From the category archives:

Ham, Pork & Bacon

Split Pea Soup ~ All Hail The Christmas Ham Bone!

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46 degrees yesterday morning. Split Pea Soup time. Making homemade pea soup is a snap. And the reason I snag the bone from Christmas or Easter family dinners {this one courtesy of sis Janie} – it makes split pea soup REALLY great.

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Barry’s Killer BBQ Ribs and His Sauce Recipe, Too

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Barry… not Larry. Cathi’s husband, a real catch. Besides being one of the handiest men on the planet, he’s a fabulous cook. This weekend together in Big Bear at their family’s mountain cabin consisted of our foursomes’ ice chests full of ingredients, wine & pines… good times. Let’s get cracking on Barry’s Famous Barbecue Ribs [...]

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Sweet Easter Memories and THE BEST Ham Recipe

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Easter is AWESOME when you’re little; it was for me. And I like to think that I contributed to at least one sweet Easter memory for all the little kids in our family. I see this photo on my vanity almost every day.

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Lime & Shallot Pork Chops

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Have you ever followed a new recipe only to realize {after it’s all gone} that you DIDN’T follow it properly? That’s the story of these Lime & Shallot Pork Chops. Which, by the way, were totally worth it.

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Guest Post ~ BBQ Country Ribs In The Slow Cooker by Dorothy of Shockingly Delicious

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NOTE FROM PATTI: You know how much I love my crockpot. So when I was chatting with friend Dorothy about a guest blog post, I was THRILLED to discover she’s mastered BBQ pork ribs in the ol’ slow cooker. What a great recipe for New Year’s – try them this way!

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What Meryl Streep Served Steve Martin in “It’s Complicated” ~ Croque Monsieur

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Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin. All eating, all the time. The movie “It’s Complicated” is now Tivo-able. It’s the kind of chick flick I love because, besides hilarious middle-age angst, there’s a lot of great looking real food.  Did you ask, “what’s that cheesy thing Meryl served Steve” (which then made Alec swoon)?  They [...]

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Machines Made Dinner ~ Sausage, Red Beans & Rice

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This day, Larry was focusing all his attention on a case (he’s a legal expert witness), I was volunteering at UCLA Hospital (Info Desk Lady). Crockpot + rice cooker = dinner. Now, this is not a New Orleans Sausage, Red Beans and Rice, it’s a Patti version. Nor is it “cooking fresh” — it’s what [...]

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Grilled Mushroom and Ham Crostini

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If I may give some life advice… whenever you find yourself in need of a mood lift, throw a potluck dinner party. People like to contribute, they really do. Invite an interesting mix of friends, hand out food assignments (appetizer, side dish, salad, vegetable, dessert) – the host does the entrée. Wine tends to arrive [...]

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My Dad’s Beer Basted Bratwurst for Octoberfest

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Maybe 15 years or so ago, Larry and I helped my folks with one of their wild parties.  On the menu: Beer Basted Bratwurst.  My parents have a “gang;” their decades-long connection is St. John Fisher grammar school, all the gang’s assorted kids started there. We lived on The Peninsula (they still do), a horsey, [...]

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Farfalle with Mushroom and Prosciutto Ragu

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The backstory for this recipe is, admittedly, lame. I basically tore a recipe from a newspaper. Despite my home economics degree and decades-long food career, I don’t create many original recipes.  My collection is pretty much everyone else’s work that I have tweaked to suit our tastes. What I’m good at is feeding Larry, someone who likes what [...]

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Pork with Thai Green Curry Sauce

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Do you sometimes pick up a recipe from a fun experience, prepare it once, and then fuggedaboudit? Not this Pork with Thai Green Curry Sauce, which we’ve made several times since Larry and I attended a class by prolific cookbook author and culinary camp creator, Hugh Carpenter.

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Claro’s Italian Meatballs

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A TV show featuring Claro’s Italian Market resulted in Larry and me driving an hour to Arcadia just for the experience (not immediately, but we keep notes of stuff like this and Larry finally said, “can we pleeeeeze go to Claro’s???”) After consuming awesome subs and ogling at cheeses, meats, dry goods and hot foods, [...]

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Bacon Macaroni and Cheese

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Bacon, bacon, bacon.  It’s not something that is always in the fridge here, and when it is, it takes several recipes to use it up.  Frankly, I’d love to consume multiple strips each morning; guilt overrides that.  What to cook with some el tocino? Four slices are needed for Bacon Mac N’ Cheese.  If ever [...]

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