Creamy Potatoes and Ham Au Gratin

We had a wonderful Christmas dinner. Lots of great food and wonderful laughs with family. Cleanup even went quickly with lots of helping hands. But then we are always left with the inevitable leftovers. This year I needed a fairly quick, but still wonderful, recipe to use with leftover ham. Ree Drummond to the rescue! I found this easy recipe on her site Pioneer Woman and also on Food Network. Of course I had to make it. I mean, how can ham, potatoes, and cheese not be good, right?

Simplest Cranberry Sauce (with pictures)

What kind of Thanksgiving meal would it be without cranberries? For years I used that jelly blob looking stuff that comes in a can as my Mom fully expected some sort of cranberry sauce on the table. But then I discovered how wonderfully easy it was to make my own from fresh cranberries, and it is soooo much better tasting!

Southern Style Collard Greens

One "must have" side dish for any of our fall or winter holiday meals is collards. If you have never eaten fresh collards, cooked by someone who knows collards, then you need to try them at least once. It can be difficult to cook them correctly if you don't know what the end result is supposed to taste like but I have done the best I can here to walk you through it. BTW, this is my way of cooking collards, there are other ways out there and I am sure they are equally delicious, but this is how I was raised cooking them.

Why I Don't Have a "Martha Stewart" Thanksgiving

Table barely got set that year, ended up with everyday dishes. No one seemed to mind.

I love holiday meals, I really do. What I love the best is the family all gathered together in one place, laughing and telling old family stories. My family is great at teasing in a loving way with no one taking offense. Most holiday meals are at my house and I love that.  But I confess there have been years where I was a total stress mess getting it all together and ready. Over many years of doing this I have developed a few "rules" for myself to help insure we all have an enjoyable meal.

Pumpkin, Honey, and Spice Spreadable Butter

I had just made some Spreadable Butter, the last tub went really fast for some reason, and had thought about making some honey butter too. Then I had a spark of pure genius! There in the refrigerator was some pumpkin puree. I had used part of a can for for some Pumpkin Lattes and there was the rest of it begging to be used in...what else...whipped butter!

My Little Memory Stick

This is really just an update to an older post with one big improvement. Awhile back I shared a post about my Rosemary Remembrance Balm. Rosemary is known to improve memory, cognitive performance, improve overall recall and attention. Who couldn't use that?

Pumpkin Pie Spice, Coconut Oil, and Craisins Granola

Granola...the word makes us think of nuts and oats and wholesomeness. But is it really healthy? Well, it should be and that's why I'm making my own. I love granola, either as a cold cereal eaten with milk or just like it is. But when you read the labels of many granola bars and cereals you see lots of questionable ingredients. And its expensive! Really, this stuff is so easy to make your gonna kick yourself for not making your own before now.