Oh The Wind Is Lashing Lustily And The Trees Are Thrashing Thrustily

In true Midwestern weather fashion, after a week of summer like heat and humidity, the weather kicked Illinois in the pants and dropped to 40 degrees (which felt around 36) coupled with some wind and rain.  In other words, perfect weather.  After spending nearly all morning and some of the afternoon outside at the Walk and Roll for the American Cancer Society at Independence Grove and then at Duck Farm since Emerson couldn't join me in the first go around, I was definitely feeling the chill in places that shouldn't feel the chill--like your hands, jeez, where are your minds?

Ever notice how awful it is to have cold hands?  You can't move your fingers fast enough, everything kind of slows down and you're practically impaired?  There are times when I go walking in the dead of winter with two sets of gloves and my hands are still ice cold.  When I come in I hover my hands over the heating vents and it's like this painful warm up that feels like a million needles pricking fingers--and it hurts...kind of like this.

So back to the mid-May cool off...

I decided that since it was cold outside, I wanted to make something warm and toasty inside.  I'm staying at my parents' house for the next couple of weeks while they embark on their National Park/Civil War Battlefield Road Trip 2011.  Because of this, I have a much bigger kitchen to play around in and after last night's meal (over-toasted buns and oven cooked hamburgers...not recommended) I felt the need to redeem myself to the all seeing kitchen eyeball.

I'd brought over some cookbooks from my place and apparently I had the foresight to bring The Deen Family Cookbook by none other than Paula Deen herself.  What better cookbook to use when trying to find a warm and comforting Sunday night meal?  Literally everything in this book plus everything I've seen her make on T.V. I want to inhale.  I settled on the "Spicy Chili and Sweet Potato Casserole" on page 105.  My brain is programmed to be in tune to anything beginning or including the words "spicy", "hot", or "chipotle".  Blame the Southwest upbringing.

The recipe looked basic enough to make and after picking up some random items at the grocery store, I set about sizzling it up.  I started with mashing the yams mixed with some sour cream and then set it aside for a while.

Then, I cooked the meat for about 5 minutes and pushed it to the side while adding the cut up green pepper and onions.

Following that, I added some garlic (1 clove-chopped), chili powder (2.5 tablespoons), ground cumin (1 teaspoon), and some salt (1 teaspoon), which I mixed in with the green pepper, onion, and meat.  Then I removed it from the stove and added the kidney beans and diced tomatoes (plus juice).

All this looked very Arizona to me so far and not necessarily Southern style cooking but as I got to the next step, which I'd kind of forgotten about (the yams!), it all made sense.  I spread the yam concoction over the top...

...and added some bread crumbs mixed with 3 tablespoons of melted butter (Paula does love her butter, or as I first typed it out, lover her butter).

Once that was done, I stuck the entire thing in the oven at 400 degrees and baked for about 27 minutes (the oven at this house is on the fritz in my opinion).  The aroma that filled the home was perfect and the oven heat nicely warmed the kitchen.  Out of the oven da da da da da da daaaaaaaaaaa!

I scooped this onto a plate and was ready to go.  The perfect meal for a blustery day.

My only comment about the recipe was that it wasn't really spicy...like not at all...like I should have dumped 8 tablespoons of chili powder in there and MAYBE it would've had a kick to it.  I think I'll draft Paula a letter.