It’s official: autumn is here. I know this not by the date on the calendar, but because I was cold enough this morning to finally turn on our heater. Considering the amount of rainy, cool days we’ve had this past week, I probably should’ve switched the thing on before now, but I just can’t make myself turn on the heat until the A/C has been off for a solid seven days.

Another sure sign that it’s autumn: my crock pot has been allowed back inside the house.

Yes, it sounds crazy to some, but during the summer I use my crock pot in the garage. We’ve got an old freezer in one corner away from the automotive supplies and old cans of paint, and during the warm months that’s where my crock pot does all of its cooking. That keeps the heat out of the house, which is always a plus given the high cost of running the A/C, but it also keeps all of the yummy smells out, too. Now that it’s cool, though, my crock pot — and its delicious aromas — are back indoors.

Now that my migraine is gone — hooray! — I’m actually in the mood to do some serious cooking. I think it has something to do with the weather: it’s only 59 F outside, and the rain is pouring down. Definitely one of those perfect “soup commercial” days, although with homeschool and housekeeping to catch up on from my migraine-induced downtime, my schedule’s too hectic to nurse something along on the stove.

So I’ve spent the last half hour browsing through crock pot recipes at MomsWhoThink.com. They have over a thousand recipes for slow-cookers and crock pots organized into broad categories like “Appetizers” or “Crock Pot Beef”.

I’ve got an overabundance of chicken in our freezer right now, thanks to the combination of a sale at the Commissary and a husband who went grocery shopping after skipping lunch. So I’ve been checking out their “Crock Pot Chicken” category and randomly clicking on pages in search of the perfect recipe.

The recipe for Crock Pot Chicken Stew with Basil Dumplings caught my eye, particularly since I have one basil plant in the garden that somehow survived this long and needs to be used. (Sorry I can’t direct you to it; the site doesn’t have permalinks to individual recipes.)

Now, of course, my kitchen is filled with yummy smells and I’ve got the pleasure of knowing that my last chore for the day — making dinner — is already out of the way. Which is wonderful, really, except that it smells so darned good that my stomach’s going to be rumbling all day.

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