Posted in Book Reviews

A Taste of Cowboy: Ranch Recipes and Tales from the Trail

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

From a Food Network “favorite” chuckwagon cook turned celebrity a “collection of delicious, easy recipes and stories” (Ted Allen, host, Food Network’s Chopped).

Whether he’s beating Bobby Flay at chicken-fried steak on the Food Network, catering for a barbecue, bar mitzvah, or wedding, or cooking for cowboys in the middle of nowhere, Kent Rollins makes comfort food that satisfies. This gifted cook, TV contestant, and storyteller takes us into his frontier lifestyle with simple food anyone can do.

A cowboy’s day starts early and ends late. Kent offers labor-saving breakfasts like Egg Bowls with Smoked Cream Sauce. For lunch or dinner, there’s 20-minute Green Pepper Frito Pie, hands-off, four-ingredient Sweet Heat Chopped Barbecue Sandwiches, or mild and smoky Roasted Bean-Stuffed Poblano Peppers. He even parts with his prized recipe for Bread Pudding with Whisky Cream Sauce. (The secret to its lightness? Hamburger buns.) Kent gets creative with ingredients on everyone’s shelves, using lime soda to caramelize Sparkling Taters and balsamic vinegar to coax the sweetness out of Strawberry Pie.

With stunning photos of the American West and Kent’s lively tales and poetry, A Taste of Cowboy is a must-have for everyone who loves good, honest food and wants a glimpse of a vanishing way of life.

“[Rollins] serves up the beans with a side of profundity and wit.” —Amy Thielen, author, The New Heartland Table 

“You will want to make and eat every single one of these mouthwatering recipes.” —Amanda Freitag, chef and judge Chopped 

“Takes me right back to my Southern roots. . . . This is the good life, and with my fast-paced world, I want to be there.” —Cat Cora, cohost Iron Chef America

Amazon

Posted in Kitchen Tips

8 Easy Tips For Perfect Frozen Cocktails Every Time, According To Experts

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

Summer is frozen drink season (sorry, we don’t make the rules). Even though we tapped the Naked & Famous as our 2025 drink of the summer, we still save plenty of room for a frozen cocktail—especially at peak temperatures.

There’s already a lot of science and technique that goes into making a cocktail. Adding in the frozen element requires even more precision. If you get the ratios wrong, reach for the wrong ingredients, or mess up your blender settings, you can end up with a drink that’s watery or lumpy.

To avoid a frozen drink flop, there are a few tips to keep in mind. Bartenders Camille and Cody Goldstein of Muddling Memories share all of the dos and don’ts you should remember when blending a frozen cocktail. If you keep these tricks in mind, you can sip on refreshing drinks all summer long.

delish!

Credit: Photo: Alex Lepe; Food Styling: Janette Zepeda
Posted in #Recipes

Strawberry Cheesecake Bars

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

There’s no better way to end a meal than with a sweet treat, and dessert bars are my go-to. These squares are easy to make and ideal for sharing, as everyone gets the same serving size. Lemon bars, brownies, and blondies are classics for a reason, but sometimes I’m looking for something that’s more fruit-forward. For those who love the richness and tangy flavor of strawberry cheesecake, here’s how to turn that dessert into an easy, make-ahead bar. 

In this recipe for strawberry cheesecake bars, you’ll start by making a sweet and sturdy graham cracker crust that doubles as the crumble topping. Next comes a rich and creamy cheesecake layer that’s shockingly simple with our foolproof food processor method. Spooned into the cheesecake layer are strawberries cooked just enough so the juices start coming out but there’s still fresh strawberry flavor. Everything bakes together into a pretty bar that you can eat out of hand.

