Fall has FINALLY begun!

I walked outside last night and the cool air and the "smell of fall" hit me like a ton of bricks! I love this weather and I love the way it makes you feel.... Like holidays are right around the corner and it inspires me to make yummy meal and snuggle up on the couch! This week to honor our Ole Miss Rebels ... we did a little pumpkin decorating! We are headed to Oxford in t-minus 5 hours to cheer on the REBELS as they take on the undefeated Auburn Tigers. Let's hope the scantily clad sorority-girl Halloween costumes are scarier than the way we play! Like we always say, we might not win every game (or any at all) but we never loose a party!

Here is last week's Pumpkin Chili...YUMMMMMY!!! (Compliments of the wonderful chef Regina Charboneau) We served it with a spread of Fajitas and all the fixings for our church small group gathering at our house Sunday and dinner was fabulous if I do say so myself. But then again who can mess up meat, tortillas, and a mother load of queso?!?!

Dinner Success!! Day 1 of 200...

So while living in Jackson over the past 3 months I decided I was really going to make an effort in the kitchen when I returned home. Zach and I love to cook together and we do so most weekdays but we pretty much rotate between about 10 'repeat meals'. So I am going to try and spice it up and I have promised Zach to cook 200 days out of the next year. So by October 11, 2011....we will have had 200 home-cooked meals. WHO ELSE IS UP FOR THE CHALLENGE??

I am looking for a good cookbook to "Cook through"...yup one page at a time until I have completed all of them! The Oxford Square cookbook seemed to be the front runner but I am scared to death we might die from high cholesterol in the next 200 days if I cook through that one. That Oxford food is deliciously sinful! So now I am searching for a cookbook with a nice combination of healthy meals and that good ole home cooking that makes your arteries burn!

So here is DAY 1: From scratch Chicken Pot Pie courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa

Review: HUGE SUCCESS- we will have it again...and again. Plus it makes a ton. We ate 3 servings and we have 6 servings left. Those went into the freezer for a chilly fall day!

Cooking Chicken, Boiling raw carrots, simmering Chicken Stock, and Simmering Onions

The end result in loaf pans (it made 4)

But after Zach dumped his on his plate we realized it was a ton of food so 1 dish=2 servings. I only ate half of mine and I was stuffed.

Zach on the other hand cleaned his plate! Yummy!!!

The Latest for Wyatt's Torch

I wanted to stop by and give you an update on Zach's LLC, Wyatt's Torch. A university near Natchez just got a new director for Advanced Technologies and they have been working with some people in Natchez to discuss setting up a technology incubator (they already have a grant from the government for it, but it has laid dormant) to counsel and help grow the economy in Southwest Mississippi, focused in the area of technology, and more specifically software and application development, by helping young tech businesses are entrepreneurs flourish. They asked Zach to come in and help get it off the ground. They have the space already chosen and they hope to furnish it with tech equipment by late November. Zach is so excited that he has been asked to sit on the committee and hopefully this technology incubator will be a starting point for some of Zach's future apps (he has come up with some great ones so stay tuned).

For those of you asking, why the name Wyatt's Torch? In Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged one of her heroes, Ellis Wyatt, defiantly blows up his oilfield rather than surrender his business to a government edict. One well couldn't be extinguished, creating Wyatt’s Torch that served as a symbol for the flame of individuality and reason. I think Zach chose wisely!

Also GameDay Map is moving right along. They submitted the app to Apple last week so they are waiting on approval and the app will most likely launch at the Auburn- Ole Miss Game on Halloween weekend!