This soup has been a part of our Christmas tradition for many years.  It's so easy to make and perfect for a Christmas Eve dinner at home because it gets your belly full to sleep and wait on Santa.

Baked Potato Soup
Serves 6 and can easily be halved.
Cook time varies from 20 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes depending on how the potatoes are prepped.  I prefer baking them but you can also microwave them.

Ingredients

• 4 large baking potatoes
• 1/2 stick of salted butter
• 1 Tablespoon of flour​
• 4 cups of whole milk
• 8 oz. bag of shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 1/2 cups of sour cream
• Salt & Pepper to taste

​Directions

• Bake or microwave potatoes
  • ​To bake, wrap potatoes in foil and bake in 450° oven for 1 hour or until they feel soft when squeezed.
  • To microwave, pierce potatoes with a fork and wrap in plastic wrap.  Microwave for 5 minutes and then turn potatoes and microwave for another 5.  They are done if they are soft when squeezed.
• Once potatoes are cooled, peel and discard peel.  Roughly chop potatoes and set aside.
• In a heavy sauce pan or dutch oven, melt butter over medium high heat,
• Allow butter to just begin to brown before sprinkling flour over the butter.  
• Stir butter and flour mixture and add milk stirring constantly.
• Reduce heat and allow mixture to begin to thicken while stirring gently.  The flour and butter will create the thick base for the soup so be sure to stir well so you don't get lumps.
• Add in potatoes, cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper and gently stir.
• If soup is too thick add a small amount of milk.
• Taste soup and see if you need more salt at this point.

Tips

• Serve soup in a hollowed out bread bowl or roll.
• Set up a topping bar with small bowls of shredded cheese, chopped green onion, sour cream and bacon pieces.

​Love,

This delicious dish is so easy to make , but tastes like you're dining out! It is one of those meals that I tend to forget about, but when I make it it's always a hit.  And it's SO simple too!

​Creamy Sundried Tomato Tortellini
Serves 4 and takes less than 15 minutes to make

Ingredients

• 1 bag of frozen cheese tortellini (approx 16 oz)
• 1 package of ground sweet italian sausage
• 1 small jar of sundried tomatoes in oil chopped finely (drain and reserve 1 Tablespoon of oil)
• 1 garlic clove crushed
• 1 Tablespoon of flour
• 2 cups of heavy cream
• 1 cup of grated parmesan
• Pinch of red pepper flakes (to taste)

Directions

• Bring a pot of salted water to boil, once it comes to boil add frozen tortellini. Once the pasta floats, remove from heat and drain.  Be sure to reserve some of the pasta water by placing a bowl under the strainer in sink.
• While water comes to a boil; In a large skillet saute crushed garlic clove in the reserved sundried tomato oil. 
• Cook garlic until it begins to brown, and then add sausage and stir, cooking until no pink shows.  
• Sprinkle flour over the sausage mixture and stir.  
• Next pour cream into pan and stir and add in sundried tomatoes
• Sprinkle parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes over sausage mixture and combine.
• Once pasta is drained add to the pot and combine.  If the sauce is too thick, add a little of your reserved pasta water.
• Garnish each serving with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Love,

Rice doesn't always need to just be a part of another dish, it stands alone very well.  There's nothing more comforting than hot white rice with butter, salt and pepper.  I remember being very young and Grammy making me a bowl of hot buttered rice and I sat in my PJ's in front of the TV.  I thought it was just about the greatest thing ever.

Cooking rice can be so intimidating!  There are so many types of rice and it's so easy to accidentally over or under cook rice. This technique works every time for me.  I am including a stove top option as well as instant pot.   Most recipes will tell you to use a 1:2 ration for rice to water.  Since I rinse my rice I adjust for this extra moisture.

Note: I prefer using Jasmine white rice, but also like using long grain rice.

