My mom used to make cauliflower that was served in hot milk with melting butter and plenty of pepper – and I loved it. I have always loved vegetables of all kinds, although it took me a few years to accept cooked carrots. Cauliflower is one of my favorites because it is so versatile.

Roasting brings out the sweetness of almost any vegetable because it caramelizes the natural sugars in it. The flavors aren’t diluted by water (even steaming involves water and evaporation of flavor) and the texture is tender but not mushy.

Leela of She Simmers and  Mel of Bouchon for Two  are hosting a very cool food fight. This month is is the battle of the beets. Entries are due November 6 with winners being announced on November 9th.  I love beets so this was a no brainer for me. I decided to to a Roasted Beet and Ginger Risotto with Fontina. Yum!

You have to love the color! I deep fried some of the whole beet leaves to garnish with. They get glossy, bright green, and have a wonderful, delicate crunch.

This pumpkin fettuccine is a great addition to nearly any meal. It is simple and easy to prepare, goes together quickly, and yet is elegant and unusual enough to get you some impressed looks from the in-laws or the boss. That’s always a good thing, right?

The pasta dough is made with roasted pumpkin and chipotle in adobo. You want to mash the chipotle up very well and stir it into the puree before adding it to the pumpkin. If you don’t someone is going to get a chunk of chipotle and if your luck is anything like mine..well it is …read more

One of my favorite snacks or sides is homemade onion rings. I can’t stand the way they do it in the fast food industry …I want mine delicately flavored, light, crispy, and perfect.
Is that too much to ask? I think not. Check it out -

The batter is so light it just adds a little crunch… The flavor of the onions is delicate and perfect. I have served this numerous ways but my favorite? Powdered sugar. Yep. Seriously. They are that delicate and perfect.

October seemed to hit and bring autumn with it all in a rush, didn’t it? The Crimson Maple out front has a tiny blush to the leaves and we have gotten massive amounts of rain. The raccoons wake me up nearly every night with all of their partying in the creek bed. I think it is time to put the flannel sheets on the beds!

The salad that I did for the church luncheon on Saturday was full of fall flavor. I used a bed of baby lettuces and arranged maple caramelized pear slices on one side and two wedges of …read more

I suppose you could call this polenta but I made it with grits so grits it shall be.
Polenta and grits are similar products, both made from corn. Grits are normally served as a side dish for breakfast, much as you would serve cream of wheat. In recent years they have become more popular and taken on the role of a side dish.
Grits are creamy, somewhat bland, and soothing but they will take on the flavor of almost any ingredient you put into them. They are cheap and filling and those two attributes make them a favorite ingredient at my house.

These …read more

My family’s ability to consume vast amounts of potatoes should allow us to be featured in the Guinness Book of World Records.
It isn’t so much that the family gets bored with the same old potatoes day after day.. I do. I hate cooking the same thing more than once. In fact I am pretty sure that I did not repeat a meal for at least the first ten years of my marriage. After that I got lazy.

I was always taught to eat the whole potato, including skins. This is great IF you are buying organic, but if you aren’t you …read more

I kept thinking of  artichoke spinach dip and wanted to see if I could get that flavor in a risotto. But even then, as I was thinking about it I thought it needed another little something  to put it over the top.Grape leaves seemed to be the right choice but when I went to the store they had none..so..I had to come up with some sort of plan B.

If you have lived in the South at all you know that  items like turnip tops, and beet tops, and collards are not meant for the compost pile. These are not throwaway …read more

I had my thyroid biopsy this morning so I don’t feel like talking much. Wow. I was expecting the procedure to hurt but it was a piece of cake. It is afterward, with the swelling and bruising that makes you feel like you were hit by a mack truck carrying Sumo-wrestling elephants.
I wanted to get this recipe up in time for you to consider it for Fourth of July though.  I know, I know, you always have the same potato salad and it is tradition…well yeah! Me too, but you have to try this because it is addictive. Have I …read more

I thought I had already posted the recipe for Roast Pineapple and Anaheim Pepper Sauce! I have such a backlog of images right now that I am having a hard time sifting through to figure out what is what.
There has been so much going on lately… I feel like…well you remember how, when you were a kid, you would get on a swing and twist until the chain was twisted all the way up? Then you would let go and spin? Yeah. Spinning here.
Marc is much better. He is no longer in a wheel chair and is not using crutches. …read more