Bourbon Glazed Meatball Appetizer

The meatballs in bourbon sauce is my favorite appetizer for parties. It has a scrumptious sweet glaze made with bourbon and brown sugar. They are especially great to serve during the Fall and Winter holidays and of course for Super Bowl or other sports parties. I never have leftovers and in fact, no matter how many I make there doesn't seem to be enough.

Dutch Oven and Salamander dreams

All the holiday cooking made me realize that I have one item in my kitchen I could not live without, that is my Dutch Oven by Le Creuset . It is quite large and easy to braise meats, create wonderful soups and roasted chicken to die for. I use this so much I bought another one for smaller creations. As I look around my kitchen I have a lot of gadgets and spatulas. Though funny, to my surprise I always found myself using my Wusthof Chef knife, Wusthof Santoku knife and my wooden spoon. Everything else is displayed beautifully but not really touched.

As you all know we cook a lot on the grill and smoker, one of the things I would love to have is a Salamander broiler by BlueStar. Being an avid griller this is a dream item, can you imagine the crispy chicken, beautiful grouper or even crab cakes! Wow I am making myself hungry. So this is going on my wish list. I hope my husband see's it.

+Authored by Shawna Williams

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Mummy Meatballs

A cute Halloween recipe that was really easy to do, well almost. We were having a heck of a time threading the spaghetti through the meatballs.  If you are planning a party you could do these ahead of time and freeze them too.













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Mummy Meat balls
1 bag - Frozen Meatballs
1 can of Pillsbury Pizza dough
Spaghetti
Spaghetti sauce
Thaw out meatballs. Take a spaghetti noodle and thread three meatball onto noodle, break off any excess noodle.
Cut pizza dough in thin strips and wrap around skewered meatballs.

Authored by +Shawna Williams

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Easy as Pot Roast

My daughter, who is trying to learn how to cook, asked me how to cook a pot roast. To me it is one of the most simplest meals you can throw together, but to her she had no clue where to start. I thought to myself maybe there are others out there just like her. After cooking for  over 40 years you take for granite some of the basics you have learned and do just out of habit. So I put together a tutorial with her on how to cook a pot roast. I hope for you who are just starting appreciate my daughters steps. She was so proud of her first roast.

Season roast with steak seasoning. Heat oil up on medium high heat and place roast in skillet.

Easy Taco Pie

Taco Pie has been a family favorite for decades. I found the recipe in a local community cookbook from the early 80's listed under their "International" section (which makes me chuckle - not quite the exotic fare I was thinking of for this section).  You will discover this easy to make taco pie quite tasty with the combination of spicy meat, cheese, and sour cream inside a hot pie shell. In fact, I like it better than taco shells. 

Quick & Easy Loaded Tater Tots

Loaded Tater Tots is a quick and easy appetizer or meal. I love loaded baked potatoes and when I have time I like to make them the "old fashioned" way in the oven and not the microwave. However, this is a great substitute for those days when you don't have time to wait for baked potatoes. And the guys in the family love this dish!!

Cantonese Beef

This recipe has wonderful flavors of spicy, sweet and sour. It is a long-time family favorite. Whenever we have a hankering for Chinese food but don't want to eat out, this is my go-to recipe. It takes a while to cook but it is simple to make and I love that, except for the rice, it is a one skillet meal.

Meat Lover's Baked Cavatelli

Every so often I find myself with an over abundance of food in the house. When this happens, I put a one-week ban on all grocery shopping (except for staples) and try to use what I have on hand. During a recent ban, I had Canadian bacon and regular bacon on hand so I included them in my favorite Cavatelli recipe. And boy did it pay off! The combination of bacon, canadian bacon and Italian Sausage with a spicy pasta sauce was absolutely delicious! 

Pepper Steak Casserole

This is a tasty casserole filled with beef, rice, onions, peppers and savory seasoning. Throw it together, bake  and serve with some rolls and a salad and you have an easy dinner!

This is one of my favorite cold weather casseroles.

Spaghetti Pie

This Spaghetti Pie is an absolutely scrumptious dish and lovely when plated. It is also fairly easy to make, extremely tasty and filling. A nice comfort recipe which is hard to resist!

Golden Treasure Meatloaf

This is a superb meatloaf full of green peppers and cheddar cheese. And the most beautiful golden color. It is the best meatloaf you will ever taste. My mother-in-law gave me this recipe fourteen years ago. It was her favorite family meal. The first time I fixed it I knew this was a keeper recipe. 

It truly is a treasure. The only danger is you can't put your fork down!

Cowboy Chili

I haven't cooked a steak chili in years, but it has always been my favorite so I set off to recreate my recipe. Why? Because I am the kind of cook that never writes down her recipes and puts them together as I go. I know a lot of you do the same thing.
My chili has to be spicy and full of meat. I like a chili that's flavors and spices are layered throughout each bite. This chili is packed with the smokiness of the roasted peppers and the tenderness of the chuck roast.
This time I wrote the recipe down and am sharing it with you. I hope you all try it.
Come on, grab a spoon and dig in!

Layered Hot Mexican Dip

One of the reasons I love food is because it often times invokes great memories. It is one of the rare things in life that can do this with any frequency. The Layered Hot Mexican Dip recipe always makes me reminisce about a wonderful week my family spent with my sister's family  in the Colorado mountains. This is a recipe that my sister,Shawna Williams, concocted that week and it was a big hit with both families.

Roast Beef Salad - Great for Sandwiches or an Appetizer

Roast Beef Salad makes an exceptionally great and unique sandwich but it is equally good just served as an appetizer to spread on your favorite crackers. Although it has all of the features of the standard tuna, chicken or egg salad, it is just different enough to stand out.

French Bread Mini Meatball Pizza

I would love to say that I "love" pizza but I don't unless it is a fresh mushroom pizza and then I drool all over myself.  Pizza is one of my husband's favorite meals and he asks for it way too often and not the kind of pizza you order. It has to be homemade (the dough not the sauce) and it can only contain hamburger or pepperoni with peppers. By the way, he "hates" mushrooms. So, the other night to his great dismay I refused to make a pizza unless I could do it differently.

Papas Rellenas, Little Italy Style

When family comes down and visits, you are always faced with meals and a refrigerator full of leftovers. Mashed potatoes seem to always be one of those items misjudged on servings. So what to do with all those tators?  I have a unique twist to the Spanish version, not only did we bake them, we went Italian with a few leftover vegi's added to the meat mixture and everyone loved it.

Mushroom Fettuccine Bake

Serves 8 

I love this comfort meal chocked full of portobellos, hamburger, three types of cheese and fettuccine noodles. Who can resist!

Rotisserie Rib Roast with a Pesto Rub & Charddonay Smoked Sea Salt

 One of my favorite cuts of meat is a rib eye. Slap it on a plate when it's barely mooing and of course, with a great wine and I'm in heaven.

Grilled Bourbon Glazed Portobello Mushroom with a Mini Cheddar Jack Hamburger

What a conundrum Portobello burger or cheeseburger for lunch. I use to make high level decisions all day long and now I can't even make a choice on what to eat for lunch.   I guess this is what happens when you are retired.  So I decided to do both, portobello cap grilled with bourbon sauce and a mini cheddar jack hamburger on top.  How could I possibly go wrong?  Well I didn't and it was delicious which is why I am sharing.