Author: Debbi Covington

Believe it or not, when Vince and I have a rare weekend off we almost always invite friends to our house for dinner or hors d’oeuvres. Even though in most cases, our unsuspecting pals are guinea pigs for tasting my new recipes, it’s always a lot of fun!

Bowl food? What’s bowl food? Bowl food is the new comfort food for people on the move. In a nutshell, bowl food is relaxed eating. Depending on your mood, you can slow simmer a fiery curry, put together a luscious pasta or simply toss together a few fresh ingredients in a wok. All that remains is to lift your fork and eat with pleasure.

Just because Christmas is over and the decorations are all packed away doesn’t mean the parties have to stop! January is a great month to host an intimate dinner party.  This week’s menu features some perfect January supper foods. Invite a few of your favorite people over, crack open a bottle of wine and enjoy. Celebrate every moment of your life!

Come on over, the drinks are on the house! Festive beverages — hot or cold, spirited or nonalcoholic – will enliven any holiday gathering of friends and family! What brings merriment better than a frothy glass of Southern Eggnog? What wards off Jack Frost quicker than a mug of Praline Coffee?

Cooking takes on special joy during the Christmas season! Cocktail parties, Intimate dinners, casual gatherings and cookie exchanges all call for the finest holiday foods.  Christmas is also a time for remembering special neighbors, co-workers and friends with tasty homemade treats from your kitchen.  This week’s recipes all make great gifts! Make this holiday cooking season enjoyable and rewarding with these festive and delicious recipes. Merry Christmas!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! How can you tell? Christmas trees are popping up everywhere! This year, why don’t you invite the gang over for a Tree Trimming Party?! It’s a great way to kick off the holiday season! An added bonus is that when guests attend your party they expect to find a house that’s not quite ready for Christmas and you get a bunch of decorating help! Before your guests arrive, you should have purchased your tree and set it up in the stand. Light a fire in your fireplace and play Christmas music in the background.

Throughout history, every society has celebrated the end of the harvest.  Many have set aside a day of thanks.  In 1941, Thanksgiving Day became a national holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.  It’s the one day of the year that we Americans can consume an abundance of food without a second thought about calories!  The recipes this week are all Thanksgiving side dishes. 

Break out the bait balls and the cane poles, shrimp baiting season is here!   Shrimp baiting uses a cast net, bait and long poles. The long poles are used to mark a specific location and then bait is thrown into the water near the poles. After several minutes, the cast net is thrown as close to the bait as possible and the shrimp are caught in the net!

Cooler weather has me craving comfort food. I don’t know about you, but breakfast foods tend to make me sleepy! One of our favorite meals is breakfast for supper. Some nights we’ll eat scrambled eggs and pancakes, other nights we’ll opt for a fritatta and a salad. The best combination is something warm and comforting teamed with something sweet and loaded with carbohydrates. Knocks me out every time!

What are small plates? They are unpretentious bites of robust and intense flavors, more substantial than a cocktail snack, but not as hearty as an entree. They are ideal for diners who are curious about flavor, adventurous about taste, and who want to vary their dining experience as mush as possible in one sitting. Small plates are a relaxed style of entertaining and dining. There is no stress in trying to get all the courses on the table at the same time because they are served as prepared.