I'm also ready for Fall....and I'm ready for cornbread too. Rice, beans and cornbread - you may have just inspired me to make some of that this weekend!

Dallas Raines? That sounds as fake as his hair looks!!

Target has some CUTE plastic covered notebooks that look like the cover of a fashion magazine. One is sitting on my desk right now, full of lists.

The weather is cooling down in TN - and the humidity is going to drop this weekend.

I love fall in Tennessee.

I've got a great recipe for a Santa Fe style Rice and Beans, tastes way better than the lean cuisine version and is very, very healthy! And, a very simple dish with spinach and chickpeas served over couscous. Both are on my blog if you want to check them out(you'll have to scroll a bit).

Hope you have a fantastic weekend, depsite the heat!

Have a great weekend, sweetie!

luv me some bob working out pictures. he's doing it right, i'm sure.

Yum - - CORNBREAD - - loves me some cornbread. With butter and a drizzle of honey on it.

Bob looks pretty lean & mean - - that treadmill must be doing him some good! :-)

Enjoy your weekend, Laurie!

i just love this post. i'm not sure if it's the recipe, or your observations on fall and buying school supplies or what.

plus, kale is pretty good stuff.

You should move up here to Oregon! It is beautiful! Very sunny but only 64* degrees right now. It has been a very mild summer this year. I think it got into the 90* maybe for like three days.

Football, warm fireplace, cornbread and beans. Now your talking!

I remember Dallas Raines! Ha...I used to live in CA for awhile. I used to think he was sooo hottt but now he kind of looks like an orange sun dried, silver haired Floridian! Ha : )

Dallas Raines looks like he really REALLY wants to sell me a used car or countertop roaster.

I have a recipe for Santa Fe Chicken as well.

Cook and cube l lb of chicken tenders
Mix in a 9 x 13 pan with:
1/2 cup cooked rice
1 can black beans (rinsed)
1 can mexicorn
1 cup salsa
1 cup shredded cheese (more or less depending on how much you like cheese)

Bake in oven (or microwave) until hot.

Easy and really good. You could probably put kale in as well.

He IS orange!!!! LOL!!!! I always thought it was my television.

speaking of epicurious, here is a fantastic recipe i tried last night:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/BLACK-BEAN-AND-TOMATO-QUINOA-238939

i added corn and black beans and avocado. it's so easy and delicious!

yum, smart water. my favorite after too much wine.

Ooooh thanks for all the recipe ideas!! I'm trying to be more betty crocker and less drive-thru girl these days. Thanks for the ideas!!

I love fall and school supplies. I have to have small notebooks for my lists and notes. And separate ones for different categories. There's also something refreshing about fall - time for new beginnings and a feeling of not knowing what's around the corner. I need some of that optimistic spirit at the moment.

'Back of my neck getting dirty pretty' - Hmmm... who sang it? Are those words even correct? Don't know but that song is ingrained in my subconscience.

Cornbread is one of those things I have always wanted to make. Maybe I shall get brave....

I love rice and beans. I wish my family would eat it! It just doesn't seem worth it to make only for me when I've got to cook them something different. Sigh.

P.S. Bob's tail is all ghostly like! Spooky!!

Like Bob, I'm all about the exercise by osmosis. If only the elliptical and recumbent bike in my bedroom worked their magic while I sleep!

I love new notebooks, too! And new datebooks. An old boyfriend used to call new notebooks "neat books" because when you get a new one you try to write real neat in it.

Have a nice weekend!

I sure would love to know your Dad's recipe for cornbread, especially with buttermilk...can you please ask him if you can share it? When you get it, that is?

trashalou, I think it's "hot town, summer in the city, back of my neck gettin' dirty and gritty." the not-fun part of summer

Believe it or not, I put kale and potatoes into a quiche and it's fabulous. The kale becomes less crunchy. I can email you the recipe if you'd like it.

