Yay for Fall!

Unless your a hermit of some sort, you probably have noticed that the season has recently changed. Fall is upon us once again. Yippy! I love fall for many reasons including but not limited to, colorful trees, it's more apt to rain, the crisp cool air after a long summer and FALL FOOD. Don't get me wrong, I go through similar feelings when Winter, Spring and Summer hit but Fall is extra special to me. Maybe its because my birthday is in November, or because Thanksgiving is the only holiday where we celibate food. I don't know but I love it.

We start to get out our winter squash recipes and stock up on cinnamon and allspice. Pumpkin pie anyone? A nice butternut squash soup. Roasting pumpkin seeds while the family carves. Don't forget apple cider made fresh. Put away the grill and get out the roasting pan. Leave the cold cereal alone and cuddle up with a bowl of hot oatmeal in the morning. Sure, our happy colorful veggies of summer are disappearing but instead you can look forward to enjoying the homemade salsa, pickles, relish, or canned fruit you (hopefully) put up. How many recipes do you make with canned fruit in mind?

Just a quick word on eating seasonally. It has many benefits but one of the great ones is that you get have a chance to forget how awesome a food tastes and the way it makes you feel. When that time of year comes around again it's like meeting an old friend that you haven't seen for awhile. Seasonal eating is healthy too. In the summer it's hotter and our bodies do not require as many calories to stay warm as they do in the winter. The fresh crisp veggies we eat in the summer are full of water, vitamins and fiber. As the season changes our bodies crave things that "fill us up" more and warm us up on the inside. Seasonal eating is also a commandment.

D & C 89:11 "Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving."

I think it's amazing that God has made so many wonderful foods for us to eat. Let's remember that in this season of Thanksgiving!

Dating Advice

While I was still a young unmarried woman my grandmother gave me a piece of dating advice. She said,

"Marry a man who eats anything you make".

She's been married over 60 yrs so who am I to argue?

Why I Married the Best Man in the Whole World

I feel I lucked out when it comes to who I married for one main reason. I get to choose what we eat and where we go to dinner. I come from a family where any simple conversation, including where to go to eat, quickly turns into a shouting match. Not because we are mad necessarily but because we ALL have very important opinions that MUST be heard. There are six people in my family and growing up my parents finally decided that we would only eat out on two types of occasions. Birthdays and when my grandparents came to town. Birthday person gets to choose and with grandparents we went to the buffet. (This wasn't as much as a hardship as it sounds when you live in a town with maybe a dozen non-fast food places.) So picking where to eat was a HUGE privilege. When we first started dating I would give DC a chance to pick where we went. What says "I love you" more than letting someone else pick where you eat? But I found out that this was not his idea of a good time so I just chose for him.

I married the most easygoing man on the face of the planet. I often ask him what he would like me to fix for dinner (I'm a flipp'n chef. Get creative!) and he usually waits until I suggest something and then says, "yah, that one sounds good". The man will eat anything under the sun (with the odd exception of tomatoes and strawberries) and has no problem with my vegetarianism. (DC is not vegtarian but will eat soy meat or meatless dinners.) So when it comes to where to dine out, he RARELY has an opinion. He says this is because I'll make the decision in the end and that it doesn't matter what he decides (snort of derision) but I know it's because he loves me.