Good Press

We ate these so quickly, I didn't take a photo. I lifted this one from Taste of Home, where I found the recipe in the October/November issue. The recipe was part of a feature suggesting quick breakfast burritos, fruity granola bars and sweet potato muffins for grab-and-go pre-dawn nourishment on Black Friday. They made a perfect Monday brinner (breakfast for dinner). Sammie's Breakfast Burritos for Two 4 eggs 1/4 cup salsa 1/8 teaspoon chili powder 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin 1/8 teaspoon pepper 3 breakfast turkey sausage links, casings removed 1/4 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese 4 fat-free flour tortillas (6 inches), warmed In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, salsa, chili powder, cumin and pepper; set aside. Crumble sausage into a large skillet; cook over medium heat until no longer pink. Drain. Push sausage to the sides of pan. Pour egg mixture into center of pan. Cook and stir until set. Sprinkle cheese over the top. Remove from the heat; ...

Last year, I posted an opinion piece that said food writers hate Thanksgiving because they are pressured to develop new recipes that will largely be ignored. Few consumers break with tradition when the day comes to break the wishbone. They will make green bean casserole and marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes despite all the side-dish variations and innovations presented in magazines and newspapers. My experience has also been that people want Thanksgiving to taste a certain way -- the recipes prepared the way they remember their mothers or grandmothers making them. A woman at church complained last week that her aunt wants to put lemon pepper on the turkey this year because she saw Martha Stewart do it. The changes I have implemented in my holiday meals are, in my opinion, not that radical, but I have met resistance of varying intensities. My mother-in-law distrusts my cooking because, in part, one Thanksgiving I was assigned to bring the green beans . Instead of boiling them within an ...

Turkey seasoning rub In making the turkey this year, I am going against everything I advise about 1. Trying something new for a major dinner instead of having a trial run first and 2. messing with how people expect something to taste. I am going to rub a mix of seasonings under the skin instead of just butter. This recipe comes from TV show host and cookbook author Jim Coleman. COLEMAN'S RUB 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 tablespoon onion powder 1 teaspoon ground sage 1 tablespoon Hungarian paprika 1 tablespoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon dried basil 1 teaspoon powdered cumin 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/2 teaspoon ground thyme 1 teaspoon powdered coriander 1 lemon Wash turkey inside and out with cold water and pat dry with paper towles. Using hands, lift up the skin (without tearing) and rub herb mixture onto meat under skin, starting near the neck and continuing to rump. Squeeze lemon over turkey and use remaining herb mixture to caot the top of the bird. I...

Lest you think I ignored or neglected a big part of my heritage, here is my post about the 67th Annual Preston County Buckwheat Festival wrapping up in Kingwood. We almost didn't go this year -- things have been kind of up in the air since my mom's surgery. So we didn't enter any food or arts and crafts exhibits. We didn't see a parade. We didn't walk through the livestock exhibits. We didn't have family and friends over for our traditional buckwheat-cakes-and-sausage feed on the Sunday before the festival. My husband said he felt like it was too early this year but it always starts the last Thursday in September. Here, in photos, are the highlights of our festival traditions and some of the new things we did this year. May we be better prepared for next year's festival. We watched a lumberjack contest ... ... let Bella ride the carousel (for which we paid $3 -- yow) ... ... bought a chance on a handmade muzzleloader from a craftsman I wrote about, got some ...

I bought a mess of kale. It was in the middle of butter-white flour-sugar season and I felt compelled to do something really healthy for myself and my family. I remembered having a spicy kale dish with peanut butter sauce two autumns ago at a potluck celebrating eating foods grown within 50 miles. Going against that principle, regretfully, I bought a 1-pound plastic bag of prewashed and chopped kale greens. Wouldn't you know, when I got home, I couldn't find my cookbook with the recipe in it? Searching for one like it, I found two recipes for other kinds of dishes that I tried this week and used up the kale. I say "I tried" when I should say "My husband made them." I've been sick with the respiratory crud that seems to have everyone down. No better time than to eat nutrient-rich leafy greens, and in hot soup, too! Thanks for picking up the slack, honey! A champion of local foods shared the recipes with the newspaper for which I used to work. Susan Sauter...

Apples and sausage, to my mind, are autumn foods. So I was confused when I saw them in a Father's Day breakfast recipe for pancakes this summer. Despite the seasonal incongruity, I made them. My husband says he loves them and, because I reminded him of them when I asked his opinion just now, he's after me to make them again soon. He said they are filling and good on a cold day. Add maple syrup and finish the trifecta of fall flavors! SAUSAGE AND APPLE PANCAKES 2 medium sweet Italian turkey sausages (precooked), each cut into chunks 1 apple, peeled and cored 1 1/4 cups all-purpose or white whole-wheat flour 1 tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoons salt 1 cup milk 1 egg 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil cooking spray Place a heat-proof plate or platter in the oven. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Place the sausages and apple in a food processor and pulse until coarsely ground. Transfer to a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Saute until the sausage...