Spicy mixed nuts, tossed with a seasoned butter and honey blend and roasted.

Bar Nuts

It's been a minute since I've spent anytime at all in a bar whether it's around town or on vacation, but I do remember a time where there were freely available snacks available.

Mostly they were intentionally savory and salty, purportedly to encourage your thirst so you'd buy more drinks!

These days it's more about offering paid for appetizer menu items, or if there are any kind of snacky freebies, it's typically small plates of food or appetizers called tapas,

A seafood dressing made with the trinity, cornbread and French bread crumbs, shrimp, crabmeat and oysters.

Seafood Cornbread Dressing

There are so many different kinds of dressings out there, the most common ones in the South being one made with cornbread, another made including chicken and the other with only staled bread in the form of sandwich bread, French bread or leftover rolls or biscuits and the addition of herbs.

I've made cornbread dressing both with and without any kind of bread, but I find that I prefer the texture of cornbread dressing when it includes some bread with the cornbread. It's another one of those Southern things that folks tend to argue about though, because there are some who will tell you that only cornbread should be in your cornbread dressing, and that is the only way.

Well. Y'all know what I say about that! 

A creamy soup, made with a light roux, the trinity, stock, milk, artichokes, fresh oysters and finished with a garnish of quartered artichoke and smoked oysters.

Oysters and Artichoke Soup

Let's start off by saying that I do realize that oysters aren't everybody's thing.

They certainly weren't a thing for me when I was younger, that's for sure, and I've shared that story here before. But... let's just say as I matured as an adult, my love of oysters grew and the holidays are certainly when they show up.

I mean, c'mon. I grew up on the Gulf Coast!

A slow-stewed whole chicken finished with rolled buttermilk dumplings.

Chicken with Rolled Buttermilk Dumplings

I love chicken and dumplings but you know what? Although drop dumplings are and will always be my favorite, I'm not particularly married to chicken and dumplings done one way and one way only.

I'm just too adventurous for that!

There are so many different methods and even types of dumplings out there and I like trying them all. Hey, life is short, right?

One thing is for certain. A big bowl of stewed chicken with dumplings is comfort food 101.

A snack mix of corn and rice squares with cheese crackers and a mix of pecans, cashews and peanuts, tossed with a spicy seasoned butter and slow baked.

Spicy Party Mix

Everyone makes these cereal-based snack mixes all year round because they are a great snack for parties, movie nights or just anytime, but for some reason they became a holiday favorite too. I think a lot of folks bag it up and gift it and frankly, once you start doing that, it will be expected every year!

What I call the original original 1952 advertised recipe was simply 2 cups each of wheat and rice Chex cereals, 1/2 cup nuts, butter, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and garlic salt. That's it! Even that original has evolved over the years and isn't the same original as is on the current Chex website.

I won't go into it here again, but you can read up a bit on that Chexistory at this link.

Homemade or frozen meatballs sauced with a cranberry barbecue sauce.

Cranberry Meatballs

Who doesn't love a sauced party meatball?

I know my husband (aka "The Cajun") sure does! You really have to reel him in to save some for other guests when he finds them on the table at any gathering. He does tend to get carried away when it comes to meatballs!

These Cranberry Meatballs are pretty popular around the major holidays when cranberries are in vogue. You certainly could make your own fresh cranberry sauce and yes, even chili sauce if you'd rather. I've actually got recipes up here for both.

We're going a little shortcut here!

A bone-in turkey breast, rubbed in olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and baked. Pictured here with southern cornbread, dressing and skillet green beans with turkey gravy.

Classic Oven-Roasted Bone-in Turkey Breast

One thing that I have certainly learned in this world of cooking is that when it comes to large cuts of meat, you really need a digital in-oven probe-style meat thermometer (#ad), and not just the typical stick-in instant read thermometer.

I bought this Polder back in 2012 and so far it's still hanging in there!

Note: As an Amazon.com Services LLC Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases linked in my posts and marked as #ad or #affiliate links.

Since all ovens vary in the way that they cook, using a digital in-oven thermometer means that you can insert the probe, set the temperature you need the meat to reach and it will set off an alarm as soon as that temperature is reached. There's no need to keep opening the oven and removing the turkey toward the end of the cooking time to keep checking the temperature because every time you do that you lose some heat.

A quick skillet meal made with seasoned, boneless, skinless chicken thighs and frozen mixed vegetables, served over rice or noodles.

Skillet Chicken and Vegetables

I love a quick skillet meal!

Even though I run this recipe website, I'm still like many of you. In between recipe development and getting things in a form where y'all can recreate it in your own kitchen, I have some days where I'm just not super inspired about what I want to eat, or even whether or not I even feel like cooking!

A favorite dish of pasta with ground beef, tomatoes and chili seasonings, made easy using the Instant Pot!

Instant Pot Chili Mac

I love sauce and pasta dishes like this chili mac. It's so easy to throw together and gives you such a tasty dish that really most everyone loves and it's good any time of the year.

Besides a multitude of variations within the recipe itself that you can make by increasing and decreasing the chili seasonings and yes, even the cheese (or even leaving the cheese out), there are other ways to vary it too, just to give it a different flavor. Taco seasoned comes to mind as does a more mildly seasoned ground beef "helper" style of pasta and everything in between.

Strips of chicken breast, tossed with fajita seasonings and combined with sauteed peppers and onions, served on warmed corn or flour tortillas.

Skillet Chicken Fajitas

I love when you're sitting in a Mexican restaurant and a server passes by with a sizzling cast iron fajita plate filled with veggies and meat. It leaves behind it such a fragrant trail doesn't it?

Apparently,  it's a bit addictive too, that aroma, because you will often see tray after tray after tray delivered after that first one passed through!

Even my veggie adverse hubby aka The Cajun, fell into that fragrant allure once, and ordered some, despite my warning that they were more vegetable than they were protein.