Old Fashioned New Orleans Creole Bread Pudding with Meringue

A rich, meringue topped, New Orleans style Creole bread pudding soufflé, drizzled with whiskey sauce and perfect for any special occasion, holiday or event.

Old Fashioned New Orleans Creole Bread Pudding

When most of us think of bread pudding, we think of a simple country dessert, born out of leftover bread that is tossed together with a belly warming custard. It really is like a hug y'all!

The authentic, original, original Chex Party Mix was very simple - containing only Wheat and Rice Chex cereals, butter, Worcestershire sauce, salt and garlic salt. As pictured, I've made a few changes, including substituting Corn Chex for the wheat and adding thin pretzel sticks.

Classic Oven Baked Chex Party Mix

We were talking on Facebook the other day about the many varieties of Chex Mix there are these days - seems a lot of us make multiple batches of it over the holidays because it's a nice snack to have around to keep the hungrys down and everybody out from under your feet in the kitchen.

I confess to being pretty old school with my version, and it isn't that I don't love the add-ins that everybody has put in over the years, I do! Every once in awhile I mix it up a bit, but I rarely stray very far from this version and pretty close to what I call the "Authentic Original Original 1952 Chex Party Mix" to be the version that is still my own personal favorite.

Old Fashioned Martha Washington Candy

Another old fashioned heritage confection, Martha Washington Candy is a rich mixture of buttery coconut and condensed milk with pecans, rolled into a tight ball and dipped in chocolate.

Martha Washington Candy

These little scrumptious bite-sized confections have been a beloved Christmas favorite in families for years, often passed down for generations. People remember their mothers making them, and their grandmothers before them.

I don't know how they officially got their name, except perhaps for their namesake, who I've read was quite a good cook. Maybe they came from her own recipe collection - that's one cookbook I don't happen to own!

A baked ham, glazed with a mixture of apple cider, mustard, brown sugar, cane syrup, Cajun seasonings and additional holiday spices, if you like.

Cajun Glazed Ham

This is really pretty much a play on the cane syrup glaze variation found on my Coca Cola Ham, except that I decided to play around with it a bit.

Instead of using Coke, I decided to go with apple cider, like I did with my turkey this Thanksgiving.

I also switched out the yellow mustard for Creole mustard, reduced the brown sugar slightly so I could use more cane syrup and bumped up the "holiday" spices a little bit, adding some cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger to the recipe, though the traditional holiday spices are completely optional of course.

It was Cajun-Approved and delicious!

Forgotten Cookies are another heritage recipe that has been around for years. Made with egg whites and sugar whipped up into a meringue, and typically chocolate chips and minced pecans folded in, they are always a holiday favorite.

Forgotten Cookies

Traditionally, Forgotten Cookies were the last cookie to go into the oven on cookie night, the oven was then turned off, and the cookies left to dry overnight, which is where they got the name "forgotten." Best served fresh of course, so don't make them too far in advance, but meringue cookies will keep well for a few days, giving you at least a little bit of leeway for advance prep.

Crockpot Candy Peanut Clusters

Crockpot Chocolate Peanut Clusters are a favorite holiday candy made from a mixture of almond bark, baking chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate chips and peanuts.

Crockpot Candy

Crockpot Candy Clusters are a popular confection at Christmastime everywhere, and usually includes pretty much the same combination of ingredients - some kind of mixture of chocolate, along with almond bark and peanuts.

I wanted to use a combination of honey roasted peanuts along with regular dry roasted peanuts this time, so I decided to pair up the almond bark coating, with a bittersweet baking chocolate, instead of the German chocolate that is often typically used.

A heritage recipe, today's English Pea Salad is made up of frozen or canned peas, mixed, at minimum, with celery and onion, and dressed with a mayonnaise or sour cream based dressing. I've added some bacon, dill and chopped boiled eggs in mine here, but it's wide open for personalization.

Old Fashioned Cold English Pea Salad

Cold Pea Salad is another holiday dish you may remember from your grandma's kitchen during the major holidays. Called English Pea Salad, it's more widely known these days as simply Cold Pea Salad, and is a long held holiday favorite, though it's really a great side dish for anytime of the year.

Shipwreck casserole is a super easy to put together, layered casserole, made with ground beef, onions,  potatoes, and veggies - here I used carrots, bell pepper and celery - and added a layer of rice.

