Autumn feast from Tim Love, on a shoestring

Tim Love is often called the king of cowboy cooking.

He's the chef and owner of the Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, and the Love Shack, both in Fort Worth, Texas, where he dazzles customers with his mouth-watering cooking.

Tim, who's as comfortable cooking for the Dallas Cowboys as he is for his own kids, is known as much for his "big as Texas" personality as he is for his delicious, down-home culinary delights.

And he accepted the "Chef on a Shoestring" challenge from "The Early Show on Saturday Morning."

Tim chose to make a wonderful, seasonal three-course dinner for four and, as a "Shoestringer," he had to try to do it on our budget of only $40.

And his chef's hat was automatically tossed into the "How Low Can You Go?" ring. In our friendly competition, the "Shoestring" chef whose ingredients cost the least will be invited back to whip up the feast for our year-end holiday shindig.

Tim's menu started off with a Beet Salad with Goat Cheese, then had Parmesan Crusted Chicken, and he finished with a delicious Apple Cranberry Crisp.

Enjoy all our "Early Show" recipes!

RECIPES

Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese Salad

• 6-8 medium beets
• 1/2 cup almond slivers, toasted
• Goat Cheese
• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Wash beets thoroughly and dry them. Trim and remove beet greens.

Wrap the beets in foil and roast them in a 425 degree oven for approx. 1 hour.

Unwrap the beets and let them cool.

Peel the beets and cut into eighths.

Place beet segments in a medium mixing bowl. Add almond slivers and olive oil and toss. Season with salt and pepper and toss again.

Put beet salad on four separate plates, crumble goat cheese on top of each, and serve.

To see more of Tim's recipes, to go Page 2.

Parmesan-crusted Chicken

• 1/2 cup Hellmann's mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1-1/4 lbs.)
• 4 tsp. Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine Hellmann's mayonnaise with cheese in medium bowl. Arrange chicken on baking sheet. Evenly top with mayonnaise mixture, then sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Bake 20 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Apple Cranberry Crisp

• 3 Granny Smith apples
• 8 oz. fresh or frozen cranberries (if frozen, thaw them)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup oats
• 1/4 cup butter + 2 T
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Peel, core and slice apples.

Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, flour, oats and butter in bowl by hand.

Add apples, cranberries, 2 T of butter and 1/2 cup of sugar to Dutch oven and cook over medium for approx. 8 mins until apples get soft

Top with sugar/flour mixture.

Place in oven and bake until golden brown (approx. 30 mins)

So, how did Time fare in our "How Low Can You Go?" competition?

His grand total was $29.70 - catapulting him to the top of our year-to-date Leaders Board!:

1.Tim Love $29.70

Chef/Owner The Lonesome Dove & The Love Shack

2. Floyd Cardoz $33.54

North End Grill

3. Bobby Dean $36.11

Food Network Personality & Cook Book Author