Our favorite family recipe for years, this homemade brownie recipe produces a chewy, fudgy brownie with a crusty top - just as a brownie should be. Just be sure to do everything in order & make no substitutions!

Homemade Chocolate Brownies

It happened a couple of days ago when brownies came up on a Twitter conversation. And then a day or two later, they came up again. Before you know it, I was having a serious desire for brownies. Ah, the power of suggestion and it happens to me all of the time with brownies. These brownies.

This has been our family go-to brownie recipe for well, as long as I can remember, back when recipes were passed about on hand penned paper or photo copies of typed notes. In fact, I lost it a couple of times over the years, and tried loads of other brownie recipes in between, but this is the one I always came back to.

In the moving about between Mississippi and Louisiana and back again in my younger years, and upgrading to new computers, I know I had to retrieve it several times from my sister and I'm grateful that she, unlike her wayward sister, managed to hold on to a copy of the recipe!

Time for a GIVEAWAY!

Giveaway is CLOSED! Click here for the winner! Thanks for participating!

Okay all you foodies out there – do I have a terrific giveaway just for you!

Many of you likely know by now, that I’m working with RO*TEL as a judge on their RO*TEL Across America Recipe Contest, where one original winning recipe will receive a grand prize of a cool $2000, but… maybe you’ve been too busy to make your way over there to visit the site or submit a recipe yourself.

1 - Well, I’m hoping to nudge you just a tad, so I’m giving away a full case – yes, that’s right – a FULL CASE of RO*TEL Original Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies to one lucky blogger!

Memorial Day Recipes

Update:  Be sure to pop over and check out my
Labor Day menu ideas and recipes
with these and more updated recipes!

Memorial Day is right around the corner y'all! Why is it time drags when you are young, but once you become a man or woman of a certain age, it seems to fly by? It is almost June! {and, ugh.. hurricane season for us}

Besides the commemoration of our country's servicemen and women who have died in the line of duty, Memorial Day also kicks off the unofficial beginning of summer in the U.S., with sporting events like the Indianapolis 500, family gatherings, picnics and, of course, yummy barbecues!

A delicious party appetizer, these bacon wrapped, smoked sausage and cheese stuffed jalapenos are a true crowd pleaser.

Bacon Wrapped Lit’l Smokies Stuffed Jalapenos

Bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos, like its deep fried cousin, are such a tasty little popper, that although this recipe is written for roughly 24 of these bite size jewels, you'll probably want to make up many more.  People do these all sorts of ways and cook them as many. I imagine that smoked they must be killer, but y'all know how I feel about that time commitment, so I usually just bake mine. 

Scrambled eggs, cooked to a creamy perfection with butter and heavy cream and by constant and gentle stirring, tossed at the end with fresh flat leaf parsley and chives.

Creamy Scrambled Eggs with Garden Fresh Herbs

These creamy eggs were featured in the Spring menu section of the April issue of Good Housekeeping magazine, and it reminded me of how delicious eggs are with herbs, freshly clipped right out of the garden.

Known as a Suddenly Salad copycat, this pasta salad made with small shell pasta, ranch seasoning mix, peas, carrots and mayonnaise, is a well loved dish for any potluck, church supper or other gathering.

Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

This recipe for Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad is pretty much the same one floating around the internet everywhere for what they call a Suddenly Salad copycat, with a few of my own twists of course!

I honestly used to love that boxed stuff when I was younger - so quick, easy and good - but it's been so long since I actually had pasta salad out of the box {not that there's a thing wrong with that}, that I can't even tell you if this tastes anywhere near the original. It is definitely another good one to add to the repertoire of pasta salads here, even if it's not so photogenic.

Delicious little mini burgers made with very thin meat patties, melted cheese and real minced onion.

Homemade Mini Burger Beef Sliders

These aren't an authentic copycat of the original White Castle sliders, because I haven't actually ever had a White Castle slider. They weren't a part of my south, though we did have Krystal's little yummy burgers. They sure were a favorite late night after-party snack after a long night of dancing back in the days of disco.

Yes, y'all... I am that old. In the craziness of the world we currently live in, I actually kinda miss those days a bit.

Grilled Backyard Barbecued Chicken

One of my favorite grilled foods is backyard barbecued chicken. Mine starts with a brine, gets a nice rub before hitting the grill and is basted with sauce at the end. Delicious!

Backyard Barbecued Chicken

Grilled barbecued chicken - meaning chicken cooked on the grill and doused in barbecue sauce - is one of my favorite foods. I just simply love it. It's been a little bit hard to get it in here lately though, since April showers seem to have surfaced full force here in May, and I don't have a covered patio.

Dressed up Bottled Barbecue Sauce

I have a favorite homemade barbecue sauce that I like to use for chicken and ribs and a favorite bottled sauce I like to buy - original Sweet Baby Ray's is still my favorite right off the shelf sauce. But... it is a bit more costly than the cheaper versions, which can almost always be found on sale somewhere. You know the ones that I'm talking about.

They're decent sauces and not bad on their own at all, but you can certainly dress them up and bump them up quite a few levels too, to make them your own. Nobody has to know but you! Here's how.

Kickin' RO*TEL Restaurant Style Salsa

 

Tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, garlic, a little lime juice and cilantro, whirled up in the food processor to give you a nice restaurant style salsa that we all love.

Restaurant Style Salsa

Restaurant style salsa is so easy to make at home and a can of RO*TEL tomatoes will give it just the right kind of punch. Really, just about any place that you use a canned tomato, you can substitute RO*TEL for some added flavor, and salsa is just one way I love to use RO*TEL tomatoes.

