All y’all sure know how to make a girl feel good!   *I can use that fabulous Texas phrase because I have a daughter who lives in Austin, y’all.

Between the lovely and welcoming comments left here on the blog, the comments and “likes” on Facebook, the personal texts, phone calls, and emails – well, I feel the love and it makes me, even more, energized to be back. Thank you!

So … Thanksgiving is less than a week away and …

[Read more →]

So here are my feelings about Thanksgiving leftovers – I love having mass amounts of white meat leftover for turkey sandwiches, and it wouldn’t feel like Thanksgiving without all the fabulous turkey stock I make from the carcasses, but the rest of it… not so much!  To that end, I always make two turkeys, one is roasted the traditional way, and the second is always grilled or smoked. This year I wound up with 36 cups of a stock, happy day!

To use up all that dark turkey meat, I just make our family favorites and add in the turkey.  Our all-time favorite salad is another of Barbara Pool Fenzl’s recipes.  It comes from her 1994 Southwest The Beautiful Cookbook. I’ve made very few changes to the recipe over the years… instead of whisking by hand, I use a food processor for the dressing.

Since the original recipe makes about 1 1/3 cups of dressing, I double all the other fixings so that all that amazing dressing can be utilized, it would be shameful to waste even one drop!  Also in the original, the tortilla strips are dusted with chili powder prior to frying. Instead, I salt and dust them immediately after removing them from the hot oil so the seasoning really sticks to the strips. And with all this turkey on hand, it quickly becomes a perfect main course salad for a busy weeknight family dinner.
[Read more →]

One of my favorite things about Halloween is toasting and eating the pumpkin seeds once the family is done carving their Jack-O-Lanterns. Each year, I try a different seasoning, this year it’s southwest.  I used the Mexican Lime Olive Oil from our wonderful Queen Creek Olive Mill, but regular extra virgin olive oil is fine too.  And instead of the chili powder, you find at the grocery store, I love the Ground Ancho Chili Pepper from Penzey’s Spices, but again regular will work as well. One of the important steps is to be sure the seeds are well dried after they are rinsed and cleaned. If they are not dry, the oil will not coat them as well and they will not crisp up. I find it easiest to just toast them in a dry skillet for a couple of minutes before seasoning and placing them in the oven.

Hope you saved your seeds!  P.S. Happy Halloween Marissa and Connor, miss and love you both!
[Read more →]