Creamy Braised Parsnips with Sage

Serves 4-6

Recipe from Everyday Food

Husband-Tested in Alice’s Kitchen

Why not change it up a bit and serve parsnips as a side dish? Parsnips are loaded with fiber and vitamin C. A single parsnip provides 6 grams!  This is an easy dish to make and quite tasty too.  Also, try Baked Rosemary Parsnip Fries. Parsnips are a great addition to soups and stews too.  Parsnips are now available at Lost River Market & Deli.  Don't know how to recognize or prep a parsnip?  Don't worry.  Just check out the photos below the recipe.

2 teaspoons olive oil

1½ pounds parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/2-by-2-inch pieces

1½ cups chicken broth or vegetable broth

2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage or 1 teaspoon dried sage or thyme.

2 Tablespoons heavy cream

Kosher salt & freshly ground pepper

In a large straight-sided skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add parsnips and sauté until lightly browned, 4 minutes. Add broth and sage and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until tender, 8 minutes. Uncover, increase heat to high, and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Stir in cream and season with salt and pepper.

A parsnip looks like plump cream colored carrot.  It is a root vegetable and available in the fall.  Store parsnips in a plastic bag (like you would carrots) in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator.

To prepare parsnips, just use a peeler and peel off the outer skin.  Trim off the bottom and top, as you would a carrot.

Grilled Pepper Poppers

Recipe from Cooking Light, JUNE 2009
Husband-Tested in Alice’s Kitchen
16 servings (serving size: 2 pepper halves)

Anytime I serve peppers or any other spicy food, for that matter, I think of my daddy. He loves spicy things and regularly uses hot sauce as his go-to condiment. He’d warn me when I was little and wanted to try anything spicy, “It’ll put hair on your chest.” I inherited his love of spicy things, but, alas, no chest hair, thank goodness. My husband likes a little heat, but not too much. My daddy calls him or anyone else who favors milder dishes a “pantywaist.” I made these as an appetizer using milder cherry peppers for the pantywaists who attended our Labor Day dinner party. They were just terrific. I served them at room temperature, but had the few which were leftover cold for lunch the next day. Yummy!

1/2 cup (4 ounces) soft goat cheese
1/2 cup (4 ounces) fat-free cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup finely chopped seeded tomato

2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions

2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage or 1 teaspoon dried sage

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

16 jalapeño peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded (I used milder cherry peppers.)

Cooking spray

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

Set grill to medium-high heat.
Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl, stirring well. Spoon the cheese mixture into each pepper half.
Place pepper halves, cheese side up, on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill peppers 5 minutes or until bottoms of peppers are charred and cheese mixture is lightly browned. Carefully place peppers on a serving platter. Sprinkle with cilantro, if using.

Nutritional Information per Serving (2 pepper halves): CALORIES 84 ; FAT 4.8g (sat 3.1g,mono 1.2g,poly 0.2g); CHOLESTEROL 11mg; CALCIUM 117mg; CARBOHYDRATE 3.5g; SODIUM 334mg; PROTEIN 7.1g; FIBER 0.9g; IRON 0.6mg

Me Me’s Thanksgiving Dressing

From the Kitchen of Alice's Grandmother, Hazel Long Lackey Cooksey (Me Me) 1906-1991

Husband-Tested in Alice’s Kitchen

Every year, our family spends 364 days looking forward to eating this dressing. We have oyster fans in our family too, so when we make this for Thanksgiving, we divide the breadcrumb mixture in half and make one half with oysters and we leave the other half "plain." (The oyster variation is at the bottom of this recipe.) To save time, Mother uses her food processor to chop the celery and onions. This recipe makes enough for big room full of thankful family and friends. The bread and cornbread crumbs can be prepared at least a day in advance, so on the big day, all that's needed to do is to shoo the men out of the kitchen, put the dressing together, bake in the oven.

3 batches cornbread, crumbled


2 batches biscuits or bread slices, crumbled


(This should make approximately 20 cups of crumbs. Leave crumbs in a very large bowl on the counter, cover with a towel and allow crumbs to dry.)



After the crumbs are dry, preheat oven to 350° F and add: 


5 large eggs


1 ¼ cups celery, diced


½ cup onion, diced


2 sticks unsalted butter, cut up


1 ½ teaspoons Kosher salt


1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper


2 Tablespoons fresh sage, minced or 1 teaspoon dried sage

Mix well.

Add stock from turkey (leave enough stock for gravy) and add hot water to moisten the dressing. Me Me used to say, “Make it sloppy.”



Bake for 45 minutes until dressing is slightly brown and is bubbling around the edges.

*Variation: Omit sage and add 1 container (approx. 1 cup) oysters, chopped, along with the oyster liquid to one half of the dressing.