Fall is Here

We are so fortunate to live in a valley that has an abundance of produce. We live in a rural farming community and although we are not farmers ourselves we do get to enjoy to benefits of fresh homegrown produce this time of year! Literally we can drive down the road about 3 miles to our favorite farm stand, and find vegetables and fruits just picked from the fields the day before. The valley is filled with other such farms and they are full this time of year! I use as much fresh stuff as I can get right now, because the flip side of this rural community is we make due with Walmart produce the rest of the year.

Hunting season is also coming into full gear. I come from a family of hunters and I married a hunter. Prince Charming hunts deer mainly but he has been known to bring home rabbits, squirrel, partridge, goose, and turkey. In our house we rarely buy beef as most of beef is substituted for venison. One of our family's favorite cookbooks is Taste of Home's Hunting and Fishing Cookbook.

Anyway, all that to say, I have been a cooking/baking frenzy with all these great things available to me! Here are a few favorites I thought I would share:

Cobblestone Stew:

2 lbs stew meat (I use venison obviously)

8-10 carrots, peeled and chopped (or a 1lb bag of baby carrots

5-6 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped

1/2 onion, peeled and chopped

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 envelope of brown gravy mix

1 cup water

1tsp horseradish

1/2 tsp salt

Add all ingredients to crock pot and cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-6 hours. Let stand 15 minutes to thicken before serving. (may need to add a little bit of cornstarch if the gravy is too thin)

Cream Dough Buscuits (this recipe is from the food network)

2 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

3 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup heavy cream

Combine all ingredients until dough forms (do not over mix). Roll out into 1 inch thick. Cut buscuit circles (a drinking glass rim makes great size). I like to stack 2 of 3 on top of each other to get layers of buscuits. Bake at 450 for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Pumpkin Pie

1 pie pumpkin

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon, nutmeg, & ground cloves

1 1/2 cup mashed pumpkin

1 2/3 cup sweetended condensed milk

2 eggs

1 unbaked pie shell

Cut pie pumpkin in 1/2, remove seeds, and cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until pumpkin is soft. Scoop out pumpkin and mash. Mix with sugar, spices. condensed milk, and eggs until mixed well. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes, reduced heat and bake at 325 for another 45-50 minutes or until firm in the center.