I was in the mood for some tuna salad, but I don’t much care for tuna packed in water – which is what most manufacturers offer these days. I suppose they – and the buying public – thinks it’s healthier, but olive oil is good for you, a vital oil in a diet. But much to my surprise – at Wal-Mart no less – I saw a stack of tuna fish cans from StarKist packed in olive oil. Upon further inspection, I … [Read more...]

  Chicken tenderloins represent one of the best buys in the grocery store. The tenderloins are those small pieces on the whole chicken breast. The chicken tender or tenderloin is a strip of breast meat attached to the ribs, that is part of the breast, but it’s not really connected so that it can be separated and used as it is. They are generally removed by the butchers when they make … [Read more...]

  Certainly,  nothing is better than a gooey, grilled cheese sandwich. Buttery, rich, decadent. But how about hot dogs? How can you beat a fat hot dog smothered in mustard, catsup and all the fixing’s? But what if you had a Grilled Cheese Hot Dog? Well, they are good, they are easy and everybody loves them. I picked up this recipe from Yummly and want to share it. Start with fresh … [Read more...]

  By Sherman Shifflett   I  was thinking about what to have for dinner Saturday night, and I decided to try something different. I had a small steak, but wanted some different sides. I had picked up a cabbage yesterday, thinking coleslaw. Instead of coleslaw, however, I decided to fry some cabbage; I  had not done that in years. I shredded half a cabbage, added a sliced onion … [Read more...]

  Chicken livers is one of those dishes you either love or hate. There is no middle ground. Nobody ever says, “They’re okay.” It’s either: “I’d rather chase a flock of buzzards off a gut pile than eat chicken livers” or “Let’s have them again tonight!” Put me in the latter group. Funny, but as much as I enjoy chicken livers, we seldom have them. On a recent tour through … [Read more...]

  Pepperoni Rolls are a unique West Virginia creation, inspired from the lunch pails of coal miners. Relegated to the depths of the mines, a Pepperoni Roll for lunch was a welcomed respite for a hungry miner. First created in Marion County in the 1920s, the classic Pepperoni Roll consists of a soft white yeast bread roll with pepperoni baked in the middle. Since the pepperoni was cured, … [Read more...]

  When I’m cooking, I get excited about the entrees and desserts, but vegetables? Not so much.  Often, there’s nothing to get excited about. The other night I had bought some fresh broccoli, and it’s good steamed or baked, but since I had an extra pie crust in the freezer, why not Broccoli Quiche? So I did an Easy Broccoli Quiche. Took 10 minutes to put together and another 45 minutes or … [Read more...]

  When I moved to Charlottesville in 1967, I had done some fly fishing, but nothing serious. I had caught some smallmouth and redeyes on a popping bug in the Greenbrier River and I  frequently put a worm on a hook at the end of my fly rod and caught stocked trout. But I never had any luck catching trout on a genuine trout fly. That is, until I met Chuck Kraft. Chuck ran a sport’s shop … [Read more...]

Every time I pass by Chick-Fil-A, I think about those great chicken sandwiches. Though fried chicken is not among my current diet options, I decided to-hell-with-the-diet, I’ll cook some anyway.  If I was going to do it, I wanted to go all the way, so I went to the store for some buttermilk. Unfortunately, most stores don’t sell buttermilk in small bottles or cartons. I had to get a … [Read more...]