Joining the Pumpkin Craze

Missy Tippens

I have some fun things to share during this season of pumpkin. Have y'all noticed you see pumpkin stuff everywhere?!

I loved this. :) If I didn't already have a cabinet overflowing with mugs, I would've bought it.

But I DID buy this! I'm so excited.

In our new house, our ceramic top stove has a bridge burner that connects two regular burners so you can use a griddle on the stovetop. So I decided to buy a cast iron one from Lodge. And it's reversible! The smooth griddle side.

And the grill side.

I've only used it once so far--grilled some chicken. It was great! I'm so glad I bought it. Next time, I plan to make pancakes on it.

And to somehow include actual food in my post, I thought I would share a pumpkin treat I've had recently in addition to one of my annual favs--a Starbucks pumpkin spiced latte. :)

Here's my husband in front of one of his favorite restaurants, Cracker Barrel. I ordered the pumpkin spice pancake breakfast!

(Photo of my menu)

Here's what my plate actually looked like with the whipped cream melting. :)

Oh, my. These were so flavorful, filled with pumpkin pie spice and topped with whipped cream, cinnamon and powdered sugar. And you'll see I also added some maple syrup.

So if you haven't had enough pumpkin yet this fall, you may want to give these a try. When I finally make pancakes on my new griddle, I'll be sure to add some canned pumpkin and spices. I'll let you know how they turn out!

www.missytippens.com

Green Chili Cornbread in Cast Iron Plus Quick and Easy Caramel Sauce!

Hello, everybody! So, those two dishes don't exactly go together but I couldn't decide which to use for the post because they were both SO GOOD!
                                                 
So, I'm not going to give a corn bread recipe because I think everyone has their favorite and we don't want any ugliness, lol.
                                                       
Just use the one you love, and add 4 TBS of mild green chiles to it. You can even use medium chiles. Or the spicy ones. See how easy I am?

 Clearly, I have ulterior motive for posting this recipe and it's not really the recipe.

 (Obligatory dinner shot. This is roast beef, the last of our summer tomatoes, a little salad.)
                                          

Did you catch it yet? No? Well, the post is all about my cute little cast iron pan! Cast iron is hard to find here in the PNW. What we have, we keep. And anything corn bread related is extra hard to find because most people just don't eat cornbread. Not our thing. Never has been. Biscuits, maybe. Fresh baked bread, definitely. Cornbread? Not so often.

 I'd just dropped my boys off with my sister for a fun fishing trip and decided to stop in a little thrift shop. I never go in this shop because... well... four boys under twelve around antique dishware didn't sound so fun for anybody. But I found this little piece and was so excited! I've never seen one "in the wild" and it was only $10! Total score.

 Break for balloon picture. The stampede is still going on I'm telling you, that 4AM wake up is not my thing.
                                           
But I consoled myself with home made caramel sauce! I saw it on Pinterest and was a little skeptical, but it worked. I boiled a can of sweetened condensed milk on a pot of water for three hours. Delicious! Make sure the water covers the cans at all times. After three hours, remove the cans and place in cool water for about twenty minutes. Open and enjoy!

 And a final picture of someone MUCH sweeter than caramel. My little goddaughter, Franny. She's our babysitter's baby. (I introduced you all here during the artisan savory pumpkin rolls. ) Her daddy, a cellar master, is in the middle of "punch down" at the vineyard so we didn't get to see him, but we'll catch up with him next time.  Anyway, every time I see her I want to squeeeeeze her! Those little chubby arms, that soft baby hair, that tiny voice and those sparkly red mary janes... I didn't get a picture of the mary janes. She was too busy playing with our old Fisher Price toys. I played with them, my kids played with them, and now the "next generation" is loving these great toys. And soon, Franny's new baby sister or brother will play with them!

 Until next time! Feel free to drop by my facebook page at Pride, Prejudice and Cheese Grits or my blog at The Things That Last!

Autumn Beef Burgundy Stew

Autumn arrived with a sudden weather change last week. One day the temperatures are in the 90's, and three days later we're putting the wool blankets on the beds!

Over the weekend, a storm blew in from the northwest - nothing like the rain all of you on the east coast are dealing with - but a reminder of the storm that hit us two years ago this weekend.

Do you remember this picture?

In case you missed my post about that storm, or you want to read it again, here's the link.

But this year the temperatures are staying above freezing, and the blustery rain is perfect for a good, hearty stew.

If you've been hanging around the Cafe for awhile, you know how I love to use my crock pot for stews and other long-simmering dishes. But I also love my cast iron.

This recipe is perfect for my everyday skillet -

Beef Burgundy Stew

ingredients:

5 slices bacon, preferably thick sliced, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 pounds beef, cubed

1/2 medium onion, quartered and sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup red wine, regular or cooking wine
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
2 Bay leaves
salt & pepper to taste (omit salt if using cooking wine)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon all spice or ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon paprika
4 cups beef broth, divided
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
4-5 carrots, peeled and sliced

Brown the bacon in a cast iron Dutch oven or deep skillet. Remove with a slotted spoon.

