May 29, 2009.   Categories Chef David Lawrence, Contributing Chefs, Father's Day, Smoking / Grilling.

Kick Ass Burgers with Roasted Tomatoes, Caramelized Onions and Smoky Chipotle Ketchup by Chef David Lawrence www.chefdavidlawrence.com Chef David Lawrence has done it again by creating quite possibly, the ultimate burger… and the best photo of a burger I think I’ve ever seen!   Serve these once and your house will be the hit of the summer BBQ season! Here is the recipe, in his own words: The all-American Hamburger gets...

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February 2, 2009.   Categories Appetizers, Peggy's Favorites, Thanksgiving Dinner, Vegetarian.

This mushroom croustades recipe is great when you’re throwing a party.  They are always such a bit hit… and any leftover duxelle (fancy name for mushroom filling) may be used as a delicious topping for potatoes, eggs or on top of a filet mignon. The “cups” which are often referred to as “croustades” in other recipes and are little bread cases made with round slices of soft white bread that are pressed into...

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December 21, 2008.   Categories Christmas, Cocktails, Peggy's Favorites, Thanksgiving Dinner.

Homemade Tom and Jerry Batter (Eggnog) This recipe is a variation of a long lost recipe my mother used to make years ago.  Once you have homemade batter you’ll never buy the jared stuff at the store – or commercial Egg Nog.  We don’t consider this to be perfected so I encourage you to play with the spices and consistency while making it.  My mother used to make this in large batches – place and...

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December 3, 2008.   Categories Christmas, Comfort Food, Fabulous Side Dishes, Thanksgiving Dinner.

Sausage, Wild Mushroom and Sourdough Stuffing Every Thanksgiving I make this stuffing.  It uses the best ingredients from my Wine Country heritage – wine (of course), sourdough bread, fresh herbs and wild mushrooms!  It is simple and can be a bit of “chef’s delight” as each batch is a little different.  I never stuff the turkey as I believe it increases cooking time and really doesn’t add to the...

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November 22, 2008.   Categories Fabulous Side Dishes, Thanksgiving Dinner, Vegetarian.

Mashed Potatoes With Lavender and Honey The beauty of mashed potatoes is you can add almost any flavor to them to create a different spin on the classic recipe.  Lavender is one of my favorite scents and I believe I got this idea from an aromatherapy book about 10 years ago.  I haven’t made these in a long time.  I was reminded how good they are by a blogger on Twitter who mentioned having something similar in France. Lavender can be...

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November 22, 2008.   Categories Christmas, Poultry, Roasting, Smoking / Grilling, Thanksgiving Dinner.

Carter’s Turkey Brine Submitted by: Carter Snead It’s been said by some that Carter’s Thanksgiving turkey is the best they’ve ever had.  I asked him to share his technique to brine the turkey. I’m so glad I did!  On Thanksgiving, I followed his recipe and it was the best turkey I’ve ever made.  When we were carving it, juice was literally squirting at us (even from the breast.) Brining is the process of...

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