I tried something new this weekend that I thought I'd share. I was cooking over an open campfire, so it didn't turn out quite the way I'd been shooting for, but was still pretty good.

My wife had made some cheese earlier in the day, so we had some leftover whey, which makes a great base for soup, so I added to the whey some onions, a couple of nitrate-free ham hocks, some turnips, and about half a dozen Italian prune plums (all chopped).  I let that simmer (or as close as possible on a fire) then added some beef broth and some lentils. 

I think everything boiled a bit more vigorously than I had intended, so by the time it was done it was more casserole than the soup I was going for, but still quite tasty.

I did a stint as the Viking Chef at an SCA demo this weekend.  Pretty fun.  Lots of people wandered by asking questions and trying the snacks.  It wasn't quite as organized as I had thought it was going to be, so I skipped the "they didn't have recipes" spiel and just answered questions.  My contributions to the snacky bits were some "Viking porridge" which consisted of bacon, onions, apples, and oatmeal, and some barley cakes (just barley flour, salt, milk and eggs) with strawberry jam.  The porridge was better-received than I would have thought, although several people reflexively recoiled as soon as they hear oatmeal and onions in the same sentence.  

My son, on the other hand, came back for seconds. 

Portland's weather has been a bit more reasonable (by our standards) this week, and it makes my thoughts turn to cooking.  I tend to do much less cooking in the summer time, since I'm loath to pump any extra heat into my kitchen.  I realize there are plenty of things you can cook without resorting to heat, but that takes some sort of forethought and planning, both of which I've had in short supply this summer.

One of my favorite cool weather dishes is soup, of just about any kind.  Way more than my family wants to eat usually.  My top favorite soups:

• Chowder, of just about any kind.  Fish, clam, etc.  My son's totally wild for clam chowder.  I prefer cod chowder myself, with salt pork instead of bacon.  Check out Jasper White's 50 Chowders. 
• Caldo gallego (or caldo verde in Portugal).  A fabulous soup of spicy sausage (linguisa or spanish chorizo is best, I often settle for andouille, since I have a good source) with potatoes, white beans and kale or other greens.  I usually use a nice dark beef broth, and "dinosaur" or "lacinto" kale, which has very dark, long thin leaves.
• Gulyas (aka "goulash").  I like the Hungarian version, with little egg noodle dumplings and lots of paprika.  There's another Hungarian soup that I almost like more that involves lots of smoked pork products and sauerkraut, but I can't think of the name right now.  It's supposed to be a great hangover cure.
• Borscht.  Love it.  Especially with both beef and ham.  And a really lot of beets.  I also like to add apples and white beans, and lots of garlic.
• Pozole.  A Mexican dish, often with pork, lots of hominy, and lots of toppings that you add as you like, such as lettuce, cheese, lime juice, tomatoes, avocados etc.  Very tasty, and can be bland for those who like it plain, to jazzed up with extra ingredients for the more daring.  There was a great little Mexican hamburger place down the street from my house that had great pozole.  Unfortunately they closed, so I'm looking for a new source.  I make it at home a fair amount too, since it'd dead simple.  Use lots of Mexican oregano (not the Mediterranean kind). 
• Kimchee and tofu soup.  One of my favorites, with pork, and possibly white fish.  Very tasty, and warming.

This isn't even taking into account bean dishes that might be soupy.  I'll address them some other time.  Mmmmmm, beans...

I'm always on the lookout for a good plate of biscuits and gravy.  It's one of those dishes that can either be really great if properly executed, or something you'll regret for the rest of your day.  Given today's dietary trends, it's pretty much on the outs, since it tends to be loaded with both fat and carbs.  I've tried lo-glycemic biscuits and gravy, and had some pretty decent successes, but most restaurants go for the old fashioned fluffy white biscuits.  As an occasional indulgence, I'm willing to take the hit.  This weekend I happened to be in lovely Port Gamble, WA, and found quite a lovely plate of said delicacy at the Port Gamble General Store.  They have an all you can eat breakfast buffet for a very reasonable $5.95 on Saturday and Sunday mornings.  If you happen to be in the neighborhood, check it out.  You can also get a good plate of b&g at the RV park just north of Kalama, WA, or at least you could a few years back. 

If you want to make lo-glycemic biscuits and gravy at home, here are some suggestions:

• don't skimp on the biscuits.  I like Bob's Redmill Lo-carb baking mix, but I've made them from scratch too.  I go heavy on the barley flour, since I'm more interested in glycemic index than in no-carb.
• for the love of heaven don't use weird lo-carb thickeners.  I've had gravy thickened with xanthum gum instead of the traditional roux, and it's VILE.  No flavor at all.  Yuck.  I use something lower-glycemic like barley or whole spelt flour, since if you aren't going to make a roux, it's not gravy, it's greasy soup.  If you are that concerned about carbs, do yourself a favor and eat something else.
• soy milk works OK.  It comes out pretty well.  However, make sure you use unflavored.  My wife made a batch from vanilla soymilk once, since it's all she had.  The result turned out to be way better over oatmeal than biscuits. 
• the better the quality of your sausage or bacon for the gravy, the better the result.  I like New Season's bulk pork breakfast sausage. 

All these gravy tips apply equally to the even more ambrosial dish, chicken fried steak, which is well worth making at home if you like that kind of thing.  I realize many people just don't, but I was raised by hippy vegetarians, so chicken fried steak, or even chipped beef on toast is and exotic slice of heaven as far as I'm concerned. 

This Saturday (9/11), there's going to be an historic cooking demo/exposition at the Beaverton Farmer's Market.  There are a whole series of 1/2 hour demos planned on various styles/periods/etc.  I'll be playing the part of "Viking Chef" at around 9:30 I think.  Come on down.  There will be foods to try, cooking to watch, plus all the benefits of what I've heard is a pretty great Farmer's Market.