The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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I hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday and were able to celebrate Christmas with your loved ones. This time of year is all about tradition. With the flu still lingering, busy schedules, and just life in general, some families extend their get-togethers into the New Year. If you are like me, you have fond memories of baking pies, giving of presents, or having a meal with your friends and family. All of this demands planning to make Christmas a memorable event. Did you prepare the...
Have a Blessed Christmas Most of the recipes I post are entrée's and are meant for a family lunch or dinner party. Occasionally, I get requests for certain types of recipes, such as desserts. Winter and the Christmas holidays are good times to introduce recipes that are desserts and are sweet. Cakes and pies are popular this time of year and I have gotten several requests for cakes that will go with the meal that is usually served at a Christmas dinner. The cakes are popular during the...
I have had a lot of pushback about trying new dishes and alternative cooking methods for Thanksgiving. This is one of the holidays where the meal menu is set in stone. "This is the way we always served it, and nobody will eat it if it is not the way "Aunt Hettie" fixed it." The one side dish that I always try to change is the sweet potatoes. I am not fond of canned or over-cooked sweet potatoes drowning in butter and brown sugar and with crispy browned marshmallows floating on top of the liquid...
Remember that this is the ending of summer and the starting of Fall. One of the joys of Fall is enjoying the delicious and comforting meals that are typical of the season. In the South, there are many dishes that celebrate the bounty and flavor of autumn, such as fried okra, sweet potato casserole, collard greens, apple pie, tomato pie, and pecan pie. These are some of the most popular meals in the South and they can be made with fresh, local ingredients that are harvested this time of year. A...
The type of roux used in Cajun cooking is indeed important and can significantly impact the flavor, texture, and overall character of many Cajun and ethnic dishes. Roux is a mixture of equal parts flour and fat (traditionally, oil or butter) that serves as a thickening agent for sauces, stews, and gumbo in Cajun cuisine. In Cajun cooking, there are generally three main types of roux, classified based on their color and flavor: 1. White Roux: This is the lightest and has the shortest cooking...
Learning to cook different countries' style of meals expands your palate and exposes you to new flavors and ingredients. Cooking authentic dishes of various countries can teach you about their culture, traditions, and lifestyle. It also allows you to explore new, healthier ingredients and cooking methods, save money, and create a fun, sociable environment for friends and family. Additionally, it can open doors for career opportunities in the culinary field. Summer is here, and that means it’s t...
What did the people of the newly formed United States eat while celebrating the Fourth of July? Did they just decide to eat something different from their usual menu? When and where did the idea of a menu just for the Four of July start? Legend has it that on July 4, 1776, John Adams and his wife celebrated the country's independence with a meal of turtle soup, poached salmon with an egg sauce, green peas, boiled potatoes, and a desert of Indian pudding or apple Pandowdy. Turtle soup was a very...
I write about and like the combination of Southern Cuisine and Mexican Cuisine. It is a fusion of flavors that can delight the palate and satisfy the appetite. Southern Cuisine is known for its comfort food, such as fried chicken, cornbread, collard greens, and macaroni and cheese. Mexican Cuisine is famous for its spicy dishes, such as tacos, enchiladas, burritos, and salsa. By combining elements from both cuisines, one can create dishes that are unique and delicious. Quick, Delicious Food for...
Southern cuisine in the United States has been shaped by a variety of influences, including African and Asian cuisines. Both of these culinary traditions have left an indelible mark on the flavors, techniques, and ingredients of Southern cooking. African Influences: African slaves were brought to the Southern United States during the 18th and 19th centuries, and they brought with them a wealth of culinary knowledge and traditions. Many Southern dishes today, such as gumbo, jambalaya, and...
Southern cuisine is known for its rich and flavorful dishes. It often includes high amounts of carbohydrates, fats, and sugars. This makes it a challenge for people with diabetes to find suitable options with Southern Cuisine. I have not dwelt on this subject very much in the past. However, there are plenty of delicious and healthy dishes that diabetics can enjoy. Here are some examples: 1. Grilled or roasted meats: grilled or roasted chicken, pork, beef, or fish can be a great source of...
I was scanning through some of my past articles searching for topics that I had mentioned in the past. The most obvious topic appears in the articles in the last two months of the year. What I had called the FOOD Months. The topic was Guests and Food. The time when your house has the most guests, friends and family. And the time when the largest meals are usually prepared and served. I have had a lot of pushback about trying new dishes and alternative cooking methods for Thanksgiving. This is...
It is that time of year! Harvesting your garden and picking fruit from your orchard and trading some of your excess with your neighbors for their excess vegetables and fruit. And do not forget the farmers markets. What clued me in to what I was going to write about was the bushel of pears my wife brought home from her sister’s farm. We are canning pear preserves and are up to 32 jars and should finish with about 50 plus. Tomatoes are plentiful and any dish that needs a tomato sauce in the r...
