If you have never had beef brisket you have never lived in Texas.  A huge beef brisket is a must have at nearly any summer celebration from Memorial Day to a family reunion, and there are as many arguments about making a good one as there are about whether or not Texas should succeed from the Union.

If you didn’t know THAT was a common conversation then you haven’t even VISITED here.  Another thing you must know is that it can be spelled barbeque or barbecue. I will probably spell it both ways in the course of writing this because spell check doesn’t like barbeque and I don’t like little red lines…but barbeque is my normal spelling. Read more

Summer is the time for cook-outs for sure. When you can make homemade, delicious (soft!) hot dog and hamburger buns in less than an hour why in the world would you buy them?

Did I say less than an hour? Yep!

These freeze well so you can make them ahead of time. If you have a regular baking day, or OAMC weekend make up a few batches of these for the month and freeze them for quick meals anytime.

Most of us do not consider Read more

I usually think of this casserole in the fall when the weather is cooling down but it is one of those that the family loves any time of the year, and so when I found ham on clearance at the grocers the other day this was an immediate thought. You can add buttered, toasted crumbs to the top just before baking if you like, but just plain like this is fine too. It is creamy and filling and you can use less ham to stretch the budget a bit more if you like. Vary the types of cheese used to vary the flavor in this versatile dish. Read more

If you are looking for a fabulous main course, Italian dish that is easy to make, and freezes great try this Torta Rustica. There are so many ways to make it that the recipe is almost needless.

Add whatever cheese-vegetable-meat combo you want,( this one was vegetarian) and bake in your pizza crust until done. Serve warm, room temp, or cold. Store it well covered for up to two days in the fridge, or seal and freeze.

I love this with black olive bread, a leafy, mixed greens salad, some black olives, and if you want, maybe add this toffee, dark chocolate bundt cake for dessert. Read more

When I was growing up in Eastern Pennsylvania we always called this chicken pot pie. Later, after moving south, I was informed that it is chicken and noodles. Ah well, whatever. It is chicken, it is pasta, it is comfort food, and it is wonderful. Best of all you can use it for your once a month cooking.

Really, does it get better than that without chocolate in it? I don’t think so. The creamy sauce, tender chicken, and savory vegetables make this perfect for a blustery day. Add a salad, bran muffins, and maybe apple pie . Read more

Shepherd’s Pie is one of Marc’s favorites from my once a month cooking repertoire and it is really easy to make. It is one of those comfort foods, I think, at least in my family.

The thing is, that there are a lot of steps to it so I don’t make it as much as I should. I “scaled” this recipe down to serve eight because I realize that most of you have smaller families than I do. In fact, there are countries with smaller populations that this household…well, at least towns in Arkansas. I have driven through some of them. In fact, we used to camp at a park in a place called Cove Lake, Arkansas, and we would joke about moving to some of the nearby towns and doubling the population. Read more

I found out that I make Calzone wrong. Apparently, by adding the sauce to the inside of my calzone I am making a stromboli…except I don’t roll it right. So, this dish might better be called a calzon-boli.

I like the whole aspect of doing OAMC but a big, frozen pizza is, by my standards, hard to store. What to do?

Seal it in a calzone. They are easy to make, easy to freeze, easy to store, and because you can take them out and make them individually, they are perfect for those of us that live in the car sometimes.

You can fill them anyway you like. I used sweet italian sausage, onion, mozzarella, mushrooms, peppers, and provelone. Read more

Pasta has to be the coolest food on earth. You can serve it hot or cold, side dish, main course, soup, salad or even dessert and…best of all..it is quick and easy. How can anyone go wrong with that?

Uh…well…there is the overcooked mush with canned Ragu….

I was digging around in the pantry the other night looking for something to serve to the starving, angry mob that invades my kitchen about 6:30 p.m. every night my family. It was one of those days where I had totally gotten lost in my thoughts and had to create magic fast. A couple of cans of albacore, some pasta, and suddenly I remembered the imported provolone cheese! Imported, aged provolone cheese. Yum.

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If you will look to your right, in the box marked “pages” you will see that I have added a small tutorial to explain how to do Once a Month Cooking (OAMC) .

If you have decided to become more organized this year, if you have resolved to be a better manager, or if you just want to be your own personal chef , read the article first!

There are some links at the bottom of the page to more tips, recipes, and printables to help with the process and, of course, I will be posting recipes for you to try at least once a week.

If you have any questions, post it in a comment or email me.

I never understood the need for people to pick up the brown and serve rolls when they could make homemade dinner rolls themselves so easily. Saying that, I must hang my head in shame and admit that I do buy them each year as an addition to the breads I make because my son, Chris (currently in the Air Force) says that you can’t have Thanksgiving with out them. My mom liked these rolls and brought them every year. After she passed away I thought we would be free of them, but no. We must buy them for Chris. And honestly, I smile while I am saying this. I would buy them daily if it meant that he would be home again.

Anyway..(pass me a tissue?) … These buttermilk rolls are light and wonderful. They freeze really well if you want to do them ahead, or you can make your own brown and serve version by baking them until done but not colored (about 10 minutes. Be sure they are baked all the way through though. Sacrifice one for the cause if you need to), and freezing. Thaw and brown when you need them.

There is nothing like them, warm, with some butter melting down the roll, a little tupelo honey drizzled on..and…sigh. They are so easy to make you will never go back to..you know..the dark side.

Light Buttermilk Dinner Rolls

1/4 cup warm water (105-115°F) The easiest way to check temp is to pretend it is a baby’s bathwater. If you would bathe a baby in it it is just right.
1 (1/4-oz) package active dry yeast
1 tablespoon mild honey (tupelo, orange blossom, alfalfa, blueberry…these are all perfect)
2 teaspoons salt
3 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole fat buttermilk at room temperature. Please, do not buy fat free. Yuck
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 egg yolk lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Stir together water, yeast, and honey in a small bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn’t foam, discard and start over with new yeast.) Stir salt into 3 cups of flour and then add yeast mixture, buttermilk, and butter, stirring until it makes a soft, sticky dough.

Turn out dough onto a floured surface and knead, adding just enough more flour to prevent sticking, until smooth and elastic, 6 to 10 minutes.

Form dough into a ball and transfer to an oiled large bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. The top of your fridge, in the oven with the light on, on top of the counter when the dishwasher is running are all good places. If your kitchen is very chilly it may take a little more time. If it is warm it may take a little less. You will know it has doubled when it looks like it has and you can push your finger in it and the dent will remain.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead several times to remove air. Cut dough into 18 equal pieces. Form a smooth ball with each piece, or roll into a rope and make a knot..Pretend it’s Play-do.. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough, arranging balls 1 inch apart on baking sheet. Cover loosely with kitchen towel and let rolls rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Brush rolls lightly with egg yolk and water mixture. This is an egg wash and will make the crusts more golden and beautiful. You can omit if you want. Bake until rolls are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on bottom, 15 minutes.