Author: Debbi Covington

  Blow the horns, throw the confetti and pop the cork on 2011 in sparkling style! A time for reflection as well as for reveling, the turning of the year provides an opportunity to look back with satisfaction and ahead with hope.  Invite a few guests for a toast of bubbly and then sit down to a palate-pleasing meal.  In keeping with the “out with the old and in with the new” theme that the new year offers, this week’s recipes are a treasury of old favorites splashed with sizzling new flavors. Raise your glass and toast to good friends, good food and good luck!

Inviting friends over to celebrate is one of the greatest pleasures of the holiday season! If you’ve been dreaming of hosting a neighborhood Christmas party, take a tip from Santa Covington this year – make a list and check it twice! List-making will help you put the multitude of holiday chores and activities into perspective. And, these quick and easy recipes will keep your kitchen chores to a minimum. Invite your neighbors to a come-as-you-are Open House and plan a menu of easy-to-eat hors d’oeuvres. Stay low-key with the decorations, then dim the lights and add candles for sparkle. Ask your newest neighbor to pass the Rumaki, and recruit others to refill serving dishes and help with the clean up.  At the end of the evening, you’ll have new friends and a great sense of satisfaction. Merry Christmas!

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? Serve a cupful of Christmas cheer with these irresistible beverages. They’re perfect for any holiday party and can easily be doubled or tripled for large gatherings. With a generous splash of your favorite spirits, these festive party sippers will spread the warmth of the season like a fleece blanket. Cheers!

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.  Team a couple (or all) of them with a roasted turkey for a modern twist on a traditional Thanksgiving menu.  All you’ll need to add is a pumpkin pie topped with sweetened whipped cream for a grand finale.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Nothing compares with the aroma of freshly baked bread! All of this week’s recipes are for easy-to-prepare breads and muffins that are best when served warm. Some of my favorite serving suggestions include:  Cheesy Spinach Muffins with tomato soup, Praline Muffins and Cranberry Butter with a green salad, Herbed Parmesan Biscuits with spaghetti or pasta, Sour Cream Muffins with chicken salad, Peach Poppy Seed Muffins with spinach quiche, Black-Eyed Pea Cornbread with pork chops, and Miniature Buttermilk Biscuits with baked salmon. Happy baking!

Charlie Brown’s pal, Linus van Pelt, was right! There’s something incredible about pumpkins in the fall. Luckily, you don’t have to stay up all night in the pumpkin patch to find a great pumpkin recipe. Five fantastic ones are right here! Pumpkins are a great addition to salads, soups, entrees and desserts. When buying a pumpkin, keep in mind that pumpkins grown and harvested for jack-o’-lanterns have less edible flesh than cooking pumpkins. Look for varieties that have been raised specifically for cooking. Select small, round, plump pumpkins that are 2 to 5 pounds, heavy for their size and blemish-free.  Store pumpkins away from direct sunlight for up to a month or keep them chilled until ready to use. Scoop out the flesh for recipes and save the seeds for roasting.

 Eggplant is in season and it’s quite abundant at all of the farmers’ markets. This time of year they’re plump and firm and perfect! The eggplant (aka aubergine) is a member of the nightshade family. They’re very filling, supply few calories and contain virtually no fat. Their meaty texture makes eggplant a wonderful vegetarian main-dish choice.  When shopping, look for a well-rounded eggplant with a smooth and uniformly colored skin. Tan patches, scars or bruises on the skin indicate decay which will appear as discolorations in the flesh beneath. A good eggplant will feel fairly heavy, a light one may be woody. A medium-sized eggplant, 3 to 6-inches in diameter, is likely to be young, sweet and tender. Be sure to cook eggplant in a glass baking dish. Aluminum pans will cause them to discolor.

  In this week’s issue, I’ve teamed with L.A. Plume to share our entertaining ideas. Ms. Plume is imparting her wisdom with regard to entertaining etiquette and I’m providing the recipes! 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! My favorite way to entertain is simple and stress-free. The hosts get to have as much fun as (if not more than) the guests.

 True barbeque fighting is not for the faint-of-heart! It’s a never-ending battle. Which is best – eastern North Carolina vinegar and pepper, western North Carolina tomato sauce or South Carolina spicy mustard sauce? Folks with an opinion on the matter are dead set in their ways. Don’t waste your breath on the discussion. Over the years I’ve had to listen to other people’s thoughts on the subject, even when I happen to know for a fact that vinegar and pepper is the only way to cook pork barbeque. The best thing too do when you find yourself in the middle of a barbeque argument is to keep your mouth shut and smile. Still, everyone will agree that pork barbeque is mighty fine eating! One of the great things about pork barbeque is that it’s not fancy food.

If variety is the spice of life, then feta is the cheese – at least in this week’s recipes! Feta is a brined curd cheese that’s traditionally made in Greece. It’s an aged crumbly cheese, commonly produced in blocks and has a slightly grainy texture. The Greek word “feta” comes from the Italian word “fetta” which means “slice.” Feta was introduced into the Greek language in the 17th century. Opinions vary whether it refers to the method of cutting the cheese in slices to serve on a plate or slicing the cheese to put it into barrels. Traditionally, feta is made in the lower Balkan peninsula from sheep’s milk. Goat’s milk has been used in recent times. Feta is delicious as a table cheese, in salads, and with pastries in baking. It can also be served cooked or grilled and adds a salty alternative to other cheeses in a variety of dishes.