FEATURED loaded baked potato casserole

My high school home ec teacher was so excited to teach us about casseroles, the busy’s woman’s mealtime savior. After all, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and she was giving us a surefire roadmap to get us there and down the aisle. I believe good food, even a good old [...]

Featured Gourmet Pimento Cheese Spread

As much as I love my Stan’s inspired Southern Style Pimento Cheese, sometimes I want something a little fancier. This gourmet 3-cheese pimento cheese spread fits the bill. I’ve been serving it for years at summer parties and cookouts. It takes a little extra effort to prepare, but it’s well worth the work. This recipe [...]

featured Homemade Pimento Cheese on White Bread

I may be the south’s foremost expert on pimento cheese. (Or is it pimiento cheese?) Back in my newspapering days, I was assigned to write not one, not two, but three articles about this southern delicacy, for three different publications. For a while, I joked that pimento cheese was my “beat.” There was a period [...]

Homemade Hamburger Buns by Marty's Musings

This is a wishful thinking kind of post. We’ve been having the most crazy weather here in North Carolina. Flip flops one day, coats the next. Yesterday, it even sleeted. But I’m willing Spring to come and stay for good. Come this weekend, it’s going to be cookout time. And what better way to impress [...]

FEATURED Homemade Sausage Pizza Roll

Especially as the weather warms, you may find the neighbor ladies and I relaxing in lawn chairs in our driveways or the cul-de-sac. Or you might think we’re relaxing, when in fact, we are really discussing important CEO-level business. These flip-flops and wine sessions are our version of golf course business meetings. Discussions touch on [...]

FEATURED HEARTY BEEF STEW RECIPE

Some days just call for a meat and potatoes meal. When it’s so cold outside that you need some good old comfort food to warm you up. Those days, I turn to my trusty Better Homes and Gardens new Cookbook that is anything but new. But I rarely do any cooking exactly by the book. [...]

featured strawberries and chocolate fondue

If I don’t cool it with the nostalgia, Marty McFly might come knocking at my door. I was channeling my inner 5th grader last week with my 80s-inspired Valentine’s Day cootie catcher love notes. And now, I’m blasting even farther into the past to the 1970s and cooking up a family fondue feast. Instead of [...]

FEATURED Super Super Bowl Party Food Recipes

Are you ready for some football food? Today, I’m sharing with you some of my favorite all-time party foods, plus a brand new recipe. It’s a little amuse bouche, as the French would say. A bite-sized hors d’oeuvre that isn’t what it seems.But it will amuse your tastebuds just the same. Today’s recipe comes courtesy [...]

featured hot cocoa party

What do you do when the weather outside is frightful? When sleet and ice close schools early, but there’s not a single snowflake to be found? Well, you could stay inside and pout and complain about the weather. Or you could throw an impromptu hot chocolate party for the neighborhood. That’s exactly what we did last [...]

truffle chips FEATURED

I never thought you could make a fried potato taste any better. Until I took my first bite of a truffle fry. Oh my goodness. Food-gasm. Truffle oil is a magic ingredient. Worth every precious penny you have to pay for it. A lot of local restaurants are wise to that fact. I’ve noticed truffle [...]