Sounds like you need to slip in some orange juice or orange slices for the missing "sunshine" with your meal. ;-)

Dreary here all day long, too. We're going out to dinner with out-of-town friends for a combination November birthdays (we missed getting together due to bad weather) and early Christmas. I made a gluten-free cake for dessert at our house.

I wanted to try out the hamburger I got at the new butcher shop in town yesterday. I fried it up and added pork n beans that I doctored up with mustard. Fixed a small side salad to go with it. It was cloudy all day here in Ohio. I miss my sunshine.

Shirley

I made a huge pot of smothered cabbage and turnips with meaty ham hocks and tasso last night so tonight we have left overs.

I cleaned and grilled a couple of big portobello mushrooms, then added a nice slice of fresh mozzarella, a little purple onion, basil leaves, and a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar. Robert had his on a grilled slice of crunchy bread. A green salad rounded out the meal; I'm harvesting cool season greens from the garden.

Just me tonight so I'm eating leftovers--mac and cheese from Trader Joe's and a couple of ravioli's with tomatoes. Raven--what is tasso? That looks good. :)

Never heard of tasso either, but it sounds and looks great!!!

Raven, the tasso looks so good. This may be a dumb question, but how 'hot' (spicy) is it?

It may sound dull, but made another lucious large pot of an unnamed soup with home-made chicken stock base and every vegetable and fresh herb I could find to toss in. Yum.

Pink

Rhizo, it depends on who made it basically. I have had some that was extremely hot and some that was barely warm. But usually you can see the amount of red rubbed on the surface and you can soak it and release some of the pepper off of it. I don't like it really hot. You have to be sure not to season the dish you are adding it to very much till the tasso has been in it a while, tasting is important. The piece in that picture doesn't have a heavy coating or crust of seasonings but some sure does. Like this one.

If anyone would like to order some here's the link to Teet's smoked meats store in Ville Platte, Louisiana. It's the first picture and not really hot. Very authentic Cajun food. They ship. The place I buy mine when I am down home doesn't ship out, it's in Basile and omg I love to go there, just walk in and your mouth starts watering! Best slab of smoked ribs I have ever had, getting more for Christmas.

Teet's