Old Fashioned Pot Roast takes a little while to make, but the flavor and the tenderness of the beef and vegetables make it all worth the effort. It seems like folks these days are so interested in quick and easy that they forget how delicious slow and steady can be. Don't get me wrong. Quick and easy plays a significant roll in my nightly dinner line up. We often have ...
Recipes
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Parmesan Sage Croutons
Kick off soup season with this creamy Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Parmesan Sage Croutons. It's perfect for chilly Autumn days. Don't skip the croutons! They give this soup a little extra body and a hit of salty savoriness. It seems that Fall is the only season to arrive on time this year. It's cooler ( finally!!) and kinda rainy and the leaves are just starting to ...
Parmesan Popcorn
It's been forever since I have posted recipes but in that time I have successfully gotten my two five year olds started in kindergarten. My pocketbook took a final huge sigh of relief as they climbed on the bus and headed toward a free education (goodbye daycare!) Since then, lots of people have asked me if I cried their first day or if I am sad to see them growing up. I have ...
Zucchini Cheddar Hushpuppies
Zucchini Cheddar Hushpuppies are a quick an delicious Summer side dish perfect for barbeques and fish frys. Use up all that zucchini with these puppies! Summer, for us, is just about over. My babies will have their very first day of kindergarten in 3 weeks! Almost all of the school supply shopping is finished. The new Tinkerbell and Cars backpacks are loaded down with ...
Garden Fresh Chow Chow
I love love love to can. If I loved cleaning as much as I love canning, my house would sparkle. It would look like all of those pictures on Pinterest where everything is neat and organized with cute little labels. So far, the only thing in the house with cute little labels is all of m canning projects. My new favorite canning project is this chow-chow. It's ...
Summer Granita
I don't know about where you live, but where I live it is stupid hot. Not "so hot it makes you stupid" ( although it will do that), it's more like temperatures are so incredibly high that it's ridiculous. Or, as they say, stupid. I mean 112 degrees?! Really! Did I accidentally wake up in Death Valley? Thank goodness I have an extra well just for the garden, because my poor ...
Sauerkraut and how to make it
A large part of my mother's family was German so that meant that sauerkraut was a common site on the dinner table. I always loved that sour tang that always paired so well with meats and between my mother and I, we could eat our weight in the stuff. So when we finally moved back to the country last year, cabbage was high on the list of veggies to grow just so that I could try ...
Strawberry Peach Limeade
Strawberry Peach Limeade is an easy summer beverage to whip up for a warm Summer day! Add an ounce of vodka to your glass to make it a delicious adult beverage! I have spent the entire day moving my parents out of their old house and into their new one. The house that they built themselves 30 years ago will now be solely dedicated to being a winery and my parents will now ...
Blue Cheese Stuffed Burgers with Red Onion Marmalade
Memorial Day weekend for many is the rope drop for Summer. I don't even have to look at the calendar to know when Memorial day weekend is, I can tell it's close by the throngs of cars parked on the side of the road by the creek just above me. Come Memorial Day, screams of terror followed by a loud splash fill my yard as teenager after teenager jump off J.H. Barber bridge. And ...
Country Garden Update!
Unlike exercising or laundry, I always find time to garden. I love it and this year has been especially rewarding so far. I put just about everything in the ground over a month ago and thankfully most of it survived the late frost in mid-April. Now, the garden is really starting to crank up. The squash and zucchini are beginning to pump out tasty little fruits and the tomato ...
Tex Mex Tortilla Salad
It seems I have gone AWOL from this poor little blog lately. These things happen. For the last month, we have been hopping from one activity to another. Dance and T-Ball on Monday, Taekwondo on Tuesday and Thursday, T-Ball again on Friday. Of course there is also work at the winery, writing for the newspaper, and lets not forget laundry. The never ending laundry. The garden is ...
Asparagus Gremolata
Spring has certainly arrived here in the South and it has brought buckets of pollen with it. Everything I own is covered with a fine layer of yellow dust. Sneezes, snotty noses, and watery eyes are the standard fare for everyone in our family. We have all developed a close, personal relationship with our allergy meds. Other than the stuffy noses, all of our plants and ...
Classic Caesar Salad
Classic Caesar Salad isn't hard to make, in fact it can be a simple and inexpensive salad to accompany dinner. Top it with grilled chicken or salmon and it makes an excellent dinner! I've been a little obsessed with classic Caesar salads lately. Maybe it's because it so hard to find a really good one. Or maybe it corresponds with my other new obsession, anchovy paste. It ...
Gardening on the Cheap: Let’s get growing!
Here it is, the end of February, and the time to start seriously getting ready to garden is upon us. At least in the South. You folks up North may have another couple weeks. This year is going to be a challenging and, hopefully, exciting year in the garden. The biggest reason for that is that instead of just two cute 4x8 raised beds... I'll also be starting a much bigger ( ...
Saucy Mama’s Low Cal Sausage Skillet
If you need a dinner idea that is low calorie but incredibly tasty and filling, you are going to love this Saucy Mama Sausage skillet recipe. It is made with turkey smoked sausage for a filling dinner that is easy to make and clean up, and really hits the spot after a busy day. The sauce really makes this dish in my opinion, but if you have been reading here for a while, ...