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Sunset Mariner

Mariner's Cookbook


Recipes by Name

10/23/2024

Aioli Sauce (Garlic Mayonnaise)


My first exposure to aioli sauce occurred in March of 2019, in Savannah, Georgia, when I experienced my first Mushroom and Swiss Cheese Hamburger. The reason why I was there at that time is a tale ...

8/26/2024

Bacon Cheddar Salad Dressing


I once had a simple garden salad with dressing that featured bacon and cheddar cheese. Having remembered this, I had to try and make one. Recipes for bacon-cheddar dressings are widely available on...

4/30/2020

Barbecue Pork Ribs


As cuts of meat go, ribs aren't a really good deal. You usually end up paying steak prices for a lot of bone. Recently, however, while shopping with My Honey, we spotted some baby-back ribs at a re...

6/8/2024

Basic Caesar Salad


Unless you just want to eat lettuce all by itself and without any dressing, you can't get much simpler than your basic Caesar salad. The original Caesar salad is generally believed to have been inv...

5/13/2018

Beef Stew


There is a well-known and revered brand of shelf-stable, canned beef stew, recognizable by its red plaid label. Many people like it, and on occasion, I've enjoyed it myself. The problem is, like mo...

3/6/2016

Biscuits ("Buttermilk")


This morning I decided to try my hand at biscuits - specifically faux Hardiee's® buttermilk biscuits. Searching the Internet for existing recipés yielded quite a few hits, and many used some very s...

11/8/2008

Black Bean Soup


We've been thinking a lot lately about food. Of course, we always think a lot about food. The difference is, we've been thinking about how we'll eat when we're spending lots of time on the boat - a...

7/21/2024

Blender Mayonnaise


Sometime back, in another recipe, I made note of my opinion (paraphrased) that everyone should make home-made mayonnaise once, but that the process is too tedious to repeat on any regular basis. Wi...

5/24/2024

Blue cheese salad dressing


This recipe is inspired by Bill's Blue Cheese Dressing at allrecipes.com. The main differences are minor variations in the amounts of ingredients, as well as a difference the preparation method. I ...

10/2/2016

Bologna


As a child I was never a great fan of bologna, but I could eat it without gagging. It wasn't that I disliked the flavor, or even that we had it so terribly often that I grew tired of it — in fact, ...

7/1/2018

Bread-N-Butter Pickles


So this past Friday I started another (40 lb) batch of my fermented dill pickles. Most of my relatives seem to like my pickles (at least that's what they say!) but my Mom is not a big fan them... i...

11/16/2024

Brown Gravy


Sometimes a Southern boy just wants comfort food - something like Grandma used to make - and sometimes that's something covered with a rich, brown gravy. Now Grandma was pretty democratic about wha...

10/25/2017

Brunswick (Whatchagot) Stew


For quite some time, my brother has been making his version of Brunswick Stew. This is a favorite dish of mine, and he traditionally brings it to our Family Reunion, after which I try to make off w...

2/11/2020

Cabbage Soup


I don't often make this one, because afterwards, the First Mate usually bans me from the galley (I apparently make a terrible mess!). I particularly like this soup on a cold or rainy day - or a col...

10/10/2010

Canning Black Bean Soup


This post is "Canning Black Bean Soup v2.0", and revises and supplants the original post on the subject. I have changed the process to accommodate additional experience with the recipé. The previou...

8/29/2020

Cheater's Chicken & Dumplings


It had been a while since I had the pleasure of a meal of chicken and dumplings, and I'd never made them myself, before today; so I decided to hit the Internet and see if there was any inspiration ...

12/19/2024

Chewy Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies


I thought I would share with everyone one of my favorite desserts from childhood. When I was growing up, the schools I attended actually had kitchens and cooks, and healthy, nutritious food was pre...

5/19/2024

Chicken Marsala


One legend has it that this dish was created by Napoleon's chef, when faced with a limited selection of supplies. Another holds that, while it was invented during the Napoleonic Wars, it was create...

