Orleans County Cuisine

Retreat Delights

Last year, I made the mistake of bringing grilled chicken to a faculty retreat. I have since learned that most of the people in my department avoid meat. (So embarrassing!) Sometimes we are most creative when we are given limits, especially in cooking or writing poetry! The farm markets have all been opening their doors,…

Winter stores beef stew with sweet potatoes and apples

I have continued the CSA with B&C Christ Farms through the winter. The apples are no longer crisp and perky, so I’ve been baking a lot of pies and making a lot of apple sauce. I get a lot of apples and I don’t want a single one to go to waste. Belonging to the…

A Sandwich for Charlie

For the 43 years that I’ve known my dad, a lot has changed. We started on Gillette Road, where indoor plumbing for our neighbors was not a given. He has been a car salesman, a politician, a philanthropist…but all through those years, he has loved Nance’s Sharp and Creamy Mustard. Today he tries to avoid…

Cuomo’s Chicken, Sweet Potato Crockpot Special

So, Cuomo hasn’t actually eaten any of my crockpot meals. But because of my “non-essential” status, the Governor gave me this snowy, blustery day off. Last week, the wind took my power and my water. We were flushing our toilet with pool water…the pool that was nearly destroyed. Thanks to a generous home owners insurance…

Cutco – The Right Tools for the Job

When I was 18 and just finishing high school, I was looking for a job and saw a flyer on a telephone pole. “$23/per appointment, Sales positions.” In 1992, I found this prospect very enticing. I headed to an address in Brighton and listened to the spiel from the officer manager. If I bought a…

B&C Christ Farms Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage

Joining the CSA this summer brought up so many memories. Growing up in Barre, NY, on my grandparents leased farm land, learning more about the farmers in Orleans County this summer was a nostalgic and soulful journey. Cindy Christ would be there when I picked up my share full of stories about the bounty and…

Slow Cooker Stuffed Pepper Soup

One of the Christmas gifts I received this year was a Dutch oven in the shape of a large, green, sweet pepper. I decided to play with a stuffed pepper soup recipe in order to show case this beautiful dish. This soup has a little more heat than most stuffed pepper soups, but I do…

Holiday Leftover Frittata

There are some holidays where everything comes together miraculously. The food and cheer are plentiful, love abounds, and there are no high emotions or hurt feelings. For both the Nesbitt and Oakley families, Christmas 2016 was a holiday for the books. Appetizers with my family led to eating Christmas dinner at the Oakley-Stilwell home. The…

Pierogis – A Grabowski Family Tradition

My brother, Chuck Nesbitt, married the lovely Elissa Grabowski. I spent the morning with Elissa and her parents, Fran and Donna. Donna learned how to cook traditional Polish cuisine from Fran’s mother, Josephine, and his Buscha, Catherine. Donna recounted with laughter her early married years and her sometimes not so successful attempts to please her…

Vickie’s Collard Greens and Smoked Turkey Butt

As you approach the home of any descendant of Willie and Betty Cooper, you will hear the raucous laughter of a family that knows how to truly live, laugh and love. Willie and Betty raised five biological children and three foster children in their modest home in Albion. They are a family that believes in…

Hardenbrook Family Ham Loaf

I spent the loveliest afternoon with Kathy (Hardenbrook) Scroger and Mary Ellen (Hardenbrook) Seaman at the Morton Baptist Church. We three cousins made a Hardenbrook family Christmas morning tradition…ham loaf! After obtaining the ground ham and pork from the Alabama Holley Farm Market, these two ladies put together a true Kendall treat! The ham loaf,…

What is this Romanesco and what do I do with it? …lean in.

Sometimes when I rely on the local Wal-Mart, I am forced to make creative compromises. Often times they turn out better. Wal-Mart didn’t have the prosciutto or goat cheese I craved, but thin bacon and the Mexican queso fresco stepped in for a less chalky flavor. (Maybe God does have a place for processed cheese?)…