In the bacon grease, brown the cubed beef for 10-15 minutes.

Return the bacon to the pot and add: onion, garlic, wine, Worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce, bay leaves, sugar, all spice/cloves, paprika, and 2 cups of the beef broth.

Cover the pot and put in the oven at 275° for 3-4 hours.

(You can also put the ingredients in your slow cooker for 3-4 hours.)

After it has cooked all morning, it will look like this:

And the aroma is delectable!!!

Now remove the bay leaves and add the potatoes, carrots, and the remaining 2 cups of beef broth. By the way, if you're cooking this stew in the crock pot, you might not need to add as much broth. You can be the judge.

Cover and place back in the oven for another 3-4 hours.

Now, doesn't that look like the perfect soup for a chilly autumn evening? Be sure to serve it with a nice loaf of homemade bread!

What is your favorite way to celebrate this most autumnish of autumn months?

Cast Iron Cooking (again), civilization and the Southern Oregon Coast

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have updates to my cast iron cooking post.  Let's just say nobody starved but we sure were glad to get back to civilization. I don't mean the picture below. That's where we live. 

Sort of civilized.

                                       
                                          Sort of not when it's 106 and above! (Someone asked me if this was real temp or heat index. I don't know what that means. It's the temperature. I guess in some areas the temperature isn't really the temperature but much hotter? Yuck. I'll stick with our 100-110F in the summer.)

 I love vacations. I really do. I like planning and plotting and packing and getting the kids all prepped with studying the sights we'll see. But then by the time we come home, we all feel like this.
                                                                     DONE.

 So, after a good twelve hours (no, it doesn't really take that long but we wandered a bit to get there  and small people have small bladders, so lots of stops) we made it to our first destination, a campground on the coast, way down south, nearly to California. (I love these shoes. My friend sent them to me from Texas because they're teal. ha! My favorite color.)
                                     
I already talked about the yurt, so here is our cast iron cooking action. Waffles, a sandwich, a pan heating for hashbrowns, and a hot dog. (Can't remember who was eating a hot dog for breakfast. Probably the picky eater of the bunch.) The kids loved cooking their own food but it did require a lot of supervision. We didn't want anyone branded.
                                                    
My mom has a home on the coast a few hours from there and she brought us this cast iron oven and these berries from their property. YUMMY. So glad they weren't in Arizona! But like us, with the summer heat you look for cooler climes. (This shot is of blueberries, marionberries, raspberries, strawberries, and a gold raspberry hybrid.)
                                                    
And that recipe worked! It was absolutely delicious! Berry buckle for the win.
                                         
We spent the first week in the camp, on Eel Lake, with the Dunes in the other direction. There's a whole long story about getting lost there at sunset but I won't bore you with that.

(stateparks.com I had my own pictures but... well... that story is coming up)

Let me just say... never separate! Even if a five year old is discovered to be holding only one of his shoes and you let the faster people walk ahead because the five year old holding your hand is slower and it's really lovely with the frogs croaking and the sun setting and the breeze on your sunburn. There's a reason people die in the Sahara and a reason you do not take three hours to stop wandering and start yelling.  Enough said. Moving on!
                                         
After that, I told my husband I needed a day to sit on the beach and drink coffee while the kids played in the tide pools. So I did. He, of course, scaled the cliffs and I pretended not to notice (and worry).
                                              
Living in the land of tumbleweeds and 100F temps, I forgot how normal it is to see rhododendrons and other water-loving plants just growing naturally. And moss. And ferns. It was a feast for the eyes. Ahhhh.
                                    
Our town has a few big trees in the main park. But in the forest they're everywhere. The kids get a kick out of them every time.
                                                      
Speaking of flora, we had to stop at the Darlingtonia Preserve. (That link is the wiki article. So interesting.) My kids think I'm crazy but I keep insisting these carnivorous cobra lilies are cool. I mean, giant pitcher plants that are only found in a few places in the world? YES, we have to stop and look! Also, they remind me of Little Shop of Horrors, so they make me smile.
                                                                  
We tried to throw in a few kids but they fought back.
                                      
So, we finally said good bye to the yurt (some of us were more happy than others) and headed up the coast to Florence. There's a seafood chain there called Mo's.

It's loud, crowded and full of tourists. And we love it.

Remember we'd been living off  s'mores and grilled cheese sandwiches...
                                                    
Slumgullion was like food from heaven. We were ALL SO HAPPY not to be camping. OK, maybe the little kids would have preferred marshmallows for lunch but the rest of us were thrilled.
                                    
There are a lot of commercial fisherman, right alongside some funny people who dock their pirate boats. I've never wanted a pirate ship, but it's apparently a thing. We met the sweetest older couple who sold their home after retirement and... built a pirate ship to sail up and down the coast. Funny!
                              
Once we made it to the beach house, we hit the farmer's markets. Wow, these onions are much bigger than ours. But not as sweet.
                                           
I was loving civilization but my hair wasn't loving the humidity. Good thing I brought my hairdressers! They're spendy, but worth it.

