Dollop of Daisy…cover from inside of the sour cream container

If you were to call me a broken record, it would very often be true.  I have said it before and I am certain I will say it again, but sometimes joy can be found in the most simple of things.  Tonight for instance, I opened a fresh container of Daisy sour cream, and the foil lid had a picture of Glacier National Park in Montana.  Between the hustle of helping kids do homework and making dinner, it certainly caused me to pause for a second and take a deep breath, remembering times spent out west and the mountains that I love so much.  All of the sudden the baked potatoes in the oven that were the reason for the sour cream turned into a simple reminder to pause and enjoy, to pause and remember.  All because of a simple Monday night dinner of peel & eat shrimp, baked potatoes with garlic butter and sour cream, and steamed broccoli…simply good.

This time of year brings so many reasons for us all to be thankful, and while you don’t need me to tell you that, I think writing about it makes me thankful as well.  I thank you for being interested in my ideas, and food, and giving me the chance to do what I love.  As you go about your days getting ready for the Holidays and guests, enjoy it!  Enjoy it over food and drinks, and with the love of family and friends wrapping around you like a blanket.

Simply enjoy. Simply enjoy life, one dollop at a time.

Our simple Monday night dinner…

Cinnamon Caramel Waffle Stack

Pecans…how do you say it?  “Pea-cans” or “pea-cahns”?  This was a funny topic of discussion this past Saturday during a cooking demonstration I did at Southern Home & Kitchen, affectionately referred to as “SOHO”.

It was a fun, waffle filled morning at, Southern Home & Kitchen , which opened in August at Thruway shopping center.  This cute store is filled with goodies for the kitchen and home, and they installed a small kitchen in the back of the store where they hold demo’s and cooking classes.  (Be sure to check their website and Face Book page for detailed information on this.  I will be doing cooking classes, along with many other great area chefs, beginning January 2014, you are sure to find a class that intrigues you.)

On Saturday, I used Stonewall Kitchen waffle and pancake mixes to create some fun, “foodied” up Holiday entertaining ideas.  True, I start most things from scratch, but when there is a great product that helps you out- go for it, especially at busy times like Holidays!  SoHo sells a lot of Stonewall products, and by far the popular ones that day were the Pumpkin Waffle Mix, Gingerbread Waffle mix, and the Coffee Caramel Sauce.  The waffles alone will fill your house until it smells like a pumpkin or gingerbread cookie for everyone this Thanksgiving or Christmas!  When paired with the infused syrups and butters, the combination can’t be beat.  Not to mention, you will feel like you have whipped up a gourmet breakfast or brunch with ease, yet you won’t be covered in flour, up since 5:00 am cooking, or feel exhausted before the turkey is in the oven.  So, as promised to the many of you who came by, here are some menu’s, recipes and ideas to make breakfast quick, easy, and most importantly yummy, this year!  Enjoy, the best of food and life, one Holiday at a time, or one waffle at a time!

(All of the items below I paired with either Pumpkin or Gingerbread Waffle mixes.  Pancakes are fine too, but the style and ease of the waffle maker is just great.  You could even make a French Toast Casserole and serve with the following, too.)

Infused Syrups:

Begin with the maple syrup of your preference.  I used the Trader Joe’s, 25 ounce bottle for only $16.99.  Measure out about one cup of syrup into a small sauce pan.  Add to it a combination of any of the following: fresh mint, ground cinnamon, fresh raspberries, fresh strawberries, fresh cranberries, Meyer Lemons, fresh whole apples, nutmeg, and orange peel.  Trust me when I say it is hard to stop listing ingredients there, but I am going with what I did this past weekend- let your mind explode with ideas and what you have on hand!

Holiday Cinnamon & Cranberry Syrup– to the syrup and a handful of cranberries, a dash or two of cinnamon.  Bring to a low simmer until the cranberries pop and the aroma is wafting into the house.  Serve over your waffles or pancakes, with the berries, for a yummy sweet syrup that has a tart surprise of cranberry.

