Spiced pumpkin muffins
“How can you eat that so early in the morning?” asked my friend. She gestured with a fork at the plate in front of me, which contained a softball-sized muffin…
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Chicken calabacitas stew
For the past few years, I’ve been drawn to creating a dish using chicken and yellow squash. In several of my South Texas community cookbooks, this dish appears in several…
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Blue corn sugar cookies
A few years ago when I was at a bookstore in West Texas, I met a longtime reader. She asked me what my plans were, and I admitted that for…
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Table salsa, Dallas style
If you were to come to my house, you’d find in my refrigerator a pot of pinto beans, a stack of flour tortillas, a jar of pickled jalapeños with carrots,…
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Hot dog tacos, Dallas style
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Dill pickled jalapeños
When I lived in New York, the fresh dill at the grocery store usually came from Texas. More famous Texan offerings, such as peaches, pecans, or cantaloupes, were absent at…
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Bacon blue cheese deviled eggs
When you get together with my father’s side of the family, you can be assured that hard-boiled eggs will be on offer. They stir them into gravies, slice them into…
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Lavender peach cobbler ice cream
For the past few summers, I’ve been tinkering with a recipe for peach ice cream pie. The combination of sweet fruit, cinnamon crust, and cool ice cream works in theory,…
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Chorizo cheese grits casserole
A few years ago, a Brooklyn friend announced she was going to smoke a pork shoulder for pulled pork. She’d provide the meat and the rest of us could bring…
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West Texas corn dip
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Mexican bean salad, 1914 style
When you look at cookbooks from the early part of the nineteenth century, you’ll find extensive chapters on salads. Even though the books have been in print for over one hundred years, …
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Jalapeño strawberry jam
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Lemon yogurt poppy seed muffins
In 1975, my grandma baked a loaf of poppy seed bread. While this may not seem worthy of mention, it was an unusual act in that she never repeated this…
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Cracker macaroni and cheese, North Texas style
The last dinner my grandma made for me was in November 2017. I was in town for a book signing, and while she hadn’t felt energetic enough to attend the…
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Granola bread
Every Christmas, my Uncle Austin gives the family homemade granola. During a recent survey of my refrigerator, I found a bag from the previous year. Because his ingredients are all…
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Chipotle lime boursin
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Chicken-fried catfish
For years, I’ve had the notion of chicken-fried catfish on my mind. While typically, I eat my fried catfish dredged in a cornmeal coating, I wondered if treating the fish…
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Sausage queso, Tex-Italian style
When I was making plans to visit Lubbock, a friend gave me some advice. “Go to Orlando’s Italian restaurant, and order the mafia queso,” she said. “It’s outstanding.” Lubbock, Texas…
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Tex-Mex enchilada beans
A few years ago, Deb Perelman of the Smitten Kitchen blog introduced the world to a dish she called pizza beans. It was a pan of beans baked with tomato…
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Sunday pinto beans
Every Sunday afternoon, I make a pot of pinto beans. They’re nothing special, I just like to keep beans on hand for when I get a craving during the week….
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Green chile pork and pinto bean stew
At the Indianapolis 500 race in 1970, Texas and New Mexico were pitted against each other, both on the track and off. In the lineup of drivers was Lloyd Ruby…
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Black-eyed pea cornbread
When my uncle gave me a bag of dried black-eyed peas he’d grown this summer, I mentioned that last year I’d made black-eyed pea tamales. Intrigued, he peppered me with…
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Mexican chocolate spiced pecans
One of my favorite holiday gifts is spiced nuts. They’re simple to prepare, and the nuts are a willing receiver for a host of flavors. While the savory combination of…
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Garlic rosemary beef ribs
Over the past year, as I’ve been learning to cook meat on a smoker, I’ve had the revelation that smoking meat is not much different from cooking meat in an…
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Subscription update, 2023
Five years ago, I was having a very bad day. My plane back to New York City was about to depart, and while I was in McKinney with my family,…
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