Early September weather in this part of Tennessee (Memphis) is normally nothing to celebrate - still hot and humid. Today however, is wonderful - about 70 degrees F., cloudy and a light breeze. I'm working outside, and only going in if someone makes me!

Are those carrot sticks in your little baggy? Because on first glance I thought to myself: "Hotdogs!" Especially that one on the top. It looks like a halved hotdog.

Please say it's carrots?

I'm currently residing in West Virginia and it is HOOOOOTTTTTTT outside! Boo!! I'm originally from the Cumberland Gap area (KY, TN, and VA all rolled up into one little valley) this time of year is when I miss it the most.

Also, cornbread! I love it! Nothing's better than a wedge of hot cornbread with some good old fashioned butter smeared across it. Mmmm.

Ugh! You've made me remember, and actually feel, what it was like going back to school in the days before a/c in classrooms. To top it off it was so smoggy you couldn't breathe, so opened windows and gag, or closed windows and gag from the sweaty bodies and lunches stewing in the coat closet. Believe it or not, L.A. has relatively clean air these days compared to the "good old days."

Fall is my favorite season as well. The brisk air, change in colors, the apple orchards and pumpkin patches open for the holiday season - I love it all. Now, if the temperatures would just drop below 100....

South Beach has a good receipe for turkey sausage, chickpeas and kale. It's in their quick and easy cookbook, but it's probably on the website too. I just started eating kale in last year.

The remnants of Gustav passed through Oklahoma the past few days bringing cool, fall-like weather. But I'm so not ready for summer to be over! We had amazingly good summer weather this year (only about 10 days of 100+ temps, plus fairly regular rainfall) so I'm really not ready for fall.

Do you ever make gumbo? That's what I'm cooking tonight. I have chicken, andouille and shrimp in my freezer, as well as the *trinity* (onions, peppers, celery) so that's what I decided would be good tonight. Plus it makes enough to eat on over the weekend.

it's still summer here in new england with a tropical storm coming for tomorrow but in a couple of weeks i'll be wearing scarves again.

and dallas raines is exactly how i would imagine an LA weatherman to look. he's entirely too orange, his hair is too big, and his clothes are too flashy to be forecasting snow and nor'easters.

Dallas Raines is such a GENUINE Gentleman! I'm 33, and it feels as though I've grown up watching him. The screen capture you posted is the first time I ever thought he looked old! Granted, I haven't really watched ABC7 since I told off the news desk about ten years ago. Can't. Stand. Michelle. Tuzee.

I think Dallas Raines has been battling cancer, that's why he seems to be a little older perhaps. He's still Dapper Dallas Raines!

And yes, of course those are carrots in my ziploc. Geez folks! LOL

I feel the same way about fall... it's still sunny and hot out here in Texas, but the crisp mornings have me buying ingredients for black bean soup and cornbread! (I'm posting the recipe on my blog, if you are interested. Both are very simple recipes, and soup + crock pot= AWESOME)

It's hot in the east today too. It's summer's last hurrah. The north will blow it's chilly breath on us soon to remind us what's ahead.

I love that cat pic!

Hey Laurie, if you don't want to run out and get buttermilk, you can MAKE buttermilk by adding
adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to each cup of regular milk. The soured milk should be allowed to sit for ten minutes before being used.
It works just as well! Promise!

Hey Darci, thanks for the tip! I don't have milk either, though, so I have to go to the store anyway. And I need eggs. And... oh, the list is long :)

Allison I'll call you this weekend and we can catch up. In between my gourmet cooking bouts of course HAHAHAA

Fall came this week in Minnesota! The day the kids went back to school the temps dropped down to the 40's and 50's! I LOVE the cooler weather. I bought 6 of those Composition notebooks at Target @ 50 cents each and each in a different color! FUN!

For a minute I thought Dustin Hoffman was your weatherman!

The temperature dropped in Kansas and I've turned off the air conditioner so I feel bad for you baking out there. Crank down the ac, make your cornbread and wrap one of your scarves around your neck and have an autumnal moment.

A spreadmill. My kind of exercise equipment.