Raspberry Mint Infused Syrup– add about 8-10 raspberries into a cup of syrup.  Place a 2 inch sprig of mint (more or less based on how strong you want the mint flavor to be) in the pot, being sure to bruise the mint leaves well with the back of a fork or spoon to release the oils and flavor.  Simmer on low for a bout 5 minutes.  Place a strainer over your serving dish and pour syrup with berries and mint into strainer.  Press on fruit and mint to extract all the flavor, and that pretty pink color, into your syrup.  Discard ingredients in strainer, and serve warm syrup over waffles topped with sliced strawberries and fruits.

Julia’s Better Butters:

Meyer Lemon Zest Butter with Thyme & Honey: Place one stick of softened butter in a small mixing bowl.  (The butter should be easy to mash with a spoon.)  Add to butter 2-3 sprigs of thyme, leaves only; zest of one Meyer lemon, and 2 teaspoons, more or less, to butter.  Using spoon incorporate ingredients well, then place in serving dish and keep room temperature.

Grapefruit, Cinnamon and Thyme Holiday Butter:  Place one stick of softened butter in a small mixing bowl.  (The butter should be easy to mash with a spoon.) Zest one grapefruit into butter.  Add 2-3 sprigs of thyme, leaves only; and one teaspoon of ground cinnamon.  Using spoon incorporate ingredients well, then place in serving dish and keep room temperature.

Waffle Toppers:

Apple Caramel with Cinnamon Waffle Topper:  Melt half stick of butter in small shallow saucepan.  Thinly slice half an apple, leaving skin on.  Add to the melted butter, swirl with a dash or two of cinnamon and nutmeg.  Add half a jar of Stonewall Kitchen Coffee Caramel Sauce, and stir in until apples are just soft but intact.  Serve over top of Pumpkin Waffles with a dollop of whipped cream!  Another variation on this recipe is to segment a grapefruit ( like the one you just zested for the butter) into the sauce for a delicious addition.

Sweet Thyme Butter with Honeycrisp Apples:  Melt half stick of butter in small shallow saucepan.  Add to butter the leaves of 3-4 sprigs of thyme.  Next, thinly slice half a Honey Crisp apple, leaving skin on.  Sprinkle brown sugar about 1/4 cup, and mix until melted into butter.  Serve over Gingerbread Waffles with whipped cream dollop and fresh grated nutmeg, bon apetit!

Cinnamon Roasted Pecans:  It doesn’t matter how you say it, pea-cans or pea-cahns!

Toss one cup chopped pecans with three tablespoons melted butter in a small bowl.  Add a dash or two of cinnamon and one teaspoon vanilla.  Roast in 375 oven about 15 minutes, until lightly roasted and aroma is strong!  Set aside to cool, then place in serving dish and serve with any of the above recipes, or just as a nibble, too!

Waffle Stackers (pictured at top): 

Prepare your preferred waffle.  Cut into the four triangles.  Place one down on serving plate, then top with thinly sliced strawberries.  Place next triangle on top and spread with Better Butter Recipe.  Place third triangle on top and spread with fruit, heck, go ahead and spread whipped cream in this layer, too!  Top with last triangle, and top with fruits, and then generously pour waffle topping or infused syrup over the top.  Remember, generously drench it, then serve and enjoy!  This is a fun thing for kids or grandkids to make:  simply place cut waffles and toppings in bowls and let guests make their own “Waffle Stack”!

The best thing about everything above is that it sounds fancy and delicious, and looks it, but the preparation and time involved are simple.  So as you think about the Holidays keep these easy ideas in mind, and SOHO-ho-ho your way into some delicious fun and merry yummy ideas!

Turkey & Dumplings…

Tis the season for turkeys!  Ironically, I cook turkey breast all year round, and in fact did so two days ago.  I love having it sliced for sandwiches and lunch boxes, and then you really reap the rewards by using the breast meat and bones to make a hearty stock.  With the stock and meat you can make turkey & dumplin’s, turkey & okra gumbo, how can I stop there with all you can do?  Therefore, I was inspired to share a little gobble with you, if you are so inclined to try doing this at home.  It does take a little time, but it is simple and the smells and flavors are worth it, a perfect Sunday afternoon activity on a chilly day!

