1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
2 tablespoons finely minced garlic
2 cups diced Roma (plum) tomatoes
4 tablespoons capers
1/4 cup nicoise olives
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1. Heat the oil and garlic in a heavy medium-size saucepan.

2. Add the tomatoes, capers, and olives. Stir and heat just to simmering
over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

1 (32-ounce) can peach slices, drained and coarsely diced
1 (7-ounce) jar roasted red pepper, drained and diced
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

In large bowl, stir together all ingredients except parsley. Cover and let flavors marry at room temperture for 1 to 2 hours, stir in parsley before serving. Cover and chill if made ahead; remove from refrigerator about an hour before serving.

1 large onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
5 cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half
4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced (use rubber gloves when handling hot peppers)
8 plum tomatoes, cored and cut in half
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 long green chiles, seeded and diced
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 small bunch fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 cup water
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a large, heavy heatproof pan, spread the onion, garlic, jalapenos, and tomatoes. Drizzle olive oil over all. Place pan under the broiler and cook until tomatoes are charred, about 8 minutes. Remove and cool to room temperature.
Place mixture in a blender or food processor. Add lime juice, cumin, cilantro and water. Process until well combined and slightly chunky, but not completely liquified. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

This gumbo-inspired chili is a favorite at the Gilroy Garlic Festival outside of San Francisco. The large amount of garlic is blanched and simmered, so don’t shy away from this wonderful recipe.

5 pounds pork loin, 2-inches thick, trimmed of fat
3 1/2 tablespoons Garli Garni seasoning, divided use (see notes)
3 onions, sliced 1 inch thick
1/3 cup vegetable oil, divided use
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup paprika
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 jalapeño chile, seeded, stemmed and chopped (see notes)
1 1/2 tablespoons filé powder
5 cups chicken stock
2 cups puréed tomatoes
2 poblano chiles, seeded, stemmed and chopped
50 cloves medium garlic, peeled

Prepare coals for grilling. Season pork with 2 tablespoons Garli Garni seasoning. Brush pork and onion with some of the vegetable oil. Grill pork until brown on outside and rare on inside; grill onions until charred. Allow both to cool. Dice pork and onions and set aside.
Heat remaining vegetable oil in a deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat until very hot. Reduce heat and whisk in flour until roux is deep brown and smells nutty, 8 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool.
Combine paprika, chili powder, jalapeño and filé powder in a bowl. Bring stock, tomatoes, and poblanos to a simmer in a saucepan. Over low heat, whisk paprika mixture into roux and cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Whisk in hot stock 1 cup at a time.
Add onions and bring to a boil. Add remaining 1½ tablespoons of Garli Garni, reduce heat, and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, blanch garlic in boiling water until tender, 7 to 10 minutes; drain.
Add garlic to chili and simmer until thickened, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add pork and simmer until cooked through, about 15 minutes. Serve with rice.
Makes 6 servings.

I just dug this out of an old cookbook of my grandmother. Enjoy!

Pumpkin (Halloween) Chili
2 pounds ground beef
1 large onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans, drained
1 (46 ounce) can tomato juice
1 (28 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 cup white sugar

In a large pot over medium heat, cook beef until brown; drain.
Stir in onion and bell pepper and cook 5 minutes.
Stir in beans, tomato juice, diced tomatoes and pumpkin puree.
Season with pumpkin pie spice, chili powder and sugar.
Simmer 1 hour.

Ashlee Simpson’s dad blames acid reflux
Ashlee Simpson’s dad said his daughter never used a so-called “backing track” until Saturday night — and she only did it then because an upset stomach had hurt her vocal cords.

The teen star made national headlines when a technical glitch disrupted her appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” Simpson’s voice started playing when her lips clearly weren’t moving.

Her dad said Ashlee has acid reflux disease and it’s made her voice hoarse. He said that’s why she used the taped track, as a sort of back-up to help the overall sound of the song.

Saturday Night Live’s executive producer, Lorne Michaels, told the Associated Press that the technique is common and that Simpson was performing live. He said he feels “terrible” for the young singer.

Ashlee Simpson Takes ‘SNL’ Lip Sync Blame
Mon Oct 25, 2004 05:57 PM ET

By Barry A. Jeckell
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Ashlee Simpson is reportedly taking the heat for deciding to lip-sync during a performance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend, a plan that backfired when the vocals to the wrong song were audible during her second appearance.

Simpson had already performed her single “Pieces of You” and had returned to the “SNL” stage to run through the title track of her Geffen debut album, “Autobiography.” As the band kicked into the song, her vocals to the first song were heard while Simpson held her microphone at her side.

Flustered, she improvised a few dance steps before bolting from the stage. NBC quickly cut to a commercial.

At the close of the show, Simpson deflected the blame, telling the viewing audience “I feel so bad. My band started playing the wrong song.” Geffen issued a statement blaming a computer glitch that should have played pre-recorded percussion rather than the “Pieces of You” vocals.

Simpson was reportedly singing a different tune Monday. MTV, home to her reality series “The Ashlee Simpson Show,” reported on its Web site that Simpson admitted to lip syncing on the show because her voice has suffering from the stresses of a heavy promotional schedule.

“I can’t cancel something like ‘SNL,”‘ Simpson is said to have written in a post on her official Web site (http://www.ashleesimpsonmusic.com). “You and I know that even if I synched on it or not, I’d still get seen by millions, maybe even make a few more fans.

“I’ll hold my head high and say I think it was silly of me to do it, silly of me to blame the band, I was just so f—ing embarrassed,” she added. “But I don’t think it did me much harm, and people will see that soon.”

