I love the versatility of quiche!  Eggs, cheese, and milk can be embellished with so many different combinations of meats and vegetables that you can make dozens of different varieties of quiche with the basic recipe. This recipe makes two pies, which is another plus because they freeze so beautifully and warm up so quickly that they are perfect for a quick meal on nights you don't want to cook, or easily pack up by the slice for taking to work. Tonight I made spinach and mushroom quiche, thanks to the beautiful Shiitake mushrooms shared by my neighbor, Dory Franklin. Below the quiche is the …

A few days ago after a late afternoon cooling rain, we decided to make barbecued chicken on the grill and eat in the garden to enjoy the misty, cool evening. I recently discovered an all natural chicken, available at Kroger, raised and processed in Georgia. It is delicious and tastes like chicken used to taste when I was a girl and we bought chicken locally from Mr. John Goolsby's Grocery Store in Woodland, Georgia.  Everyone knows how to make barbecued chicken, but not everyone knows my mama's recipe for potato salad nor the secret ingredient, made even more special by a neighbor's gift! …

Here is an easy and healthy 10-minute recipe for Summer Shrimp Scampi Salad submitted by Angie Rudow-Bulloch as prepared by her dad, Dr. Tony Deutsch.Ingredients: Gorton's 12oz Frozen Shrimp Scampi in creamy garlic butter sauce Rice Select's whole wheat organic couscous (5 minute) Romaine Lettuce Sweet Vidalia Onion Ken's Steakhouse Lite Balsamic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing Alessi's Garlic Bread Sticks 1 or more Bottles of Fish Eye Chardonnay (to taste)  Prepare Couscous: boil 1 1/4 cup water add 1/4 teaspoon salt (optional) add 1 teaspoon butter or olive oil (olive oil) add 1 cup couscous & …

Thanks to my design friend, Christine Mills, for sharing this recipe! With three tiny girls crawling around her kitchen (well, one's too tiny to crawl, yet), Christine and her husband Russ are masters at whipping up quick and easy, yet delicious and nutritious meals. Here's Christine's take on the tilapia and mango chutney purchased locally at Sams: Lightly flour, salt, pepper and saute in olive oil turning once approximately 5 minutes. Cooking time depends on thickness of filet. Flake with a fork then top with mango salsa. Perfect for a light, healthy, summer meal! This might be yummy served…

Your air conditioning is pumping as hard as it can and your power meter is spinning too fast to see!  Give your kitchen, yourself, and the power company a break by just boiling one small pot for 5 minutes today and using your toaster for 2 minutes.   This shrimp salad is delicious! Here's the recipe for two servings: Shrimp Salad Ingredients: 1 container organic romaine lettuce, torn into chunks 1 avocado, diced 1 medium size carrot, grated 1 celery stalk, diced 1 medium tomato, diced (optional) 1/2 pound (or more if you wish) medium shelled, raw shrimp Green Goddess Dressing Instructions: …

Kids who get to spend quality time with their grandparents are lucky and almost always well-fed! Recently featured Whiz Kid: Walker Rudow, had dinner with his grandparents, Dr. Anthony and Susan Deutsch a few weeks ago and this is what Susan served up.  She adapted the following recipe from Parade Magazine article. Peppered Beef with Pineapple SalsaSalsa:1 cup peeled & diced fresh pineapple1/2 cup diced red bell pepper1/4 cup diced red onion2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves2 teaspoons minced fresh jalapeno (optional)2 tablespoons fresh lime juicefreshly ground black pepperBeef:1/4 …

Don't you just love that half your groceries can come from your own backyard if you have a garden?  Even just a big pot or two with a single tomato plant in one and herbs in another can add to the daily joy of cooking for your family. So far we've had lettuce, onion, and kale from our garden, and then just yesterday, the thrill of the first gathering of sugar snap peas!  I love to shell peas and snap beans.  It takes me back to porch sitting with my grandma, watching The Lawrence Welk  Show while we shelled!  Each pod full of little green jewels. We also have three gorgeous beds of herbs.  …

