Good Press

Please take the time to read this . There are many good points here, including one that I have been making for at least 15 years: Food Stamps should be regulated so you can't buy soda or junk food with them. But there's lots more meat to this guy's proposals for sustainable agriculture.

I have long made country ribs in the oven covered with a thick, rich, spicy sauce from a recipe in an old The New Good Housekeeping Cookbook. YUM! But when I read a new recipe for Sweet 'n' Spicy Country Ribs in Taste of Home's Simple & Delicious Sept./Oct. 2008, I decided to try it. I had everything for the recipe except apple juice. I could've bought it but I already had apple cider so I decided to use that instead. It caused no problem as far as I could tell. The big change I made was in the preparation method. The recipe is for the grill. I have no desire to fire up the charcoal grill, especially on a day when my house could use the warming from the oven. I have a cast-iron grill pan but no desire to cook two ribs at a time for 45 minutes per batch. So instead I used the grill pan at an extremely high heat to sear each rib and get sexy grill marks, then I finished the meat off in the oven. Oven roasting is the method used in my preferred recipe, which follows. I

This soup was relatively quick to make, hearty without seeming heavy and passed muster with my sometimes-picky family. My husband liked that the spinach didn't seem slimy. I think I will chop the spinach next time before adding it to the pot. I also think I will add one more can of chicken broth. I liked that it packed in a lot of vegetables and low-fat meats -- that's turkey in the meatballs. WEDDING SOUP Taste of Home's Simple & Delicious magazine Sept./Oct. 2008 1 egg, beaten 3/4 cup chopped onion, divided 1/3 cup dry bread crumbs 1/2 pound ground turkey 1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil 2 cups sliced fresh carrots 1 1/2 cups chopped celery 1 tablespoon butter 4 cups fresh baby spinach (coarsely chopped) 3 (plus 1) 14 1/2-ounce cans chicken broth 1 cup cubed cooked chicken breast 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspooon pepper 1 1/4 cups acini di pepe pasta In a large bowl, combine the egg, 1/4 cup onion and bread crumbs

I used to be a diehard recipe follower. Now I'm less afraid of messing up something. I'm not completely at ease just mixing random things without measuring. Ingredients are too expensive to throw away and I am too picky to eat my mistakes. But I have come to trust my palate more and will occasionally wing it. I must really be taking risks in my sleep-deprived state of late because I mixed up some chicken salad for sandwich filling to serve at a church luncheon reception with only a vague notion of what I was going for and a quick glance at a couple of recipes. Tyler Florence helped only marginally. I didn't boil my chicken with onion, carrots and celery and save the stock but someday I will. A review of Baltimore's Atwater's restaurant sparked the notion of adding dried cherries as well as the golden raisins I planned. The resulting sandwich wasn't bad -- no complaints but no requests for the recipe (unlike my Rocky Road Brownies, which drew raves.) Here'

A couple just moved from Sedona, Arizona, to Terra Alta to join my church's ministry team. One of my contributions to the luncheon reception to welcome them is pepperoni rolls, a West Virginia invention. Someone in Marion County got the notion to bake pepperoni in bread dough for Italian American coal miners to carry in their lunchboxes. Here's how I make mine: Two loaves Rhodes frozen bread dough, thawed 3/4 pound thin sliced deli sandwich pepperoni 1/4 pound thin sliced salami Mozzarella or provolone cheese (optional, I didn't use it this time) sliced is more manageable than shredded Cut the bread dough loaves each into 12 equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll out the dough till it's about the size of a deck of cards. Stack together about 3 slices pepperoni and one slice salami (and a slice of cheese if you're using). Roll up. Roughly chop it with your knife on your workspace (this releases oils from the meat to make a good orange "grease spot&

We had an out-of-the-ordinary main dish tonight. I made chicken wings in the crockpot because it was an overscheduled day. So much so that they might've been left in a little too long -- they were falling off the bone. Not a quality I want in a meaty, saucy rib I grip and gnosh. While I might remember this for football games and the Christmas Eve party, I might more likely try the recipe again with ribs and serve the sauce over rice. I think it would go just fine. Some of you might like to try it with chicken thighs. SWEET 'N' TANGY CHICKEN WINGS From Taste of Home's Simple & Delicious March/April 2008 3 pounds chicken wingettes (about 30) salt dash pepper 1 1/2 cups ketchup 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 cup red wine vinegar 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon minced garlic (not the jarred kind, folks -- icky) 1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke, optional Sesame seeds, optional Sprinkle chicken wings with salt and pepper. Broil 4-6 inches f

My house smells like scorched dust, leftover spaghetti and hot cocoa. Mmmm. It is 39 degrees and drizzly here on the mountain. My husband turned on the furnace tonight when he got home -- unbidden. I was prepared to bundle up and take it a few more weeks. Also without much prompting he made hot cocoa from scratch while our daughter took her bath. "Smells like brownies," she said. After she was tucked in, I set to putting away our summer clothes and hanging up our winter wear. I couldn't think of a nicer way to welcome my favorite season on the first truly cold night. Here's the recipe: HERSHEY'S FAVORITE HOT COCOA Top of stove six servings 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa Dash salt 1/3 cup hot water 4 cups milk 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract Mix sugar, cocoa and salt in saucepan; stir in water. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils; boil and stir 2 minutes. Stir in milk and heat. Do not boil. Remove from heat; add vanilla.