So, here is what happened…I went to the Teeter and bought a turkey breast.  A simple 7+ pound turkey breast, not the whole bird.  (You’ll be doing the whole bird soon enough, and this is something I hope you’ll find easy to do throughout the year and not just on Thanksgiving Day.)  Roast according to the package instructions, which took about 2 hours 15 minutes at 325 degrees for my 7.41 pound bird.  Using my hands, I rubbed mine prior to roasting with olive oil, then generously salt and peppered it, nothing else.

Okay, so the house is smelling awesome just over an hour in.  Hard to wait, but don’t peek yet!  Each time you open the oven to look at something you loose valuable heat, which only takes things longer to cook.  Finally, the wait is over and it is time to check the girl.  Often they come with handy dandy pop up timers, and if not, it is always reliable to check with your meat thermometer for 165internal temp in the thickest part of the breast.  After it was done, I let it cool, then covered and put in the fridge overnight.  Okay, I admit, I did rob it of some of that hot crispy skin, but to me that is half the reason for doing it!

The next the morning I sliced the breast meat off the bone, then into thin slices I sealed in a Ziploc for using the next few days.   For simple instructions on how to slice the breast meat, this link from monkey see is an easy to follow guide!  For lunch I made Hot Turkey Melts which were gobbled up (pun intended).  Simple sandwiches on a day off from school: fresh roasted turkey, mayo & mustard, cheese, and we added a sliced or two of salami, then grilled with butter in the pan until toasty—yummmmy.

Awesome—now you have some tender sliced turkey and a gorgeous carcass to go with it!  Throw that bad girl in a stock pot and let the fun begin.  (carcass only, save the already sliced meat for other uses).  To start, cover turkey carcass with water, at least an inch above.  Next, go to your fridge or pantry and use up some things, or feel free to buy just for this purpose.  I added to my stock pot with the turkey:

3 whole carrots, unpeeled and cut into 2 inch pieces

1 whole onion, skin on, quartered

1/3 stalk of celery, leaves included, cut into 2 inch pieces

generous sprinkle of salt and pepper, and any fresh herbs that you may have ( I like to use thyme, parsley and a bay leaf)

1.)  Bring to a good simmer, but not a rolling boil, then continue to let simmer on low for at least one hour, or more.  Remember, all the meat is cooked, you are simply trying to slowly extract all the flavor you can from it.  I simmered mine about a total of 1.5 hours today.  2.)  Taking care not to burn yourself, lift the carcass from the stock pot onto a plate.  Don’t take it straight to the trash can, as that meat from the bone is so tender you won’t believe it, in fact it will likely just fall off.   3.)  Next, carefully pour the remaining stock and vegetables slowly through a strainer resting over a large pot, where your pure stock will be able to cool.  4.)  Discard ingredients in strainer.  5.)  Let stock cool on the counter at least one or two hours.  While stock is cooling, pick the meat off and reserve for using later.  6.)  Once stock has cooled, place in the fridge, uncovered.  The fat will rise to the top, and once it has separated and cooled completely, then you remove the fat with a slotted spoon or skimmer.

What’s left?  A delicious, homemade, low sodium, low fat stock that you can use in many recipes.  I portion mine into quart containers and freeze.  The day I made stock we had delicious Turkey & Dumplings for dinner, pictured at the top.  I have enough for sandwiches again today, and will freeze a small amount for using later in a soup, plus plenty of stock in the freezer too.  And if you don’t want to do this with Thanksgiving just down the road, challenge yourself to a little fun and use the whole leftover bird this Holiday to make stock!  One of our favorite family traditions just after Turkey Day is having gumbo, turkey & okra gumbo with Andouille sausage and crusty bread.  Only a few more weeks to wait!

Enjoy the best of food and life, and homemade goodies like this!

Pot with strainer set over it…

Beautiful pot of stock!