Cooked white rice
serves up to 4 and can be doubled or halved

• 2 cups of uncooked white rice 
• 3 cups of water
• 1 teaspoon of salt

Instant Pot Directions:
This is my preferred method for cooking rice. 
Place rice in a strainer or collander and rinse well.  This will remove the starch from the rice and keep it from getting too mushy.  I use a small sifting strainer for this and just let the water run over the rice for a minute.  You can also soak the rice and then rinse, but be sure to get as much water off the rice as possible.
Add rice, water and salt to the instant pot and close the lid making sure your rubber seal is intact.  Turn the vent to lock in place.  Press the rice button and then subtract 2 minutes from the cook time.  Once the instant pot has counted down, manually release the steam by placing a thick towel or oven mit over the valve and turning to open it.  Once the valve releases open the lid and stir rice.

Stove top Directions:
Place rice in a strainer or collander and rinse well.  This will remove the starch from the rice and keep it from getting too mushy.  I use a small sifting strainer for this and just let the water run over the rice for a minute.  You can also soak the rice and then rinse, but be sure to get as much water off the rice as possible.

If cooking on the stove top, bring your water and salt to boil in a pot that is 3 times as high as the water reached. Add the rice turning the heat down to medium - medium to high so that it doesn't boil over.  Once boiling, cover your pot with the lid and do not remove the lid until your rice has cooked for 15 minutes.  Turn off the heat and allow your rice to rest with the lid on for another 2-3 minutes.  If you remove the lid too soon you will lose much needed moisture so as tempting as it is, leave that lid on.  When it's time, remove the lid and fluff rice with a fork.

Love,

Savannah Red Rice is a traditional southern dish that some compare to red beans and rice.  I personally think they are VERY different but I also don't like RB&R. Savannah red rice is packed with bright smokey flavor and a touch of heat.  When I am not feeling well, this is one of the first things I crave as comfort food. This dish gets a bad rep in our home because there was a time in 2020 when I was very sick and it is literally all I ate.  Every.  Single.  Day.  Hopefully enough time has passed that this one can get some air time again.

Like most of my favorite recipes this is a version of another recipe that I liked but tweaked over the years to make it exactly what I wanted.  I first made a version from my beloved Mrs. Wilke's cookbook.  I didn't care for the addition of bacon and bell pepper so over time I got it to exactly how I like, and I have to say I think it's so much better. (gasps). My version is very similar to my Shrimp Etouffee that I also love to make.

Note: I always use Conecuh brand sausage when available because not only is it delicious, but this is a brand from Alabama that we love to support.

Savannah Red Rice
Serves 6-8 people and can easily be halved

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of cooked white rice
• 1 pack of Conecuh brand smoked sausage chopped into 1/2-1" slices.
• 1 large yellow onion diced
• 1/2 head of celery diced, leaves removed.
• 1 large can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 1-2 Tablespoons of Frank's Red Hot Sauce
• 4 Tablespoons of butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 375°
• Cook rice and set aside
• In a large, heavy skillet sauté sausage, onion and celery until celery is translucent
• To your pan add cooked rice, crushed tomatoes and tomato paste and stir
• Add salt, pepper and hot sauce stirring well
• Allow to simmer for 5 minutes and add in butter.  Stir well.
• Remove from heat and place in pre-heated oven.  If your skillet isn't oven safe, transfer to a casserole dish
• Bake for 30 minutes and then remove from oven and allow to cool.

This dish keeps well in the fridge for a few days, but doesn't freeze well sadly.

​Love,

Kirsten's "Salsa"

This is hands-down one of my favorite things to make and enjoy and is always a crowd pleaser!
​
Years and years ago we were visiting my Bestie Kirsten in Charlotte and she made this dip for us.  I was completely hooked!  Many people call this poor man's caviar but I think that's a dumb name, so it's always been called "My Salsa" or "Kirsten's Salsa".
It's perfect for any season, but especially summertime.  It makes a huge amount so it's great for a party or gathering and keeps well in the fridge for up to a week.

Ingredients

• 1 Large bottle of zesty italian salad dressing (2 small bottles will work also)
• 2 cans of mild ro-tel diced tomatoes and chilis (not drained)
• 1 can of black beans (rinsed and drained)
• 3 small cans of white or yellow niblet corn (not drained)
• 1 bunch of cilantro, stems removed and chopped very finely.  Use as much or as little as you like.
• 1 bunch of green onions, white ends only, very finely chopped (save the green part for something else)
• 1 red bell pepper seeded and very finely chopped.

