As a child, I remember a special treat Mom occasionally bought from the grocery store - a loaf of raisin bread, made by Sunbeam if memory serves. It was covered with sweet frosting, which I immediately licked off the top of my slices. We ate the bread plain or toasted. It rarely lasted more than a day in our house. A special treat I have been making is homemade raisin bread. For the past year, … [Read more...]

  As comedian Ron White once said when approached by a police officer while drunk at a bar, “I had the right to remain silent.  I just didn’t have the ability.” Ron subsequently gave the cop some lip and spent the night in the pokey. Similarly, I know how to lose weight, but I often lack the ability. Losing weight is most difficult if you like to cook, eat out occasionally … [Read more...]

I don’t know how I got hooked up with this website, but a recipe I saw in a pop-up ad caught my attention. The site was “Yummly”. They offered to send me weekly recipes, so I said, “What the heck, if I don’t like it, I’ll sign off.” Boy do I like it. I read each recipe and have used several already. This is a great site for all sorts of “Yummy Yummlies”. Below is one of their recipes for No … [Read more...]

I have recently discovered the joy of parchment paper, not just for baking cookies and using beneath other objects that stick to the pan, but for anything you’d like to cook that makes cleaning up an easier task. So I have been burning through the parchment paper. A few weeks back – completely out of the non-stick stuff – I saw an interesting product beside the normal rolls of parchment paper. … [Read more...]

From Nancy Jackson   Loyal reader, Nancy Jackson, read a recent recipe in CvilleBuzz on cooking Squash Fritters and said she made Clam Fritters that were also mighty tasty. Below is Nancy’s recipe (sort of).   Okay, I am not a measure person, I just cook by sight. So here goes. I begin with the seafood seasoning batter. I dump in a couple of cups of the seasoning, plus 2 T … [Read more...]

Squash! What a versatile vegetable! I really enjoy squash no matter how it’s cooked, but a favorite way when I have a little preparation time is Squash Fritters. I had never eaten squash fritters until about 20 years ago when we went out to eat at a little seafood restaurant called The Sandpiper near Gwynn’s Island. I had Fried Grouper that night and one of the sides on the menu was Squash … [Read more...]

There once was a pot called a pressure cooker, which had a propensity of putting food on the ceiling rather than in plates. In our family, when Mom got out her infamous pressure cooker, all the kids headed for their bedrooms. Better to study American History than to pick shrapnel and lima bean bullets from various parts of your body - in case “she blew.” But pressure cookers are no longer the … [Read more...]

I recall one year our church signed up to take a meal to the Salvation Army once a month. We rotated groups for what I considered to be a privilege. When it was our Sunday School class’s turn, we decided on a big ham, green beans flavored with fat back, mac and cheese, rolls and homemade chocolate chip cookies. The ham and beans were both delicious, but when folks came back for seconds, it was the … [Read more...]

I rarely take a list to the grocery store – unless my wife Nancy wants me to pick up Australian pine nuts seasoned with papaya extract, or some other such strange request. I’m pretty much an eggs, flour, meat and potatoes shopper – nothing fancy. But I enjoy seeing what’s available and getting inspiration from what looks good. I was in Sam’s Club last week, poking around the meat section and … [Read more...]