Category Archives: Uncategorized

We are in Colorado now for the winter season. It’s  just one of those cozy, stay at home nights. My plan is to start the entire season of “Homeland ” tonite on demand tv. So as you can tell I have my work cut out for me. Lentil Soup was my thought with salad and a nice crusty whole grain bread. I am putting some spicy chicken sausage in it tonite as I want it to have a bit more substance as it is the main meal. Hope you feel like you want to make this hearty delicious soup. Also this will keep in fridge for at leasat 4 – 5 days, and it freezes well. I got my inspiration for this soup from Joy the Baker and my usual recipe without chicken sausage. A few new spices  like turmeric and cumin in it as well. Just an aside a…

Since starting this blog I feel the need to come up with some new and exciting meals and while I love the challenge some days are harder than others.  Around 4 pm. towards the end of my day I start to contemplate what I am going to cook. Lemony couscous with grilled chicken and peas!!! Love it!!! and there you go, it was so easy using very few ingredients and very yummy!   I used chicken breasts and threw them on the grill pan with a little olive oil , salt and pepper. If you really want to make this easy you can use a store-bought rotisserie chicken. You can also substitute any grain of your choice. I happen to love the Israeli couscous ( pearl couscous), it’s not as mushy and has a better texture for this dish especially. I also like to use organic lemons when I’m using the zest…

real deal meatballs/prep

I’ve been on the subject of comforting foods a lot lately and this recipe is one of my all-time favorite comfort foods. When I was a young girl, nothing made me happier than to know that my mother was preparing meatballs and spaghetti for dinner and it is still one of my most favorite meals, of which I have the fondest of memories. I hope you like my recipe and are not put off by the amount of ingredients required. I promise you it’s worth it. The sauce and meatballs are perfect for freezing and I usually make enough for at least one extra meal. This tomato sauce has onions and a few different ingredients from my other tomato sauce. This is one suggestions for these meatballs but you can use any sauce that you like. The last time I made these meatballs I actually used the…

My friend Jean gave me this recipe many years ago and I made it exactly the way she gave it to me. This time out I took a few liberties with the recipe and made it for vegetarians. I am always trying to find recipes which will suit my vegetarian daughter, old habits die hard. I switched out the beef broth for veggie broth and had some hesitation as to the flavor but I actually liked it better. It is wonderful and has a totally different flavor with the Beef broth, use whichever you like or whichever you have on hand. It worked out beautifully though so I will stick with it this way. The freshly ground black pepper gives this soup a great flavor, so don’t skimp on it, unless you hate it. It doesn’t get alot of salt, just a bit. I know there is butter and cream…

OK you must be thinking is she kidding Stuffed Shells? gotta be the most fattening food to eat , and it probably is outside of lasagna, baked ziti and the like. Super delicious and sometimes you just hafta roll with it. I wanted a crowd pleaser, vegetarian and something that can easily be made ahead and frozen.  My mind wanders to yummy, gooey food with a lot of cheese because who doesn’t love a lot of cheese. Ah , yes Stuffed Shells.  I wouldn’t cook like this all the time, but once every blue moon no one is getting hurt, right? I served with a salad , no need for bread and butter here. Homemade Maple Syrup Salad Dressing ( see on blog) and it was really pretty awesome. Took a few hours to prepare, mostly because I made my own sauce ( Sunday night sauce) but feel free to use a jar of prepared sauce if…

. This looks so good, and it is pretty easy. So if you’re still in the market for a Thanksgiving Cranberry Sauce give this one a try. I try to keep a few bags of cranberries in my freezer all year round , they are the perfect side to a roast chicken anytime of the year. I always make simple fresh plain Cranberry Sauce and Karyns’s Cranberry Crisp on the holidays. This is a lovely alternative to the simple Fresh Cranberry Sauce recipe or A little twist on Cranberry Sauce on my blog.

Thanks to Joy who is a friend and has been a faithful fan and supporter since the beginning of this blog.  I think we can trust her in the food dept. she knows her stuff!

Recipe as follows: (of course you can double)

Ingredients:

1 12 oz. bag of cranberries

3 granny smith apples , peeled and cut into 1/2 ” cubes

2/3 cup…

We always have to have a sweet potato dish with those darn marshmallows! This has a little twist which makes it a bit more interesting. It’s easy, tasty and unique, because I make it with both marshmallows and pecan halves on top. There are probably a million different recipes for mashed sweet potatoes, but this one goes on my table this year.

Ingredients:

3 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks. Cook Sweet Potatoes (If you want to cheat with the canned ones, I won’t tell anyone, and what’s more is no one will know with all the other stuff in it.) Just drain them well.

1/2 cup whole milk (no skim please)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter (when I double I just add 2 tblsp. butter no need to add 8)

1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, drained

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Completely decadent and totally ridiculous in calories and richness, and I love it. It’s so very delicious. My daughter Jennifer has made this dessert numerous times over the last few years. It is actually a subtle taste of bananas, but I wouldn’t make this if I didn’t like bananas. I happen to just adore bananas and I absolutely love love this pudding. I cannot have it in the house because I will continually find an excuse to go into the fridge and eat it till it’s pretty much all gone. Jenn made it for dessert on Thanksgiving, it was one of 3 majorly desserts and it is really over the top. As full as I was and swearing I wasn’t going to eat another thing for at least a week, when I saw this  pudding I knew I was going to eat it.  She left the uneaten portion of it in my house and I couldn’t…

Michele sent me this as her entry for my CWC Thanksgiving Contest. Wow! they are amazing and before I keep eating them they are going in the freezer for Thanksgiving. Michele always makes these for her fabulous Christmas party. They will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months, so the plan is to make ahead for Thanksgiving, because these have to be on my table.  I didn’t get dried cherries, but I had craisins so I used them. They cooked up in 17 minutes at 325 degrees and were just beautiful. I am happy that I went to the gym this morning that’s all I can say. Thanks Michele for participating and for your support of my blog :). These are going on my Thanksgiving dessert table without a doubt.  These are decadent, but if you’re eating a cookie shouldn’t it be? These were so amazing that everyone who ate them fell in love with…