It was simply stunning outside this morning.  If you were awake early enough, I am sure you saw the amazing sunrise, too.  Truly breathtaking.  The sun shone the most spetacular hue of orange and pink, with that hint of purple, colors only nature can create.  Trees, just turning their gorgeous fall colors, were illuminated, like Mother Nature was performing a light show.  It was hands down the nicest drive to school we have had, the serenity of nature touched the kids too, there was not one cross word between them.

A pretty good start to this day, this day of tricks and treats, costumes and candy.  Such fun traditions being remembered, and being made.  Life, being lived, being celebrated, and how lucky we are to be in it.  Now it’s time for the fun, and I wanted to share some goofy things I have been collecting for you.  So, as you scurry around today, or answer your door tonight, just soak it all in and enjoy!

“What do the skeletons say before eating?”   “Bone appetite.”

“Why was the mummy so tense?”   “Because he was all wound up.”

“I’d dress up as Siri for Halloween if my life didn’t already entail being asked stupid questions all day.”

“What do you call two spiders that just got married?”  “Newly webbed.”

“Halloween is huge in my house and we really get into the ‘spirits’ of things.” 

Dee Snyder

“Use your imagination not to scare yourself to death, but to inspire yourself to life.”  Adele Brookman

Morning, in all its glory, is always all around us.  Enjoy the best of food and life, and eat, drink, and be scary!

It’s true, just as Julie Andrews sang one time, raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens are pretty awesome!  But there are some other things that are my favorites I wanted to share with you on this crisp Fall morning!  Obviously anything related to food and cooking is among my favorites, but there is so much more than that.  I think of this stuff so often, and just the thought alone makes you feel thankful, so I decided to blog about this list I have been compiling mentally for weeks.  What are some of your favorite things?

…fleece jackets, jeans, and boots…tailgates…homemade soups…fires…a dog happy to see you come home, if it has been 30 minutes or thirty days, they love you the same…spiced apple cider…Halloween decorations…planning the Thanksgiving menu…a girls weekends away…tried and true “vintage” Patagonia’s…crispy chicken and mashed potatoes…genuine hugs from a friend…seeing my kids smile as they run off the bus…a nice glass of red wine…family movie night snuggles under blankets…another glass of red wine…the maple tree’s changing colors on Reynolda Road…farmers markets…the smell of Halloween night when Jack o’ Lanterns are burning…sweet potato biscuits with ham…Harvest Moons…the smell of toasting pumpkin seeds after carving a pumpkin…anticipating Christmas…the Dixie Classic Fair in October…walking into my kitchen at work first thing in the morning…a well set dinner table…cold rains…cooking outdoors with my husband on our smoker…lazy morning breakfast on the weekends…and the list goes on and on and on, but I know you have things to do!

…enjoy your favorite things, and the best of food and life, this weekend!

I’m not sure who blew the whistle during the last week of August and said “On your mark, get set, go!”, but this Fall has been off to a running start!  As many of you know, it can be tough juggling work, family, home, and all of our obligations, but the rewards in all departments make it so worth it.   It just can’t be avoided, we all live busy lives.  Whether you are running carpools, in and out of school, volunteering, playing bridge, or working and wondering how to juggle dinner each night, you stay busy.  I’m sure many of you get to 6:00 pm and are thinking, “what do I do for dinner?”

It’s then that it dawns on you that you have only had time to go to the bathroom once and have only had two out of your eight glasses of water for the day.  I hope you feel better by knowing there are days that stump me too, when I am not sure how to feed the other mouths in my family even though we are surrounded by food.  Yes, really, all I want to do is have a glass of wine and sit down.

When I have one of those days that I know will be busy, and I don’t have time to make dinner until we walk in the door entirely too late to start cooking, one of my favorite go to meals is Pork Carnita’s.  I don’t use the slow cooker very often, but this yummy dinner is a family pleaser and can be ready with just a little thinking ahead.  It makes a lot, so it is a great meal to freeze for a couple of other busy nights, and it is also a fabulous meal to serve for casual entertaining.  So, invite a few friends and families over, whip up some great sides like cilantro lime cole slaw, kicked up pinto beans, fresh fruit salad, add a great selection of hot sauces, and you have a fun, easy, and inexpensive dinner!

