When I eat chicken – with the exception of a half a box of Kentucky Fried Chicken – I lose weight. Naturally, I try to eat chicken as often as possible, but in as many different ways as possible – so I don’t get sick and tired of eating chicken. Chicken recipes, fortunately, don’t have to be fancy to be enjoyable. Last night I did a simple chicken casserole dish with a twist, I had some … [Read more...]

There once was a pot called a pressure cooker which had a propensity of putting more food on the ceiling than on the 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...]

Twice a year, four of my buddies and I head for Cliff View Inn in Alleghany county where we fish, play golf, tell old war stories, harass each other unmercifully and have a great time. Probably too good of a time. For this biannual gathering, I serve as the cook – every meal. The prime reason for this personal sacrifice is that if I didn’t do it, and didn’t buy the groceries, we’d likely eat … [Read more...]

Several years ago, my brothers and I had some luck with stripers at Oregon Inlet. We caught enough to fill the refrigerator at our beach cottage. We dined in style that evening with broiled stripers in a lemon dill sauce. The next night was crab night. We picked up a bushel of beautiful “jimmie” crabs, already steamed. But we had a problem. At the time, my brother Charlie was not eating meat – … [Read more...]

Okra is one of those vegetables that you either love or absolutely despise. There is no middle ground. Many get a bad taste in their mouths (pardon the pun) for okra when they eat it stewed and from the can. It’s pretty slimy, I admit, but I like slimy when it tastes like okra. I am a southern boy and I adore this Cajun staple. Deep-fried okra is among my all time favorite things to eat. I … [Read more...]

“Everyone loves my corn bead,” says Nancy Jackson, Realtor Extraordinaire in Saluda. Living on the Northern Neck, a stone’s throw from the Rappahannock River, Nancy serves her cornbread both with seafood and other dishes. “People,” say this is better than dessert, she adds. Here’s how she does it.   Nancy’s Cornbread 1 Small box of Jiffy corn bread mix 3 Eggs 8 Oz. carton … [Read more...]

We had a family reunion last summer that drew around 30 uncles, cousins, nieces, brothers, sisters and grand kids. For one of the evening meals, we had barbeque catered through a local pit master. The other meal, the brothers and sisters chipped in with homemade dishes and my sister in law, Marsha Boggess (also the hostess for the gathering) prepared two huge platters of a potato casserole. I … [Read more...]