"Summer in the City" from The Loving Spoonful:
Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city.
Etc.

You should check out some of Rachael Ray's recipes. She does a lot of stoups (soup/stew) things and casseroles. Most of what she does has a few ingredients and only take 1/2 hour.

You gotta love someone who has a bajillion recipes for mac and cheese and burgers.

Also, I like to shred carrots and other veg (like zucchini) into soups, chilis or meatloaf to get my picky non-vegie eating family to have more vegies. They never notice!

We are having a last blast of summer too, and while it's not super hot, it's very humid. Ick. I hate it.
Dallas looks like he had one too many cups of coffee this morning.

Thanks for the shout-out to TN, Laurie! It is a rainy/cloudy 75 degrees today in NashVegas and I am in heaven. Those crisp mornings are only days away now :)

I live in Sacramento and it's supposed to be in the high 90's/low 100's this weekend but I'm still making soup! My boyfriend said "Is it that time of year again?" Not quite, but I couldn't wait.

I suppose I'm commenter #45million - but just in case you make it this far I will mention something I have stumbled upon recently that is helping me cook healthier. Eating Well - there is a magazine, but I just borrow the recipies from the website.

This is my new favorite soup to make, which is super easy AND uses kale AND is healthy (from Cooking Light!):

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=554709

And, I think this recipe also screams "I need cornbread on the side!"

Ok, that's just spooky....I was about to write an "I love fall" blog post myself!

And I want to move to the part of Tennessee you are talking about! It just doesn't get cool enough fast enough for me here in Nashville. I won't see the weather I really love until well into November. I think I need to move to Canada. :)

My school supply memories go a little further back. I swoon at the smell of crayons and remember filling my cardboard pencil box with pencils, pink eraser, markers, and ruler. And does anyone else remember Big Chief tablets? And aluminum lunch boxes??

Fall on the East Coast is pretty too. Although all of our leaves are going to be sopping wet after Hanna visits us this weekend.

And I think my favorite weatherperson's name has to be Flip Spiceland. He was on CNN for a long time.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who carries a notebook in her purse. I get the moleskine knock-offs from Target since they're less expensive and come in pretty colors and patterns.

Lately, one of my favorite lunch meals is sliced cucumbers and hummus. I've been trying to replace potato chips with cucumbers so I still get my crunchy on, but it's healthier. It's amazing all the different hummus flavors you can get now. My most recent find is Morroccan hummus, which has a nice spicy flavor to it.

My dad used to make THE BEST cornbread pancakes. I don't know how he did it, because the main ingredient was Jiffy corn muffin mix, but they were awesome!

My cats are also using the treadmill more than I am. It's one of their favorite beds.

The entire 23 years I lived in San Antonio, I expected Fall to begin when school did - and it never did. In fact, the weather never got Fall-ish until around Thanksgiving! One good thing about living in Iowa now is that we have Fall -- unfortunately, followed by Winter...

Have you tried Swiss Chard? I find it a lot easier to sneak into dishes than kale. My favorite kale recipe is a big, bold Portuguese soup called Caldo Verde; the onion and sausage are strong enough to stand up to the greens.

When the weather is too hot for cooking (or I am too lazy, or I'm working 12-hour days, or whatever) I use my crockpot a LOT.
Are you still using yours?
So nice to come home to a hot meal, without heating up the house too much.

Another switch for kale is spinach. It goes in practically everything, from omelets to soup, and after being force-fed kale as a kid, I just can't get to grips with it anymore.
And Dallas? Does he have a portrait like Dorian Gray? Never seems to change. Fritz Coleman has visibly aged, but Dallas? Makes you wonder.

Do you make the southern corbread in a hot cast iron pan? Where do you find the right kind of cornmeal out here?

The thing I love about making cornbread is having a glass of the leftover buttermilk, usually with blackeyed peas. My husband thinks anyone who drinks buttermilk is insane.

quinn, I do use my crockpot but only when I'm at home to monitor it (read: not on weekdays.) I'm away too much of the day and it would freak me out to have a cooking appliance running while I'm gone. Yes I know it works for others but not me!

