Autumn Leaves and Food running out of my ears!

This time of year always gets me looking forward to cool nights, Autumn leaves, and comfort food. I know what you are thinking, "Is she crazy these are the dog days of Summer?" In my head, the school bus running in front of my house signals that it is time to start thinking about soups, and homemade bread, and apple crisp. No, I don't relate everything to food, but I am writing a cookbook afterall.

Speaking of the cookbook, we have upped production on the recipes. See, back in July I went to my direct sales company's annual conference. There was a speaker there named Marcia Wieder. She is known as America's Dream Coach. Well, I thought she was totally amazing so of course I bought her book and CD set. Boy howdy, she knows how to make you look at your dreams and turn them into your reality. Anywho, after listening to her CDs, I have decided that a few recipes a week is not enough to get me towards my dream of getting this cookbook written and published. So, I have made the decision to shoot for 5 recipes each day. That is a lot of cooking and a lot of food to be eaten. Please, if you want to be a taste tester just let me know.

Yesterdays recipes were:

Pimento Cheese (I finally found people to taste test it)
Grillades - this is a creole dish of beef, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes simmered in a brown gravy like sauce
Creamy Grits - over which you serve grillades or shrimp
Dump Cake - this is the cherry pineapple version where you literally dump a cake mix on top of the fruit and then drown it in butter and bake it (no mixing required)

Today I am working on:

Red Beans and Rice (guess I am craving a trip to Louisiana)
Chicken Salad
Roasted Lemonade
Cream Cheese Pound Cake
My family's secret onion dip

Notice that most of this is hearty stick to your ribs kind of food. It goes back to that whole Autumn leaves frame of mind. I am longing for the kind of weather where you put on jeans and a sweater. Where I no longer care if my legs are shaved and my toenails are painted. Are you with me here?

You know what else I am looking forward to? A nice camping trip. There is nothing better than sitting around a campfire on a brisk Autumn evening, roasting hot dogs, sipping hot chocolate (with peppermint schnapps of course) and enjoying the clear view of the stars. Does anyone else out there like to camp? I would love to get a trip together for maybe late October.

Well, that is enough typing for today, afterall there are lemons to roast, a chicken to debone, and beans that are soaking in the sink.

Until next time, happy eating and dreaming!!