4/18/2008

Chunky Tomato Soup


One of my favorite comfort foods is tomato soup, and this is an easy, quick and tasty variant on ordinary tomato soup. I came up with this recipe while trying to duplicate a similar soup I had tast...

2/12/2022

Copycat "D's sauce"


I like fish. Fried, baked, blackened, or broiled. Never had any just plain boiled or grilled. I also like some of the sauces that go with fish. One of the sauces I like comes from a certain well-kn...

5/6/2008

Cornbread


One sad fact of life is that each of us is going to live a little longer than someone close to us. Another is that sometimes we will, for one reason or another think about the dearly departed, and ...

1/8/2008

Cream of Asparagus Soup


My Honey and I really like asparagus. We like it whether it's right from the garden, or fresh frozen, or even from a can, but we like it best fresh. The problem is, if you buy it fresh (or even fro...

5/15/2024

Creamy Italian Dressing


I decided a few days ago to make my own creamy Italian dressing. It's one of my favorites, but I'd never before tried to make it at home. A quick search on Yahoo yielded between 758,000 and 6,820,0...

1/20/2008

Deviled Eggs


We were in the mood for a light, easy meal at suppertime Friday night, so I scrounged up a can of Campbell's won ton soup and some chopped asparagus spears. Kind of light on the animal protein, so ...

8/17/2017

Dill Pickles (fermented)


July 17, 2017 (this is when the story actually begins) Some weeks ago I started a project involving fermentation - sauerkraut - and it was successful enough that I thought I might try some other fe...

4/30/2020

Dry Pork Rub (for Barbecue)


Quite often in reviewing recipes for pork barbecue, you will find recipes for "special" spice mixes, which are applied to the raw meat as a rub. Even more often, you'll likely see references to one...

12/22/2008

Elmer's Eggnog


Well, last night was the pre-Christmas gathering for our extended family. It was held at Shana's place - which seems to have become a tradition by now - and both of the brothers who live nearby. an...

8/17/2017

Fermentation Brine


If you're going to try your hand at fermenting cucumber pickles - or pretty much any vegetable, for that matter - you're going to need some quantity of brine; and, to avoid trouble and lost time, y...

8/29/2016

Fish Sausage


"Why fish sausage?" you might ask. Well, following these experiences, so might I.

12/4/2024

Grandma Sallie's Brunswick Stew


As the firstborn grandchild, I was the apple of my maternal grandmother's eye, and I've been told all my life that she spoiled me outrageously. I don't really know about that, but I do know that sh...

2/27/2016

Grandma's Liver Pudding


Anyone who ever knew much about my father, knew also that he was very fond of dishes containing liver; including the sausages known as liverwurst, braunschweiger, and in particular, homemade liver ...

7/2/2020

Grandma's Pickles


So I’ve been making pickles for a while now – mostly fermented dill pickles, which Mom doesn’t care for. I tried making “Bread ‘N’ Butter” pickles, which are not fermented, and for a while she seem...

11/3/2023

Gumbo!


Never having lived in or near Louisiana, I can’t claim a heritage with, or even long familiarity with the defining Cajun dish, to wit: gumbo. Like most denizens of the Southern East Coast, my early...

10/18/2023

Gyro loaf


In a city about 30 miles West of our home there is a locally-famous Greek restaurant. The restaurant prepares and serves fine examples of the kinds of Greek dishes you might expect, but the best th...

10/28/2017

Home-style Vegetable-Beef Soup


I've been making this soup, on rare occasion, ever since I retired, at which time I temporarily assumed some of the cooking chores for which my Honey would otherwise have been responsible. I don't ...

8/25/2022

Hot Sauce


Ever since I got into fermenting my own sauerkraut and pickles, I've wanted to try my hand at making my own hot pepper sauce. I'm particularly fond of Texas Pete® Original Hot Sauce, using it on a ...

