Christmas Tamale Stuffing

By Andrew Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

When I was little I thought stuffing was gross because it was, you know, the guts. My big brother Tony convinced me by whispering, “Yep, Mom really does serve us guts, but don’t tell her I told you!”

Then one Thanksgiving, when Tony was at his girlfriend’s house, I had a revelation … and the truth was miraculously delicious. Since then I’ve made all sorts of stuffings with oysters and figs, roasted shallots and pancetta, sausage, leeks, fennel and roasted peppers, but never with gizzards.

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You Say Sweet Potato…

By Andrew Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

...I say yam! There’s so much confusion about which one is which, I’m not sure anyone truly knows the difference anymore, or that the difference much matters. Part of the confusion is that both tubers come in different shapes, sizes and colors, and often look very similar in their diversity.

So whether I’m right or wrong, the tuber I call a yam is misshaped and gnarly with a dark red skin. I always pick the ones that are about the size of my fist because I think they’re sweeter and less fibrous than their bigger kin.

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The Boys’ Gougères

By Andrew Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

One fateful day a few months ago, we walked into a newly opened French bakery around the corner from our house. It was fateful because the boys discovered gougères that had just come hot out of the oven.

If you’re not familiar, gougères are like savory cream puffs. Delicious little pastries with cheese and herbs mixed into the dough before baking. So now gougères are the bread of choice in the Hunter household. The boys like them in the morning with scrambled eggs, at lunch stuffed with turkey and cherry tomatoes, and at dinner as slider buns.

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Lemon Herb Chicken & Potatoes

By Andrew Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

How many of us spend too much time in front of a screen? Not a window screen, but a digital screen? My family and I do, so much so that sometimes we have days when screens are off limits. The boys are simply not allowed to play games or watch the tube … or um, the plasma.

This morning was one of those times when Marilyn and I were craving a low-tech day. So we played football in the yard, walked Bandit an extra few times, and played a bunch of board games that had gotten dusty in the closet.

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Aunt Jean’s Tucson Skillet Tacos

By Andrew Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

The Darland side of my family, that’s my Aunt Jean and Uncle Dick, and cousins David, Julie and Greg, live in Tucson. As a kid, Tucson seemed like a million miles away, and it truly was because instead of flying for a visit, in those days we piled into our “wood” paneled station wagon and drove the 1,951 miles southwest from Ann Arbor.

When we got there, the leafy green farmland I loved became a sandy hardscape with prickly cacti and scrubby brush that I feared. I thought we had landed on the moon.

I have lots of fond memories, though, once I acclimated to the foreign land. But one that stands out is my Aunt Jean’s tacos.

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