When we remodeled our house four years ago, I dedicated a large kitchen cabinet for cookbooks. At the time, my collection all but filled the space. Over the last few years, my obsession with buying cookbooks and food magazines has the cabinet bulging at the seams. Many of the books get a quick look and become lost in the collection. Others keep my attention and end up with dog-eared pages and … [Read more...]
Kale-Sweet Potato Salad with Cornbread Croutons and Crispy Shallots
I usually associate salads with summer and warm weather. After all, a salad can be very cooling on a hot, sweltering Atlanta day, and there have been plenty of those days this year. We're finally getting a break from 90+ degree days with mornings in the high 50s and highs of low 80s. Those crystal clear days with low humidity always signal the start of fall. I eat salads all year round, and as … [Read more...]
Creamy Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette
Have you ever read the labels on popular store-bought salad dressings? I always look at ingredients in the products that I buy, and I find it a little scary to read the long list of unnatural ingredients I see on salad dressing labels. I always go for brands that only include all natural ingredients, but those dressings are usually pretty pricey. Today, I'm making the case for preparing your … [Read more...]
Pita Pockets with Lobster Tarragon Salad
We've traveled to many places around the globe, and Provincetown, Massachusetts on the tip of Cape Cod is still our favorite of all vacation spots. In fact, we'd like to live there part-time at some point in our lives. We've spent many summer vacations in P'town, but this fall, we're taking a two-week road trip there, three dogs in tow, for a couple of weeks. While we're there, we're going to … [Read more...]
Crabmeat Ceviche + a $100 Visa Gift Card Giveaway
Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know about my ties to South Louisiana. My Mom's sister and her family lived in the Lake Charles area, and road trips to that part of the country were an annual summer occurrence for our family. Years later, I attended college in South Mississippi, which is a hop, skip, and a jump from New Orleans. I made many trips to The Big Easy during those … [Read more...]
Chopped Salad with Tarragon Vinaigrette + a Calphalon Giveaway
A few weeks ago, our house was selected for a Calphalon photo shoot. As part of their digital media campaign, they were photographing their Calphalon Elite Nonstick Cookware. Roughly 15 people, including an Ad agency executive, a Calphalon executive, a food photographer, a food stylist, a prop stylist, and a hand model, took over our kitchen for a four-day shoot. As a food blogger, I was … [Read more...]
Seared Scallops with Pea Pesto
Every summer our family hit the road in our 1965 sky blue Pontiac Catalina for a family vacation. One year our destination was the Great Smoky Mountains with stops in Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, and Fontana Dam. On another trip, we followed my Aunt Sarah and Uncle Vernon and their popup camper to the mountains of North Georgia. Six Flags over Texas highlighted another trip. Perhaps my favorite … [Read more...]
Burrito Bowl with Carnitas
When warm weather hits Atlanta, the natives all head for restaurants with outdoor dining. On a balmy weekend night, it's almost impossible to be seated outside at our favorite haunts. For us, sitting on a patio with great friends, a big pitcher of margaritas, and Mexican food makes for the perfect Saturday night. Last week I made Slow Cooker Carnitas with pork tenderloin. I knew after the first … [Read more...]
Tomato Aspic with Crème Fraîche and Chives
How many of you remember Tomato Aspic? It was the "fancy" congealed tomato salad that all the ladies in town made for their garden club years ago. I'm sure it made regular appearances at church potluck dinners as well. It was certainly popular in my hometown of Aberdeen Mississippi. My parents gave me a copy of Prime Meridian cookbook for Christmas which features the recipes of Meridian, … [Read more...]
BLT Pizza with Egg
I don't usually think of pizza as typical breakfast food. Anytime we have leftover pizza from the night before, Jim is happy to eat it cold in the morning. Me? Not so much. But, I'm happy to eat BLT Pizza that I made for today's post. This healthy pizza made with whole wheat crust makes the perfect breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and if you use store-bought pizza dough, you can put it together in … [Read more...]
Spinach Salad with Candied Walnuts and Golden Beets
I vividly remember sitting in my freshman comp class many years ago on a cool October day. Professor Kemp began the class by assigning a 300-word essay on any topic to be completed by the end of class. Never being a quick thinker, I wasted the first fifteen minutes of class trying to think of an interesting topic for my essay. Desperately watching the time and realizing that a good idea just … [Read more...]
Celery Caesar Salad
I've always thought of celery as a background ingredient, chopped and sauteed with onion and bell peppers before ending up as a minor player in a soup or stew. Being a big fan of celery, however, I've been spotted before with a stalk in one hand and a container of peanut butter or hummus in the other. I thought today's post should move celery out of the shadows and into the spotlight, so I've … [Read more...]