I was able to serve five meals from our New Year’s Day ham.  I already wrote about the Ham Tetrazzini, which made for great leftover leftovers.  I also made a Ham and Wild Ric

We have a good amount of ham leftover from our New Year’s Day dinner and I have several recipes in mind to use it up.

We have a long standing family New Years Day meal tradition handed down from my paternal grandmother that we continue to honor - ham and cabbage for good heath and prosperity.  In recent years, we've added Hopping John which is reportedly for good luck - a desirable thing.

Leading up to the holidays, I'm selecting most of our menus using ingredients we already have on hand. The goal is to free up space in the freezer and cupboards and save a little on the grocery bill.  

I just used the last page of my menu journal to write our plans for next week.  I started journaling menus in September 2007 with a tad too much ambition.  Initially, the intention was to write commentary on the menus, record adjustments to the recipes and comments on wine pairings.  The task was too daunting and the record stops after 6 weeks.

For the past couple of years, I have hosted my book club meeting in November/December and test my Christmas meal plan on them.  That meeting was last night and I was delighted with the results.   

Just like Thanksgiving dinner traditions, we have our usual recipes for the leftover turkey.  

The holidays seem to come upon us too fast each year.  I recently saw a saying that applies ... probably on Pinterest ... "Long days and short years."   I'd say that sums up my life pretty well!  

Today there was a potluck in the newsroom and we were to send a salad or dessert.  When I have to make a contribution to a potluck I almost always make a new-to-me recipe.  Other cooks like to take their best tried-and-true recipe but I like to try something new to see how well it’s received.  Some contributions are better than others, and I still get a few comments about the bac

We had a flank steak dinner planned for a weeknight menu this week and I was going to make it with an ancho rub.  Then John brought my attention to yesterday's News-Gazette featured recipe for flank steak.  It has a simple marinade and then is topped with pears and blue cheese.  Since I had a couple of pears leftover from