Beef Stew with Mushrooms

Last winter I found stew beef on managers special several times, so we ended up eating a lot of beef stew, vegetable beef soup, and beef tips with gravy over mashed potatoes.  Not that anyone really complained.  Even the 9 year old will eat the beef and the potatoes from beef stew.

Momma's Chili

Like my momma's meatloaf, I suspect this was first my grandmother's chili.  Also like my momma's meatloaf, my mother and I don't make this the same way.  The basic "core" recipe is the same, but the combination of spices is slightly different.  And it's generally not made the same way twice.

Petros or Frito Pie

Petros is a fast food restaurant chain in Tennessee and Alabama.  We discovered it when my husband lived in Knoxville, TN shortly before we were married.  The original version was chili poured inside a bag of Fritos with sour cream on top.  The first restaurant was at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville.

Slow Cooker 2 Bean Turkey Chili - Recipe

I have grown up with a particular chili recipe that I'm sure has been in the family for at least 3 generations.  I love that chili.  On a cool fall night, I could eat it all evening long.  The thought that another chili recipe would come into the house was absurd.  However, in skimming the blogsphere for vegetarian and lower fat recipes, I stumbled across a 3 bean chili recipe made with ground turkey that sounded delicious.

Cheesy Potato Soup

One of the first things I made after I perfected a white sauce, was this warm, comforting potato soup loaded with cheese.  It's great for those lazy fall evenings, served with a big chunk of crusty bread.

Cooking Dried Beans

One of the things I love about being Southern is having "brown beans" and cornbread for supper on a brisk fall day.  I always do my beans in a slow cooker.  I find it's much easier to control the temperature and there is less chance of cooking them dry than cooking them on the stove.  (Although, I did once give my husband specific instructions to check my beans one afternoon when he was to get home from work well before me.  He forgot and they cooked completely dry in the slow cooker and were actually starting to burn!)

Weekend Recipe Review - Summer Corn Chowder

As soon as I saw the recipe for Corn Chowder from Baked Bree (one of my favorite bloggers!), I knew I had to try it.  It looked so good, even in the middle of a heat wave.  I got especially lucky that corn was available finally at the community market Saturday, and our heat wave broke this week.  It was "only" in the lower 80's the day I made this.