2 great recipes for Fall

I haven't done a recipe posting in a while & I must admit, there are no pics to go along with the recipes...but, these are excellent recipes.  However, a blog post from me would not be complete without:

**Insert token pic of my kiddos**

I know it's kind of gross, but baby girl loves spaghetti & meatballs with marinara...she also now insists on eating with a fork (not a baby fork, don't insult her with that crap, give baby girl a big fork)

I have been subscribing to & reading Bon Appetit for a while now & some of the recipes are way over the top, but others are great for a week night.  The reason I am putting both of these on the blog is I believe they could easily be tranformed into crockpot recipes also, which would be helpful to any working mommies that might read my old blog.  Truth be told, I should use my crockpot frequently now so that I could free up afternoons to play with the girls more.  I love, love one pot meals (I use a very old metal dutch oven that my Great-grandmother used--I guess I should update to a cast iron Le Creuset dutch oven, but I love my old one) that only require a side or 2 & these fit the bill.  P.S. Michael does not care for onions, so I always substitute shallots--maybe slightly different taste, but it worked in both recipes.

The first is Kerala-Style Beef Stew:  I've never been a huge fan of beef stew as I always feel like no matter what I add, it is always bland, this is not bland at all.  It's a curry & when I made it this last week, I couldn't find the serrano chiles at our local grocery store, I subsituted a little cayenne instead, just for a little heat.  Michael & I both thought it was great.  I also only found cans of unsweetened cans of coconut milk in 13 oz, which is not technically 2 C as the recipe calls for, but it didn't seem to make a difference in the taste.  Definitely, sprinkle with cilantro when you serve it....yummy!  I served it over rice.

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2012/09/kerala-style-beef-stew

The second is Braised Chicken with Capers & Parsley:  Delicious is all I can really say.  I didn't use the chicken thighs, legs, & drumsticks, instead I used bone-in skin on split chicken breasts that I got on sale at Sams.  Such a good value & again a one pot meal that only required a quick side.  This recipe uses 1/3 of a cup of white wine vinegar & I thought that sounded like a lot & was worried about this one, but fear not my friends  it turns out great.  Go ahead & add all of the ingredients they recommend, including all of the parsley & capers (I had a slightly larger jar that was exactly around 1/3 of a cup).    You will not be disappointed.  The flavored oil/vinegar that the chicken cooks in is great to pour over the chicken before serving.  I made a pasta side dish to go along with this.  A nice salad would work well also.

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2012/09/braised-chicken-with-capers-and-parsley

Enjoy & Bon Appetit!

Also, here are some pics of the fall decor (limited as it may be) at our casa...gotta work on getting more cute stuff for next year :)

All of the jacks we've collected so far & some mums in my pot...Jessie picked out the scarecrow at the dollar store

Kind of cute for a dollar store find

Our "Jacks" inside...I've started a new tradition--every month I replace the pic in the gold frame with a favorite of mine, why not, I take so many :) I'm hoping for a Halloween themed pic with both of them for this month...we'll see!