Perhaps the epitome of comfort food is a chicken pot pie. Rich and creamy, filled with chicken and vegetables and topped with pastry, it’s hard to beat a chicken pot pie for dinner. Nancy and I are particularly fond of Marie Callender’s pot pies, and it was once our go-to meal for a quick, weeknight entrée. Then one morning as the hand on my bathroom scales had been consitently moving in the wrong … [Read more...]

There are probably more recipes for  chicken and rice casseroles than Carter has little liver pills (remember that saying?). Church and club recipe books are filled with them, and most are delicious. Last week, I experimented with a recipe and it too turned out well – except I want to make a few comments about the chicken that goes in the casserole. Lots of recipes call for boneless, … [Read more...]

Nancy was sick. She had a terrible cold, and when my wife is not feeling up to snuff, she wants soup. Naturally, I made a run to Kroger’s and loaded a cart with Campbell’s Tomato and Chicken Noodle Soup, but I also saw a butternut squash in the produce section that needed a home, and I bought it as well. I knew Nancy often ordered Squash Soup when it was on a restaurant menu and I decided to make … [Read more...]

Some cooks are slow learners. Take me, for example. I go through cans of Pam like cotton candy at a carnival, trying to coerce my culinary concoctions to avoid sticking to the pots and pans. Sometimes they stick and sometimes they don’t, but even if cookies – for example- fail to cling to the baking sheet, the Pam residue leaves a sticky mess when it’s time to scrub down the dishes. Recently I … [Read more...]

Fish is probably the healthiest food we eat. Tastes good, too. I enjoy salmon, tuna, swordfish, catfish – most any fish, really. About a month ago, I had fish on my evening menu plans, but wasn’t sure what kind. When in doubt, see what looks good. What looked good to me was a fish called Silver Corvina. It was a white, fleshy fish – it looked sort of like a rockfish fillet, or maybe a speckled … [Read more...]

During the life of most every church in America, at some point the ladies of the church gather and print their special recipes in a spiral bound cookbook. I have a number of these and they are among my most treasured books - the old recipe collections from churches of my past. I have a recipe book from the Centenary United Methodist Church in Clemmons, NC. This church was founded in large part … [Read more...]

I cook for kids on occasion. Sometimes they are picky and sometimes they are not. One of the times they are not picky at all is when I fix a batch of burritos. Nothing fancy, just burritos. Recently, for a change of pace, rather than beef burritos with ground meat, I made some chicken burritos. I used chicken thighs and they were delicious. Chicken thighs, skin-on, bone in, are among the best … [Read more...]

By Sherman T. Shifflett   Any part of the deer can be used for Deer Nuggets, but I always use the back-strap. This recipe is for one loin. Marinate the loin in tomato juice over night in the refrigerator. Make sure the loin is completely covered by tomato juice. Sprinkle in a little salt and add a little vinegar. Remove the loin and cut all the white membrane off, or as much as … [Read more...]

A week or so ago, I baked three beautiful sweet potatoes in the oven. I had rubbed them with a little olive oil and kosher salt and cooked them at 350 until they were soft and tender to the touch. They would have been delicious served with a slab of country butter – if I had just remembered to serve them. But I forgot, left them in on the counter behind a pot of collards and found them when we … [Read more...]