So my limited cooking time is pretty much on weekends and I've been away a lot lately.

The trees up here in SJ are starting to drop their leaves - lots of crinkly dry yellow things are falling though none have actually turned. We haven't had rain since March. I'd drop my leaves too. It was nearly 100F yesterday and it's working on the same today. And tomorrow. And Sunday.
Autumn in Melbourne is cool mornings, rarely frost, and warm (65-70) sunny days. Wonder what we'll get here?

If you get an immersion blender and puree the kale into things you can really sneak it in. Black bean soup would be good because that's great pureed anyway and the black would camouflage the green of the kale pretty well. I'm not really fond of a lot of vegetables but I make sure I find clever ways to trick myself into eating as many servings a day as possible. One thing I do is boil a giant pot of vegetables (greens, onions, garlic, turnips, carrots, butternut squash, peas, green beans, cabbage - anything except tomatoes which will screw up the flavor of this particular recipe) with curry and ginger and all kinds of spices like cayenne, tumeric, white pepper and a pinch of cardamom. Then add a can of pumpkin and puree the whole thing together and thin it down with broth or water. If you get the seasonings right it's really good and you can get a big dose of veggies in a cup and not even feel like you're eating something gross. Really good topped with greek yogurt or sour cream.

yes, Yes, YES! That's what fall should be like, and what it's like where I live. This morning when we had the dogs out for their walk, it was foggy, but as the sun came up it burned the fog off and there was just that lovely crispness in the air. I love it. I hate heat.

Also, I loved Septembers for getting new school supplies as well. The going back to school, meh, not so much, but all the fresh notebooks and pens, etc. I loved.

I love buying school supplies!...and I'm 52!! LOL
I have four kids, and my 'baby' is a senior in high school, and he actually went on his own to buy his school supplies this year, imagine that!!
I told him I was crushed, it was the first time in over 20 years that Mom did not go to buy school supplies!! I think I need to go and buy some for myself..I'm just sayin'......
PS I make cute little coasters out of quilting fabics, looks like you could use one for your mug. I'll send you one all the way from Michigan if you email your address????
Smiles, Patty

How do you like that? I thought it was Hot DOWN Summer in the city. Learn somethin' new every day....

"even though it is NOT autumn and NOT chilly and NOT crisp at all" - a quote from your entry - if you're looking forward to that kind of weather try good ole' Minnesota - a town not far from me had 29 degrees this morning. I'd LOVE to be in Tennessee at this time of year. In fact we're thinking of taking a bike (Harley Davidson) trip to your area in October. Never spent much time there, just traveled through.

aren't you engaged to al gore? (grin)

al gore is better looking, but that's just my opinion.

cute pix of bob-o-rific bob cat!

I actually expect the little tooth sparkle in that picture of Dallas. And man, his hair is getting long even for him!

Yes, Dallas does overdo the hair gel a tad, but he's a good guy and he's the real thing, with a PHD in Meteorology. Good to see you back to work, Dallas.

Bob is so cute, and very good at looking confused. Feel the burn, Bob!

I cut kale into thin strips and stir fry it with a little bit of canola oil, some soy sauce, garlic, ginger, a cut up tomato or a few spoonfuls of tomato sauce, and a few slices of green pepper if I have them. It's good with noodles. (I use whole wheat spaghetti.)

I read your post about taking your lunch to work, and then about wanting chili. If you look up "chicken chili" on the foodnetwork website, there's a great one by Barefoot Contessa, very healthy, hearty, tasty, goes great with cornbread, and the best part is, you can fill up a bunch of cheap Glad containers with the stuff, freeze it, and take it to work whenever you want! You can do the same with tons of things, jambalaya (there's a slow cooker recipe for it on the same site), even mac and cheese. And you can even buy a few Lean Cuisines (I love them!) and stick them in your freezer at work (if you have one, or at home if you don't), and take them when your imagination is running short. Yogurt, fruit cups, granola bars, and prepackaged nuts and trail mixes are great for work too, you can keep them in your desk.