6/13/2010

Hot/Sweet BBQ sauce


Yesterday I decided to do my version of barbecue ribs for Sunday dinner. I had everything I needed on hand, except the barbecue sauce. Now those who know me, know that I purely despise shopping, an...

8/5/2017

Hummus Fail (or, Why I Can Chickpeas )


My sister lives some distance away, from both me, and the area in which we grew up, and she has ever since she married a sailor and moved away, at the ripe age of... well, never mind! Just accept t...

1/10/2025

Irish Coffee


In the late 1970's I was given an assignment to meet with a consultant, to learn their take on modelling water quality in natural systems. The person was an older gentleman, and with his red hair, ...

9/22/2016

Liver Pudding, Mariner's First Try


Not long ago, I posted my Grandma's recipe for Liver Pudding (as remembered by my Mother), and.early this week I decided to give it a try. I ran into several problems, however, the greatest of whic...

3/14/2019

Low-Country Boil


Some years ago, my Honey and I decided to be spontaneous, and on the spur of the moment hit the road to spend the weekend in Savannah, Georgia - without having made hotel reservations! Big mistake....

4/7/2011

Mariner's Breakfast Sausage


It can be difficult to consistently eat on the low-carbohydrate plan without seriously overdoing one's fat intake, and breakfast is one of the most difficult meals at which to avoid those fats. At ...

4/16/2008

Meatloaf


For those of you who don't know, my Honey started out married life as a real, honest-to-goodness, college-educated scientist. Yep, she got a job right out of college as a part-time hydrologic field...

10/28/2017

Mom's Chocolate-Iced Layer Cake


Following the passing of my father, in 1989, my Mom asked that the family begin celebrating Thanksgiving Day together regularly, in remembrance of him. She held that Thanksgiving was Dad's favorite...

10/21/2017

Mom's Old Fashioned Dark Fruitcake


Most of the time, when someone mentions fruitcake, it's a joke. I have to tell you though, my Mom has made a tradition of baking fruitcake for many years, and I think it's wonderful! I'm not partic...

11/1/2017

Mom's Pound Cake


Pound cake is widely-known for both its taste and its simplicity. I think Mom began making her own version of this cake about the time of my senior year in highschool. Pound cake is also versatile....

10/23/2024

Mushroom-Swiss Hamburger


In March of 2019 I posted the story of our discovery of the Low-Country Boil, and our ill-fated attempt to have a "spontaneous" weekend in Savannah, Georgia. In retelling the tale of my irritation ...

8/10/2016

Olive Loaf


Olive loaf has always been one of my favorite sandwich meats. While I was growing up, it was an expensive treat, only to be had once in a great while. Finding olive loaf at the grocery was never di...

4/18/2020

Onion Sandwich Rolls


I learned to hate onions at an early age. When I was about 5 years old, I was victimized by an older, male family member, who thought that it would be funny to give a child a raw onion, saying that...

12/24/2021

Parmesan Pepper Salad Dressing


A long time ago (more than 20 years, anyhow) in a land far away (not really, but it makes a good intro), one could find a very special salad dressing in local grocery stores, to wit: Parmesan-Peppe...

2/5/2017

Quasi-Csabai


I was 13 years old when John Kennedy faced down Nikita Khrushchev, during the Cuban Missle Crisis, and I lived about 12 miles north of the Florida State Line. For my entire life, up to that point, ...

10/16/2016

Quick and Easy Italian-Style Sausage


Let's be clear about this, right from the start. This recipe is not an Italian Sausage recipe. For one thing, there's no fennel in it. For another it has a lot of what Americans think of as traditi...

10/8/2024

Ranch Dressing ("Buttermilk")


Ranch dressing is the "go-to" dressing for a lot of people - and deservedly so. It goes well with most salads, and is frequently used as a dipping sauce as well. Any search of the internet will rev...

12/22/2007

Salmon Chowder


My Honey decided last week that she wanted some salmon chowder. Normally, she makes it herself, but I'm at home more now, and she's working, so I got the job of figuring out how to make it. I looke...

