Nut Free

This recipe is a nice alternative to fried fish, and the spices give the fish plenty of flavor. You can substitute any mild fish for the roughy.

For some people, it just isn’t Thanksgiving without giblet gravy for the turkey and potatoes. Mom has included directions for a giblet-free version for those of us who have seen a giblet and never want to eat one!

Every Thanksgiving, I hear cooks groaning about having been up all night basting the big turkey, and I just smile. I’ve found a foolproof, easy way to make a great turkey and get your sleep too! It also makes the most tender, moist turkey I’ve ever tasted. The first time I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for my family, Garth couldn’t believe this method would actually work, so he politely asked me to cook a “stunt” turkey so he could taste it for himself before the big day. Most of my friends have been just as hesitant, but once they have tried it my way, they never go back to the old way. To make sure the oven temperature doesn’t drop too quickly, I put a sign on it threatening bodily harm to anyone who even thinks about opening the oven door during this process!

This casserole is hearty and contains everything you could want on the table in one dish. It’s a favorite of our whole family. It makes ten servings, but my husband likes it cold for breakfast the next day, so in my house you’d better take your serving at dinner the night before, ’cause that’s all you’re gonna get!

Comfort food. That’s all I’ve got to say!

This is a nice recipe for southern girls like me who love fried chicken but realize they can’t eat it everyday. The cornflakes give you that crispy crust like fried chicken without all of the added fat of deep-frying—not that I’m saying there’s a thing wrong with deep-frying! My motto is “Everything in moderation, including moderation.”

I respect people who won’t share old family recipes, but when I find something good, I want everybody to be able to make it for themselves, and that’s how I feel about my daddy’s barbecue sauce. I truly believe Daddy could have bottled and sold this sauce, it was so popular! It’s a personal preference, but I like a thin, vinegar-based barbecue sauce instead of the thick, ketchup-based sauces.

Even those who say “No!” to sauerkraut will love this specialty dish from family friend Betty Maxwell.

This is the main attraction of our traditional Easter meal, and we think those spiral-sliced prebasted hams take a backseat to our version. Ask your butcher to order a whole smoked water-added ham such as Gwaltney, Hamilton, or Smithfield, and have him remove and quarter the hock. This not only makes the ham fit more easily into your pan but also gives you the hock pieces to use another time and contribute unbeatable seasoning to soups and veggies. Serve with Potato Salad (page 53) and Baby Lima Beans (page 132).

This is one of those old-fashioned dishes that people either love or hate. I love creamed beef on toast. In fact, it’s what I have for breakfast on my birthday every year! In our house, this dish is affectionately known by another name I can’t print in this cookbook, but whatever you choose to call it, it’s yummy!

Sometimes it’s nice to make a meal that takes only a couple of steps to get into the oven, and then you can forget about it for an hour while it cooks. The beef broth gives the rice a great flavor. I serve this with Cooked-to-Death Green Beans (page 130).

This dish takes a bit of attention, but the results are well worth the effort for a special meal. The steam that rises from the water in the bottom of the pan keeps the pork chops tender and moist. Mom used canning jar rings instead of a rack to elevate the chops above the water.

I love homemade biscuits, and I love meatloaf, so it’s no surprise I’m pretty fond of this recipe. The sauce is so terrific, especially poured over that wonderful homemade biscuit dough with a little ground beef rolled inside. Yum!

My family likes casseroles because they get the whole meal in one pan, and this is a favorite. It was probably born as a result of my mom’s trying to put food on the table on a budget, and while a lot of people cook with ground beef because it is relatively inexpensive, I would pay big bucks to get to eat this every now and then! This is similar to a shepherd’s pie, but a bit heartier, I think.

Roast beef is all about Sunday afternoons after church for me. Mama would get up early and put the roast on to cook, then turn off the oven when we left for church and let it sit until we got home again. The memory of walking through the door and smelling that amazing aroma still makes my mouth water! The hardest part about this meal was waiting for the gravy to be made before you could sit down to eat it!

Like most families, we struggle to get enough vegetables into our diets. This pasta salad, served cool, is full of great greens and reds, and it is so tasty! The sunflower kernels give it a nice crunch.

Garth has to claim this recipe because he modified my basic pasta salad to suit his tastes and changed it completely! He likes to eat it warm because he loves the way the cheese melts into the other ingredients, so he doesn’t wait for the pasta to cool down at all. He also says the secret to making the tomatoes taste so good is salting them separately. Who knew he was Gartha Stewart?

What’s great about this salad is that it only involves opening a few cans and layering the veggies with shredded cheese. It’s simple, healthy, and looks pretty in a glass bowl to boot!

I’m not a cooked spinach fan, but I do like spinach served fresh in a salad. (And I love any salad that has bacon as an ingredient!) I’m also not a mushroom gal, so I leave these out when I make it, but it’s good either way.

I am a big fan of Greek salads, but at restaurants I seem to find myself always picking the vegetables and cheese out of the lettuce. One day I thought, why make it with lettuce at all? This recipe is just veggies and feta. I love it!