A number of years ago, Nancy and I served as Senior High Advisors in our church and often had the responsibility of feeding 15 or 16 hungry kids. I have found over the years that there are two things teenagers will always eat: pizza and spaghetti. In fact, who won’t eat those delightful dishes? Sometimes we made pizza, sometimes we ordered it, but we discovered that an easy way to serve … [Read more...]

  The eye of the round in roast form is one of the best values of all cuts in the meat department. The eye of round has a wonderful flavor, but it’s tough, plain and simple. There is an answer, however, for tough cuts like the eye or round. Cook it at a high temperature to seal in the juices and slice it razor thin. Unfortunately for me – being one of the world’s worst knife sharpeners … [Read more...]

I saw the package of portabella mushrooms at Sam’s Club from two aisles away. There were four, large portabellas in the pack, nearly perfect in size for stuffing something, so I bought them. But what to stuff? Sam’s Club also had a sweet deal on their fresh crabmeat. It looked fresh, so I bought a pound, perfect for stuffing the portabellas. To create a delicious entrée with portabella … [Read more...]

One of the fun things about cooking is just using what you may have on hand in the fridge or cupboard and having it come out well. Sometimes, as my wife Nancy will attest, my experiments are not successful, but I pulled one off last week. I had two packs of Smithfield Diced Ham that I had purchased in order to make omelets for our gang at Urbanna. But my omelets got bumped, so I still had the … [Read more...]

I was going to do a vegetable beef stir-fry. Most any beef will work in this quick-fry dish, but I happened to be rummaging through the meat department at Sam’s Club and saw a pair of very nice looking top sirloin steaks, and they were on sale! That evening as I was cooking the beef in my wok, I had a little sample. Damn! It was good. I have been in a steak rut, of sorts. Nancy and I have … [Read more...]

Tis the season for soup – chilly nights, crisp mornings and autumn leaves tumbling from the trees. So it’s soup time. You can make soup from most any organic material, but I pretty much stick to the basics – chili, chicken and vegetable beef. When cooking up a batch of vegetable beef soup, there are as many recipes as there are chefs. Everybody has his or her favorite, and it’s hard to go … [Read more...]

My long time friend, Janice Kaltenbach is, and has been, one of the best cooks I’ve ever been around. Her fried chicken is second to none, nobody makes better potato salad than and her pralines are so yummy they should be illegal. So when Janice shares a recipe or says something she made was good, I pay attention. She told me this past week that she had a delicious chicken recipe. I begged her … [Read more...]

Recipes don’t have to be fancy or exotic to be good. Most comfort foods, in fact, are simple recipes, and it’s hard to beat comfort food, like old-fashioned corn pudding. This is a dish enjoyed by everyone and it tastes almost like a dessert. Corn pudding is easy to make and sure to please. I don’t know why we don’t have and enjoy this dish more often. Here’s how I make mine. First, I … [Read more...]

  Sliders are all the rage these days at restaurants and catered events. Basically, sliders are mini-burgers. They’re smaller and you have to eat more to fill up, but they make good “finger food” at parties and get-togethers. The smaller, slider buns are readily available at all grocery stores. But sliders don’t have to be burgers. I had a salmon slider recently that was excellent and … [Read more...]

I mentioned extra cabbage hanging around the house in a recent article on coleslaw. Nancy Jackson, premiere Realtor in Saluda and Master Chef in her kitchen, had an answer for either new or leftover cabbage. Cabbage steaks! Here’s how Nancy does it: Take a head of cabbage and cut it crosswise into half-inch “steaks”. Sprinkle olive oil on top, add a dash of garlic powder, some cracked pepper … [Read more...]