Weekend at Lake Rabun

I grew up going to the mountains in northeast Georgia. My grandfather built a cabin on Lake Burton when my dad and his brothers were young and the family has spent summer holidays there ever since. So the mountains seemed like a fitting place for everyone to get together for my parent's 40th wedding anniversary.

Since our place isn't winterized, we stayed on near-by Lake Rabun at the Lake Rabun Hotel for the weekend. The leaves were changing and the weather was simply perfect.

Rustic and homey, the hotel's cottage, where most of the family stayed, came complete with dried okra decorations and delicious peanut butter cookies in the afternoon.

 

The Hotel's award-winning chef, Jamie Allred, cooks up a mean breakfast each morning for guests using local ingredients. I'm still drooling over the creamy, stone-ground grits and the awesomely thick bacon.

Some of the featured farms Allred works with to create his delicious dishes include:
Chattooga Belle Farms
Flat Creek Farm & Dairy
Gibson Farms
Leah Lake Farms
Ladybug Farms
LoganBerry Heritage Farm
Osage Farms
Springer Mountain Farms

You can also find local mountain produce at the Simply Homegrown Market in Clayton during the warmer months. If you're ever near North Georgia, I highly recommend stopping by the Lake Rabun Hotel for a bite!

In Season: Butternut Squash

Our heater died about  3 weeks ago. And we’ve been too cheap to replace it . What’s a little cold right? Wrong. Now that it’s getting down in the 30’s and 40’s at night we’re cold. Like sweatshirts in bed cold. Ask the dog. It’s so cold even she sleeps in the bed with us now.

We finally broke down and called someone but it will be at least a week before we have a new system. So I’ve been using every excuse to cook since our gas stove heats up the kitchen. 

My favorite hot meal to make in the fall is stuffed butternut squash. Earthy, nutty and, of course, hot!.

What You'll Need:1 butternut squash, halved and seeded

3/4 lb hot sausage

1 small bell pepper

1 small Vidalia onion

2 cups stuffing, prepared

1/4 cup pecans, toasted

Salt, pepper, cumin, garlic powder, nutmeg

What to Do:

Place squash halves cut side down on an oiled baking sheet. Roast squash at 350 degrees for about an hour or until tender.  While squash is cooking, brown sausage. Reserve fat and use it to saute the peppers and onions until the onions are clear. Combine sausage, vegetables, stuffing and nuts in a large bowl. Season to taste. Spoon into squash halves.

Enjoy!

Fall Foraging

I love Fall. The golden leaves. The argyle sweaters. The smell of bonfires. And especially the earthy harvest flavors. The seminary down the street from us has pecan trees, which, if you can beat the squirrels to them, drop loads of delicious nuts this time of year.

The Bear and I spent a good while cracking and shelling a bag of pecans I collected the other week. The sweet, buttery insides are perfect right out the shell and smell wonderful when toasted. 

These are going in a stuffing for butternut squash. I'll post the recipe soon :)