Shipwreck Casserole

There is not a single thing particularly unique to me about this Shipwreck Casserole. It's just one of those meat and potatoes, family-pleasing casseroles with a funny name that's been around a long time. It's actually known by a couple of other names too, like Dinner in a Dish, 7-Layer Casserole or Meal in One Supper, but there are at least two stories of lore that are attached to how the name shipwreck came about.

Cornflake Candy is another heritage recipe you may remember from your grandmother. They are a simple blend of sugar, corn syrup, peanut butter and cornflake cereal that are a Christmas classic.

Old Fashioned Cornflake Candy

Another one of those old fashioned treasures that's been around forever, cornflake candy is super easy, and is a treat that is certainly fondly remembered around the holidays. There are a few variations of it around these days, but this is the classic version, with the addition of some vanilla. Feel free to embellish to your heart's desire though, if you like. Coconut, peanuts, chocolate chips and raisins are a few of the typical, modern add-ins.

Like those old fashioned Ting-a-Lings, these are a well loved and easy treat to add to your holiday cookie and candy trays. The one thing that you need to remember is that this sets up quickly, so have everything ready and work quickly.

A simple soup made from a chicken broth base, with leftover baked ham, bacon, a ham hock and cabbage.

Ham and Cabbage Soup

Soon as Southern fall and winter weather fluctuates from flip-flops back to jackets, I instantly want a good warming soup and I love experimenting with different combinations.

This one came about from having some leftover holiday ham and cabbage that I needed to use up, and knowing I had a frozen ham hock I could use to flavor the soup base. While I bake hams all year, I don't bake them often enough to have a big ham bone available, but smoked pork hocks make such a great flavoring stand-in for a ham bone for soups and beans, that they really should be a freezer staple. They certainly are for me!

Southern fried cabbage is a very simple cabbage dish prepared often as here, with a bit of butter, bacon and onion. I like to add cider vinegar and dried pepper flakes for a little extra flavor punch.

Southern-Style Fried Cabbage

We southerners know this dish as "fried" cabbage, even though it's actually more of a mixture of skillet sautéing, braising and pan frying, alternating between being fried and cooked low and simmered in its own juices. 

I imagine a lot of folks raised outside of The South associate the words "southern" and "fried" to always mean something that is deep fried in a huge vat of boiling oil, like our fabulous fried chicken, for instance. Surely these people must think we crazy southerners deep fry some odd things - like cabbage and fried corn and fried apples, to name a few.

The Simple Act of Popping Corn

Homemade buttered popcorn, made the old fashioned way, in a pot on the stovetop, can truly bring folks together. Make some and see where it takes you!

Old Fashioned Homemade Popcorn

Don't think I've gone off the deep end for publishing a "recipe" for popcorn. Today's post is more about a story than a recipe. It's a story about the simple act of popping corn.

I don't mean sticking a bag of popcorn in the microwave either. Not that there is a thing wrong with that of course! Heaven knows I've popped my share in that metal box, though today we most often eat it popped in a hot air popper {affil link}.

A good hearty, southern chicken stew, made from a stewed chicken, fresh potatoes and your choice of veggie add-ins.

Homemade Chicken Stew

A hearty stew is a good thing when the weather turns cold and this homemade chicken stew sure made me happy today.

It's been a bit gloomy around here for a few days - overcast, rainy and then cold weather moved in here last night with a vengeance. I stepped outside with the pup - gotta watch over him because we've had a couple close-up encounters with possums and raccoons here lately - and brrrrr y'all.

The temperature must've dropped 40 degrees in just a few hours! I was happy that I had this stew made up, that's for sure.

The shortcut version of chicken stew that I have posted before, is a super easy and flavorful recipe for anytime you're in a hurry for a quick stew, but when you have a little more time on your hands to stew down a chicken, the added flavor from that homemade stock is just amazing.

My Roasted Turkey and a Happy Thanksgiving to You!

Oven Roasted Turkey

How to Roast a Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving! We are lucky to spend these major holidays with family every year, so I don't host the typical large spread at my home. I do, however, always do a little mini spread either before or after the main event, just for The Cajun and me, where I roast a turkey and do some of my favorite sides, including homemade turkey gravy from the drippings (sometimes with giblets, sometimes without), homemade mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, because I have to have my green bean casserole and dressing at the very least. What else I add depends on my mood, or if I'm trying something new.

I've outlined the entire turkey process, step by step, here, and provided a great printable too. Just click the link!

