Coming and Going...

It's hard to believe that the holidays have come and (almost) gone.

It was my intent to do at least a couple more blog posts on easy gifts from the kitchen, but alas, life got in the way. We left Georgia on the 18th to come home to Louisiana; between packing, unpacking, shopping, decorating, and spending time with family and friends, I felt like I did a fair amount of cooking, but the majority of it was old favorites.

Our son had requested three things while I was home--lasagna, sweet potato casserole, and bean pie. I managed to do all three, plus three kinds of fudge--the two microwaved versions I shared in December, plus the one from the marshmallow creme jar; Ro-tel cheese dip, cocktail smokies in sauce, and pigs-in-a-blanket--even homemade biscuits one morning.

Today we had the traditional black eyed peas and cabbage (black-eyed peas for luck, and cabbage for wealth, or so "they" say!), as well as a family tradition of Mexican cornbread (just 'cause it goes good with peas and with cabbage, too!) and all of the little finger food leftovers from last night and goodies left from Christmas.

Tomorrow I'm cooking a brisket, and coming next week I'll have a yummy review and a giveaway from Alouette cheese.

I'm looking forward to getting back to some simple, basic, healthy eating, how about you?

Hoping you and yours had a wonderful holiday, and best wishes from more blessings to come in the New Year!

Happy New Year!

Here we come down to the final countdown of the holiday season. We'll have a family gathering tomorrow at my parent's house; then my brother and family will be heading back to Cincinnati on Friday, and my husband and I will start our final prep and frantic activity before leaving on Monday to go back to Georgia.

In the meantime, I'm making some "hoovy doovies" (as we say at my house) for my family tonight, along with some goodies for the family dinner tomorrow.

Tonight we'll be having cocktail wieners in "secret sauce", the best queso dip with chips, and either pastrami sandwiches on sub-buns or beef fajitas, not sure which. I also have some chocolate peanut butter chip cookies I made last night (just the standard recipe from the back of the Reeses' peanut butter chip package, no secret to this one!) and some snow-drop cookies I made this afternoon. We'll probably toast the New Year in with eggless eggnog, if we're still awake.

Tomorrow's menu will include black-eyed peas with rice; Mexican cornbread; coleslaw; and a variety of chips and dips and desserts. For my contribution, I've already made a pot of black-eyed peas--my Mom makes hers with the leftover ham bone from Christmas, I make mine just like I do 10-bean soup, with chicken and ground meat. I have poppy seed cakes in the oven as we speak--one to take to family dinner tomorrow, one made as two loaves to gift to a couple of people. I'll also be making spinach dip and crab spread, (made with a combination of crab and shrimp this time) and will probably take a plate of leftover cookies.


I love the smells going on in my kitchen right now--peas are simmering, cocktail wieners are parboiling, cakes are baking...Ummmm, makes me want to bottle this up and give it away!

Hoping you and yours will have a happy and safe New Year!

Good cooking, and good eating!

Happy Thanksgiving

No recipe this morning, just wishing you and yours a safe and blessed Thanksgiving.

Just remember to stop, take a deep breath, and remember---there's always next year!

Good cooking, and good eating!