Why You’ll Love It

  • It’s bursting with fresh strawberry flavor. Strawberries and cheesecake are a classic flavor combination, and these bars are the best way to showcase fresh, in-season strawberries. 
  • They’re an ideal make-ahead dessert. These strawberry cheesecake bars need time to chill in the refrigerator before serving. Make them ahead and they’ll be ready when you are.
Credit: Photo: Alex Lepe; Food Styling: Janette Zepeda

Key Ingredients in Strawberry Cheesecake Bars

  • Strawberries: Cook fresh strawberries for a few minutes to drive off some of their moisture and concentrate the fruit flavor. Avoid frozen strawberries, which have a muted flavor and water-logged consistency, in this recipe. 
  • Cream cheese: There’s no need to wait for the cream cheese to come to room temperature before making the filling. Just make sure to scrape down the sides of the food processor to make sure the cream cheese becomes evenly light and fluffy.
  • Graham crackers: Use graham crackers as the base for the crumb crust and topping.
  • All-purpose flour: Just 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour adds stability to the crust and gives the topping a crumble-like texture.
  • Butter: Melted unsalted butter binds the graham cracker crumbs together and gives the crust and topping a rich, buttery flavor.

The Kitchn

Posted in #Recipes

100 Incredible Summer Desserts Perfect For Every Warm Weather Occasion

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

With fruits like peaches, blueberries, watermelons, and more all ripe for the picking, we’re bee-lining to the U-Pick farms for the sake of fruity homemade cobbler, pie, and cake recipes. The perfect end to any meal is an over-the-top, delicious dessert, especially in summer when all the best fruits are in season and campfires are s’mores-ready. Join in on the summer fun by taking inspiration from these 100 warm-weather desserts!

Okay, okay, it’s true—when the weather gets hot, sometimes the last thing we want to see is our ovens. That’s why we’ve rounded up some of our favorite no-bake desserts, Popsicles, and even grill-able desserts for when you and your oven aren’t on speaking terms. Our favorite treats that won’t make you break a sweat? You can’t go wrong with our blueberry cheesecake icebox cake, our no-bake strawberry lemon swirl tart, our drumstick pie, or our limoncello tiramisu.

These desserts aren’t just for the dinner table, either. We have plenty of treats perfect for the nights when the outdoors is your kitchen. Whether you’re camping and cooking over a fire on the side of a mountain, or simply on a grill-only diet, your sweet tooth will be taken care of. Our campfire cobbler, our grilled peaches, our grilled pineapple sundaes, and duh, s’mores (including ones made out of a bacon weave) are the BEST.

Need more summer cooking ideas? Check out our top strawberry desserts, our favorite grilled fruit recipes, and our best s’mores desserts too.

delish!

Posted in #Recipes

Funnel Cake

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

State fairs come around just once a year, but the need for funnel cake happens way more often than that! Our funnel cake recipe makes a carnival-worthy cake that is fried to golden-brown perfection, easy to tear and share, and finished with a thick dusting of confectioners’ sugar. It will really make you feel like it’s summertime at the state fair, sticky fingers and all!

Next time you get a hankering for the confectioners’ sugar-laden fried delicacy, pull up this recipe. We’ll walk you through making funnel cake the easy way. And if you’re really hankering for all the fairground treats, tuck into these iconic state fair foods.

Ingredients for Funnel Cake

  • Eggs: Bring your eggs to room temperature so they blend better into the batter. There’s a science to it!
  • Milk: You can use 2% milk or whole milk for this recipe. Be cautious if you decide to use a liquid with less fat than 2% milk. It may affect the taste and texture of the funnel cake and won’t be carnival-level quality.
  • All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour provides just enough structure to build the structure of the cake, but it has a tender crumb for easy tearing and sharing.
  • Oil: Pick an oil that has a smoke point of 400°F or higher, has a neutral taste and fits in your budget. We highly recommend canola oil!
  • Confectioners’ sugar: Is any funnel cake complete without a thick dusting of confectioners’ sugar?

Taste of Home

Posted in #Recipes

Homemade Baked Beans

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

When I’m invited to a potluck or backyard barbecue, I always offer to make the beans. It doesn’t really matter what else is on the menu because homemade baked beans seem to go well with everything. Creamy beans swimming in a sweet and savory sauce with a smoky bacon flavor—who can resist? Baked beans are rich enough to hold their own against meaty main dishes like crispy fried chicken or slow-cooker pulled pork sandwiches. Yet they’re also simple and humble enough to serve with roasted vegetables, salads or eggs and toast.