I just want to express my gratitude for all of you. Thank you for visiting my little site here, for having confidence in my recipes, and for being a part of this experience here and on the Facebook page. Thank you for your friendship, for your sweet comments and heartwarming emails sharing bits and pieces of yourselves and for the tears we sometimes share together. You are all truly a joy and I am grateful to have met you. Go. Enjoy your family and make some memories. Food. Family. Memories. Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

Love and hugs, Mary

☛ Are you on Facebook? If you haven't already, come and join the party! We have a lot of fun & there's always room for one more at the table.

Posted by Mary on November 23, 2011

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Waldorf salad is a fruit salad of apples, grapes or raisins, and nuts, tossed with a mayonnaise dressing. Served alone as is, or over a bed of shredded or whole leaves of lettuce, it's a holiday favorite. Add chopped, cooked chicken for a great main dish salad anytime of the year!

Waldorf Apple Salad

Like the Hot Brown, Waldorf Salad comes to us from the kitchen of a hotel, this one the Waldorf in New York City. It is said to have been created oddly enough, not by the chef, but by the maitre d'hotel, or kitchen manager, Oscar Tschirky for a 1893 society party. I actually have made two different varieties of this salad, trying to get one that looked good in a photograph. Just ain't happening y'all, though I tried! Some foods just refuse to be photogenic.

A traditional old fashioned yeast roll, made a bit easier by using the equally old fashioned pan roll method.

Old Fashioned Pan Rolls

I will be the first one to say to you, please make my homemade yeast roll for a holiday meal. They are fabulous and worth every ounce of energy you will put into them.

Apple Dapple is a well loved heritage cake made with apples and pecans, and glazed with a crunchy brown sugar maple topping.

Apple Dapple Cake with Maple Glaze

This is such a tasty and moist apple cake, and you can make it a day ahead, because it gets even better, making it a perfect addition to the holiday table. I first met this cake 30 years ago, though frankly I'm sure it's been around even longer than that, meaning you can count on it being well-tested and reliable too.

A vegetable medley casserole with a classic mixture of pimentos, carrots, peas and corn, transformed with a few simple seasonings and a fabulous cream sauce into a wonderful vegetable casserole, topped here with panko.

Mixed Vegetable Casserole

One of the most popular canned peas in this part of The Deep South is a petit pois variety, literally translated from French as little pea. They are the tiniest, sweetest little baby peas and not at all cheap either, but when you realize just how many peas have to be shelled to just feed a single person, like fresh crabmeat and pecans, you appreciate the labor that goes into them and happily pay the price because you understand. The petit pois have a very short fresh season, only a few weeks in early June, so we enjoy them mostly canned down here. These are the tiny little peas that usually grace the southern holiday table and thanks to their delectable sweetness, I'm not at all surprised. We do love sweet in The South.

Butter Bombs - Mini Bite Sized Biscuits

Little bite sized biscuits made with plenty of butter and sour cream, enough that I had to call them Butter Bombs. I feel pretty certain these would make Paula Deen a happy gal.

Butter Bombs

If mixing up, rolling out and baking traditional southern biscuits makes anxiety rise in you, these little bite sized drop biscuits are so easy it's sinful.

It's also sinful the amount of fat in them, so if you're a deputy on the fat police patrol, just move along please. There's nothing for you to see here.

 

A gumbo of beef, made with a 7-steak, and cooked down with The Trinity trio, okra, and a little bit of chopped tasso for some heat.

Seven Steak Gumbo

As far as I can discern, 7 steak gumbo had to have been born out of frugality.

Unlike its more pricey seafood cousin, it is a gumbo of beef and okra, but of a fairly inexpensive cut of beef, similar to round steak. Seven steak requires slow braising or stewing in order to bring out it's delicious, tender flavor, making it a suitable candidate for a gumbo.

It's called 7 steak because of the bone in it that is shaped like the number 7, when you can find it where the butcher hasn't removed it already, that is. I fix it most often as a Cajun smothered steak, but it can be used pretty much anywhere that you would use a braising steak.

Simple maque choux, a tomatoed corn, is a very simple side dish of tomatoes and corn cooked in sauteed onion and bell pepper.

Maque Choux - Corn and Tomatoes

I guess we're just about winding out of fresh garden tomato season, even for down here, though I did pick up a couple of large tomatoes the other day... not quite knowing what to expect from them. I used some on good ole turkey club sandwiches this past Saturday when we were finishing off the last of the vegetable beef soup I made, and was pleasantly surprised to find them so fragrant and tasty. I thought for a second there that it was still summer! So what to do with this other one?