Below are the recipes and instructions you’ll need, it can be made as is or “foodied up” a bit.  The recipe for roasted tomatillo salsa is delicious and has become one of my often used recipes for other menu’s, too. I hope it helps you out on one of those “pull your hair out kind of days” when you don’t have time to cook but still need a good dinner to enjoy together.  Enjoy the best of food and life, especially when you don’t think you have time to!

In case you’re wondering, these are tomatillo’s!

pork carnita’s

One Boston Butt pork shoulder (I prefer bone in but boneless is fine)

One large white or sweet onion, ends removed and cut into thick chunks

One bay leaf

sprinkle of salt and pepper

*1 avocado, halved, pitted and sliced; fresh cilantro sprigs; sliced red bell peppers; lime wedges… all optional for serving, see directions below.

To Prepare:  Scatter onions in the bottom of slow cooker, place pork shoulder on top.  Season to taste.  Cover, set on low until meat is tender and falling apart, about 8 hours.

With slotted spoons, transfer pork to cutting board.  Using fingers, shred pork (removing fat), and place in onto a platter with the pork in the center.  Place avocado slices, cilantro, red bell peppers and lime wedges around the meat decoratively.  Serve with warm tortilla’s of your choice.

Some fun variations: If you like spicy, add a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce half way through cooking; before cooking and preferably overnight, rub pork shoulder with your favorite rub or blackening seasonings; or using a BBQ injector season your meat with mojo or a lime vinaigrette.

roasted tomatillo salsa

1 pound tomatillos (about 6 large)

1/ large onion, cut into thirds

2 Serrano chiles, halved, seed removed

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves

Preheat oven to 375.  Toss first 5 ingredients in a 8x8x2 inch baking dish.  Roast in oven until tomatillos and onions are soft, about 1 hour.  Transfer contents of dish to food processor, add cilantro.  Puree until almost smooth.  *One avocado may be added pit removed, with cilantro.  Transfer to bowl serve chilled or at room temperature.

This skinny pepper is the Serrano, it is smaller than a jalapeno.

 Last week I felt like I went to Asia and Latin America, without my passport or even leaving Winston-Salem!  Our city has some great resources for those of you looking for a little culinary adventure, so I thought I would share my food adventures from the past week, ending on Saturday with a great tailgate.

It all began on Monday with a trip to Oriental Oasis.  I have been a customer of this store, located on Lockland Avenue near Silas Creek, for at least 14 years or more.  It is my go to place for real soy sauce (yes there is a difference in what you buy there and Kikkoman in the grocery store), and items I needed for my Asian dinner pick up last week; such as Kaffir lime leaves, great Napa cabbage, lemongrass, nam pla, and more.  Nam pla is not a typo, it is authentic Thai fish sauce that is a must have ingredient in preparing Thai and other Asian foods.  Along with lettuce wraps, crunchy Asian salad, and marinated cucumbers I also made a delicious infused coconut chicken soup… it was a morning of fun.  I decided I was going to rename my kitchen the “playground” on Tuesday!

Oriental Oasis

With the Wednesday pick up out of the way, it was time to get ready for the weekend and the exciting arrival of my La Caja China.  La Caja China is this amazing “roasting box” I have been wanting for a couple of years and finally decided to purchase for work.  I have no idea why I waited so long as this cooker is totally amazing, but more on the details of that later.  First, I had to get some real Latin ingredients, which is best found with a trip to Compare Foods.

Compare Foods

Now, I will just go ahead and say that I am willing to bet most of you have never been to Compare Foods, and think it is a discount store.  Not entirely true, although the prices are really good I would say it is more of huge ethnic market.  Words can’t really adequately describe it, but the pictures below will give you an idea.  It is FUN, capital F-U-N, and you should go there and check it out the next time you’re having “Taco Tuesday” and spice up your ingredients a bit!  If you’re a little intimidated that would be normal, I would be happy to meet you there, with the disclaimer that there is tons of stuff there I don’t even know how to use!

