It’s a day I await – a celebration, in fact. The “First “Mater Sandwich of the Year” day. I rank it right up there with New Year’s Day and the Fourth of July. The actual day varies from year to year - depending on when that first plump tomato is picked from the vine. We have had cherry tomatoes and some smaller slicer tomatoes for a couple weeks, but on Monday, July 7th, one of my Better  Boy … [Read more...]

When you scramble eggs for breakfast, are they fluffy?  I never thought much about it until I saw a recent article, but no, my scrambled eggs were not fluffy. Good, but not fluffy. I followed the article’s suggestions and now I know how to make a nice batch of fluffy, scrambled eggs. The secret is cottage cheese. If you are cooking 4 scrambled eggs for two people, simply add 1/3 C of … [Read more...]

When I thumb through recipes, I look first for “easy”. If it’s hard and complicated, I let somebody else cook it.  It doesn’t have to be hard to put together to be good to eat. For example. I decided I wanted a Strawberry Pie, so I whipped up the easiest strawberry pie in the world. Here’s how. I happened to have a cup and a half of sliced strawberries on hand, and I put them to good … [Read more...]

When yellow squash comes in, it really comes in. Just a couple plants in a small vegetable garden can overwhelm a small household. I really like yellow squash. Fried with onions is my favorite cooking method, followed by squash slices dipped in an egg wash, coated with cornmeal and fried in a skillet. It’s also tasty in a casserole zapped in the microwave with onions or other … [Read more...]

I had an extra pack of hot dogs in the fridge, and we had just had hot dogs on the grill. I didn’t want to press my luck and try to sneak them in the menu again so soon (even though I could eat hot dogs three times a week). So, what do you do with extra hot dogs? Beans and franks, maybe? Not the most appealing entrée for sure. I decided to experiment. I made Pizza Dogs and they were … [Read more...]

I grill a lot. Steaks, burgers, dogs, chicken, shrimp, etc. One thing I had never tried, however, was pork bites. I decided to give them a shot and the dish turned out very well. I bought a pack of pork tenderloins (always 2 in a pack; don’t know why) and I cut one loin into bite size pieces. I marinated them in a BBQ sauce, put the bites on several skewers and grilled them over high heat. They … [Read more...]

The best Corn Dogs I have ever eaten came from a small stand just outside the grand-stand entrance to the West Virginia State Fair. Over the years, I made it a point to order one (or two) every time I went. These weren’t frozen, micro-waved Corn Dogs. They deep-fried them on the spot and sometimes there was quite a line waiting. But it was worth the wait for the piping hot, sweet, delicious … [Read more...]

  I dearly love Fried Chicken. I would eat it once a week if I could, with leftovers the next day. But Nancy has been getting on me for “frying everything”. I don’t fry everything – cantaloupes, for example, but I bet they’d be good rolled in some flour and deep fried in Wesson Oil. So now I have to find an alternative to regular Fried Chicken and I did. It’s Oven Fried Corn Flakes … [Read more...]

I saw a recipe for a Zucchini Pie that sounded good as a side dish, but I didn’t have any zucchini squash - I had just bought some fresh yellow squash. So why not? I made a Yellow Squash and Tomato Pie that turned out delicious. Here’s how I went about it Chop up a cup and a half of yellow squash into half-inch cubes. Chop up two medium Roma tomatoes and ½ C sweet onion. Spread the ingredients … [Read more...]

So, we’ve got our green veggie for dinner – broccoli, green beans, maybe asparagus – and we need a starch or extra vegetable, maybe something with a little color. How about a Tomato Pie – tasty, healthy, easy to make and attractive? I made one last week and it was very good in spite of the fact that vine-ripe, fresh tomatoes aren’t yet available. For this recipe you want fresh tomatoes, not … [Read more...]