Zucchini Cheddar Hushpuppies are a quick an delicious Summer side dish perfect for barbeques and fish frys. Use up all that zucchini with these puppies! Summer, for us, is just about over. My babies will have their very first day of kindergarten in 3 weeks! Almost all of the school supply shopping is finished. The new Tinkerbell and Cars backpacks are loaded down with ...
Side Dish
Asparagus Gremolata
Spring has certainly arrived here in the South and it has brought buckets of pollen with it. Everything I own is covered with a fine layer of yellow dust. Sneezes, snotty noses, and watery eyes are the standard fare for everyone in our family. We have all developed a close, personal relationship with our allergy meds. Other than the stuffy noses, all of our plants and ...
Classic Caesar Salad
Classic Caesar Salad isn't hard to make, in fact it can be a simple and inexpensive salad to accompany dinner. Top it with grilled chicken or salmon and it makes an excellent dinner! I've been a little obsessed with classic Caesar salads lately. Maybe it's because it so hard to find a really good one. Or maybe it corresponds with my other new obsession, anchovy paste. It ...
Roasted Broccoli and Brussels Sprouts
Roasted Broccoli and Brussels Sprouts is a quick and easy addition to any meal. Covered in cheese and bacon and then roasted to perfection, these are not your grandmas Brussels sprouts. I'm a little late to the Brussels Sprouts train. They aren't really in season but they are in my grocery store and I couldn't pass them up. I love Brussels sprouts. I had my first one ...
Spicy Black Eye Pea Salad
I consider myself a good Southerner and I tend to stick to tradition as much as anyone when it comes to welcoming in a new year. I never hang up my new calendar for the new year until January 1st ( much to my daughter's chagrin) and I always eat my black eye peas on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. That's not to say that I get up and particularly look forward to eating a big ...
Homemade Ruffles Potato Chips
Never buy a bag of potato chips again! Make your own Homemade Ruffles Potato Chips from scratch! Cheap and easy and lots of fun to eat. I'm not sure that I have ever heard of anyone who doesn't love potato chips. I've heard of folks who can't eat potato chips, or "try not" to eat potato chips, and a few people who say potato chips go straight to their thighs, but I can't ...
Cheesy Tomato Basil Souffle
Don't let this Cheesy Tomato Basil Souffle intimidate you! Souffles are easy! Showcase all of that summer produce in this creamy and decadent Cheesy Tomato Basil Souffle! Here it is, the end of July and I am happily swimming in fresh, ripe, homegrown tomatoes. It's an event I look forward to all year. It's hard to beat a just picked sweet tomato still warm from the sun and I ...
Baked Crab Mac-n-Cheese
This baked crab mac-n-cheese is complete and total decadence. Perfect for holidays and date nights, this ooey, gooey, crabby goodness will make your stomach smile. Here is what I have decided. People who have said that seafood and cheese don't go together are idiots. I have proven them wrong in the past with the Tuna Chowder and now with this fan-freaking-tastic crab ...
Purple Parsley Potatoes
Say that 3 times fast. Purple Parsley Potatoes. Purple Parsley Potatoes... I can't even type that 3 times fast. Anywoo, I bought these cute purple potatoes at the store last week. They were on sale, but still a bit of a splurge. I just couldn't resist the color. It's just so PURPLE! How can you not want to eat a purple food? It's impossible not to be at least a little ...
Traditional Southern Cornbread Dressing
Thanksgiving isn't Thanksgiving without Traditional Southern Cornbread Dressing. It just isn't. It's probably the dish that I look forward to the most. It's the one I spend the most time making sure is absolutely perfect, and it's the cheapest thing on the table. Now I know that some of you people out there call it "stuffing" and that you actually put it inside the bird. ...
Hoppin’ John and how to Shop at the Farmer’s Market
I have been going to the new local Farmer's Market pretty regularly this summer. After doing a lot of reading on the subject of food over the past few months, I decided that working local food into the budget would really be a benefit for our family. Although I had planned on increasing the food budget to allow for the higher prices of local food, I have found that as ...
Kid Friendly Baked Zucchini Fries
I remember when my kids were a little over a year old. They had finally gotten enough teeth in their precious little heads to make the big jump from baby food to "big people" food and I was so excited. I could almost hear my monthly grocery bill dropping. No more tiny little jars, no more cans of Wagon Wheels, no more rice cereal! Then as I got a few days in to feeding them a ...
Stuffed Artichokes
Stuffed Artichokes are a delicious side dish treat. They take a little prep but your effort is rewarded with a delicious side dish that everyone will rave about! My dream is to one day move out of suburbia and back into the country. I would like to have a few acres of land for the kids to run around on freely, I would like some chickens, maybe a goat, a clothes line to hang ...
BBQ Stuffed Potato
Do you remember when Wendy's had a potato and chili bar? I think there was probably a small salad bar mixed in there too, but the potato bar was my favorite. You could throw all kinds of stuff on your potato; chili, cheese, bacon, you name it. Granted, this was probably not the healthiest way to eat a baked potato, nor was it the best chili in the world, but the price ...
Cheddar Fried Squash
Cheddar Fried Squash is an easy and delicious way to jazz up your fridge full of squash or zucchini! Kids love it too! You know summer is in full swing when the squash and zucchini starts coming in. I have memories of mysterious 5 gallon buckets full of zucchini and summer squash showing up on our back door when I was a kid. While my mother always welcomed free ...