There's no messing with Thanksgiving's favorite stuffing, no-sir-ee. I only-only-only make the same turkey dressing that my mom and her mom made. But other times of the year? I'm happy to experiment with other recipes. Here, the stuffing is lightened for spring, it's packed with celery, leeks and mushrooms. It's easy enough for a weeknight, perfectly delicious for a holiday meal. My last notes read, "VVVG" (that's code for Very Very Good) and "Make More Often!" ~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~ Let's Stuff the Stuffing Tradition. Just Not On Thanksgiving. Many families happily stuff with tradition at Thanksgiving. I love to try new dishes. But on the fourth Thursday in November, there’s no debate or deliberation: no recipe but my mother’s will do. And Mom’s recipe came from her mother! Sausage Stuffing it will be, no other! Is our family recipe so special? Not really. It starts with pork sausage so is quite rich. It has the r

Three easy vegetables recipes for weeknight suppers, Roasted Cauliflower, Lemon Asparagus and Honey Carrots, each one cooked with a different method. ~ Skip Straight to the Recipes ~ ~ Roasted Cauliflower ~ ~ Honey Carrots ~ ~ Lemon Asparagus ~ Buttering Up for Vegetables My mom was a young mother during the 1960s. In many ways, she was a woman before her time. Her Kitchen Parade columns are now yellow and tattered. But a frequent topic, teenage nutrition, would fit the agenda of any contemporary food magazine. Long before food pyramids and obesity crises, Mom's meals included one, two or even three vegetables. And they were all delicious. No wonder! Each one was topped with a hefty pat of butter! My own vegetable style is purist: savor vegetables for their own subtle flavors without adornment or distraction from butter or sugar. But if a bit of butter or sugar is encouragement enough for kids to try and enjoy vegetables, it’s a start, right? With that in mi

A classic recipe for beef and mushroom stew. On the table and flavorful within an hour, better still the next day. This is a great way to make a small amount of beef go further, with the addition of thick slices of firm, almost-meaty mushrooms. Butchers of the world, listen up, please! Meat is way too confusing! It’s no wonder we cooks turn to what we know again and again. Think chicken breasts, pork tenderloin, baby back ribs, even hamburger. Now these are easy: they are easily recognized in the meat cooler and we know how to cook them. But what’s all that other stuff? I once condensed a primer on pork cuts – and still have no idea what to buy, especially since the names vary. Who would guess that a pork butt is just another Boston shoulder? Have you ever seen a hog with a butt for a shoulder? Not me. And my eyes glaze over at the thought of cutting up a whole chicken, even though all “real” cooks say it’s easy and economical. The search engine Google cites 14,000 we