I love a simple dish with a little something special.  This is such an easy weeknight dinner, with the smoky flavor of bacon, the bright color and fresh bite of spinach and a creamy sauce that is surprisingly simple.  I prefer to use regular spinach, not the baby spinach sold in the salad section, which [...]

Making homemade crackers is one of the little culinary secrets I love so much.  It never occurs to most people that making your own is something that can or would be done.  But it is easy to do and pretty impressive when you serve homemade crackers.  It took me awhile to get where I wanted [...]

When I claimed thanksgiving for my own, I wanted to create a tradition for this new configuration of family, one for grown-ups and kids alike.  So I came up with the Thankful Tree.  My mom drew a big tree, complete with falling leaves and acorns and a bunny rabbit at the base, on a piece [...]

This is the turkey. I’ve been perfecting this for many years now.  I must say, it is a showstopper, and delicious to boot, because I treat it well.  I send my turkey to a bacon spa. It gets a salt scrub, a bacon butter deep tissue massage, a hand-woven bacon spa robe, some time in [...]

When October rolls around, I start thinking about beer.  Because I start thinking about Oktoberfest.  I’ve never been to Germany, so I’ve never been to a real Oktoberfest celebration, which I understand generally happen at the end of September anyway.  But the idea of Oktoberfest just presents so many options for cooking with, and drinking, [...]

As October begins, I start to think about the farmers market season wrapping up.  I’ve got a few weeks left, when I can buy beautiful apples, as well as pumpkins, winter squash, pears and greens, but I know things are moving into fall and winter. Smaller versions of the market continue, which is a boon, [...]

Field peas are one of my favorite summer time treats.  Though to be honest, I spend enough time in  summer portioning little bags and stashing them in the freezer that I can enjoy them all year round now.  And I’ll be honest; I don’t veer too much off my standard method of cooking them.  Peas, [...]

Bacon Popcorn.  Yep.  How about a giant bowl of this in front of the big game? Slightly sweet, perfectly salty with the amazing flavor of crispy bacon. Popcorn cooked in bacon fat is nothing new.  I imagine it was a popular method before cooking oil could be readily bought and folks were a bit more [...]

Back in the summer, I boasted to you that I am a chicken salad savant and that I have versions for every imaginable occasion and all seasons.  This is my favorite fall chicken salad, full of the crispy, crunchy, bold flavors of the season.  And yes, chicken salad is perfect in fall – it’s not [...]

Shrimp and Grits, technically the child of the South Carolina Low Country has been adopted by Southerners as their own. You will find shrimp and grits in homes and on menus from Florida to Misssissippi, and of course here in Tennessee. I bet most Southerners would put it on a grand list of Southern classics [...]