The favorite chili recipe from our family cookbook, made with simple but beautifully balanced ingredients. The technique is simple too, just brown the ground beef and spicy pork sausage, dump everything else in, then cook slowly. A cousin calls my sister's sausage chili recipe “magnificent"! I agree – it's now my own go-to recipe for hearty, man-friendly chili.
COMPLIMENTS!
“...what a great chili recipe. It's got just the right amount of spice, the right amount of meat." ~ Anonymous
In 2003, my family on my mother’s side published a family cookbook, collecting 350 recipes from more than a dozen families and three countries. What a collection of tried-and-true family recipes!At family gatherings, we stand in the kitchen – fussing over the food, of course – and compare notes from the cookbook. "Did you try Laura’s Carrot Soup?" "What about That Pink Salad?"Still, some times a great recipe is overlooked until someone saves the day, as happened when…

The classic French beef stew, beef marinated and then slowly braised in wine. Worthy of a special occasion. Just making it may create an occasion! Beef Bourguignon is a luxurious beef stew. (Stew?!) So says me, paraphrasing Julia Child who stripped pâté of all pretension by deconstructing it to ‘luxurious cold meatloaf’. (Meatloaf?!) Made with meat, wine and vegetables, Beef Bourguignon is nothing more than beef stew -- and at the same time, much more.My two favorite beef stew recipes – Beef and Mushroom Stew and Winter Stew – find their way to the table in a couple of hours.At the other end of the time spectrum is Beef Bourguignon, made over three days. It uses all the same ingredients but feels like quite a production, in fact IS quite a production, the stuff of which lore is made. So yes, Beef Bourguignon is beef stew but making it, well, it’s deserving of an occasion.An occasion is just what happened this month when life converged: friends mentioned wanting to try elk meat, an eas…

What does it take to create nearly the same mouthfeel and flavor of traditional mashed potatoes, except low-calorie and low-carb? Ditching the potatoes! For anyone looking for a low-cal and low-carb substitute for potatoes, try mashing cooked cauliflower and turnips with the usual butter and milk plus a splash of Tabasco which – do not ask me how or why, it stumps me – makes all the difference in the taste.

Real Food, Fresh & Flexible. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Weight Watchers Friendly. Low Carb. Naturally Gluten Free. Vegetarian. Great for Meal Prep.

A Master Recipe for Beef, Pork, Chicken, Elk, Lamb or Venison
plus Your Favorite Winter Vegetables
For a memorable pot of stove-top or oven-baked stew, take a look at my signature recipe that I call "Winter Stew" because "almost any meat plus your choice of vegetables and a few other pantry ingredients" is a bit too long, don't you agree? :-) This recipe is my "go-to" stew recipe during cold weather for a one-pot supper, because it "just works", whatever the choices for meat and vegetables and whether cooked in the oven, on the stove or even in a tagine. More good news? Unlike most stews, it tastes good straight out of the pot (no time for flavor melding required) and cooks in an hour.

Fresh & Seasonal. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Weight Watchers Friendly. Easily Gluten Free. High Protein. Great for Meal Prep.

Say hello to chai made at home, a DIY concoction of milky tea steeped with fresh ginger and Indian-style spices, cardamom, cinnamon, clove and black pepper. So brew a pot, then rewarm this cold-weather comfort drink throughout the week. Especially compared to sugary-sweet coffeehouse chai, my chai is either unsweetened or barely sweetened, it's all about the warm, wondrous spices.

Real Food, Fresh & Flexible. Weight Watchers Friendly. Low Carb. Naturally Gluten Free. Great for Meal Prep.

Homemade tomato soup that starts with canned tomatoes, roasted then slow-cooked to draw out deep, intense tomato flavor. This is the recipe to choose during cold weather and the many months when fresh tomatoes just aren't worth time or money. And my recommendation? Grab some bread and cheese too, people, because tomato soup and grilled cheese are a special winter-worthy combination!

Real Food, Fresh & Flexible. Weight Watchers Friendly. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real. Great for Meal Prep.

Oatmeal: Nine reasons WHY to cook it.
Four ways HOW to cook it for morning porridge,
in the microwave, on the stove, in the oven and in a slow cooker. Quick Links - Ways to Cook Oatmeal
MicrowaveStovetop
OvenSlow Cooker

Still More Morning Oatmeal Recipes On This Page
Chocolate-Cinnamon Sugar
Oatmeal Expresso
COMPLIMENTS!
"I cannot believe how good oatmeal and peanut butter is!!!!!" ~ Sally
"Oatmeal + peanut butter = FooDGasm!... wOw" ~ TKelis
"... I subbed Almond butter. Yum" ~ Debra
"... quite possibly the best thing I've ever tried! Love it!" ~ Judy B
"... tried your banana oatmeal ... LOVED IT" ~ Pille
"My goodness! ... SO good!" ~ Sue
Resolution #1: Eat breakfast. Resolution #2: Eat breakfast every day. Resolution #3: Eat a healthy breakfast every day. Resolution #4: Eat a new healthy breakfast every day.For a good ten years now, I’ve kept a hard lock on three out of four breakfast resolutions. But #4? Not so much.True Confe…