With bitter orange juice in hand, limes, cilantro, real tortillas and tostadas, and more, I was off to the kitchen to play with my food!  For those of you wondering, bitter orange juice is a crucial ingredient in mojo criollo, a delicious marinade for Cuban and other Latin American foods, it can be made by mixing orange juice and lemon if you don’t have bitter orange.  And mojo criollo was exactly what I was marinating and injecting the hog I was planning for thevSaturday WFU/NCSU tailgate.  In case you have never ordered a whole pig before, I ordered mine through Ogburn Meat Station, located out past the airport on Liberty Street.  The owner, Hermin, is about the nicest man and was tickled about how excited I was about this hog.  The smallest pig he could get came in about 90 pounds, which was entirely too big, so we ended up using half which worked out perfect!

Ogburn Meat Station

There she is!

With a little hiccup on the way home, (I was rear ended at a traffic light!  I mean really, who else has a wreck with a pig in the back of their car but me???) I set off to get ready for the premier voyage of La Caja China and the fun began with setting this thing up!  It is at this point I have to mention and thank my sweet husband.  I am so lucky that he enjoys the crazy ideas I get, too, despite a little eye rolling when they’re first mentioned.  I always remind him he knew this about me when he married me, and typically it ends up being a lot of fun for both of us together.  Please note the critical elements of set up below, as in the cold beer!  Cold beer, flip flops and assembling a cooker….that’s right!

Actually, set up was very smooth and probably took thirty minutes total for this, proud to say, made in the USA item.

The hard part was waiting until the morning to set up and use it!

Pictured above, the hog marinated and ready to go on cooker, and the Caja China at work!

After about 3 hours we flipped the pig over, skin side up now, so the skin would crisp, and had to painfully wait about 45 minutes and she was done!

Finally, she was well worth the wait!  It was served with salsa verde, guacamole, tortillas and tostada’s, red pepper cole slaw, black bean salad, and yummy pumpkin cupcakes to finish off.  Throw in the champagne enjoyed while she cooked and it was a fabulous foodie day!

This little piggy sure did go to the tailgate in style, and it was a week full of enjoying the best of food and life.  I hope you’ll try some of our area stores and challenge yourself to step outside of the box a little!  (pun intended, caja is box in Spanish!)  Enjoy…

Surely not the prettiest things ever, those bananas sitting on the counter or hanging on the hook.  Often they are more brown than yellow, covered in “banana freckles” and looking more like an object headed for the trash than a tropical fruit.  However, put them in your fridge and save them until you have time to bake them into Banana Bread, and they take on a whole, delicious new meaning!

For those of you who might be new to my blog (and THANK YOU! for following), I love my cookbooks and regularly grab one that I feature for the week.  This week it happens to be A Taste of Georgia, an award winning cookbook from the Junior League of Newnan, Georgia.  While not all of the recipes in Junior League cookbooks will challenge your culinary chops, they do lend tried and true recipes that often are local area favorites.  What makes this book so special to me is that it came from a dear friend when she moved away from Winston-Salem, and in it she wrote: “Here is a ‘Taste of Georgia’, thanking you for all of the tastes of Winston-Salem that you have shown me.” 

Like a good friend, recipes that you turn to over and over should be cherished, and I wanted to share this very simple but delicious recipe for Banana Bread that I made yesterday.  Enjoy, the best of food and life, and all the tasty treats baking in your kitchen!

Banana Bread

1 stick butter                                    2 cups flour

1 cup sugar                                      1/2 teaspoon soda

2 eggs                                                1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 bananas, mashed                         1 cup nuts (optional)

Cream butter and sugar together.  Add eggs and beat well.  Add mashed bananas, flour, soda, vanilla, and nuts.  Grease and flour 1 large or 2 small loaf pans.  Pour dough into pan.  Bake for 1 hour or until brown and cooked through, at 300.

*My note: I like to mash bananas by putting them in a separate bowl and using a fork to mash each one until they are all mushed up…a great way to have your kids or grandkids help you out!

