Let's talk about fall food recipes.

Labor Day is over, so it's Fall, right? Ok, maybe not officially, but I'm so ready for Fall. The changing of the leaves. The crisp early morning walks with Dom watching him chase leaves for the first time in his life. :) And the fall foods mmmmmmmmmm.........

But I am still into my summer salads. And that's the good thing about foods being shipped in - while I love to eat what is grown locally it is nice to have foods from other regions too. When you eat "clean" as I do it can take a little bit of creativity (and time) to not get bored with the same old same old. Here are a few of the things that I do.

Arrrrrrrrrrrugala

Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it? Now imagine it in an Ertha Kitt voice. Purr it with me….arrrrrrrrrrugggggggggala.

The days of the boring iceberg lettuce salads I grew up with are gone. I eat a large salad with chicken at lunch most days and have learned to mix it up a lot. These days I am on an arugula kick, with spinach and romain as the base. Then the sky is the limit. If I’m really hungry I’ve been known to add boiled (cooled) potatoes. Or leftover barbeque. Tofu. Strawberries. ANY berry. I tried watermelon one day but that didn’t cut it for me.

But now it is getting to be soup weather. I have large soup pots, and can take all day to make a pot of soup. The wonderful about soup is you can freeze all the leftovers and by adding new ingredients make it a completely new meal. I love adding Curry to soup, hot sauce, sour cream, or whatever is around to make it a new and different. I usually start by boiling my chicken in onion, celery, garlic, carrots and spices. Then let it cool, drain veggies out, and retain liquid as stock. I shred the chicken, add it back to the to stock, then start layering veggies. Whatever floats my boat or looks good at the farmer’s market. Like I said, it can take HOURS to make, but it is so relaxing and a wonderful way to spend a fall afternoon. Besides, it’s not like you have to be standing over it all day. Just let it do its thing while you do yours. Serve it with some cheese, crusty bread and it just doesn’t get much better.

Last night I was feeling bored with the same old same old, so I started looking at what I had. Hmmm…leftover chucky pasta sauce I’d made, chicken breast, cauliflower. VIOLA! I boiled the cauliflower really well. Drained it – then mashed it like you would mashed potatoes. Some people add chicken stock and spices. Others add butter and sour cream. When it was well mashed I added some parmesean cheese and set it aside.

I baked the chicken breasts with the pasta sauce on top (WELL coated) and more parmesean cheese on top. When the chicken was baked, I let it cool a while. Then I placed it on TOP of the mashed cauliflower. Oh my goodness…. was that ever good.

So share with me some of your favorite recipes. It’s fall, I’m ready to cook!