Angela Knipple

I don't doubt either that most of these illnesses are from poor food safety at home, but the amount of food (measured in tons) that has to be destroyed due to recalls is horrible. I may be wrong about this, but I have to think the food safety at home issue is linked to the decline of home ec classes in schools. I learned that you just don't do some things from my mother and grandmother - the salad in the chicken juice would have been a big one from them. But home ec was the first place I ever heard the phrase "food safety". I've taught my son about the right way to handle food in the kitchen, but if people never learn in the first place, they can't teach their kids the same thing. If they grow up seeing mom leave the potato salad out on the counter all day before putting it in the refrigerator to eat later, they're going to think that's okay when they're feeding their families later on. On the flip side, people have been taught to trust the food they buy in stores. Combining a lack of knowledge about food safety with food that may not be safe seems like disaster waiting to happen. People can be taught food safety, but the food producers should be held more accountable than they are now. As large as the recalls have been, they've been voluntary. If they were mandated by the FDA, I can't help but think that there would be more.

For me, lemon curd, stocks of any variety, pasta sauces (even the most expensive ones at the store don't cut it), rolls, any non-yeast breads, caramels, soups, pickles, mayo, chicharrones, lard. Speaking of lard, refried beans are so easy. I make pastas fairly regularly, but that's something we do eat it very often, so I do use boxed pasta as often as I make it. I keep saying I will make ketchup, but we don't eat it often enough in our house for us to even have a bottle of Heinz around. I sometimes make jellies, but there are wonderful people at our farmers markets who make beautiful ones; ditto with yeast breads. I like supporting those people. Winter is the worst for me. The farmers market is closed, and my kitchen is too drafty to get yeast breads to rise. I need a real oven with a proofing setting, and someday I will have one. I want to make puff pastry now thanks to you guys, and since it is potpie season, I have a reason to do it.

I'm sure my Southern is going to show on my list, but here they are: Mac & cheese Grits with cheese or onion gravy Baked spaghetti Chicken & dumplings Sweet potato soup Greens & cornbread Chicken & dressing Potpie - chicken, turkey, beef or venison Pozole Cream of mushroom soup

This is very much a Nashville phenomenon, but only at 1 restaurant - Prince's Hot Chicken. It's not going to be something easily replicated at home unless you eat it multiple times, and even then, if you actually eat the "hot" level, it's going to burn your palate out so quickly that it's going to be hard to figure out exactly what's going on there. The Southern Foodways Alliance documentary filmmaker, Joe York, did a film about Prince's a couple of years ago. You'll be able to see just what keeps people talking about it. http://www.southernfoodways.com/documentary/film/hot_chicken.html

One of my favorite restaurants does a truly decadent grilled cheese sandwich on rye with smoked salmon and brie. They serve creole mustard and tapenade with it. And now I want one.

Our favorite way to eat butternut squash is simply to bake it under foil until it's soft, discard the seeds, then mash the pulp with a little butter, salt, pepper, and a dash of nutmeg. Delicata is an interesting squash. It has large seeds that you will want to scoop out, and the skin can be tough if it's an older squash. A simple preparation would be best. Just saute thin slices in olive oil or butter with a sprinkle of salt and pepper to let the flavor of the squash come through. Cook them just long enough for them to be tender, but still crisp.

The one on the left looks like a variety of butternut. The one on the right is a delicata.