Corn tortillas cut into wedges and tossed with seasoned ground beef, enchilada sauce, green chilies, black beans and cheese and baked.

Sheet Pan Beef Enchilada Casserole

One day I ran across this recipe while browsing through Instagram - something that I like to do when I'm avoiding doing something else I should be doing. That can happen a lot these days and social media can be really good for that!

Anyway, this fella Kevin Ashton (@oldscoolkevmo) is a chef for a sorority house and he makes a lot of good eats that he cooks for himself at home and those gals and shares them on his social media. I'm sure they must really enjoy the things he comes up with because it's a wide variety of cuisines and it all looks good!

By the way, he's also battling stage 4 cancer (but seems to be beating it), so go and give him some love on one of his platforms y'all!

Russet potatoes, scrubbed, peeled and sliced, tossed in cooking oil and fried.

Soft Fried Potatoes

There are versions of these kinds of fried potatoes all across the country, but most definitely in the South - and, as usual, everybody prepares them differently.

There are two versions that I make the most.

• Southern-style, smothered fried potatoes with onion, made with cubed peeled russet potatoes, that are first steamed, then pan-fried in bacon drippings to crisp and turned, resulting in a tender inside, but with crispy outer edges.
  
  
• Unpeeled red skin potatoes, fried up in a cast iron skillet with sweet or yellow onion and bell pepper and nicely seasoned for a take on Potatoes O'Brien. Great for any meal and versatile - add bacon, ham, sausage, fresh herbs and even mushrooms if you like!

Chicken wings generously seasoned and air fried naked. Saucing optional!

Air Fryer Naked Chicken Wings

I love wings. Love them!

They are one of our top favorite foods for football gatherings, movie watching or really anytime snacking.

I used to do them most of the time in the oven and still do occasionally but they are ideal and so easy in the air fryer.

Now... first a disclosure because it's important and it matters.

Italian sausage, sweet peppers and onions, slow baked with crushed and diced tomatoes, olive oil and seasonings, served here on buttered and toasted rolls.

Baked Italian Sausage and Peppers

I love Italian sausage and peppers, but it never occurred to me to cook it in the oven.

While I think that this dish is not really authentic Italian, but more of a fusion of Italian with American, Italians do cook a lot of sausages, though the kinds do vary by region. Typically when authentic Italian sausages are referenced, it means salamina or salame da sugo, cotechino, zampone, or capello del prete and not the typical sweet or hot Italian sausages in our markets here in the U.S.

I love eating this dish, especially on a good sturdy bun, but mostly prepared it in what I thought was the more traditional manner - whole sausages, browned off in a skillet of oil, set aside while sliced peppers and onions are sauteed in that same skillet, then everything combined together.

An appetizer of poached shrimp, marinated in a tangy cocktail sauce based on a combination of V8 and ketchup with lime and a mix of vegetables.

Mexican Shrimp Cocktail - Cóctel de Camarones

This is such a great appetizer anytime really, but will certainly go very nicely as a starter for your Taco Tuesday, any cocktail party, football gathering or tailgate and those cookouts too. Heck, just a movie night even - just bust up some saltines or tortilla chips!

A tad bit different from what you're used to seeing with our classic American-style shrimp cocktail, it's sort of a cross between that, a ceviche and a gazpacho, all in a Bloody Mary-like base!

A tomato and cucumber salad with red onion, olives and feta tossed in a Greek-style dressing.

(Almost Greek-Style) Tomato, Cucumber and Olive Salad

I'm always up for making different kinds of salads using tomatoes, cucumbers, or both!

I saw this Horiatiki Salata aka Hearty Greek Salad on the America's Test Kitchen channel on Roku one day recently and thought it looked so good I needed to make it right away!

Only thing is, I didn't have everything on hand that it called for though, so I had to make some adjustments, which is why I say this is an "almost" Greek-style salad.

A fried bologna sandwich with mayonnaise and Colman's mustard sauce piled with thick sliced bologna, caramelized onion, cheese, shredded lettuce and vinegar potato chips.

Fried Bologna Sandwich

Y'all. This is hands-down the best fried bologna sandwich I have ever had in my entire life, and I've eaten a lot of fried bologna sandwiches.

Most of mine aren't anywhere close to this - just a slice, or two of bologna fried in a skillet, then sandwiched in two slices of white bread with some mustard. Delish!

The melding of the flavors here though, is just fried bologna perfection.

Catfish fillets rubbed with a blackening seasoning and cooked in the air fryer!

Air Fryer Blackened Catfish

If you love well seasoned fish, you're gonna love this blackened catfish and it's made a little easier with the air fryer!

Usually when I blacken anything, it requires a screaming hot cast iron pan and that creates an intense amount of smoke, so for me, it's relegated to cooking outside on the grill. It works great, but the heat has really kept me from being able to do outdoor cooking in the summer.

This method provides a beautiful and flavorful blackening and it's done right in the air fryer on the kitchen counter and minus the smoke.

Shrimp and Pasta with Vegetables (Primavera)

Linguine pasta in a cream sauce with a mix of vegetables and shrimp.

Shrimp and Pasta with Vegetables

This dish came about when I found quite a few mixed bags of frozen vegetables up in my freezer that I had bought for something very specific that I had intended to make - but forgot about. That happens to me alot!

And I know, you're gonna say "now Mary. That's pasta primavera!" Well, yes, to a certain degree, it is!

Pasta primavera is an American dish of pasta in a cream sauce with fresh vegetables, typically fresh spring vegetables, and the primary difference here is that instead of those typical fresh vegetables, I used those frozen ones.

Waste not, want not, and plus, it shaves off a little time!

A Southwestern style pasta salad featuring rotini pasta with taco seasonings, salsa, veggies and beans. Drizzle with your favorite salad dressing and garnish as desired.

Taco Pasta Salad   

Pasta salads are such a welcome addition to the summertime menu, aren't they?

Some days it's just so hot that the thought of putting a lot of effort into a full out meal can be daunting and overwhelming, nevermind the fact that I may not even have an appetite for that!

What happens with me during those times is that I end up snacking on a whole bunch of junk, instead of having a "meal."

Not great.