'puttin' up

so, it's getting colder here, and that means my thoughts come back to indoors and snuggling inside for the long winter.

usually, that means i think about eating.

i might possibly blame some of this action on my 'kitchen mates' anne and loretta, whom i spend much of the day on wednesday of each week with, as we cook for the church's evening mid-week meal.

in any case, i am on a roll. i have already made several kinds of soup, and a butternut squash lasagna a couple of weeks ago.

 i also chopped up some hot peppers from the garden last weekend for the freezer. my hands actually burned for TWO days. i am going to make a batch of salsa with the last of the tomatoes THIS weekend. i promise not to touch these bad boys again, though!

yesterday, i roasted a chicken using this recipe....it was so delish! in fact, i forgot to photograph it when i took it out of the oven, it smelled THAT good ;) the pan drippings were amazing....and i have lots of leftover chicken to chop and use for other things.

i also made 3 quarts of chicken stock for the freezer after I cleaned the meat from the bones. yeah, i went completely laura ingalls wilder on that chicken!

ha.

and lastly, i made a new kind of spicy granola this week...from a new hero of mine...curtis stone. he was here in SF a few weeks ago, and even though i did not go see him, i kind of wish i would have...! curtis rules!

 i know you think i like him because he's cute, but actually, i'm not really into him THAT way.

i guess because he kind of reminds me of HIM. i'm not really a fan of him, although i wish i could make my hair do that :)

but i do like his personality. and i do like his facebook page. and his blog. and apparently, i also like his recipes ;) so here's to a winter of eating real food, instead of 'fast' food and 'junk' food :)


happy cooking!