http://www.diannesdishes.com/ en Copyright 2012 Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:10:51 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification I love clam chowder. I've always loved this lovely soup. I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't enjoy this fabulous little creation. It is to me the epitome of comfort food. Want to know the secret a really good clam chowder? Bacon drippings! Obviously you could skip this and just use olive oil, but the flavor of the bacon really enhances the soup. What's comfort food without a little naughty? And bacon drippings are definitely naughty. Shhhhh! Don't tell anyone! ;oP Clam chowder can be made many different ways, and I've made various types over http://www.diannesdishes.com/2012/01/14clam-chowder.html http://www.diannesdishes.com/2012/01/14clam-chowder.html Cheesecake Fish and Seafood Soup Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:10:51 -0500 Microwave popcorn is convenient, but commercial varieties have a bunch of crap in them that can cause cancer. Imagine something processed being bad for you? What are the odds? Anyway... Of course you can air pop corn, or do the "old fashioned" stove top method, to which I'm partial, but you can also make your own microwave popcorn when you're short on time. You might think this would be difficult, but it takes about 5 minutes and that includes popping. Not bad for a fast, healthy snack. You control what goes in to the bag, so there's no gross http://www.diannesdishes.com/2012/01/poor-mans-microwave-popcorn.html http://www.diannesdishes.com/2012/01/poor-mans-microwave-popcorn.html Snacks Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:43:41 -0500 I'm not a big fan of soda as a general rule, but I do like a good root beer or ginger ale! My beef with most commercial varieties of these drinks? You've got it...high fructose corn syrup! There are some lovely artisan sodas out there, and I usually have some of those on hand, but occasionally I like to make my own ginger ale Ginger ale obviously starts with ginger, in this case several pounds of it. This is a very easy thing to make, and you can't really go wrong. If your syrup ends up a little less http://www.diannesdishes.com/2012/01/make-your-own-ginger-ale.html http://www.diannesdishes.com/2012/01/make-your-own-ginger-ale.html Beverages Make Your Own Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:03:31 -0500 I love soup. I'm a big fan year round, but especially in the winter. This soup came about from my wanting to incorporate the vegetables I got from our local CSA like vegetable/fruit delivery service this week. I had an eggplant, some bok choy, some chard, along with some left over black eyed peas from New Year's Day. Before long this soup was "born". This soup is BIG. It makes a lot of soup. It has big chunks of vegetables and is very hearty, all while being healthy too. Pair it with some sour dough or corn bread and http://www.diannesdishes.com/2012/01/rustic-vegetable-soup.html http://www.diannesdishes.com/2012/01/rustic-vegetable-soup.html Comfort Food Healthy Soup Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:37:12 -0500 I was talking about making honey butter with some friends a while back and I was surprised to find out that they thought this was an epic culinary undertaking. They were shocked when I told them just how easy it was to make! I'm a big fan of honey butter, or well honey itself for that matter. My father has his own bees so I've always got a ready supply of honey in the cabinet. Honey butter is perfect on warm biscuits, yeast rolls, or even simple toast. Making your own is also a lot cheaper and has less http://www.diannesdishes.com/2012/01/make-your-own-honey-butter.html http://www.diannesdishes.com/2012/01/make-your-own-honey-butter.html Make Your Own Semi-Recipes Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:03:35 -0500 One of the main reasons the holidays are my favorite time of the year is stuffing! Stuffing (or dressing, depending on what you want to call it) is often neglected during other times of the year and it really is a fabulous side dish no matter what the season. There are many different ways to make stuffing. My mom makes a really fabulous corn bread stuffing that brings back memories of my childhood. As I've gotten older I've come to like one made with various types of bread instead. Some people add oysters, some people add fruit...In short there http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/12/triple-bread-stuffingits-not-j.html http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/12/triple-bread-stuffingits-not-j.html Comfort Food Holiday and Special Occasions Side Dishes Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:53:05 -0500 How is it possible it's December already? This year has just flown by! This time of year I start thinking about baking Christmas goodies. Lex and I took an unexpected trip to Tennessee on November 27th due to my father having a transient ischemic attack, which leaves the victim with stroke like symptoms for a period of time. He said we didn't have to come, but I told him as his daughter it was my prerogative to come anyway. We ended up staying until Wednesday morning of this week and then headed back to Maryland. All of that to http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/12/graham-coconut-chocolate-chip.html http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/12/graham-coconut-chocolate-chip.html Cookies Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:33:46 -0500 I love to make croissants. I use the recipe that Abby from Abby Sweets blogged about a while back and they're perfect! The only problem is that I'm the only one who can (in Jamison's case) or will (in Lex's) eat them, so I usually end up eating a few and then freezing the rest. They freeze beautifully as they would say on Steel Magnolias. Anyway.... There