Girlfriends Chili Fest – Food and Friends, a likely pair!
Pairing Good Food and Good Friends = a great time with Girlfriends!
Get your friends together and what’s usually included? Yes, food! That’s what makes having a foodie friend especially fun!
We’ve got a fabulous foodie friend for this week’s BlogTalkRadio/Girlfriendology interview. Meet Linda Marie Steele. Linda’s a foodie, mom, girlfriend and author. And, she has great stories (like the following!) of adventures with her friends and food. LISTEN IN as we interview Linda on food, friends and fun times together!
Food & Friends, a likely pair! by Linda Maria Steele
I never have to be nudged for very long to think of a reason to get my girlfriends together. I’ve had some outrageous fun with my girlfriends. I’ve also enjoyed many times where I’ve been blessed with amazing expressions of support when going through a challenging time from these same girlfriends.
I make myself available to have the kind of outrageous fun that can only come from getting together with girlfriends and at times I’ve offered lots of good support to them in return. I think my willingness to have a good time and offer reciprocity to these same women when they are in need serve as important tools to keeping and sustaining lasting friendships. Through it all what strikes me the most is how often my girlfriend get together’s involve food; lots of it and really good food too.
That’s why I’ve decided to write a second book I’m calling “Sweeter by the Beach: Food, Family and Friends Inspired by Life on Cape Cod”. It’s a follow up to my first self-published book called “Meet Me in My Cape Cod Kitchen”. I want to share in the book all the fun that has come from the pairing of good food and good friends.
I want to share with you here some of the fun I’ve had with my girlfriends and leave you with a couple of good recipes to help inspire your next girlfriend get together.
I believe that as women we need to allow ourselves times where we have a bit of a release from all that is expected from us. My girlfriends and I have an annual tradition to meet up for the Chili Fest Contest held on Martha’s Vineyard.
We gather at one of our houses for bagels and mimosa’s. We ride down together to catch the Ferry from Woods Hole over to the Vineyard. This past year there were 12 of us. In the spirit of fun we agree that ‘what happens on the vineyard stays on the vineyard and that we all stay together’.
It’s a matter of building trust and supporting one another in friendship and having fun. Each girlfriend feels safe within the fold of what happens throughout the day. There’s always a lot of silly laughter, good music, dancing and of course the tasting of some really yummy chili.
When we arrived off of the ferry this past year, there were extra long lines of people waiting for the school buses that are available to take all the Chili Fest Attendees over to the Village where the event is held. We were anxious to get there because the year before we had such a good time.
There were a few in our group who’d never been. Jokingly, we asked a friendly passerby if he’d give us a ride over to the event. If you’ve never been to the Vineyard it’s a very rural island where most people travel by bus or bike. The speed limit maxes out at around 25. He had a Subaru, a small four-seater, animal feed bags were stacked high in the back.
As we considered whether we’d take a ride from him, we thought, how harmful could he be? Besides, there were so many of us and we’d already made our pact to stick together. He looked at us all with a big smile. Who wouldn’t want to help a group of women in the middle of having a lot of fun in need of a ride? He said, “Ok, get in”.
It’s hard to explain how we all even fit that day in such a small car. But we did because we were all open to the fun of the moment. I had two girlfriends share my lap in the front seat. The rest were piled somewhere in the back, squished, no doubt, with legs and arms crossed over each other to make it work and get the door shut. Our new acquaintance, the driver, grinned from ear to ear while he put the car in gear. What made that ride so fun was our willingness to be silly and take things as they came.
The day was a success, but what I remember the most is how much fun that silly ride was. I don’t think any of us will ever forget it or the people we met. A number of people greeted us throughout the day and said, “hey, aren’t you the girls that piled out of that Subaru?” There’s nothing like a bit of out of the ordinary fun with your girlfriends that can make everything feel all right.
There’s almost nothing better than being in good company and eating great food. One year, after our trip to the Vineyard I decided to host my own version of a Chili Cook off. I invited friends over to bring a sample of their best batch of chili. We gathered to sample and vote on the best tasting batch of chili brought that day. I’ve included my own recipe for Chili below.
And, when I wanted to get to know the women in my neighborhood a little better, I decided to begin a book club. We meet once a month, share incredible food and not only talk about a good book but share our lives with each other as well.
One of my favorite parts about book club is that since everyone is asked to bring an appetizer or other dish to share the food is just as much a part of the evening as the friendship. One of my favorite dishes I like to serve at book club is a version of a tart. I simply take a sheet of puff pastry and roll it open flat on a baking dish then top with my favorite toppings. It’s always a big hit. And over time, from bonding over a good book and sharing good food some of these women from my neighborhood have become cherished friends.
I adore one-on-one girlfriend time too. I try to steal a moment for a quick walk or sharing a morning cup of coffee and a fresh baked scone with a close girlfriend whenever I feel the need. Because a good girlfriend catch-up can be just as rewarding as a therapy session or a good massage and it’s cheaper too.
Don’t be afraid to make getting together with your girlfriends a priority. It can be as fun as an annual adventure, a once a month book club gathering or a chat over coffee and scones.
Linda’s Recipe for Chili
- 3 ½ pounds, ground beef
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2 medium green peppers, chopped fine
- 1 medium red pepper, chopped fine
- 4 cloves, fresh garlic, crushed
- 12 oz can tomato paste
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1/3 cup chili powder
- 2 Tbsp. red pepper flakes
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cracked black pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
- ¼ cup fresh scallions, chopped fine
For Topping:
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup sour cream
1) In a large skillet brown the ground-beef. Remove and place into a crock pot. In the skillet place the oil, peppers, scallions and garlic sauté until peppers are soft. Place into the crock-pot.
2) Add the rest of the ingredients including the tomato paste, tomatoes and other spices. Simmer throughout the day. Serve warm with shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream as a topping.Cheddar Cheese, Pimento and Parmesan Tart
Be creative with this recipe. You can take the basic concept I’ve shared here and add any toppings you like. Another way I enjoy this tart is with bleu cheese crumbles, chopped bacon and caramelized onions. The combination I’ve offered here is super simple but so good!
- One sheet of puff pastry
2 cups of cheddar cheese, shredded
¼ cup of Parmesan or Romano cheese, finely grated
1 can of chopped pimento’s1) Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2) On a baking sheet gently unfold and lay flat the puff pastry.
3) Spread the pimentos evenly over the puff pastry. Leave about a ¼ to ½ inch around the edges of the pastry as the pastry will puff up when baking. Spread the cheddar and Parmesan (or Romano) on top of the pimento’s. Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes.
4) Use a pizza cutter to slice small rectangle size pieces. Enjoy warm.Linda Steele is blessed to have had some of the same amazing girlfriends since second grade. The bonds she has created with them run deep. She knows how important her friends are and she steals as much time away from her busy life as baker, college adjunct faculty, freelance writer and mom to three to laugh, share and enjoy their company. She is working on a second book, her first is a small recipe collection called “Meet Me in My Cape Cod Kitchen”, called “Sweeter by the Beach: Food, Family and Friends Inspired by Life on Cape Cod”. She loves to inspire people to always share good times with friends while eating really good food.
LISTEN IN to this BlogTalkRadio/Girlfriendology interview with Linda. And get her quickie appetizer recipe! It’s a great conversation on food, friends and fun times together!
Tags: blogtalkradio, Chili Fest, Friends and Food, fun with friends, girlfriends, Linda Marie Steele
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