With commercial broth and some already cooked chicken you stored in the freezer, this comforting chicken and noodle dish comes together in no time.

Easy Chicken and Noodles

You ever go to bed feeling perfectly fine, then wake up feeling rougher than ten miles of bad road?

Well, when we have a change in the weather, that's pretty much a given with me.

As I've gotten a little bit older, my body and my bones certainly feel these weather changes more. I try to remember to bump up my immune system in advance with supplements and some Airborne (#ad) - love, love that stuff) when I know it's coming, but sometimes I just don't remember in time.

Scalloped Tomatoes - Old Fashioned Breaded (Stewed) Tomatoes

 

Old fashioned breaded fresh tomatoes, known also as scalloped tomatoes or tomato pudding, stewed down with a little onion, thickened with flour, lightly sweetened and tossed with toasted squares of bread, topped with cheese and baked. Great served with fried fish and mashed potatoes.

Old Fashioned Breaded Tomatoes

Sadly, it's the time of year where we begin to lament the passing of summer tomatoes, because even if you have a few still producing plants in your garden, they will all soon be gone. I'm starting to see less roadside stands and more hot-house tomatoes showing up in the store too, so that's a sure sign.

Winter tomatoes are just not the same, sigh, but.. I'm gonna try to squeeze in a few more recipes while I can.

 

A breaded and browned whole cut up chicken is slow cooked in a spicy sauce piquant.

Crockpot Chicken Sauce Piquant

Like Shrimp Sauce Piquant, this dish is intended to be a bit spicy, and rightly so! Although a bit different than the stovetop prep, taking inexpensive chicken, a spicy piquant sauce, and a crockpot is a good combination if you ask me. Hands down a winner and I think you will love it too!

Bottom round steak, slow braised with The Trinity and an easy homemade barbecue sauce.

Barbecue Round Steak

One of my favorite inexpensive cuts of beef has always been braising steaks, and of those I love cooking a good bottom round steak. It's a tough cut of meat, but give it a braise in some liquid, low and slow, and it transforms into a wonderfully tender piece of delicious beef.

Here I've slow braised it with onion, bell pepper and celery, and an easy homemade barbecue sauce - just another tasty way to prepare round steak and one that The Cajun loves.

Peanut butter paired with chocolate and bananas makes a great pie for any day. Inspired by The Fat Elvis Pie at Hoosier Mama Pie Company - don't forget the milk!

Elvis Pie

Y'all, this pie is so easy to throw together that you could whip it up in the evening before bed and have a company-worthy dessert the next day. Here's how to make it.

Sliced potatoes are tossed with onion in seasoned flour, then fried in a bit of hot oil, covered and smothered with milk for a slow simmer. Simple, delicious comfort food.

Smothered Stewed Potatoes

This is one of my favorite potato side dishes, though I've also been known to make a pot just because I wanted some too!

It's very simple, classic country cooking - nothing particularly extraordinary about it or anything, but potatoes prepared this way are just so delicious and comforting. Simply sliced thin, then tossed with a tiny mixture of flour, salt and pepper, first cooked in a bit of hot oil and then covered in milk to low simmer until smothered down and tender.

They are as at home as a side dish with that nice Sunday pot roast, as they are with your everyday chicken, or if you're like me, as a meal all on their own.

A simple, tender and light, old-fashioned hot milk cake, but the real star here is the broiled, caramel and coconut topping.

Lazy Daisy Cake

Some of you will fondly remember this cake from your mother or grandmother's kitchen from long, long ago. Others of you likely have never heard of it.

Back in the day, dessert was as much a part of the supper plate as were meat and three, and this cake often made an appearance. Called Lazy Daisy Cake, and sometimes Busy Day Cake, because it is just simply so easy to throw together, it is really just a very basic, old fashioned, boiled milk pan cake.

The cake itself is wonderfully tender and light, but what sets it apart, is this lovely, crunchy, broiled caramel and coconut topping.

Thin rings of apples are dipped into a sweetly seasoned cinnamon and nutmeg batter and then fried. Best served hot!

Apple Fritter Rings

Yay, it's apple season! Well, it's at least the beginning of apple season and you'd know it too if you follow any food blogs because apple recipes have been in abundance around the net. I love apples in cake, cobbler, in pie, baked, even simply sliced up and dipped in peanut butter - a treat I can certainly get easily carried away with.

