What makes this the most wonderful time of the year? Well, besides, glad tidings, family and the holiday spirit, it’s gotta be Christmas Cookies! Here are two of my favorites!
Watch my How To Video for Christmas Cookies here!
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Eggplant Pattie Casserole
Today is a fun day for Italians and those who love Italian cuisine and culture! The Italian Association of Arizona is hosting the first-ever Italian Pizza & Wine Festival at Scottsdale City Hall. Even though I wrote my own Italian cookbook, I decided on a recipe for Eggplant Pattie Casserole from an extraordinary cookbook to mark this fun foodie festival! The Modern Family Cookbook is a 900 page compilation of three daily menus for a family of five for an entire year. It was written by a woman named Meta Given who began writing recipes at age 10. As a famed home economist, and food editor for the Chicago Tribune, Given made certain that with each recipe, your family would be well-nourished since all dishes were built around a nutritious dietary plan. But the recipe I really loved is the Eggplant Pattie Casserole. Make or buy your favorite meat or marinara sauce, cook up some pasta and try it for a hearty family meal. Thanks, Italian Association for make today delizioso!
Pan-Seared Pork Chop Casserole
It’s the universal law of food. Everything always tastes better at someone else’s house. I don’t know why that is. It just is. So when we were visiting long-time family friends in
Nayarit, Mexico a few years ago, we spent the first part of the meal gobbling up a scrumptious Pan-Seared Pork Chop Casserole and the remainder of the time sitting at a tiny wooden table writing down every detail of every delicious morsel. The pork chop casserole has been a regular weeknight meal in the Montez Family for decades and makes for a deliciously flavorful fall dish. Unfortunately, it went the way of many recipes scribbled down in the “gotta-have-this-recipe-right-now” moment. It got forgotten about and lost in life’s shuffle. That is, until this weekend when un-cluttering and re-organizing the kitchen cabinets were on the agenda. Wahoo! Long lost and now loved again. You’ll be lickin’ your chops over this one!
Barbecue Pork Sandwich
I appreciate wine so much more after this recipe. Not because there’s wine anywhere in the dish, but because it was the wine that loosened the lips of Mrs. Stebbins that finally got her to give up her secret recipe for the most scrumptious Barbecue Pork ever! I received the recipe and story from Chandler resident Ann Todd and I loved both so much I couldn’t wait to share them with you! “Jan, my mom, Liz Ramsey, makes this recipe for weddings– mine in fact! She also makes it for parties, picnics and other promotions.” Ann told the story of her Mom’s friend, Mrs. Stebbins who would sit in the front of her house cross legged, leaning against the door reading a novel and having a glass of wine in the sunshine. Ann’s Mom had Mrs. Stebbins’ Barbecue Pork at a party and really wanted the recipe. Mrs. Stebbins didn’t want to give it up because she didn’t want the secret out so that she could make it every time she had a party. However one afternoon after one of those reading and sipping in the sunshine sessions, she was a little loose-lipped and let the secret of her great barbecue pork out. She just walked into Liz’s kitchen and said, “Oooooo-kay!” If you’re looking for a delicious and hearty recipe for your Super Bowl spread this year, you’ve got a winner right here. Devour it and raise a glass to Mrs. Stebbins!
Cheesy French Onion Meatballs
Here is a One Skillet Wonder that is so delicious, so savory, so cheesy, and so satisfying that it’s become one of my favorite family meals, and I hope it becomes the same for you! Here, the Italian meatball is smothered in a classic French onion soup gravy, and the result is nothing short of delicioso and magnifique!
