In the sixties we had casseroles with cream-of-something soups –tuna-noodle casserole with cream of celery, chicken and cream of mushroom, turkey tettrazini (exotic, since you add sherry instead of milk), ground beef and noodle with cream of tomato. Fast. Easy. Yummy. Casseroles are comfort food. They’re stress reducers because they’re easy to make and theyContinue reading “Comforting Casseroles”
Category Archives: Sunday Cooking
Making Lemon Pepper Relish
I grow lemon peppers – aji limon – by the cartload (kinda) because 1) I depend on them for bean soup (preserved in sherry – add 2 peppers per 3-quart pot of soup) and 2) – and more important – our son, Matt, spends the weekend with us at the end of summer and usesContinue reading “Making Lemon Pepper Relish”
Mild Habanero Hot Peppers
The garden’s a mess, but I’m still picking the very mild habanero peppers. They’re beautiful – lime green with shiny, pleated skin. The plant’s lovely, too — about thigh-high with lime-kelly green flouncy leaves that tend to hide the many peppers they produce. The peppers are delicious. Aromatic with a distinct flavor that shines inContinue reading “Mild Habanero Hot Peppers”
January is National Soup Month
It may not surprise you, but it threw me for a loop. Apparently we have a national food day of some description virtually every day of the year. And of course, there are national food months, too, but there are so many recipes and only so many months, so some are crammed together. For example, JanuaryContinue reading “January is National Soup Month”
Making Spiced Pumpkin Butter
In what seems like another lifetime, I was cook/deckhand on an old coastal tugboat on which my then-young husband was captain. We hauled barges up and down the Atlantic seaboard. Occasionally, we would make a trip that was far enough offshore that US Coast Guard regs would compel us to take on some extra crew. Continue reading “Making Spiced Pumpkin Butter”
Healthy,Delicious and Filling Winter Salads
Don’t get me wrong: I love rich, once-a-year holiday foods. But for balance in both taste and texture – to say nothing of waistline — I crave salads. We’re not talkin’ lettuce and tomato at this time of year though. We’re talkin’ winter vegetables — shredded, roasted, sautéed, and raw. There are plenty of options. Continue reading “Healthy,Delicious and Filling Winter Salads”
Chili Chocolate Cookies
I hardly ever bake cookies. The reason is because unlike cake, which is fun to bake but not my favorite food, I actually eat cookies. A lot. One cookie is usually fewer calories than a slice of cake, which means there’s a certain amount of portion control possible, but the fact that cookies travel easilyContinue reading “Chili Chocolate Cookies”
Christmas Trifle and the Mysteries of Fruitcake
Many of the ‘traditional’ foods we eat around Christmas are English. Yet for generations, English ‘cookery’ has enjoyed a well-earned reputation for ghastliness. Bangers (bready sausages), toad in the hole (bready sausages in bready egg custard), nettle pudding, and spotted dick (now I ask you!). One of the exceptions to this ghastly Victorian gastronomy is trifle,Continue reading “Christmas Trifle and the Mysteries of Fruitcake”
Christmas Cake Recipe for the Seasonally Depressed
This recipe isn’t mine; it was emailed to me by a friend and didn’t include attribution for the author. But while the creator won’t get credit, it will strike a lot of people as a good recipe to follow this time of year. Christmas Cake Recipe 2 cups flour 1 stick butter 1 cup ofContinue reading “Christmas Cake Recipe for the Seasonally Depressed”
Leftover Days That Follow
While I love the meal of Turkey Day – mash, gravy stuffing, what’s not to love? – I actually like the days that follow more. The meal itself, fairly hidebound in tradition, offers limited scope for creativity, but the day after, you can have at it with abandon. It’s like the difference between a formalContinue reading “Leftover Days That Follow”
Nancy Taylor Robson 