Over the years, I’ve made a lot of bean dishes and learned that the best baked beans start with dried beans. Canned beans are convenient, but dried beans are 100% worth the effort. They taste better and offer more bang for your buck.

Of course, there’s no denying that dried beans take longer to prepare. Most of the cook time is hands-off, but not everyone has time for dried beans (especially on a busy weeknight). Don’t worry; we’ll offer some suggestions for how to use a pressure cooker as a shortcut and how to adapt this recipe for canned beans. Once you learn how to make baked beans from scratch, you’ll never look back!

Ingredients for Homemade Baked Beans

  • Dried navy beans: Navy beans are the traditional choice for homemade baked beans. These beans have a nutty, buttery flavor and a creamy texture. They hold their shape and won’t break down over long cook times, which is why they’re typically used in canned baked beans and canned pork-and-beans.
  • Salt: This is the secret ingredient for making the most flavorful baked beans from scratch. When beans soak in salted water, the calcium and magnesium in their cell walls breaks apart, softening the once-tough skins and ensuring the beans will cook more evenly.
  • Bacon: Everything is better with bacon! Bacon adds smoky, salty, savory vibes to homemade baked beans. Just make sure to start with cooked bacon. If you use uncooked bacon, the fat will render out into the sauce, and the beans can turn out a little greasy. (Psst: Here are our Test Kitchen’s suggestions for how to cook bacon.)
  • Molasses: This thick syrup has a deep, rich flavor. It’s a little sweet, but not nearly as sweet as maple syrup or sugar. There are several types of molasses, each with a slightly different flavor profile. Light molasses is the sweetest, and blackstrap molasses has a strong, bitter character.
  • Brown sugar and ground mustard: Brown sugar adds a caramelized sweetness to the baked beans, while ground mustard adds an earthy, slightly spicy balance.

Taste of Home

Posted in #Recipes

Cooking for One? Here Are 7 Weeks of Easy Meal Plans.

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

If you’re a household of one, you know the struggles of cooking for yourself. Most recipes serve four or more people, so unless you take the time to halve or quarter each and every one, you’re left with a mountain of leftovers. That might be fine on day two or three, but eating reheated leftovers all week long gets old.

That’s why we want to help. These seven meal plans celebrate you, the solo cook, and ensure you won’t get bored with dinner (or breakfast or lunch, for that matter) by mid-week.

1. How I Prep a Week of Mediterranean Diet Meals for One

This one-week meal plan celebrates both the Mediterranean diet and the solo cook. It will set you up for a week of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that are far from boring and totally feel-good, including a salmon skillet with chickpeas and greens, Mediterranean quinoa salad, toasted muesli, and more.

Get the plan: How I Prep a Week of Mediterranean Diet Meals for One

2. How I Prep a Week of Easy Meals for One in Just 2 Hours

This meal plan is out to prove that meal prepping for one doesn’t have to mean cooking a big pot of chili on Sunday and reheating portions all week. You’ll get lasagna roll-ups, baked salmon, rotisserie chicken tacos, and more out of this two-hour session.

Get the meal plan: How I Prep a Week of Easy Meals for One in Just 2 Hours

The Kitchn

Posted in #Recipes

Classic Macaroni Salad

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

This creamy macaroni salad with celery, onion, green pepper, carrot, and pimentos is easy to make and is the perfect crowd-pleasing dish to bring to your next picnic or potluck. 

How to Make Macaroni Salad

You’ll find a detailed ingredient list and step-by-step instructions in the recipe below, but let’s go over the basics:

Macaroni Salad Ingredients

These are the ingredients you’ll need to make this macaroni salad recipe: 

  • Macaroni: Of course, you’ll need macaroni pasta!
  • Condiments: A creamy blend of mayonnaise and yellow mustard adds tons of flavor. 
  • Sugar and vinegar: White sugar adds a dose of sweetness, which is pleasantly balanced by white vinegar. You can, of course, add as much or as little sugar to suit your taste.
  • Seasonings: This macaroni salad is simply seasoned with salt and ground black pepper. 
  • Vegetables: You’ll need celery, an onion, and a bell pepper. Grated carrots and pimento peppers are optional, but they add welcome flavor and color. 