Ooh - you should check out 101cookbooks.com if you haven't already. She has excellent recipes (even some involving kale) that aren't scary at all.

KALE!? You mean it is actually eaten by folks? I thought it was just that hard (plastic) stuff used as decoration at a salad bar. Huh, who knew!

Forgive me for this question, I am in Georgia and we do not have fancy weatherpersons like y'all out in California do, but is that man actually orange or does he just look that way in the picture?

Also, have you seen this list?
http://listgasm.com/blog/2008/02/22/20-ridiculous-real-weathermen-names
It is the top twenty most ridiculous weatherman names, although some of the weathermen are weatherwomen.

I've lived in southern California all of my life and so have never known a real fall but it's still my favorite, if imaginary, season. Outside it may be in the 100s but inside I decorate with fall colours, fake fall leaves, and later in the month, even pumpkins. I also start making casseroles and soups whether my husband is ready to eat them or not. Mind over weather is my battle cry. But even I can't quite bring myself to crack out the cool weather clothes.
Have a great weekend!

All these recipes sound nummy! I love greens but can't quite do the heavy duty bullet-proof kale. Some readers have suggested chard and spinach. I'll make my case for a variety of kale that cooks up superbly, nice and tender, not particularly strong flavored, etc.

Try Tuscan Kale, also known as "Lacinato," "Black," or "Dinosaur" kale.

It's easier to find in natural food markets than it is to find in regular grocery stores.

Check out this link about it at the San Francisco Chronicle:
ttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=
/c/a/2008/02/20/FD2TUO19C.DTL

It's great stuff and I can't wait until my little Tuscan kale seedlings are producing enough so that I can begin to eat! BTW, it's quite easy to grow from seed!

I'm glad to see Dallas Raines is still around. Yeah, he's about 95 years old, but at least he LETS himself look old. He doesn't look all nipped and tucked beyond recognition, like most L.A. celebrities do.

I could do without the orange glow, though. :)

I would love to look forward to fall, living here in Florida it just means more heat and rain. That sucks! I will never get usto living here. My heart is still in Wisconsin. I miss thoes brisk mornings and beautiful fall weather, it was my favorite. Enjoy it for me!

Jill in Florida

Ah, yes, September in California. I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, and going back to school meant temperatures hovering around 100 degrees and stewing in our NOT air-conditioned classrooms wearing our brand new long-sleeved blouses and wool skirts. It takes a lot to overpower the smell of freshly sharpened pencils and stale milk. If it makes you feel any better, it's just as hot up here in the SF Bay Area where few of us along the bay have air-conditioning.

Those of you who have never had a "real" fall are making me very sad. Although fall here in New England is lovely, I've never seen anything more beautiful than the Finger Lakes region of NYS in the autumn - rolling hills with spectacular foliage, deep blue lakes, vineyard harvests everywhere. Of course that is followed by winter in upstate New York which is a lot like Siberia minus the gulags.

P.S. Bob, don't even think about exercising. You are perfect as you are.

Here in the central valley we miss the fall. It's my favorite season and my daughter's, too. We make-believe it is fall and decorate anyway, and hope we don't have to leave the a/c on for Halloween.
However, if having a "real" fall means having a winter with snow, storms and weather below zero, we will make do with what we've got.
Cute Bob!!!
Funny, that's how everyone in this house exercises, too. LOL

Ok now...you're from the south. You know pulled pork....
Make pulled pork in the crock pot. No brains involved. And unbelievable good!
Even those darn liberals in Californ - I- A will love it!!!!!!
You can control the sodium and the calories are low! Ok I love LA, wish I was there, stuck in Texas for now.....
But seriously
A 2 lb pork tenderloin, cup of chkn broth (low sodium), can of diced tomatoes, small onion, couple garlic cloves, 1/2 cup BBQ sause.
Brown the tenderloin in a small amt of oil then toss in a crock pot with the other ingrediants on low for about 8 hours, pull pork apart with two forks and throw on a whole grain bun. Whaaaa laaa
fabulousness.
May want to add some of those peppers from your dads plants. We like it HAWT down here in TX.