4/8/2025

Salmon Cracker Spread


I like fish. I like it fried, baked, and broiled. I also like it in certain dishes. One of the fishes I like is salmon, and one of the ways I like salmon is as part of a spread, served with cracker...

2/8/2008

Salmon Croquettes


Like many others, my Honey and I are trying to put more fish into our diets. Seems that fish are one of the better sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which are apparently good for you in a lot of diff...

7/22/2017

Sauerkraut!


Everybody who knows me knows that, especially since I retired, I despise weekend traffic. Too many people going too many places, too fast, and too rude! Since I don't want to be seen on the 11:00 P...

9/1/2019

Seafood Cocktail Sauce


We don't use a lot of cocktail sauce; in fact we've probably used less than four or five tablespoons of commercial cocktail sauce in our home in all 48 years of our marriage. Once in a great while,...

5/8/2009

Shrimp Po-Boy Sandwich!


Fried shrimp is one of my favorite foods, and this sandwich is one of my favorite ways to eat fried shrimp! Like many of my recipés, This one doesn't start from scratch. If you opened it up to lear...

2/24/2025

Simple Flautas


I really like shredded beef flautas, and I used to be able to get them locally. Things change, however, and the regional chain restaurant I used to frequent closed: apparently along with all of the...

12/2/2017

Slow Cooker Boiled Peanuts!


Well, our fabulous Thanksgiving Day feast and Family Reunion is well past, and I have almost a year to recover. Good thing... I'm getting pretty old now, and the preparation for that event is becom...

11/4/2016

Slow-Cooker "Baked" Beans


This time of year, many of us are looking forward to several, if not many, celebratory gatherings with family and friends. Quite often those gatherings are organized around a feast of some sort, wh...

3/14/2023

Smoked Gouda/Pimento Spread


We buy a lot of our staple goods from a well-known warehouse-style big box store; but occasionally, we also find oddities there, and we often try them out. We found a tasty smoked Gouda cheese and ...

2/13/2020

Smoked Pork Meat Stock


I have frequent need of pork stock in my cooking, and it's not often available on the store shelves. Sometimes, as an afterthought to crock-cooking a large piece of pork, I make my own, by simply c...

5/26/2024

Sort-of-Caesar Salad Dressing


In the summertime we eat a lot of salads, and often those are Caesar salads, which means that we go through a lot of Caesar dressing. Now, for health reasons, I've been forced to cut back on my sug...

2/24/2025

Taco Seasoning Mix...


I really like shredded beef flautas, and I used to be able to get them locally. Things change, however, and the regional chain restaurant I used to frequent closed: apparently along with all of the...

5/2/2016

Tartar Sauce


For most of my childhood, ketchup was the only dressing I ever knew about for fried fish. During that time, my family didn't eat in restaurants very often, and when we did, we didn't usually order ...

11/22/2007

Thanksgiving Turkey


No real recipe here. Just kudos for the directions on the packaging. Now, I could probably say that I've cooked them before, but in reality, I only helped the person who was actually in charge of t...

12/12/2024

Uncle Billy's Breakfast Tonic


My Honey's Uncle Billy was a very affable man. I don't think he ever met anyone that he couldn't turn into a buddy. This was a very good thing in a salesman, and a salesman he was! For many years, ...

1/11/2022

Uncle Henry's Hot Legs


Now, I'm pretty sure that everybody has been exposed at one time or another to hot wings, sometimes known as Buffalo wings, and most have probably enjoyed their spicy heat. I'm just as sure that ev...

8/18/2017

Undine's Courtboullion


Mariner heard about a different way to prepare fish, Cajun/Creole style, and decided we should try it. It's called Courtboullion (pronounced kū-bĭ-yōn), and it is a kind of poached fish - usually c...

1/20/2021

Vegetable-Beef Soup, Revisited


Well, last month the doc told me he was concerned about my blood sugar, and that we needed to bring it down. His advice was to go back on a low-carbohydrate diet until the next scheduled exam. Havi...