Apple-Mustard Chicken Tenders is Country Good!

Apple season is coming. I love the fall for all those delicious ways to use apples. I especially love apples without a pie. Don’t you?

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Let the Christmas Countdown Begin! Spice Up Your Holiday Basket

Would you believe it’s only 100 days until Christmas? As someone who loves to prepare wonderful home-cooked meals, I thought I would give gifts from my heart and my kitchen. This will allow me to be a part of my family’s lives even when I am not there.

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Bayou Country Cajun Crab and Corn Casserole

Bayou is a French-English word for a body of water found in low-lying areas that creeps along its undefined shorelines. It’s a bog, a swamp, a marshy-green thing. The color isn’t necessarily in the water but rather in the reflections. It’s sticky and smelly and bug-infested. It’s also filled with amazing beauty.

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National Linguine Day and Lemony Parmesan Linguine

Are you a pasta fan? I know I am. Pasta and breads are my two biggest weakness. The beauty of Linguine is that it can be your Pasta Course, a side to something else or a meal itself.

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Tomato Asparagus Bruschetta

I find myself faced with an interesting challenge. Recently, I pulled out all my serving pieces and gave them a nice polish. As I looked at my prep table covered in spoons and knives and serving forks, I realized we don’t entertain as we should. My pretty serving pieces rarely get to strut their stuff.

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Creamy Chicken Maryland with Pan Gravy

Way back a million years ago, when you got married your name was put on some interesting mailing lists of companies trying to sell the newly weds all sorts of things, from furniture to cook books and magazines. One of the things I received in the mail were some recipe cards. They were designed to go into a binder. The binder and the reset of the cards would arrive once you had agreed to purchase them. You would get ten cards a month. I never did buy the recipe cards, but I did use their free recipe for Maryland Chicken.

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Kids in the Kitchen

Seeking to empower kids and teens to become more actively involved in the planning, preparation and cooking of family meals, the YCA or Young Chefs Academy declared September 13 to be National Kids Take Over the Kitchen Day.

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A Harvest Moon is Reason Enough to Celebrate

When I was a girl, I remember one evening out in the corn field, picking the last of the corn with my Dad. The moon was so bright, and so big I felt I could easily reach up and touch it. I asked my Dad about the moon. (Like all young girls; I believed my Dad knew everything). He said it was a harvest moon. When I asked why, he spread his arms out and said because you can harvest by the light of the moon. It was something I have never forgotten. (In case you were wondering, a harvest moon is an annual event. It is the first full moon closest to the fall equinox – usually mid to late September or very early October). This year, tonight will be the Harvest Moon. I might just need to stand in my little garden and bath in the beautiful light of the Harvest Moon.

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National Chocolate Milkshake Day

Did you know that the term “Milkshake” was first used in print in 1885 and it wasn’t in reference to the wholesome drink made with chocolate, strawberry or vanilla syrup that we have come to know and love today. By the 1900s the drink was no longer eggnog type drink that included some whiskey.

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Serving up Crock Pot Spaghetti Family Style

Recently while putting together our menu planner and subsequent shopping list, I asked Hubby what he wanted for dinner. While I had most of the coming week planned out, there were a couple of holes that needed to be filled. On those rare occasions when I can’t make up my mind, I like to get a little input from the menfolk.

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National Day of Reflection and Hot Cross Buns

My first instinct was to offer up a prayer today and nothing more. No recipes. To do so seemed to dishonor the day. But then I thought about it and realize that you can remember with honor. The lives lost should be celebrated for having lived at all.

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And Now a Moment of Silence

Today’s scheduled post for Family Style Spaghetti has been postponed. There was something oddly “wrong” about posting a family style recipe and brushing aside the significance of this day. Eighteen years – that’s a long time, a lifetime for some, and our country has yet to fully heal. The wounds are deep. For some the anger runs even deeper. Something happens when an entire nation drops to their knees and weeps. I wish I could say God turned it around, made everything right again, but that’s not entirely true.

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National Hot Dog Day and Jalapeño Popper Dogs

Depending upon who you listen to, today may or may not be National Hot Dog Day. While my gut says “Don’t think so – it’s September and the only ‘dog’ you should be thinking about is a Packer’s Bratwurst” I’m going to say yeah, it’s National Hot Dog Day. Let me explain.

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Home on the Range Skillet Potatoes

If you have been following along for a little while now, you know that I picked up a Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook while visiting Seaside Oregon. The book is filled with Wayne Family recipes, as in John Wayne. This recipe for Breakfast Potatoes was inspired by a recipe from the Duke’s family collection.

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Lattice-Topped French Onion Chicken Bake

Do you love pretty presentations but either aren’t all that good at the detail work or wish it were far more simple? To me, half the joy of cooking is to put something attractive on the table. After all, we eat with our eyes and sense of smell long before that first bite.

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