Geez I wanna move to ca........

I am so happy. I came across your blog and I love it. My life has not been that good recently. My cat died. I drove a relative to the airport and then locked my keys in my car with her luggage inside and she had to leave without her luggage and I had to ship it to her at a cost of $100.
Also, my lover has a medical problem so that we can't "do it" any more until he gets the green light. ( I am of course otherwise very concerned about his health in a completely unselfish way.

All of that sadness is in the past now because I HAVE FOUND YOUR BLOG.

Wow are we all on the same page. I am so ready for fall but it is 95 degrees F right now. This is a cooler day than the last few. That last big fit of summer, y'know - that makes it too hot to sleep well at night.

Spreadmill! LOL! Very cute kitteh.

Man red beans and rice sounds just awesome right now. I had to breakdown and make cornbread a couple of weekends ago.

I would make an Oompa Loompa crack but....

Fall makes me think of chili and lasagne!!! It too is my favourite time of year with Canadian Thanksgiving, Oktoberfest and my birthday. Bring on October!!! :)

May I say that BOB looks good from any angle!?
And, I'm so into cornmeal, corn cakes, corn bread, polenta, grits, tamales etcetera, which brings me to my new passion (I actually dreamed of this):
I'm looking for a recipe for Tomato Pie with a cornmeal crust. The English do a tartlet, the Italians do a version with many cheeses, and the Spanish do a tamale version. Does anyone have a recipe for a simple fresh (or canned) tomato pie with very simple ingredients: Tomatoes, herbs, seasonings, and maybe a bit of cheese? Please?

Laurie:

I LOVE your blog and have been lurking for years.
Now that you're talking food, I have to comment again!

Kale is aweome. You can use it in a salad like any other green. The beauty is that it doesn't go limp with dressing on it, so you can have salad leftovers.

I have a lot of recipes for vegetables on my blog, www.thenewlyfeds.com, if you're interested.

Here's a recipe for soup with kale. If you are adding kale to soup, put it in last so it will retain some zip.

Chicken, Wild Rice, and Kale Soup

-Cook wild rice according to directions, enough to make 2 cups cooked rice
--Sauté 2 medium or 1 large chopped onion in olive oil
--While onion is sautéing, coarsely chop 4 stalks celery. Once onion has sautéed, add celery and sauté a little longer
--Mince 4-5 cloves garlic and chop 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs into bite-size pieces.
--Once onions and celery are tender, sauté everything until chicken thighs are lightly cooked—white on the outside but not brown
--Add about 1 quart poultry stock. (I used turkey stock frozen from Thanksgiving. I am lazy so I thaw it by putting it in the microwave on high for five minutes then dump the semi-frozen result directly into the pot.)
--Add salt, pepper, sage, and bay leaf.
--Cover and simmer until your frozen stock has melted and the chicken is done—10 to 15 minutes.
--In the meantime, remove stems and chop the kale—not too fine, maybe 1-2 inch pieces.
--Add cooked rice and kale to soup. Stir up just so that kale has wilted and you’re done.

This is how cats use treadmills. I especially like the big fluffy white one.

http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2008/08/25

hey audie, couldn't you just MacGyver something with polenta? Use the polenta in a pie pan as the crust and put your topping on top and bake it until the cheese melts?
Just a thought.

i know what you mean about fall weather having these connotations of tactile sensations. our fall is ridiculously short, although it looks like it might make it through 3 weeks this year. back home (massachusetts) we'd always go to the apple orchard and buy more apples than we could eat. somehow the smell of crisp apples with the chill in the air, the golden leaves and still warm sun are my internal image of fall. sometimes i wish i could fly back, just to visit the orchard.