Have you ever made hamburger stew? It's easy and cheap to make. Use ground chuck. The last thing you want is having to deal with the beef fat that is tallow. Use whatever vegetables you have, if you don't have the frozen mixed vegetables. That is what I do. The other veggies you always have on hand. Serve it over rice to extend the number of servings you get. It's called creative cooking 101.

A 1936 Ford. This would be the only new car my Dad ever bought. Back in the day, you paid cash for almost everything, and that included a new automobile.
You could buy furniture on a revolving credit plan, but I am not sure about buying a car. Anyway, Dad bought a 1936 Ford, two-door, with six cylinders and painted a nice shiny black. That is what I remember about it. The picture shows Dad sitting on a front fender, a classic pose of days gone by.

No, this is not a soup. It is a delicious baked mess of beans. Yes, sour and cream does get along well with baked beans.

This is not just another filled baked potato. Creamy mashed potatoes are on top, but underneath there is a surprise waiting for your fork. Your family will wonder when you had the time to go to cooking school.

It was the winter of 1941-1942 and the war was just beginning. Dad found a job in Akron, Ohio, at a tire making plant. They would be making butyl rubber. The Japanese controlled all the real rubber coming out of the East Indies in the Orient. A substitute had to be found. Dad brought us a sample of the synthetic rubber when he came home for a weekend. It looked like rubber. It felt like rubber. It would be the only kind available until the war was over.

Back in the day, a country housewife had a supply of buttermilk. After all, she churned her own butter. Now, we pick up a carton at Food City, not realizing how it used to be. Buttermilk Pie was good then and it still is. Use a refrigerated pie crust you have on hand or make your own. If you don't have buttermilk in the fridge, shame on you!

The problem with the French names for some very good dishes is that they sound so fancy and difficult that you are afraid to try them. Don't let the name scare you. A quiche is nothing more than an egg and onion pie. This one is fancied up with chicken livers. Try it.

Have you ever done the Dragon? You haven't? Well, you are in for a treat, or a treatment; whatever. Let me tell you the story of my daughter Anne's sister-in-law, Jackie. She came down to visit last summer. She has a brother over on the North Carolina side of the Smokies. Jackie has never been near the Smokies before. She needed directions on how to get to her brother.

Have you noticed those tiny frankfurters in the case near the hot dogs? How do you fix them? Why prepare them at all? That's easy. They are used as an appetizer, but need a sauce to spice up their flavor. This is a good one to try.

This was one my dad's favorites. He liked it with a glass of beer. The bar he frequented always had a gallon jar on the counter behind the bar. I never made them for Dad. I didn't have the recipe. These are different than eggs brined in beet juice.