Directions

• Drain cans as needed and mix all ingredients in a large bowl or covered container.
• Stir very well and place in refrigerator for a few hours before serving.
• Serve with tostito's scoops chips.

Love,

A grilled cheese is just a grilled cheese, right? Wrong!
​
I have always taken my grilled cheese making very seriously since it was the very first thing I ever cooked as a kid.  My Aunt Jo Anne taught me years ago to melt the butter in the pan first and then sort of swipe the bread around the pan to get the butter on the bread.  I personally prefer using softened (salted) butter to smear on the bread but there really is no wrong way to begin making a grilled cheese.  However, just in the past year I think I have truly perfected my grilled cheese! 

Here are a few tips to get the grilled cheese of your dreams:

1. Use brioche bread.  This soft, sweet, thick sliced bread is what grilled cheese dreams are made of.  It's very indulgent and costs more than regular sliced bread but is such a treat!
2. Use shredded cheese!  This goes against every grilled cheese I ever made up until about a year ago.  I have always been a Kraft sliced cheese gal (always two slices, never one!).  Sometime back I wanted a grilled cheese and didn't have any sliced so I went for it and used some shredded cheddar we had.  We've become shredded cheese snobs of late so the kind I had on hand was tillamook cheese cheddar blend.  Once I made this grilled cheese I knew it would be hard to ever go back.
3. Make a mess - on purpose.  After buttering your slices of bread and lying in the pan be sure and make a tad bit of a mess when sprinkling the shredded cheese onto the bread.  Why you ask?  When the cheese begins to melt along the outer edges of the bread and then gets all crispy and nice you will see why! I've even gone so far as to sprinkle a slight bit of cheese in the pan before adding the buttered bread right on top.  YUM.

PS: If serving with my tomato basil soup, cut the grilled cheese into slices or squares for dipping!
Love,

Hurricane season is here which means the weather went from 89 a few days ago to 65 today. That is basically winter weather for us!  With the cooler weather comes warmer meals at home!  I love soup weather so much that I've been known to cut the AC down so that it felt more Chili appropriate.  😬😂
Hands down my absolute favorite soup recipe is my tomato basil soup.  It is seriously the easiest thing to make, takes about 5-10 minutes total and tastes like it's from a lovely little bistro!
While this tomato basil soup is great alone, I must insist it be paired with at least 1/2 of the perfect buttery grilled cheese. Honestly it takes longer to make the grilled cheese than the soup but it's all worth it, I promise. 
This soup will keep for several days in the fridge.  I don't recommend freezing, you probably can, but there's a very slim chance any will be leftover.

Tomato Basil Soup 
Recipe serves 4  and can easily be doubled!

Ingredients

• 1 large can of whole tomatoes if you do not have a blender you can use crushed tomatoes (I strongly recommend san marzano style tomatoes)
• 1/4 cup of heavy cream
• 1 heaping Tablespoon of dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
• A pinch of crushed red pepper to taste (a little goes a very long way)
• 2 Tablespoons of salted butter (optional)

Directions

• Add first 5 ingredients to blender and blend until smooth. 
  
• Transfer to a small pot on stove and bring to a simmer.
  
• Add butter to melt and continue to stir. The soup should be a shade of orange red.  Taste and see if you want to add more cream or spices etc. 
  
• Serve warm with small cuts of grilled cheese for dipping.

Love,

I chose Granny's Oatmeal as my first recipe to share on the blog because it's one that isn't only delicious, it's very sentimental.  My Granny Little (My Dad's mom) used to make this for me each time I would visit her.  At risk of sounding cheesy, one bite of it wraps me in warmth and love! I loved making this for y'all when you were little on a cold rainy evening.  Breakfast for dinner was always a hit!

This recipe is about as far from healthy as it gets but it's so good and definitely one to make when you need a little comfort food.

Granny's Oatmeal Recipe
Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 cups of water
• 1 cup of oatmeal (quick or whole oats work just fine)
• pinch of salt
• 2 Tablespoons of salted butter
• 1-2 Tablespoons of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup of light or dark brown sugar
• Optional:
• 1/2 cup of milk
• Raisins

Directions

• Bring water and a pinch of salt to a boil in a saucepan. 
• Add in oats and turn heat down stirring frequently.  The oatmeal will thicken quickly. 
• After about 3-4 minutes stir in butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. 
• Transfer to bowls and add milk and raisins if desired.

