My Best Roast Chicken Recipe in a Cast Iron Skillet has several innovative ideas, that take a perfectly good roast chicken to the realm of greatness. Nom, Nom, Nom. A Hybrid of a Recipe, Using the Techniques of Three Great Cooks This recipe  for Best Roast Chicken in a Cast Iron Skillet, is a bit …

Are you looking for a recipe or two for some wonderful Christmas cookies? I won two different cookie contests in my small ‘burg in the Boonies with these delicious recipes. Chocolate Caramel Treasures and Raspberry Shortbread are my two prize winning recipes. And if you’re not looking to cook, the story of how I became the …

What you cannot see in this picture is my couch. Is it clean? Or is it cruddy? I do not love to clean. However, I also cannot tolerate true squalor. 😀 And I’m not financially in a position to do my bit to help our nation’s economic recovery effort by hiring someone ELSE to do …

Do you see what I see? Said the night wind to the little lamb: “Do you see what I see? Way up in the sky, little lamb.” Well, how about it? Do you see what I see? I’ll bet you don’t. You probably see a lovely tree, covered in twinkling lights, surrounded by presents, with …

Me and my pal. In honor of my dear friend, who was diagnosed with, and treated for breast cancer this year, I’m off to get a mammogram tomorrow.(We’re pretty certain that my friend got lucky, in that they caught her cancer fairly early, and were able to treat it, and have pronounced her treatment at …

What is it about me and the Nutcracker Ballet?  I am cursed. My friends, I live my life under the Curse of the Sugar Plum Fairy. That curse is a little known phenomenon, but it has to do with a person who chooses to go to a kiddie version of the ballet. Here in Nashville …

It’s funny how one thing leads to another… Remember how the other day I did a post on 5 Things? (Like Five Things that You Don’t Know About Me; and Five Things That I Know Nothing About; and Five Things I’m Knowledgeable About; and Five Things I Believe.) That topic came from Mama Kat‘s Pretty …

Perciatelli all’Amatriciana is the best pasta I have ever had in my life. BUT: I can hear you now, from clear over here, in the Boonies. A whole lot of you are saying: “What the ____ is perciatelli?” (Unless you’re Italian. Or a chef. Or, for whatever the reason, you really know your pasta.) What …

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE a good book. The down time during the holidays is one of my favorite times to dig into a great read. In general, I’ve disciplined myself into becoming more of a public library kind of girl: when funds are tight, apart from what we spend on our …

Wonder why I’m sporting a halo? Me, too. But, read on… Oy, vey. Talk about your navel gazing post. Sheesh. I only did this for you, MamaKat, because you prompted me, darn you, through your pretty much world famous Writer’s Workshop. 5 Things You Don’t Know About Me: I laugh loudly. But you can’t hear …

It’s a good read! Yes, I’m going to do it. I’m going to offer you my review of “Saving CeeCee Honeycutt”, the New York Times bestseller, by Beth Hoffman. A BRIEF WORD TO THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVEN’T READ THIS BOOK: Normally, I shy away from reading book reviews of books I haven’t read, because …

You’ll want to go here to give this a listen. Click on the star once you get there. “We play The Big Bison’s CD with dessert after the Thanksgiving meal: that’s when Christmas officially starts at our house. Because only a Philistine would start the Christmas season before dessert on Thanksgiving.” These are the words of …

Oh, my. Pecan Pie. I thought I’d make it easy for you to find any of my Thanksgiving recipes that you might be interested in, and link them all up in one post, so…here ya go! How To Brine and Smoke a Turkey How To Brine and Grill a TurkeyWorld’s Best Cream Gravy World’s Best …

Refreshing and palate-pleasing, a bite of Easy Cranberry Orange Apple Walnut Relish is the divine soulmate to a bite of turkey. It’s also the perfect foil to so many of the *heavy* fat-laden dishes, that cause our heavily-laden Thanksgiving tables to groan under the weight thereof. An additional reason I adore this dish is because …

This Apple-Pear Salad with Maple Pecan Bacon is the perfect salad for Thanksgiving. Apples, pears, grapes, salad greens, with Maple Pecan Bacon, drizzled with a cranberry vinaigrette! How I Discovered This Apple-Pear Salad I went to a slumber party with my wonderful girlfriends, and came home with the salad of my dreams: Apple-Pear Salad with …