We just came back from my somewhat annual summer vacation to Ruidoso New Mexico. We went out to eat more than in the past and we cooked more than in the past and since we were celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary, there were meals prepared for my wife and I, by friends of ours. So, I'm changing the format of my article this month. I will have a description of a dish, the recipe and the picture. And I will have pictures of dishes with little about what is in it. At least not a full recipe. Th...
“As a Super Bowl commercial showed, people weren’t quite sure what to make of the items delivered in their Uber Eats orders, as they attempt to eat products ranging from a stick of deodorant to a tube of lipstick.” If you ordered deodorant and lipstick, no matter what else you ordered, if you can’t figure out which is which, then you should have someone else ordering for you. And have someone else open the packages for you. If you are ordering the items needed for these recipes from a web pag...
It was time for my yearly pilgrimage to Saint Francisville, Louisiana. It was time for the literary festival celebrating Walker Percy's life and works. There are lectures about “The movies of the Moviegoer” by Read Mercer Schuchardt, “The History and Culture of Barbecue.” with John Shelton Reed and “Walker Percy–A Personal History” by a friend of mine since college, Dave Duty and much more for any Walker Percy fan. And if you know anything about Walker Percy, there is always Crayfish and bourbon...
I just saw what the inflation rate is and what the rate is expected to rise to before the year is over. I did not have to read the newspaper or watch the news to tell me that everything is getting more expensive. I went to the grocery store to buy food to buy gas. I have not received a pay raise that would cover the extra that I must shell out to make up for the additional costs. But I do have a few tips that will ease the pain of higher costs. I have mentioned it before in other articles. The f...
Though this article is titled Southern Cuisine, I’m adding a subsection this week titled, Southern Weather. If you have not heard, we had a tornado go through Lowndesboro. Though I have not heard if it was straight line winds or a tornado, the outcome was the same. It hit late Wednesday night March 30 thru Thursday morning. And just like the stories you hear about the strange way that tornadoes act, this one came into town at Highway 80 and did most of the damage on the west side of Broad S...
I was surfing the web, looking for ideas for my next article. I came across several articles that caught my eye. They were articles written about the fast food restaurants that on the surface sounded like they are serving the standard fare for a typical fast food restaurant: hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, gumbo, biscuits and gravy, and grilled-cheese sandwiches. What caught my eye was that most of the descriptions of the food were missspelled. You could tell what they were trying to describe bu...
The recipes chosen for this issue were determined by the weather and age.. Last night was the coldest for the year. It is only February, so colder days could come back at anytime. Besides the weather, I wanted to continue with my theme of finding older recipes that I have ignored or how to prepare them has been lost. With all of the premade meals you can find in grocery stores and with the partial opening of restaurants, it is very easy to have a meal and not have to prepare it. And just the...
With the weather being cold and wet, I have been spending more time at home. So, every day the same question comes to my mind. What is a good meal to eat on a winter’s day? I have watched my share of cooking videos on my computer, my T.V., and my iPad. This makes a long list of meals to choose from. It is a long list, but not much in way of variety. Every article I read or video I watched has a soup or stew, or a dish that you serve in a 9 by 13 baking dish, or a list of things you can serve b...
I hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday and were able to celebrate Christmas with your loved ones. This time of year is all about tradition. With Covid still lingering, busy schedules, and just life in general, some families extend their get-togethers into the New Year. If you are like me, you have fond memories of baking pies, giving of presents, or having a meal with your friends and family. All of this demands planning to make Christmas a memorable event. Did you prepare the...
This is not a normal year. Covid19 has changed everything. You cannot take the same trips that you use to take. You cannot visit places you were planning to visit this year. You cannot buy things you use to buy. I am sure that the items I was planning to buy are on a container ship floating off the coast of California. You cannot eat the way you use to eat. I have noticed that the grocery stores have large empty shelves. I have found items that were not stocked before. I have found items that...
Every cook has a go-to cookbook for recipes but also as a resource for conversions, measure, and cooking guidelines. One of my resource books is The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. Since Thanksgiving is coming upon use, I thought I would answer some of the most asked questions about cooking your turkey according to America’s Test Kitchen. Guidelines: Start turkey in a 425-degree oven then finish at 325 degrees following these directions: For a 12-14 lb. turkey start at 425 for one hou...
What to do this weekend. Having a hard time deciding what to have for your next meal? Don't cook! This is the season when it is sometimes too warm to cook and too cold not to cook. So when it is just a lazy time and you can't make up your mind what to do, just don't cook. Instead of cooking, prepare a dinner or lunch that can be prepared without cooking. I am sure there are ingredients in your refrigerator that are cooked and can put together to create a meal. Be creative preparing a salad. And...
September is the bridge between summer and the start of fall, which is September 22. I can remember some hot Septembers. This is the time when the gardens around Alabama are at their peak in producing the fruits and vegetables that we had planted earlier in the year. The gardeners have been watering, weeding and trying to keep the deer from eating everything down to sticks in the ground. I say this with the voice of experience. All of my okra looked like I planted small sections of a bamboo fish...