We met up with some friends and they took us crabbing. We caught lots of crabs... and none were big enough to keep. Which was probably good since I don't think my kids would have eaten them anyway. but it was super fun and ended with ice cream!

At low tide we walked down and gathered mussels for paella (recipe in the link, it's delicious!) We also found a purple starfish! The last few years there haven't been any starfish because of a virus that swept the coast so we were thrilled to see them on the rocks!

We also steamed at enjoyed them straight, but you can imagine a few of the kids preferred hot dogs. And that was fine as long as I didn't have to build a fire! (Unless it was on the beach. Then I was up for it.)

We also went clamming but I don't have any pictures of that because at this point, I fell into Yaquina Bay. It wasn't too bad. Nice and warm. I decided to go with it and swim toward the bank until I realized MY PHONE was in my pocket. Ah well... Luckily I'd been sending pictures to a private album on facebook so I had a few. 

We thought we might travel up north even farther after the week in the beach house but I was tired. Actually, I wanted to come home after two days. I missed my desk, my coffee just the way I like it, my kitchen. I've become a homebody. Even though the yurt was doable and the beach house (we've been there before) was lovely.... it's just not home. The kids are already planning the next trip (maybe to Lake Louise in Banff National Park in Calgary?) but I'm content in my little town... even if it is 90F at 8AM. 

 Until next time!

 BOOKS! 
My newest release, These Sheltering Walls!

Coming July 30th, Only Through Love!

Cast Iron Cooking, Yurts, and Campfires

Hello, everybody! I hope everyone had a fabulous Fourth of July! Something we love to do on those summer nights on the beach is to get a pack of industrial glow sticks for the kids. We head down in the dark and they can play tag in the pitch blackness... because they're wearing a brightly colored glow stick we can keep track of them, and they can find each other!

        These aren't the party sticks that fade out after a few hours. They're military grade and you can read by the light they produce. Great for camping!
 Now, I mention camping because not all of this trip is in a lovely beach house overlooking the sea. Oh, no... I have a few family members who prefer (why, WHY?) camping. Now, I can't quite make myself go all out camping (too much of that when I was a child!) but I can do a week in a
yurt .  (Click the link to read more.)

photo courtesy of Oregon State Parks

They're sort of a glorified tent and can be a great option for people who prefer... I don't know... a BED? And some HEAT? And a way to keep the bugs from crawling up into your blankets?

photo courtesy of Oregon State Parks

Some yurts are just gorgeous and even have showers. (*sob*) but these are part of the state park system and right on the beach so... no glamorous magazine yurts for us. Inside there are some beds and it's generally a place that children think is the coolest thing EVER but the mom is wondering how she'll cook when, although there's electricity, you aren't allowed to use it for cooking. That brings us back to cast iron. Remember the last post?

I finally learned that my pans shouldn't look like this.

Or this... Still upside down, too.

But like this! Ta-dah! Now, I'll get to the larger cast iron cooking in a bit, but first I have to mention this awesome thing I saw on my new favorite facebook page, Cast Iron Cooking.

Westlandcamping.com

 PIE IRONS. I'd never heard of such a thing. A lot of people have. A lot of people haven't. It seems regional. I'd like to say it's a Southern thing, since my Southern friends knew what I was talking about, but around here, nobody had. But I'm only guessing because my friend from Michigan knew what they were, too. Here's a video of someone making grilled cheese and ham sandwiches if you want to make yourself really hungry! As far as I can tell, you cane make pretty much ANYTHING in these. Fruit pies, nutella stuffed waffles, grilled sandwiches, puff pastries, hash browns and ham, chicken pot pie, fried eggs, a flaky apple pie, etc.

Sold by RomeIndustries.com

So, I ordered a few waffle irons (mine have long handles but I couldn't find a good picture), a few sandwich irons and a large round one for pizza. How fun is this? No more living on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (with a side of sand). I'll be sure to let you know how it goes. But some recipes I'm going to use can be found here. (WARNING: that's a Pinterest link. Danger ahead. Time suck can be averted by not clicking!)
So, these can all be made in a skillet over a fire.

 I'll be making blueberry cobbler. Recipe is here.

Pizza nachos. Recipe is here.

Peach pie with cinnamon crust. Recipe is here.

Breakfast fritatta. Recipe is here.

And so many more. The camp is right on a lake, and the ocean is just the other direction, so I'm assuming there will be some fish to fry, too. :) I'm not a fryer, though, so I'll leave that up to hubby.  I' sure there will be some flubs and some inedible messes, but I'm hoping to really learn some great campfire recipes. And if not, by the time our week in a yurt is over and we're headed to the beach house, we'll all be MUCH thinner. And crankier. And every so much more appreciative of a stove.

Until next time, my friends! And don't forget, just one more week until Only Through Love releases! I'm biting my nails while I hang out on the beach. It's like waiting for a baby! *deep breaths* Until next time!