Food Adventures of a Comfort Cook

Redo a “holiday classic”

Holiday time is upon us and this week I would like to address a holiday classic recipe, the Green Bean Casserole. With my family or most people I knew this was not ever served for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s Day. Why then is it considered a “holiday classic”? We never really see any...

Time to make donuts

Dear Diary, This is month ten of Jumanji. Just as the COVID monster seemed to be going into hiding, it suddenly reared its massive head. It tricked us just as we were beginning to have fun and life was going back to normal once again. The worst of it is having the children home and missing out on...

Flipping over apple cake

“For I have had too much Of apple-picking: I am overtired Of the great harvest I myself desired. There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch, Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.” – After Apple-Picking, by Robert Frost – Fall season and it is apple picking time, or is it? Within the...

Celebrate and eat some tomatoes

September 22, 2020, the first day of autumn, the beginning of Mabon, and celebration of the fall season. Mabon is the Second Harvest, a reflection of the past, gratitude for the present, and blessings for the future. It’s a week-long celebration in which the bounties of fruits, vegetables, and...

The Journey of Fried Green Tomatoes

Like a lot of women, I happen to enjoy the occasional “chick flick,” and one such movie is Fried Green Tomatoes. It came out in 1991, based on a novel by Fannie Flagg, about the women at the Whistle Stop Café. Starring Mary Louise Parker, Mary Stuart Masterson, Kathy Bates, and Jessica Tandy, this...

Spiff up your menu and meals with your harvested garden crops

August: a time to begin harvesting the bounty of the gardens and having in mind to store and/or share. For some gardeners, this may be a second coming for crops such as tomatoes, squashes, peppers, and other hardy vegetables. Potatoes, onions, and garlic are dug up and placed in root cellars or...

The “hmmm” of some fried dough

Fried foods, in general, give the kind of mouth-feel that says, “All is right with the world.” “Why?” is the question, but we all know the answer. It’s the fat. It does something to our taste buds and our brains that makes us feel happy all over. Fats dissolve quickly, concentrate flavor, and...

Sharing the wealth of hunted meat

Since moving to Monticello in 2009, I have to say that some of the kindest folks we have encountered were local hunters. Each year, after deer and elk seasons were done, after the meat was butchered and processed, the sharing came. Whether it was to a place of employment or a packed plastic...

Good eatin’ at DC Rack Haus

A little over two years ago, Beth Spigner was working at The Dinner Bell in quiet Dove Creek, CO. Then it happened: The owners decided to pull up stakes and sell. Beth talked it over with mom, Athena Spigner, and the decision was made. Purchasing the restaurant and becoming co-owners, revamping...

Another pajama day

I do not envy people who work second or third shifts. I did it for eight years and hated it. Roy did it for four years and was not too happy about it either. However, for all the disdain we felt for the hours, the money and benefits were just too good to give up, so we plodded on. Mine was also...