Allrecipes

Posted in Book Reviews

Creole Gumbo and All That Jazz: A New Orleans Seafood Cookbook

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

Seafood, folklore, and New Orleans jazz history combine in “a delightful book with excellent recipes” (Mimi Sheraton, The New York Times).

A dazzling array of photos, recipes, and far-out folklore, spiced up with tidbits of jazz history and lyrics, comprises a seafood cookbook that celebrates the world-famous cookery of New Orleans. Howard Mitcham offers more than 300 enticing dishes, from crab gumbo and shrimp-oyster jambalaya to barbecued red snapper and trout amandine.

As an appetizer, Mitcham traces the development of the cuisine that made New Orleans famous and the history of the people who brought their native cookery to the melting pot that makes New Orleans a living gumbo. For the main course, he puts together a cornucopia of local delights that are ready to prepare in any kitchen.

Mitcham traces the development of sophisticated Creole cooking and its rambunctious country cousin, Cajun cooking, with innumerable anecdotes, pictures, and recipes as well as a list of substitutes for hard-to-find seafoods.

“Creole Gumbo is more than a cookbook. It is a history book, a music lesson and a personality profile of great jazzmen.” —Today

Posted in #Recipes

Garbage Bread

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

Garbage bread looks like an ordinary loaf when hot from the oven—until you slice it open and see the tantalizing spirals of melted cheese, beef, pickles and bacon hidden inside. That’s the magic of garbage bread recipes! My family and I have added this recipe to the list of our favorite dinner recipes, but thick slices of cheeseburger bread are also great for snacks and Super Bowl parties—especially when they’re served with a tangy dipping sauce.

What is garbage bread?

Garbage Bread served in a plate, ready to eatSARAH TRAMONTE FOR TASTE OF HOME

The exact origins of garbage bread are a little hazy, but the idea must have certainly come from a frugal home cook who realized that it was a tasty way to repurpose leftovers. The stuffed bread is similar to stromboli, since its fillings are rolled up in bread dough and then baked. It picked up the “garbage” label because the recipe is a convenient way to clean out your fridge and use up leftover cooked meats, cheese and veggies. (It’s sometimes confused with the regional New York dish called garbage plate, which is a whole different beast.)

Garbage bread recipes have taken off on social media, with creators incorporating all kinds of flavors and ingredients into the swirly slices. This take on the dish is a cheeseburger garbage bread, which includes everything from the mustard to the pickles.

Garbage Bread Ingredients

  • Refrigerated pizza dough: Most stores stock bags of pizza dough in the deli area or refrigerated case. Another option is to use easy homemade pizza dough.
  • Ground beef: Add garbage bread to the list of recipes that use a pound of ground beef.
  • Bacon: While many types of bacon would work well in this savory bread recipe, I prefer the flavor of applewood- or hickory-smoked bacon in this cheesy bread.
  • Cheese: I use two types of cheese in this recipe. The cheddar cheese is added for the flavor, while Jack is one of the best melting cheeses. Freshly shred or grate your own cheese, since it will melt better than store-bought bags of cheese that contain cellulose (to prevent clumping).
  • Onion: Cook the meat with diced onion for the most flavorful beef mixture. Diced frozen onions can help you cut down on chopping time.
  • Ketchup: It can get confusing with so many ketchup brands out there. You likely have a bottle already, but if you don’t, we like Heinz, French’s and Hunt’s.
  • Mustard: Turn to regular yellow mustard to pack that classic cheeseburger flavor into the garbage bread.
  • Pickles: Slice up dill pickle spears to layer inside the filled bread. Using dill pickle relish is another way to incorporate the flavor.
  • Banana peppers: Pickled yellow banana pepper rings are available in mild or spicy varieties. Choose your favorite.
  • Spices: To flavor the garbage bread recipe filling, use a simple blend of salt, pepper and garlic powder.
  • Egg: Brushing the rolled dough with beaten egg will cause it to emerge from the oven with a beautiful golden brown color. The wash also holds optional sprinkles of sesame seeds or coarse salt.

Taste of Home