Oven roasted chunks of carrots, tossed with olive oil, seasonings, cayenne, balsamic vinegar and honey.

Honey Roasted Carrots

One of the best ways to bring out the flavors of vegetables is to roast them and carrots really shine. Bring them beyond the typical oil, salt and pepper with a few special enhancements and you've got a dish that is fit for your holiday dinner table.

Chicken Cacciatore, an Italian-American comfort food meal, also known as Hunter's Chicken, is made from a whole, cut up chicken, lightly dusted in flour and browned in hot oil, then slow braised in a light tomato sauce with onion, sweet bell pepper and mushrooms.

Chicken Cacciatore

Also known as Hunter's Chicken - or chicken in the style of the hunter - and said to have typically been a dish made using whatever wild game had come from the day's hunt - though today chicken is king.

There is no doubt that Chicken Cacciatore, or Pollo alla Cacciatora, is an authentic Italian dish, though in my Italian cookbook, The Silver Spoon {affil link}, it contains plain unfloured chicken, seared in butter and oil, includes onion, celery, carrots and tomatoes, and is finished with a toss of some fresh parsley. It also states that in some regions of Italy it is heavier in celery and carrots than their recipe, in others white wine is added and in others yet, sliced mushrooms.

Slow Cooker Corn and Potato Chowder from Deep South Dish website - A mix of chicken stock, tomatoes, corn and potatoes with herbs and seasonings and finished with a splash of cream.

Slow Cooker Corn and Potato Chowder

I've never really been a huge fan of crockpot cooking, although like everyone else, I do have a few favorites. Since the introduction of Instant Pots, and electronic pressure cookers overall really, I rarely use a slow cooker. They still have their place of course, especially for recipes like this where you can pretty much dump things in and go about your business for 8 hours.

I ran across this recipe in the book Southern Living's Big Book of Slow Cooking {affil link} and it sounded pretty good, so thought I'd give it a try with a few changes.

A quick, small batch, stovetop version of creamy rice pudding with raisins, made using leftover cooked rice.

Stovetop Rice Pudding

We eat a lot of rice here in the Deep South, more so than potatoes I'd say, although we do eat our fair share of those too. Since rice is grown all over the south though, including Arkansas, here in the Delta regions of Mississippi and over in Louisiana, chances are there is always some leftover rice around.

Storing rice can be a challenge because even rice that is tightly sealed tends to harden in the refrigerator. This is off-putting to some folks so they don't even save leftover rice. They pitch it. Don't do that!