we realized that our kids played against each other in soccer... this past Saturday. DUH.

5) And now the big news... You'll never guess what I'm doing this weekend.

I'm going to a Life Today taping for Beth Moore's Wednesdays with Beth.

I went once before back earlier last year in my pb days (pb = pre-blog). It's really an exceptional time of study in a much more intimate setting than an LPL conference. It's also a lot of teaching. She usually does 5 sessions in the weekend.

We SO need to have a Siesta Fiesta for a Life Today taping and have all us Siestas fill up that studio. How FUN would that be? Kim? Patty? Are you reading this?

It's so amazing how all this came together. My friend Keal and I are on the email list for the audience. You have to pretty much see the email and reply immediately to have a shot at tickets. The email came at about 1:30 pm while I was at lunch with a friend. I saw the email on my nifty iPhone but couldn't reply for reasons that I don't fully understand, so I called Keal. I got back to my office and both of us had replied by no later than 1:50. Neither of us got tickets.

Then we got word a week or so later that one of her friends from church did get tickets and she and I were going to get to go with them. THEN we got word on Wednesday that the entire rest of the group had to back out and now we had six tickets total. We have been working to put together all the girls from our Couples Bible Study group (you know, the Dinner Party group) and I think, even though it's last minute, all of us are going. Oh, I can't tell you what a blessing it has been to see how God landed all this in our laps. I can't wait to see what kind of WORD He has for us this weekend.

Anways, Beth Moore usually does one or two question/answer times, so the floor is open. Is there anything you want for one of us (me and my girlfriends that are going) to ask Beth Moore for you if we get a chance?

I See What You're Saying!

Linda @ 2nd Cup of Coffee is hosting a carnival so that we can all kind of virtually meet each other. Please join in if you have time today. You can click on the icon above to go read all about it.

Personally, I debated back and forth on whether or not to do this. For some crazy reason, I decided to do it. I'm still not quite sure why.

OK... disclaimers:

* It was really late Monday evening when I recorded. So, please for give the hair, no make-up, etc. Just look at it this way, you're getting the "real" me.

* Everything that I said sounded way more interesting in my head. It really did. So I apologize for the content.

So, now, without further ado,

Take 3...

... aaaaannd....

.... ACTION!

In need of some fashion help.

We had a busy, and yet kind of relaxing weekend. House cleaning, Aggie football, soccer, haircuts, shopping, normal church stuff on Sunday... whew. And yet we did just spend some time hanging out. How about you?

Like I said, one of the things I did was to go shopping. You've got to understand, first, that when I say shopping, it may not be what you're imagining. I don't do malls. Or, at least I try not to. If I'm shopping for clothes for me, my most likely first stop is Stein Mart.

Oh how I love Stein Mart.

We had gone to get Sarah's hair trimmed up and it's pretty much on the way home. So after what seemed like 3 hours that we spent at the kids hair place (really more like 1 1/2 hours), we went to Stein Mart before heading home because mama had some birthday money to spend and I've been so completely OUT on my wardrobe lately.

I have actually had my eye on this pair and this pair of Naughty Monkey shoes that I was convinced I was going to buy. However, the Lord was faithful and smiled upon me as I went the more frugal route and got 2 pair of shoes plus a handbag, 2 blouses, a sweater, a pair of jeans, a necklace + earrings and a bracelet that will be a Christmas gift.

No, I have not taken to buying my own Christmas gifts.

It IS for someone else.

But these are the shoes I bought.




No, they may not be as completely AWESOME as the NM's, but they are cute none-the-less. And they are what I have been looking for. I wanted a little pair of flats to wear casually with jeans and these are about the cutest ones I've seen in a while. They have a ballet pointe shoe look to them and I love the detail of the little bow. I've also been looking for the right pair of red heals for a while now and these are as close as I've gotten to finding it. And since I didn't spend as much on the shoes as I would have otherwise, I got a lot more other stuff. Like this purse.

Here's where I need y'alls help. I had a sinking feeling yesterday that may buyers remorse over this purse. So what I need to know, BEFORE I take off the tags... Is it cute? or is it my GRANDMA'S purse?

I NEED your opinions and please be HONEST.

***

And completely unrelated, I posted below some of my favorite posts from the last year. So, feel free to look through them if you like. I'm going to post a like on my top bar to them later.