Fritters are a fun way to enjoy apples for a change too, and while there are a couple of ways to make them, I especially love them fried in rings like this. I also love them in a drop style, deep fried fritter, similar to my corn fritters - those I'll do next.

Where I've Been

Happy Autumn y'all!

After a full week in Florida at Disney with my son, daughter in law and our two beautiful grand-babies, we arrived home last night. Exhausted. Sunburned. Blistered. Broke. Did I mention exhausted? But... we had a blast with those babies!

I brought my laptop with me with the full intent of working a bit, but either ran out of time or energy or mostly both to be honest by day's end. After hearing from a few readers, I figured I better at least 'splain my absence!

It was my first vacation in 4 years, so I hope you'll forgive me and stay tuned - I'll be back soon with some new recipes.



Photo Credit

Crockpot Coca-Cola Peach Barbecue Pork Chops

Bone-in pork chops, slow cooked in a Coca-cola and peach infused barbecue sauce.

Barbecue Pork Chops

While the idea of a peachy or Coca-cola barbecue sauce is certainly not unique to me, this mixture is one that came to me one day when trying to think of something to do with pork chops and utilize the slow cooker, since so many of y'all are fans of the crockpot. I opened the fridge, saw a can of Coca-Cola Classic and this peach butter and voila, sounded good to me!

Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal cookies, filled with chocolate chips, and a glass of milk, is a delicious way to usher in cooler temperatures.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

If my husband had to pick a favorite cookie, I'm pretty sure it'd probably be good ole chocolate chip. I love those too, but hands down my all-time favorite cookie would have to be oatmeal.

In Remembrance

Tangy Crab Bread Appetizer

 

Crabmeat mixed with a tangy blend of sour cream and mayo, layered on French bread with cream cheese and Monterey Jack cheese. Cut into slices and serve hot for a great appetizer!

Tangy Crab Bread

There once was a local seafood restaurant called Catch of the Day, where us gals used to gather on occasion after a long day at the office.

Okay. It may have been more often than occasionally that we gathered to gossip, moan and complain about work and co-workers, over a nice tall glass of Long Island iced tea and listen to a little music.

It was quite a popular after-work place there for a few years.

A classic, old fashioned macaroni salad, made with elbow macaroni, sweet onion, celery, chopped pickles, and pimento - simple, the kind that grandma used to make.

Classic Old Fashioned Macaroni Salad

Before there were pasta salads filled with all sorts of yummy goodies, there was the humble macaroni salad. Usually a very simple concoction containing elbow macaroni, a little celery, most always pickles and pimentos here in the south, and sometimes onion, it's dressed usually with a very classic mayonnaise dressing.

Crisco Olive Oils - Free Recipes and Free Mobile App!

Through the Tastemaker's program from Foodbuzz, I recently had the opportunity to try Crisco's line of olive oils, available in three varieties — 100% Extra Virgin, Pure, and Light Tasting. Most of us know the benefits of including a good extra virgin olive oil in our diets to occasionally replace some of the other fats we love. Olive oil is a healthy fat, a cholesterol-free food and is high in antioxidants. But frankly sometimes the flavor is a bit too heavy for some dishes, or we need an oil that can hold up to heat.

If you've been around here long, you already know that I use a good bit of olive oil, and with Crisco's lighter versions, it's easy to transition in the places where extra virgin oils just won't fit. With the lighter versions, you can also try replacing butter with olive oil in favorite dishes like mashed potatoes, or drizzled on baked potatoes.

Keep olive oil in a small cruet right on the dinner table to encourage family members to use it for drizzling on salads, in soups, stews, for dipping bread, and even drizzling over pastas. And you can use it for one of my favorite tips, as a kitchen helper for easy clean up of sticky things like honey, mustard, and syrups.

Old Fashioned Broccoli Salad with Bacon and Pecans

Old fashioned broccoli salad, made with red onion, celery, carrots, raisins, nuts and bacon, and a mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar dressing. Serve as is, over spoon over leaves of romaine lettuce.

Old Fashioned Broccoli Salad

This poor ole broccoli salad has been languishing around for me to showcase it on the blog forever. Very patience little green veggie. Truth is, while The Cajun won't even give it a fair run, broccoli is one of my favorite veggies. I love to eat it most just simply steamed to be honest, though I've been known to fry it on occasion too. What can I say?

