Chili

What better way to celebrate our first frost and the end of potato harvest than with - chili!!
My neighbor wanted to know why we didn't have potato soup.
Fair question.

1) I didn't have bacon or cream (I know, revoke my Appalachian Belle card).
2) I had a roll of ground beef thawed and needed to cook it.
3) Once you harvest several hundred pounds of potatoes, you don't want to touch one for a hot minute.

So chili it was.

I don't have a very complicated chili recipe.  There's nothing fancy.  But it suits us just fine.

Brown a pound of ground beef in a large pot. Add some minced onion, garlic powder, seasoned salt, whatever your heart desires.
*Check how gorgeous that meat is - we raised the beef right here on the farm!! One of the best parts, aside from the awesome taste, is that it's super lean and I don't even have to drain the fat!

Add a quart of tomato juice, some chili beans, and chili seasoning.  I use this recipe for seasoning, plus a dash of paprika, and make it in large batches to store for later.  It saves time in the long run, and with an infant I am a fan of anything that saves me seconds.  You can make a single recipe for a batch, or use 2-3 Tbsp if you've got a bulk batch stored.
Isn't the color on that tomato juice gorgeous!

At this point I add 1 Tbsp of cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water to the boiling mixture.  If you are using store bought tomato juice you may not need to do this, but our home canned stuff is a bit thinner than I like my chili.
*Note: I like my chili like soup.  I don't want it to be like the stuff that goes on hot dogs.'
**Unless I want hot dogs.

Reduce heat to medium low.  Let the chili simmer and thicken.  It's technically ready to eat, but it just gets better with time.  So if your husband is out doing farm things, it can hang on the stove for a bit.

At this point, pour yourself some coffee into the cool Pusheen mug your Auntie gave you a couple Christmases ago.  Add enough Coldstone sweet cream creamer to make it almost pointless to have poured coffee into that mug.

Controversial opinion - I like spaghetti in my chili.

I do not like chili spaghetti.  They are two different things.

Fight me.

When you're ready to eat, top with some shredded cheese and fried onion strips.  Feel warm and cozy inside.
Fear the owl staring from under your bowl.
Enjoy!!

The Couple That Digs Potatoes Together ...

Potato Harvest 2019 is in the books! We ended up with a few hundred pounds of red and white potatoes - more than enough for our family, neighbors, and some extra to sell.  I have a total and unashamed love for the potato, and all things potato (except tots - I really don't care for tots).  Brace yourselves for potato recipes as we work our way through one of nature's greatest gifts! 

Fried Cabbage

It's actually finally feeling like fall in Central KY (it has been in the 90s for a ridiculous amount of time, and we have had zero rain for weeks!).  With fall weather comes fall food!!!
Fried cabbage is one of our absolute favorite meals.  It's bacon-y and savory and still kinda green so you can feel good about at least having a few vitamins under all that grease (sorta).  Bonus points - weirdly, this method of cooking cabbage doesn't leave your house smelling like a big boiled cabbage (again - bacon).

Enjoy!!

Dice and fry up an entire pound of bacon. (Yes, the whole package. Do it.)

While the bacon is frying, roughly chop a medium head of cabbage and dice a medium sweet onion.  Or get your husband who spent years as a produce manager in different grocery stores to do it ;) .

Ask same husband to peel and mince a couple cloves of garlic.  He will do eight.  Go with it.  You can't have too much garlic.  Ever.
Play the garlic some punk rock to get the juices flowing.  The Ramones and the Misfits did it for us.

Add the onions and garlic to the bacon (and skillet full of grease) and cook until soft and fragrant and starting to get the brown-translucent coloring.

Add the cabbage and give it a good stir to get it all coated in bacon grease. Cover and cook on medium-low until the cabbage is as soft as you want it.

Fry up some beer brats to enjoy with your fried cabbage.  Promise you will eat a more balanced diet tomorrow.  Enjoy life tonight.

Yum!!! Did I mention we love fall?