Channel your inner mall-rat and whip up a batch of Orange Julius! Perfect for your 80's and 90's themed party (or Stranger Things marathon!) Ok, full disclosure....I am a child of the 80's and 90's. I spent a HUGE amount of time at the Bellevue Mall in Nashville when I was a teenager. I shopped at the Gap, I got my ears pierced at Claire's and every single time we ...
snacks
Spicy Pimento Cheese
I was born and raised in the South and I love being southern. It's such a charming culture full of hot summer breezes, screen doors, grandma's cooking and a pitcher of sweet tea. Whenever I start cooking those traditionally southern dishes, I just can't help but think of my childhood that consisted mostly of climbing trees, playing in the creek and hanging out laundry. Now ...
Easy Baked Dry Rub Chicken Wings
I should make more chicken wings than I do. My son can eat his weight daily in the little finger foods and they do fit nicely into my keto diet. It would be a great idea to just have these Easy Baked Dry Rub Chicken Wings ready to go at all times in the fridge. Maybe if I did he would lay off the cookies and ice cream and potato chips. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking. ...
Lemon Asparagus Cheese Spread
This Lemon Asparagus Cheese Spread is dangerously addictive. Full of bright lemon flavor and a delicate asparagus notes, this cheese spread will be gone before you know it! Whip some up for a snack or as a party dip! It will keep in the fridge for a week or so. I love small towns. Don't you? I don't mean "small" as in there is only one Walmart and 20,000 residents. I ...
Cranberry Pecan Granola
Not long after I began really working within our grocery budget and also being somewhat obsessed with delicious and relatively healthy food, I noticed that my food choices tended to lean toward the more basic ingredients that you would find on shelves of grandmothers everywhere. Oats, flour, nuts, fresh veggies, and so on made a regular appearance on our grocery list. The ...
Parmesan Popcorn
It's been forever since I have posted recipes but in that time I have successfully gotten my two five year olds started in kindergarten. My pocketbook took a final huge sigh of relief as they climbed on the bus and headed toward a free education (goodbye daycare!) Since then, lots of people have asked me if I cried their first day or if I am sad to see them growing up. I have ...
Green Tomato Salsa Verde
My tomato plants have been good to me this year. While everyone else in town has been complaining about a horrible year for tomatoes, my 3 tomato plants have kept me and my family knee deep in juicy ripe tomatoes all Summer. So, now here it is October and the first frost is expected to come tonight and that means the end of my hard working tomato plants. It took me two trips to ...
Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
It's Tuesday again already! Time for another wonderful addition to the Tuna Tuesday series where meat in a can is the star of the show! This week I am using a can of premium white crabmeat. It is a wonderful replacement for the super expensive lump crabmeat and also makes great soups, sandwiches, and spreads. Canned crabmeat is perfect for these crowd pleasing stuffed ...
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 ...
Strawberry Muffins…no, Cupcakes…no, Muffins…okay, Bread
I'm not very girl-y. I never have been. As a child I refused to wear anything even remotely pink and a dress was the equivalent to being put in the stockade, but I have always loved strawberries. My great-grandmother used to have a strawberry patch behind her house ( wait...have I told you this before?) and it was our job to pick them all so she could make jam. I'm not sure how ...
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 ...
Health Kick – Salmon Fish Sticks
So, I have a confession....I am overweight. I know it. My husband knows it. Even my Wii knows it. For the last several months I have been going to the gym 2 to 3 times a week hoping to lose a few pounds, but it has yet to happen. I mean not a single ounce of weight. ( and I don't want to hear all that muscle weighs more than fat crap) So now there is only one thing left to ...
From the Depression to the Recession – Apple Oatmeal Bars
I have become quite fascinated recently with the Great Depression. More accurately, with the food of the Great Depression. It's amazing to me how a whole generation of women and men learned how to make everything last longer, go further, and feed everyone at the table. My great-grandmother lived during the depression. After my great-grandfather got laid off from a factory in ...
Orange and Ginger Chicken Wings
Today is my kind of morning. It is currently just after 8 o'clock and everyone, even the kids, is still asleep. The only sound is the gurgling of the coffee pot and the sound of me pecking on the keyboard. Ahh....peace and quiet. It's a commodity in my life. So hard to come by in fact that some days it never actually happens. Somedays the kids wake up grumpy and don't actually ...
Oh My Sweet Potato…Chip! 3 ways
As with everything, food cooked in my kitchen starts with something that I found on sale. About a week ago, Publix had sweet potatoes on sale for $.79 a pound. Now we don't really eat a lot of sweet potatoes, I'm not sure why, but we don't. Anyway, I started getting a craving for some potato chips and the gears in my head started whirring and thought about the sweet potatoes ...