Where do I begin this post?  It isn’t often I am at a loss of words, but the news of a dear friend and neighbor who died over the night has me feeling a different perspective today.  How do you sum up the magnitude of her life, such a woman ahead of her time.  She graduated college, had a career, married but never had children, and was a huge philanthropist for the arts, specifically music at Wake Forest University.  Maybe this makes more sense for me to mention that she was 107 years of age, so during her time most women were simply not doing all these things.

When we moved into our house she was already in her 90’s and still driving.  Driving I say loosely, she would amazingly back her car out of her narrow driveway once a week, on Sundays during church when the roads were quiet.  She was fiercely independent, brilliant and sharp as a tack until her last breath, and a phenomenal duplicate bridge player.  I wouldn’t be surprised to find out she had a bridge game last week, and chances are she won.

Marion pretty much outlived most of her family and many friends, and over the years we really enjoyed having her next door.  She always remembered the exact dates and ages of my children.  I will never forget her coming to the first Oyster Roast we had here, and she arrived with her handbag over her arm.  She joined us for many Holidays, and her stories at the Thanksgiving Table were always such a welcome addition.  One year we lost power and she stayed with us during the worst ice storm we have had.  She even adopted one of our cats, Wilbur, who was her very dear companion until she finally had to move to assisted living for the last few years.  We always put our Christmas Tree in our sunroom, as after the first year we lived here I would see her looking at its sparkly lights every night, and for her to later tell me how much she enjoyed our tree.  She cleaned out her attic garage one year, and kindly brought over a box of some of her Christmas things.  There are so many more stories and things to share about her, catch me one day and I can tell you more.  Marion loved to eat, but she did not love to cook.  Since she moved away there are very few meals I don’t think about her, as she was always the recipient of our dinners, too.  These memories I will cherish forever.

Marion Secrest, amazing woman, amazing friend.  Her birthday is the day before mine, and celebrating her birthday was a gift in itself to me.  Many years ago she gave me the key to her house.  There are probably very few people who still have skeleton keys to their homes, and I cherish it.  Thank you for allowing me to share her with you.  And thank you Marion, for helping me to enjoy the best of life by knowing you.  In sweet memory of you…

Can you feel it?  The change in the air, the difference in the sunlight in the afternoon, all the signs Fall is arriving.  There are so many things that bring me true joy, and Fall is definitely one of them.  Along with the colorful leaves, football games and tailgates, apples and pumpkins, there are so many glorious fall foods to savor!  This week I had some leftover apples, and instead of letting them rot, I peeled and sliced them into a covered dish.  Next I sprinkled them with brown sugar, cinnamon and butter, water to cover the bottom barely, and baked them in the oven for about an hour or more on 350.  I would give you a better recipe than that if I could, but in a way it will be good for some of you to go play with your food in that manner.  Along with cinnamon apples, you will find me making a lot of soups and stews, decorating with pumpkins on the table and taking the chill off in the upcoming weeks by a roaring fire, hopefully.

These days, we don’t have to rely on Fall Harvest moons to gather our crops during the night, a last reminder to farmers in days gone by that daylight was about to change, as well as the temperatures.  But we still need it, even if we don’t rely on it.  Yes, it is much easier to use the flashlight on your I-Phone, but if the clouds aren’t too thick go check out this gorgeous moon tonight or tomorrow night.  If you are looking for another fun Fall thing to do, consider taking the “everything Pumpkin” cooking class I will be doing at Southern Home & Kitchen.  This class is a fun Fall sampler of one of the most popular ingredients- pumpkins and Fall squash.  Spiced pumpkin muffins, creamy butternut squash soup with crème fraiche and chives, sweet potato biscuits…who knows what other surprise will be waiting!  Call 336-777.3660 to reserve a spot.

As I close, I thought I would leave you with one of my Family Fall Favorite menu’s, I hope it helps give you some inspiration if you’re wondering what to serve for dinner…enjoy!

Grilled Herb Dijon Pork Tenderloin

Parmesan Orzo Risotto

Cinnamon Baked Apples as mentioned above 

(shortcuts are fine here, such as applesauce, but you’ll have fun if you make it)

Buttered Peas

Glass of pinot noir, but you must be 21, otherwise sweet tea!