Now, don't get me wrong. I absolutely love fresh from the garden tomatoes - when they are in season and at their peak flavor. A fresh chopped tomato salsa is incredible as a garnish, or for a fresh salsa, such as pico de gallo, so for this, you'll want to pretty much pulverize them since here, we're talking my favorite super easy, perfect for dipping with white corn tortilla chips salsa, like the kind that you get in a Mexican restaurant.

A layer of chocolate chip cookie dough, topped with melted chocolate, gooey caramel, and chopped pecans.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Caramel Bars

These little bars are just evil. Evil. Evil. Evil. A layer of chocolate chip cookie dough. Topped with melted chocolate. Topped with gooey caramel. Topped with crunchy chopped pecans. Just evil I tell you.

Seriously though... this is a recipe that came in my power association's monthly newsletter. Those of you who also live in the country, or in rural areas of your county, know exactly what I'm talking about. We get a monthly newsletter that talks about what our power association is up to, articles about and around our state, and a few teaser recipes, usually from a community cookbook from somewhere in our state. This recipe comes from West Lauderdale Mighty Knights Marching Band cookbook from West Lauderdale High School in Collinsville, Mississippi, and are known as "Fat Ladies" in the cookbook.

Goober Peas - Cajun Boiled Peanuts

A southern staple, raw peanuts are boiled in a salty, Cajun seasoned water - stovetop, crockpot or pressure cooker.

Cajun Boiled Peanuts

♫Sitting by the roadside on a summer's day
Chatting with my mess-mates, passing time away
Lying in the shadows underneath the trees
Goodness, how delicious, eating goober peas.

Peas, peas, peas, peas
Eating goober peas
Goodness, how delicious,
Eating goober peas.♫

"Goober Peas" by P. Nutt and A. Pindar, 1866

Quick and Easy Vanilla, Butter Pecan, Chocolate and Strawberry Ice Cream all made in my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker.

Quick and Easy Ice Cream in the Cuisinart

We were talking ice cream over on the Facebook page and I tell you, it's been humid enough down here to enjoy plenty of cold ice cream.

I'm a big fan of the ice cream makers that make just a couple of quarts of frozen goodies like ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbets, sherbets, even slushies, a nice quantity that's perfect for The Cajun and me, without going overboard. Easy to do with ice cream for me! After years of using the old fashioned and super noisy bucket style ice cream maker, I can't believe I waited so long to buy one of these. No rock salt, and no ice needed, and with the bucket at the ready in the freezer all the time, it's a breeze to make ice cream now.

Southern fried chicken can certainly be challenging - it just takes practice to be honest! If you're new to frying chicken, try frying only dark or white meat your first time. I also like to brine the chicken first - it really helps to keep the breast meat nice and tender.

Classic Southern Fried Chicken

Good ol' southern fried chicken. I don't eat it often, but I can't imagine living without it!

Admittedly, fried chicken is not an easy dish to get down right without practice - and unfortunately, not something we can eat regularly enough to get that practice - and... frankly, it's a mess.

It's a mess to prep, it's a mess to cook, it's a mess to clean up, and then there's all that oil to contend with afterward too.

Given the fact that we have KFC and Popeye's these days, it's not surprising it really isn't made much at home anymore, but... it is so good, that it is something we Southerners certainly deem worthy of all that trouble - at least on occasion. Besides that... have you seen the price of take out chicken today? 

Buitoni Riserva Wild Mushroom Agnolotti with Meatballs and Spicy Red Sauce

If your wife or significant other is the chief cook and bottle-washer like me and you're looking to relieve them of meal duties for Mother's Day, or cook a special meal for your mom, run to the refrigerated section of your store and pick up some Buitoni pasta pillows.  Then pair that with my 30 minute speedy sauce {definitely add in the Rotel tomatoes this time for a nice kick that totally compliments the mushroom agnolotti} or, use your own favorite sauce, and add some pre-made, store-bought or homemade meatballs if you like, and you want to talk about a gourmet meal.

Weekend Cocktails - Strawberry Banana Shake Shooters

One of my most favorite Food Network peeps is Sunny Anderson. She is one great gal, super friendly and let me tell you, the girl can cook! Plus when you watch her, it's like she's sitting across the kitchen counter talking to you and I like that. (Did you know she has her own blog? And, she's interactive with her followers too. Check it out and tell her Mary sent ya! She is a BFF in my head don't you know?)

Fresh asparagus spears, wrapped in bacon and cooked in a spicy brown sugar butter sauce.

Asparagus Bundles

If you've been around my recipes awhile, you probably remember when I featured The Sweet Potato Queen's bacon snack called Pig Candy, and that is the first thing I thought of when I saw these Asparagus Bundles in Trisha Yearwood's newest cookbook {affil link} 

This has truly been one of my most favorite cookbooks y'all - I have loved every one of her recipes that I've made, and heard great things from other readers about other recipes they've made from it.

A classic casserole, chicken is paired up with broccoli, rice, cream soup and cheese.

Broccoli Cheddar Chicken and Rice Casserole

I finally got my recipe for broccoli and rice casserole up after a recent reader request, though it's pretty common with most other broccoli and rice recipes out in the world - cooked rice, cooked broccoli, cream of something soup and a few seasonings, all mixed together, turned out into a baking dish, sprinkled with cheese or a crumb topping and baked.

Crockpot Coca Cola Roast Beef with Gravy

A beef roast is transformed in the slow cooker to a tender and delicious roast with incredibly tasty gravy, using Coca-Cola Classic and an envelope of onion soup mix. Great for chicken and pork too!

Crockpot Coca Cola Roast Beef

This roast beef made with good ole Coca-Cola, came about thanks to the great folks behind the Deep South Dish Facebook family who have given me encouragement to maybe step outside of the oven a bit and make use of this handy appliance. While I do have a scattered few slow cooker recipes up here, I have just never been a big user of one.