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I was off work yesterday and today, and I went to the farm stand down the road and saw the beautiful flowers in the picture above for sale. The produce on offer is starting to reflect the changing season.
There were early mountain apples....
Muscadine and Scuppernong grapes (the only kind we can grow around here) and sweet potatoes, onions, peppers, and garlic.
I'm roasting the sweet potatoes in the oven along with some small russet potatoes I had left over from last week. The peppers, onion, and garlic pictured here got added to the crockpot....
....where I've been slowly simmering pinto beans all afternoon. You can't see in this picture, but I added meaty ham hocks for flavor, along with Cajun seasoning, a bay leaf, celery, and salt and pepper. We'll be eating the beans over rice with chipotle hot sauce tonight.
This photo is for Cro!
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| Our favorite hot sauce. Not too hot, so the flavor of the smoked jalapeno peppers comes through. |
I made coleslaw to go with the pintos. Here are some extra things I added to the cabbage and carrot mixture.
Here's the finished coleslaw, ready to go in the fridge to rest and absorb the dressing.
When it starts to feel like fall outside, my first impulse is to cook. It's still warm enough that the air conditioner is running, but it's definitely cooler this week. It's also been delightfully cloudy and misty-rainy for the past two days. Here's a picture taken from my computer chair at midday:
The trees outside are just beginning to get a yellowish cast to their still-green leaves, but the cloudy weather looks like autumn to me. It's perfect weather for the book I just started reading....The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. It's my smaller book club's selection for the month of September. We decided to read spooky novels from now to Halloween, and THOHH is first. I've read about half of it, being at home for two days, and I'm really enjoying it!
Are you ready for Autumn? Is it starting to look like Fall where you live? How do you get in the mood for the seasonal changes?
Edited to add: I've been drinking gin and tonics while cooking and reading. Perfect day.
Your pinto beans look completely delish. Do you buy a ham hock or have one left over? I would like your dish with corn bread, now there is a meal idea for me. :)
ReplyDeleteI bought 2 small ham hocks, as I had none in the freezer leftover. Corn bread will be good with the beans, I may make some layer this week. Thanks for the reply!
DeleteHa ha, we always have a bottle of Tabasco in the house too! Looks like Autumn has started here; it began to rain in the night, and is still raining now. I expect it to last for a few days. When it stops the daytime temperatures will be no more than 20-25 C. I love ham and beans, etc; perfect food for cooler times.
ReplyDeleteBoth the bean dish and the coleslaw look and sound great!
ReplyDeleteYou've already seen the apples, grapes, sunflowers and colourful leaves on my recent posts - summer is definitely over, in spite of it being still very hot (32 Celsius yesterday). The forecast here is for it to change tomorrow or Friday, just in time for my mini break with O.K. (a long weekend in the mountains in Austria).
I also have Tabasco sauce in the house. I love the Green one the best.
ReplyDeleteWe are still having the very last of the monsoon rains. but the days are only in the low 90's and the evening are around 75. Heaven !
The Mesquite trees are setting their pods of green yellow beans. Getting ready for a second picking soon. They have two flowering seasons. You have to pick them before the monsoon rains or after the rains stop. The pods need to be really dry.
Mesquite flour is fabulous !
cheers, parsnip and thehamish
Temperatures have plummeted here overnight and we've finally had some rain. I guess autumn (or fall) has arrived. Love the photo of the flowers.
ReplyDeleteWell I never! I thought Americans ate at Pizza Hut, Wendy's and Taco Bell and there you are making a lovely meal from scratch. I don't prepare for autumn. I just let it happen but before too long I will be discovering warm coats I haven't worn for months and no doubt there will be a big pile of leaves to rake up and windfall apples to collect.
ReplyDeleteI also have Tabasco here, but no rain, i like this post, beautiful.
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