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The Christmas Crush Christmas shoppers are a hearty breed. The clever ones shop all year round. During the holidays, they dress up and party while the rest of us slough through the malls. But some shoppers like to pack all the glee of the season into one evening. Yes, I have friends who always shop...
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Did You Ever Wait Impatiently to Lick the Bowl and Beaters? When I showed my friend, Lucy, the photos, she asked: “Do you know the difference between a good mother and a great mother?” I waited for the punch line. “A good mother let’s the kids lick the beaters; a great mother turns them off...
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The Fruitcake Reprimand (This is a chapter adapted from my book: A Little Help from My Friends) I’m going to make a fruitcake this year for Christmas,” I announced to Edna one fall day, when we bumped into each other in the supermarket. “Why would you do a thing like that?” she asked. “I like...
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More Cooking with Cast Iron I recently seasoned my cast iron skillets. Now that doesn’t mean sprinkling them with salt and pepper. 🙂 It’s what’s done occasionally to make sure your cast iron cookware remains stick proof. Some skillets today come pre-seasoned. But old ones—and some of the new—must be lightly rubbed with oil (preferably...
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A friend, whose family hails from Mexico, suggested I try Mi Ranchito. So Cyndy and I went on a hunt for the U City restaurant this week. We nearly missed the place, since it’s tucked away on the corner of a small, strip shopping center on Kingsland. We were enjoying the enchiladas, tacos, fajitas, and...
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A Classic, Cheap and Comforting Dish Meatloaf and mashed potatoes go together like peanut butter and jelly or macaroni and cheese. The Depression era entrée was an answer to meat shortages faced by our grandparents. By mixing ground beef with fillers like bread, crackers, or oats the housewife was able to stretch her food dollars....
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If you’ve ever cruised around Maplewood, you know it’s the “restaurant haven” of the Midwest. Should your palate be inclined toward a South of the Border meal, look no further than Casa Maya. Does the name Casa Maya sounds familiar? It’s because for years the restaurant was called Cafe Maya. But 5 months ago the...
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Turkey Day is behind us, but there’re still photos to remind us of how we made a COVID Thanksgiving work. On to Christmas! More from my site Reflections on Thanksgiving 2020 Turkey Soup: Save Those Flavorful Bones Southern Cornbread-Sausage Dressing Thanksgiving: It’s Memories and Menus Turkey Wrestling Let’s Talk Turkey: Heritage or Butterball?
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Thank Goodness for Libby Years ago, I baked a pumpkin pie from scratch. I even cooked the pumpkin, which I cut into pieces and baked for an hour before pureeing. Since then, I’ve stuck with Libby’s canned pumpkin. Not because cooking my own was hard. I just didn’t care for the way mine turned out;...
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Writer Nora Ephron wisely said, “People need more mashed potatoes in their lives.” She called the silky, smooth spuds, “God’s shaving cream.” Mashed Potatoes: Then and Now I fondly remember my mother’s mashed potatoes. They were enhanced by nothing more than butter, milk (oleo during the war), salt and pepper. That’s exactly how I made...
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The Plan for the Day My kids say I go about planning Thanksgiving like it was the D-Day invasion. They say I worry too much. I tell them somebody has to. In recent years I’ve kept a notebook of attendees, menu, recipes, grocery list, and who’s bringing what. The book is much smaller this year....
The post A Southern-Style Thanksgiving in the Ozarks appeared first on Good Food St. Louis.
What Would Popeye Do? I think about the crusty cartoon character each time I swoop into a bowl of Creamed Spinach. Remember Popeye? The muscular ol’ sailor could squeeze open a can of spinach with his bare hands and chug the leafy green vegetable all the while he was smoking a pipe. Every kid knew...
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Thanksgiving Kitchen Helps Put parsley or cilantro in a small vase or even a juice glass with water. It will stay fresh during the holiday cooking season and be ready when needed. Make mashed potatoes up to an hour ahead and place them in slow cooker with a thin layer of warm milk (or light...
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It’s not the turkey or the mashed potatoes or the pumpkin pie, that I look forward to each Thanksgiving; it’s the Cornbread-Sausage Dressing—that soft bouquet of goodness that comes from sautéing a few veggies and mixing them with dry bread. Clearly, the sum is greater than its parts. To Stuff or Not to Stuff Let...
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How Sweet It Is I was smelling and thumping melons at Straubs the other day, when I noticed a variety I was unfamiliar with. Just as I was about to ask the woman next to me if she’d ever eaten a Charentais, she asked me. Neither of us knew anything about the taste or origin...
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A Truffle Treat I’ve heard of truffle pigs and truffle dogs. There was once a Truffle’s Bakery here in St. Louis. But there is also Truffles Restaurant & Butchery—a name not to be overlooked. If you’re heading west on Clayton Road, the upscale restaurant is in the small shopping center across from the fire station....
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A Southern Tradition Back in the 60s, most any church supper or family reunion featured this squash casserole. It’s really good, but not the sort of thing you’d want to eat regularly. In the interest of our health, most of us have cut back on artery-bustin’ fats. A Decadent, Delicious Dish But Southern Living still...
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Nut Cracking It’s black walnut time in the Ozarks. Nature makes you work for every bit of nut meat you claw from those shells. The old saying: “It’s a tough nut to crack” must’ve come from old-timers struggling to get to the inside of a black walnut. This time of year, it’s not unusual to...
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Olé for Taco Salad I occasionally observe Taco Tuesday. It gives me an excuse to eat Mexican food on a day other than Cinco de Mayo. But like meatloaf, every family has their version of the Mexican-inspired salad. No two are quite alike. I’ve found recipes for Taco Salad that include ground beef (or...
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When I did a post recently on tuna salad, I got comments on various versions of the old standby. One was from a guy who said he added a sauce that I was unfamiliar with: Rothchild’s Roasted Pineapple Habanero Glaze and Finishing Sauce. He recommended it highly as a tuna salad booster. Amazingly Good Sauce...
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