Italians are serious about food, especially when it comes to pasta. While some chefs may settle for a couple versions and shapes of pasta, Italians seemingly have a different pasta for each dish. To the Italian palette, it makes a difference. Take rigatoni, for example. Rigatoni is a tube shaped pasta with ridges. Rigatoni in Italian roughly means “lined ridges”. Rigatoni pastas are larger than … [Read more...]

By James Friend Dickerson   Thanks to Jason, a commercial fisherman we knew, we enjoyed some sea scallops at Kamp Karen.  For dinner, we cooked the scallops with fresh asparagus, vegetables and a little pasta. With the addition of a side salad, it was a tasty meal. It’s easy, so try this yummy pasta dish for dinner sometime. To begin, I chopped a link of Italian sausage to sauté with … [Read more...]

Everything is better with a Ritz cracker – raw oysters, smoked salmon, cheese spreads and especially peanut butter. I also use Ritz crackers instead of breading or cracker meal when frying foods. Last week, I was at Kroger’s trying to come up with a tasty meal that would not add weight to my bathroom scales the following morning when I saw a package of boneless, skinless thighs for about four … [Read more...]

It’s deer season in Virginia so I’ll be spending some time in the woods hunting instead of showing property. We enjoy cooking with venison at Kamp Karen. I’ve had requests for my Venison Stew recipe, so hear goes. I used to make this following the Bourbon and Buck Stew recipe found in the L.L. Bean Game & Fish Cookbook (currently out of print). Over the years someone borrowed without … [Read more...]

By James Friend Dickerson   In 1999 we traveled through Scotland touring the country and visiting Masonic Lodges. After many Lodge meetings, we enjoyed Harmony (food, drink, music, and spirited conversation). One of my favorite food items during Harmony were the sausage rolls. When Jen Christenson made her sausage rolls using an Australian recipe, they were just like the ones we enjoyed … [Read more...]

I had owned my Oster Bread Making Machine for a couple weeks before I realized that it did not necessarily have to take 3 ½ hours to bake a 2-pound loaf of bread. Upon further review of the instructions, I read that the machine had an Express Mode that took only 58 minutes to bake a loaf of traditional white bread. “Probably sucks,” I thought. But what the heck, all it would cost would be 4 … [Read more...]

Several weeks ago I invested in an Oster Bread Making Machine and I have since been a busy baker. I have suggested that all my Foodie Readers also buy a bread machine, or dust off their old one, so we can swap recipes and compare results. Probably there are one or two who ignored my suggestion and still have no bread machine, but it’s their loss. Let’s start baking some bread. There are two … [Read more...]

Eat fish. Eat chicken. Avoid red meats. That seems to be the mantra for today’s health conscious families. But another healthy option – one low in calories and fat, but with dynamite flavor – is pork. Specifically, a pork tenderloin. As is my wont, I was rummaging through the meat department at Kroger’s, casing the joint for good buys and ideas for that evening’s entrée when I saw a pound and a … [Read more...]

As an amateur chef, I enjoy thumbing through old recipe books, especially ones from garden clubs and church circles from the 50’s and 60’s. My wife Nancy often referred to a her Southern Living Quick & Easy Recipe book in the early 70s, and those tried and true dishes were staple dishes for our young family. One of those recipes was for Mock Lasagna, a dish that my son Jimmie loved. We … [Read more...]

Sometimes it’s not the recipe nor the ingredients you use. Sometimes it’s the pot you cook in that gets great results. My go-to pot is a 6-quart, red porcelain enameled, cast iron covered Dutch oven by Tramontina. I love it. My daughter Laura –a great chef in her own right – gave me the “Big Red Pot” for Christmas. When I felt the weight of the package, I thought it was a bowling ball. It was … [Read more...]