I have recently become a big fan of potato bread and rolls – made with potatoes and not wheat. I think I bought a bag of potato hamburger rolls by mistake and really liked them. It turns out, they have fewer calories than regular bread and as much, if not more flavor. They also have zero cholesterol. One of my favorite buys is a package of Martin’s Party Rolls. The 15-oz. bag has 24 rolls – … [Read more...]

Lots of folks give hams this time of the year. If you haven’t bought one yet, or need a last minute gift, consider giving a Gayle’s Ham for that special someone. I used to spend lots of time fishing Mossy Creek, near Bridgewater in Augusta County. My drive over the Blue Ridge Mountains via Rt. 33 took me through Elkton, McGayheesville and Penn Laird before I turned off on Rt. 256, a bypass … [Read more...]

Boy, what a deal. On a recent trip to Sam’s Club, I was poking around in the meat and deli section and saw a package of chicken breasts salvaged from the leftover rotisserie chickens. They had put 4 breast halves in a package for just $3.98. Not only was this a super buy, it is a super time-saver for cooking. I had intended to buy some chicken breasts anyway and cook them, then chop them up for … [Read more...]

Grumble, gripe, bitch, moan. That’s me going through the meat department at most grocery stores. That’s because it’s always the same-old, same old, especially when it comes to pork. They no longer have real butchers in the back room. They are basically meat sorters. Shipments of pre-wrapped pork and beef now come from the big butcher in the sky, who also determines which cuts of meat and … [Read more...]

Last Christmas, my granddaughter Berkley - who knows how much I love to go to the grocery store - gave me three shopping bags from Harris Teeter, heavy duty bags with straps. It was perfect timing because I had just opened the back of my Jeep and had a cantaloupe escape from one of the plastic bags and go rolling down the driveway. I despise those plastic bags, but in some stores, that’s all they … [Read more...]

I ran into a neat product recently.  I had never seen it before - Reynold’s Pre-Cut Aluminum Foil Sheets. I have been buying pre-cut parchment paper for baking for quite a while, but these aluminum sheets are truly handy. Lots of times, you don’t need such a big piece of aluminum foul and it’s always the dickens to cut off the roll - usually tears away at the end, leaving you with odd shapes … [Read more...]

They do it every year. They fall off the trees. Leaves. Every single one, which means get out the rake and get to work. Or not? For the past few years I have eschewed the rake and leaf blower and cranked up my lawnmower instead. Not only is this far easier than raking and bagging, it’s better for your yard. By mowing a few times each fall the leaves are shredded into fine pieces where they … [Read more...]

  I had a breakfast planned for country ham and eggs, and everybody knows you need biscuits for that. I can make biscuits from scratch, but I’ve found that the frozen biscuits are an adequate substitute, and a whole lot easier to prepare. Plus, if you only need 8 biscuits, just take 8 out of the package. I was in the Wal-Mart grocery section and I wanted a package of 12 Pillsbury Grand … [Read more...]

There is Wright Bacon and there’s the rest of them. Wright Brand Bacon is the Rolex, Mercedes and Stradivarius of the bacon world. What makes Wright so good, and so pricey? For starters, a 90-year old recipe which involves curing hand selected pork bellies and slow smoking over real wood chips for a consistent and delicious flavor. This hickory smoked bacon is naturally smoked and cured with … [Read more...]

For six months, I have been weaned from Xfinity Cable TV. They were charging nearly $150 a month and that did not include Internet nor any of the premium channels. It was a rip-off in my opinion. So my daughter Laura helped us set up two “smart” TVs and switched us over to Roku. Roku includes networks like Hulu, Netflix, Spotify and especially the ACC Sports Network. Though we can get it, we … [Read more...]