was a bag of frozen croissants in the big freezer that I kept looking at whenever I got something out of there to use. For a while now I've wanted to make http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/11/french-toast-casserole.html http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/11/french-toast-casserole.html Breakfast Comfort Food Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:37:21 -0500 I love pumpkin! It's one of my all time favorite things and this time of year I love to make sweets and treats, not to mention savory dishes like soup or ravioli with pumpkin. It seems in the fall I always have pumpkin on the brain and these brownies popped in to my mind when I saw a recipe for a chocolate/caramel type brownie and my imagination just went crazy from there! These brownies are brownie like, all while having a slight essence and texture of pumpkin pie. The caramel gives the brownie a subtle hint of something wonderful, http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/10/pumpkin-dulce-de-leche-swirl-b.html http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/10/pumpkin-dulce-de-leche-swirl-b.html Dessert Holiday and Special Occasions Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:33:23 -0500 Every October my mom and my best friend Darlene come to visit for a week around my birthday. This year that week happened to be last week. We spend the week goofing off, laughing and generally having a fabulous time. Some years they are here on my actual birthday, other years like this year, they are not, but it's a lot of fun and something I look forward to all year long. The day after Mom and Darlene arrived I had a little lunch party after church so that a friend of mine here could meet Darlene and my http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/10/pumpkin-trifle.html http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/10/pumpkin-trifle.html Cakes Dessert Holiday and Special Occasions Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:03:37 -0500 Ok let's get this out of the way...This cake is not a healthy alternative to anything. This is a calorie nightmare, not something you would eat everyday, loaded with sugar, chocolate and butter sort of dessert. In short it's the kind of dessert that probably makes your mouth water just looking at it! As I said you aren't going to eat this everyday, you wouldn't want to eat this everyday. This is a special occasion sort of cake, with plenty of cake to share with many of your closest friends! One thing I really like about this cake is http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/09/triple-chocolate-ganache-cake.html http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/09/triple-chocolate-ganache-cake.html Cakes Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:36:19 -0500 As I mentioned in my last post we recently had a Tex Mex feast with friends to celebrate Labor Day. One of the dishes that I served was a Cheesy Sour Cream Enchilada dish, along with our other Tex Mex selections. Now I'm a big fan of enchiladas, when they're done right of course, and this one really was fabulous! I ended up eating left overs for a week, but I didn't regret any of those repeat meals! It's a bit of work to put together, but it really is easy, and if you like these types of dishes http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/09/cheesy-sour-cream-enchiladas.html http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/09/cheesy-sour-cream-enchiladas.html Comfort Food Wed, 14 Sep 2011 16:16:28 -0500 Who can believe it's already September? The years seem to go faster and faster every year. Alexis started third grade today. How is it possible that she's even old enough to be in third grade? But I digress... On Sunday afternoon we had some friends over for a Tex Mex feast. We had spent the Sundays before Memorial Day and the 4th of July together, so I decided we needed to make it a trifecta with Labor Day and invited them over for an early dinner. The kids played, we talked, we ate, we had fun! That's what friends http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/09/cheesy-mexican-rice.html http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/09/cheesy-mexican-rice.html Comfort Food Side Dishes Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:23:52 -0500 I love soft shell crabs...If they're done right! It's very easy to mess up this relatively simple dish, but when they're done properly they are just fabulous! I've had my share of bad and good fried crabs. In fact in one case over on the Eastern Shore I had a fried soft shell crab that was so bad I couldn't even finish eating it because it was just that horrible. Most of the other "bad" ones were at least edible, but in that instance it wasn't the case. For several years I've wanted to play around with soft shell http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/08/pan-fried-soft-shell-crab.html http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/08/pan-fried-soft-shell-crab.html Fish and Seafood Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:03:56 -0500 It's that time of year again...The time to save some of your harvest for use during the winter. My three favorite methods include canning, preserving and freezing. I also dry things like fruit or tomatoes from time to time too. Living on the side of a mountain has its perks. It's cooler up here than down in the valley, even though we've had some miserably hot days this summer all together, we tend to get a bit more rain and you can't beat the view! Well the view isn't really a perk I suppose, but it's enjoyable none the http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/08/canning-preserving-and-freezin.html http://www.diannesdishes.com/2011/08/canning-preserving-and-freezin.html From The Garden Fruit Healthy Veggies Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:27:13 -0500