An attempt to find Simpson’s original post is daunting, as her site’s message board has become a battleground where her staunch fans are fighting to defend her from an onslaught of thousands of negative, even vicious posts.

Amidst the often-vulgar posts in the site’s “open forum” is a quote lifted from a Lucky magazine interview where she was asked about lip-synching. “I’m totally against it and offended by it,” she said. “I’m going out to let my real talent show, not to just stand there and dance around. Personally, I’d never lip-synch. It’s just not me.”

The younger sister of singer-turned-reality television star Jessica Simpson scored her family’s first chart-topping album when “Autobiography” was released in August. The set spent three non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 2 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

People in the News: Read our lips, Ashlee: You’re out of synch

For those of you who missed it, last weekend’s “Saturday Night Live” contained a sweet little gaffe. As musical guest Ashlee Simpson took the stage to perform her second song of the night, “Autobiography,” she stood with the mike at her waist, while the vocals for another one of her songs, “Pieces of Me” (which she sang earlier in the show) came on. Simpson responded by hopping around for a few seconds, then walking off stage. Cut to commercials. At the show’s end, a red-faced Simpson blamed her band, saying they were playing the wrong song.

Nice try, Ash. She was just busted lip-synching, which, of course, anyone who saw Janet Jackson perform on the show last season could tell you is nothing new. Jackson was jumping around like she had a pogo stick crammed down her pants, and her vocals were impossibly even — nary a bump nor change in inflection.

Not one to sit back and let her “Simple Life” co-star Paris Hilton hog the spotlight. Nicole Richie is quietly working to expand her brand empire. Step 1: “Write” a book. We’re certain a ghostwriter will have to drastically reduce her vocabulary with drink and drugs to match Richie’s voice.

The Daily News reports that Richie, a poster girl for garish dressers, a former heroin user and all-around underachiever, is shopping around an advice book for girls. Her agent said the 23-year-old party girl’s tome will be like “a big sister’s guide to life. How to deal with peer pressure and things like that, for girls.” We can just imagine it … “Chapter One: Don’t let Paris get you drunk in a room with a camcorder.”

The best part of being famous has to be this: Being able to just step up and say you want to try whatever new-fangled product or service out there, and knowing you’ll get to try it before the rest of the lumpenproletariat. Case in point: The Associated Press reports that “Star Trek” star William Shatner and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Dave Navarro are among thousands of people who want to fly on proposed commercial space flights. Virgin hopes to offer the flights — lasting about 3 1/2 hours including six minutes of weightlessness — by 2008. Don’t get excited, because that date is probably only for the rich and famous. The rest of us will just have to watch “Star Trek” reruns.

– P-I reporter D. Parvaz

Ashlee Simpson; Possible Resolution To LipSyncing Problems
By Judy Ramsook
Just when I thought that the ‘Milli Vanilli’ lipsync scandal of the mid eighties had silenced its voice (no pun intended) after their faux pas ended up in the news at the time, here comes ‘Ashlee Simpson’ and her technical malfunction on a recent episode of ‘Saturday Night Live.’

In her ‘incident,’ she was about to sing one song, when another one started to play and in a display of embarrassment, she, ‘Ashlee Simpson’ then ran off stage. At the end of the show, she said that her band was playing the wrong song, and I believe her, for things like this can occur in the business of performing live, especially since we now live in an age in which there are highly advanced synthesizers and percussion sets so there fore mistakes can be made.

And although this sort of error does not occur very often, is there a way to prevent it from ever happening in the first place? If I may, I would like to suggest that the supposed singer first consult her back up band about which song will be sung next. If that is not sufficient, then have the vocalist make a list of the songs that are supposed to be played on that particular day or evening and give a copy of this list to each band member.

That way, no member of the band can assume what tune will be played next, for I have heard and listened to the ‘Ashlee Simpson’ new cd and I must say I am amazed at the powerful voice she has, especially on songs such as ‘Shadow’ and even ‘La La’ so I now say, carry on ‘Ashlee Simpson’ and think of your recent incident as one you will learn from rather than one to mope over, for you are now pretty much known to the music world and I say also, welcome.

Ashlee Simpson tops Yahoo! Search on Monday
by Landon Howell Owner & Editor

From Yahoo! Buzz:

Searchers love few things more than a scandal. And if the
scandal lets some air out of a celebrity’s balloon, it’s all the
better for creating massive interest. Prepackaged angst-y
teen pop star Ashlee Simpson found herself in the middle
of a search cause célèbre after her “performance” on
Saturday Night Live.

Simpson was caught with her mic at her side on live TV when her vocals mysteriously started, leading to charges of Milli Vanilli-like hocus pocus. Her mealy-mouthed shifting of blame on to her backing band didn’t help to squelch the lip-syncing accusations. Searches on the syncing serenader jumped 226%, vaulting her into our top three searches overall. After Saturday night’s gaffe, denizens of the Internet flocked to the search box Sunday to find widely circulating video clips of the performance in question. Search terms sizzling in the aftermath included: “Ashlee Simpson SNL Clip,” “Ashlee Simpson Lip Sync,” and “Ashlee Simpson SNL Mess Up.”

The performance by the famous “singer” sent searches on Saturday Night Live soaring — up 488% and into our top 10 movers. The Simpson incident helped to double SNL’s previous best showing in searches over the past year. Also benefiting in curious queries were ’90s pop mannequins Milli Vanilli, up 226%. After Ashlee’s very live and public malfunction, she has some real singing to do if she wants to avoid the career trajectory of the sham singing dreadlocked duo.