I would be remiss to share this recipe and not share the story that I ALWAYS tell when I cook this.  
Once I was staying with my Granny and she made me oatmeal and topped with milk as usual.  She wasn't eating any herself so she didn't realize she had poured sour milk on top until later in the day when she went to get a glass of milk.  She immediately realized it was rotten and remembered I had it for breakfast. She felt so bad and went on and on about it and how she couldn't believe I didn't say anything.  It was pretty awful but I didn't want to hurt her feelings or embarrass her at all.  That was me as a kid in a nutshell, I wanted everyone to be happy even if it meant drinking sour milk.  I definitely grew out of that and will never forget her telling me I should always speak up!

I hope you enjoy making Granny's Oatmeal!
​Love, 

While I enjoy cooking and believe that it should be fun, I can be pretty serious about some things.  I strongly believe that certain aspects of cooking cannot be rushed and shortcuts can result in lack of flavor. That said, there are some tips and even shortcuts that can result in more flavor in less time.
​
​Here are a few of my favorite tips, I will add to this from time to time. 
​

• (Almost) ALWAYS save your pasta water - When cooking any sort of pasta or noodles place a bowl in the sink underneath the colander or strainer to collect the starchy leftover water.  When the pasta cooks the water gets thick with the starch from the pasta and this can be used to add to your (usually cream based) pasta dish to thin it out versus just using water and therefore losing flavor.  Some dishes I like to make that I always save my pasta water for are, creamy sundried tomato tortellini and spaghetti carbonara.  While these are the two main dishes I will save my pasta water for, I always save it just in case and then pour out if not used. Note: This tip doesn't work for pasta dishes using a red sauce.
• ALWAYS use salted butter - Recipes that call for butter will often denote wether you should use salted or unsalted butter.  Land O Lakes tells the difference in the two: Both salted and unsalted butters are made of the very same Grade AA quality butter, but salted butter has salt added to it— that’s it! That's pretty straightforward. I never promised this blog would promote healthy cooking and this is no exception.  Butter, when needed in a recipe, just shouldn't be substituted and salted is the way to go.  You will immediately realize why one day when you accidentally buy unsalted butter.
• Brown butter is better butter - Oftentimes when cooking a recipe will call for melted butter.  Think pies, stews, creamy dishes or casseroles and more.  I even like to brown butter for things like french toast. Essentially whenever a recipe calls for melted butter I will ask myself, "Will this taste even better it has the flavor of golden browned butter?" The answer is always YES! Browning butter is simple but a little tricky because it can go wrong very quickly.  To brown butter, simply place the desired amount of butter into a skillet and turn heat on medium to medium high.  It is crucial that you watch closely and stir often to avoid burning the butter.  As the butter melts you will begin to notice little flecks of what appear to be tiny bits of flour.  What you are seeing are tiny toasted milk solids!  This is where all of the buttery goodness is stored!  As the butter browns these little flecks will begin to turn golden.  You will want to totally remove from the stove once those flecks are like the color of golden toast.  Don't just turn off the stove, but pour the butter out of the pan, scraping out all of those yummy flecks.  This will keep the butter from browning more than you want.  This can take a bit of trial and error but if you will watch closely and go "low and slow" with the heat you will get the hang of it.  
  • While we are on the subject of butter - I like to keep a stick out on the counter in a butter dish.  Butter won't go bad at room temperature and having a soft stick handy is great for toast or making grilled cheese etc, just make sure it's salted. 😂
• Pre-toasting bread - When making something that involves a bun or hoagie and a sauce or cheese always pre-toast your bread.  A sauce, cheese or warm piece of meat will turn a roll or hoagie soggy very quickly, likely before your second bite.  By pre-toasting your bread you are creating a buffer from the soggier item and the bread.  I do this by placing the bun, roll or hoagie on a cookie sheet and placing under the broiler (maybe 450°) and watch closely until lightly browned.  To really step it up you could brush with butter and sprinkle a little garlic salt on before broiling.  This would depend on what your recipe is, but works great for sliders, chicken parm subs and more.

I will add more tips here as they come to me!

​Love,