Lettuce the first harvested goody harvested from our garden this year, and now we have kale.  We've never planted kale before and I wasn't even sure how to cook it, so I just used the same recipe my friend and most-excellent caterer, Hallie Duan, gave me for last fall's harvest of Swiss Chard: Here's the recipe: Fry two slices of bacon until crisp, set them aside to cool.  Add two tablespoons of bacon until crispy.  Remove and drain on paper towels until cool, then crumble them. Add two tablespoons of olive oil to the bacon grease and raise the heat.  Throw the kale in a handful at a time and…

A recent Oconee Patch feature about Russ Page's grass-fed beef might inspire you to make a delicious slow-cooked brisket like my friend, Richard White, did. It's so satisfying and easy to take a few minutes in the morning to put this dish in your slow cooker, and have supper all finished when you get home from work.   Richard served his with garlic toast and steamed cabbage.  YUM!  Take some time Saturday morning to visit the Oconee Farmers Market and see what kind of homegrown freshness you can serve your family this week. Here's the recipe: Ingredients 1 (3-pound) beef brisket, trimmed 1 …

Pop always called it "Pot Liquor", referring to the juice left from any of the delicious vegetables cooked from my grandparents magnificent garden.  Turnip Greens are my all time favorite vegetable and come fall,  my husband fills all the beds in the garden with them and with collard greens once the summer garden is finished. After we finished off or freeze a big pot of slow cooked greens,  I came up with a wonderful recipe for the pot liquor, which has quickly become a family favorite.  I even freeze gallon bags of just the pot liquor for a quick wintertime soup making. Cream Of Turnip Green…

I have the exquisite pleasure of having friends who are members of private Satilla River Club.  Being invited to join them two weeks out of the year is an honor and a privilege.  Wonderful friends, beautiful riverside serenity, artistic endeavors, magical boat rides in the enchanted swamp areas, and peaceful kayak trips fill the week.  Not to mention, the amazing food.  None of us lift a finger, yet for a mere pittance we are fed like kings by the incomparable Donnell Tanner -- caretaker, chef, and stand-up comedienne.  The only tummy aches come from laughing so hard at her stories! Breakfast…

My friend Richard White refuses to give away his best fishing spots at Lake Oconee, but he did share his dinner plans afterwards! He recently caught this whopping 35-pound catfish and filled his freezer for many more meals to come.  The first meal from this monster is a southern favorite, Fried Catfish Fillets. Richard didn't have an "official" recipe, but here's one that is very close to the way we all make it around our house: Ingredients: Vegetable Oil4 medium freshwater catfish fillets*1 cup cold milk1 cup yellow cornmeal2 to 3 teaspoons salt1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepperLemon …

Our beautiful chickens are laying lots of eggs again now that warmer weather is here,  so I’ve been making many pans of quiche and freezing them for easy, lite dinners on those days when I don’t have time to cook a big meal. It’s so great to just come home and pop a quiche from the freezer into the toaster oven to warm up while I toss a quick salad.  This is a broccoli and cheddar quiche and I added sliced fresh tomatoes on top, then grated more cheddar on top of that, and gave it just a few minutes more in the toaster oven to melt the cheese. For a little extra special twist on regular …

My neighbors and dear friends Bill Zorn and Chen Yang invited my friend Glenda Boyd and me to dinner at their home overlooking the Elder Covered Bridge.  It was a delightful evening of shared cultures,  incredible talent, beautiful music, and delicious food! Yang, unfortunately, had to leave for a trip to her homeland of  Bejing  the next day, so I was unable to get her exact recipe, but this link takes you to a very similar recipe with gorgeous photos: Chinese Hot Pot It includes dipping raw strips of beef and lamb, cubes of tofu,  mushrooms and cabbage with your chopsticks into a …

My friend, Mark Ligon, likes to hunt for morel mushrooms on his nearby farm.  Check out a video of how he does it, and enjoy his delicious recipe that incorporates them into  dinner. It's a spin on creamed beef on toast: morel mushroom cream sauce, buttery toasted French bread, boiled eggs and wild Polk greens.  Doesn't that just make your mouth water? Here's Mark's recipe for "Heaven On A Shingle": Pick out 5 medium morels sliced chunky, no stems. Pepper lightly and let it sit while you heat 1/2 cup of broth (vegetable or chicken). Add the mushrooms and simmer for no more than 5 minutes.In…