dinner

Grandma’s turkey stuffing

Thanksgiving has always been my second favorite holiday because when I was a kid, our family Thanksgiving made me feel a happy-family-ness, warmth, and love that were beyond our Scots-Irish/Norwegian family most of the time. Everyone (I think) felt the culinary highlight was the Thanksgiving turkey stuffing (sometimes called dressing interchangeably). Here’s how I remember it every Thanksgiving and Christmas watching my mom make the stuffing. Mom’s stuffing was identical to Grandma’s, a version she probably brought over from County Down.

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Dad’s classic cook-off chili

The Queen gave me a great cookbook for Christmas some years ago that was full of the Best Recipes of 1999, according to someone. About the only thing I’ve made more than once is a chili recipe, although I’ve played with it to the point where it’s now a classic item in Dad’s Recipe Box. You, too, can play with it to your heart’s content. Just make sure to include the most special ingredients and techniques, and you’ll have everyone ooohing and ahhing for more. This recipe is meant for you to con­fig­ure to your palate’s con­tent. There are all kinds of ways you can tweak it to make it your very own. Maybe we can spawn a whole new gen­eration of great Chili Cook-off recipes. Have at it!

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Leftover impasta

Ham leftovers masquerade as prosciutto in this recipe. Easter rolls around and I think about ham. That was our family tradition when I was growing up. A ham dinner and an Easter Lamb Cake. But that’s another post. These days, ham means spiral-cut backed ham, with the sugar glaze, in the foil wrapper. Even though you can get it just about anywhere, I don’t think anyone does it as well as Honey-Baked®. Hope there’s one near you!

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Cookoff chili

Mom gave me a great cookbook for Christmas some years ago that was full of the Best Recipes of 1999, according to someone. About the only thing I’ve made more than once is a chili recipe, although I’ve played with it to the point where it’s now another “standard fare” item in the Recipe Box. You, too, can play with it to your heart’s content. Just make sure to include the most special ingredients and techniques, and you’ll have everyone oooh-ing and aah-ing for more. Recently, a friend who just won a chili cookoff told me never to enter any contest he was in! High praise.

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Pasta sauce

Hey, Dad really likes pasta with sauce…or without sauce, actually. I could eat it every day probably. But then…you get it.

When people ask me, “What do you like to cook?”, the first thing that comes to mind is pasta with sauce. Having Italian friends in high school who showed me that yes, there are other kinds of pasta besides spaghetti, and many hours studying my favorite Italian chefs on TV, plus 20 years or so of development, have made my pasta sauces fantastic in my own mind. And simple, with tons of flavor. Remember, it’s about flavor.

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Lentil soup

Discovered that I love making and eating lentil soup last year. Been looking forward to “soup time” now as Fall is here.

Lentil soup is really easy and really fantastic. This recipes gets you about 4 cups.

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