My Favorite Posts

At Way More Homemade, we hand craft our blog posts and like to keep you guessing with a pinch of "this" and a dab of "that". Then throw in a little bit of "you never know what you're gonna get" and chill for 1 hour.

Following this recipe, here's a sampling of what you might find around here:

Food related challenges I participate in (I love almost all of these posts):
Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge
Flavor of the Month



2009

Faith:
The Perils of a Safe Nesting Place
What is Jesus' Middle Name
Challah - The Spiritual Side of Bread (I wasn't sure what heading to put this under)

Family:
13 Years
Baptism
A little about me... apparently...

Food:
Butterfly Garden Cake & Cookies
Firetruck Cake & Cookies
Marshmallow Fondant

Funny:
My Bloody Valentine
Is there a meeting for this?

On the more serious side:
Images
The Spirit of Aggieland - looking back at Bonfire



2008

Funny:

An Ode to DQ
Foodie Friday - An Apple a Day and Central Market
The Potty Training Chronicles (Part 5) - Standing Up
Lessons learned from an evening at the ballpark

On the more serious side:
Wordless Wednesday - A Newly Coined Word
Three year old theology
Who is the child here?
The time has come... to say goodbye
missing




2007

First Days

Soup's On Saturday - Tortellini and Sausage Soup

My sweet friend Tiffany at But I Had A Tiara is hosting a blog carnival for soup recipes since they "heart soup" so much around her house.

My submission for this week is Tortellini and Sausage soup. You can see it on my recipe blog.

The great thing about this recipe is that it can be used as a base for a really good spaghetti sauce. Just thicken it up a bit with some diced tomatoes and tomato paste.

For those of you who are experiencing more fall-like weather than we are currently, enjoy your soup.

Personally, here in the Great State of WARM, we'll wait until it finally cools off.

In November.

If we're lucky.

Foodie Friday - Banana Bread

Did you ever watch Seinfeld back when it was on? WAS? What am I thinking? Hello... syndication!

Do you have a favorite episode? I do. I actually have a couple of favorite Seinfeld episodes. They are my favorites because they relate to my life in a real way.

The first is the one about the wedding invitations. Remember that? George was getting married and to save money (while also trying to get out of the wedding at every turn), he ordered the cheapest wedding invitations he could get his hands on. Then, while sealing the envelopes, his fiance, Susan, passes out and later dies because of toxic glue.

It really is hillarious.

In a Seinfeld sort of way.

And this relates to me how?

I send out a lot of client correspondence in my real "9-5" job. There was one day recently, in particular, that after about the 15th letter I was sealing that day, I was afraid that was going to be me. I could picture nothing else in my mind other than this poor woman barely licking that last envelope and then keeling over.




Favorite episode # 2... drum roll please... The Muffin Tops.




So who here agrees about the muffin tops? Aren't they delicious? With that crunchy crumb topping on them?

Well, it was with the muffin top inspiration that I developed my own version of banana bread... with a crumb topping.



I must say... it is quite deeeelicious.

I started with the recipe out of my old standby, Better Homes & Gardens "New Cookbook" (copyright 1989 - oh yeah, the pictures, they are snazzy). After a while, I began to monkey around with it a little.

(Get it? Monkey around... we're talking about banana bread here people.)

(Yes, I hear the collective *groan* out there.)

I decided to standardize the amount of mashed banana to 3 bananas, regardless of size, rather than the listed 1 cup of mashed banana. A) this was easier to remember, and 2) like you're really going to mash up a bunch of banana and then only measure out one cup and ditch the rest. I also find that this amount gives a powerful banana flavor to the bread and keeps it from drying out.

Oh, and the bananas... they have to be really ripe. I mean so soft the skin tears them apart ripe.

I also added a "muffin top" to it with just a simple crumb topping. It really gives it a little something extra, don't you think?

To see the recipe head over to my recipe blog here.

I also want to open up the floor. Are there any food related topics that you would like for me to talk about or cover? A particular recipe you're looking for? Maybe a question about kitchen tools and gadgets? Ask away. I'm certainly no expert, but I'd love to hear if you have a question. And I can do my best to find an answer.

Email me at waymorehomemade (at) yahoo (dot) com

And let me know when you make some banana bread and I'll sit down and share a virtual slice and glass of milk with you.