Yearly Archives: 2015


#6 of 100 Ways to Rock a Rotisserie Chicken; “A Valkyrie’s Receipt for Hearty Homemade Chicken Stock”

Our waterside home on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, Moonstruck Cottage, is a weekend and holiday getaway that is about 2 hours away from our home, Evensong, in an historic little township that rests along one of the sleepier stretches of the James River in Virginia. Like most […]


#5 of 10 Ways to Rock A Store Bought Rotisserie Chicken; Hearty Chicken and Italian Sausage Soup 2

#5 of 100 Ways to Rock A Store Bought Rotisserie Chicken  Hearty Chicken and Italian Sausage Soup This rustic chicken and sausage soup is a recipe of mine that has all the flavors of the Italian countryside and has, as it’s inspiration, a far different but equally delicious Provencal vegetable […]

#5 of 100 Ways to Rock a Rotisserie Chicken

Simply Sultry & Sassy Crockpot Sausage Dip 2

I come from hearty, hybrid immigrant stock and hail from the Great Plains state of South Dakota. My entire family represents died-in-the-wool, avid (occasionally rabid) football fans or, more specifically, Minnesota Viking fans! I missed that gene. I am a disappointment and an embarrassment to my family and, over the […]


#4 of 10 Ways to Rock Store Bought Rotisserie Chicken; Poolside Pulled Chicken Sliders

This sandwich hooks up three of my very own and very “secret” recipe favorites–“Poolside Pulled Chicken,” “Moonstruck’s Coleslaw ‘Remix’” and the stove top version of my “Bayside Bayou Onion Jam!” Using a store bought rotisserie chicken for the pulled chicken requires less than 30 minutes top-to-bottom–(including pickin’), the coleslaw “remix” […]


Aunt Carole’s Crazy Easy Carrot Cake Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting 6

My Daddy’s sister, Carole, was one of three girls in his family and, in my humble opinion, remains our family’s truest version of “Aunty Mame.” Every one of my father’s sisters is a force of nature (like their mother and my grandmother, Ilo Bren)–and true to that legacy Carole was […]