This old fashioned, creamy, boiled dressing has a unique, tangy flavor that is excellent on coleslaw, potato salads and vegetable salads, like Old Fashioned Broccoli Salad.

Old Fashioned Southern Boiled Dressing

Another one of those classic heritage recipes, old fashioned boiled dressing has sort of fallen out of favor with the convenience of commercially bottled dressings. It's history was one of the common folk, dating back to the the time prior to the late 19th century, when only the wealthy were able to afford the finer cooking oils for fancy vinaigrettes and creamy dressings.

I guess you could say that it sort of falls somewhere between a hollandaise sauce and homemade mayonnaise, but with the familiar tangy, sweet and sour flavor we southerners love. It's one of my favorites and it really takes next to nothing to whip it together either. Despite the name, just like Boiled Drinking Custard, it should never actually be boiled, but only simmered slowly in a saucepan or in the top of a double boiler until thickened.

Most commonly used as dressing for pasta salads, potato salads or plain boiled potatoes, in coleslaw, in deviled eggs, drizzled over meats, or tossed in vegetable salads, like Broccoli Salad. It can also be thinned down with milk to make a fabulous salad dressing for lettuce wedges.

 

Make a jump from beefed up barbecue baked beans with beef, bacon and spicy andouille - add other leftover smoked meats if you like too. Jazz that up with hot sauce, Creole mustard, Creole or Cajun seasoning and jalapeno and you have one fine pot of beans y'all.

Spicy Meat Trio Barbecue Baked Beans

Move over Beefy Baked Beans cuz there's a new Baked Bean King in town with a beefed up trio of meat - and a spicy kick. And if you happen to have some leftover smoked meat, it's right at home here.

 

Old fashioned peanut butter balls are a rich dessert, both in its heritage and its taste. A classic Christmas confection, peanut butter, butter and powdered sugar are rolled into balls and dipped in chocolate. If you remember these from your childhood, one bite will take you right back.

Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Balls

In the Deep South, we don't typically do buckeyes, the peanut butter and chocolate confection from Ohio, that is partially dipped so that the result is patterned after the nut of the buckeye tree. We do peanut butter balls down here. The concept, of course, is the same, we just completely encase our peanut butter balls in chocolate. Raise your hand if you have memories of these peanut butter balls at Christmastime. I certainly do.

Garlic Chicken from Birds Eye Voila!

Authoring a full time food blog, I don't buy a lot of frozen food products, but as you know, they are handy to have for a hurry up meal. I love opportunities to try them though and to share my opinion with readers, many of whom do live a much more harried life than me. Based on the crowd in the frozen food aisle the day I purchased this, I'd say a lot of us are super busy these days and looking for food that is both convenient and satisfying.

Birds Eye has always had good quality frozen vegetables, but now they've moved into a line of complete frozen dinners, and through the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program I recently had the opportunity to give Birds Eye Voila! complete meal kits a taste test.

I decided to try tried the Garlic Chicken. Soon as you open the bag, you smell the garlic and this gal loves her garlic so that made me happy!

Crawfish, simmered in a very simple butter roux, seasoned with a basic trinity, garlic, stock and Cajun seasoning, and finished with a little fresh parsley and green onion. Serve over hot rice with fresh French bread for dipping.

Crawfish Etouffée

There are so many schools of thought on how to prepare a proper crawfish etouffée. Some say with a roux, others think not. Some add tomatoes, others say there is no place for tomatoes in it. Some use the Trinity, others only part of it. One thing I think that we all can agree on is that it should be uncomplicated.

For a seafood etouffée, crawfish is traditional, although shrimp or crab can be substituted. It is a totally different taste experience from the crawfish, however, since the fat from the crawfish do contribute both a distinct flavor and a bit of color. I would suggest giving it a taste and maybe bump up the seasonings a bit. Maybe even add a dab of tomato paste also.

The Next Food Network Star!

Food Network Star: The Official Insider's Guide to America's Hottest Food Show

Yeah, y'all weren't thinking I was gonna audition for the next Food Network Star show were you? No, not me! Heavens no.

I am not a competitive person. Never have been. I don't like performing, I have no desire for fame, to be a celebrity, to put my mug on video much less a cooking show, or anything like that. Okay, I might do a video... someday. My goal with my website is to simply put out an authentic product that hopefully readers will enjoy, that will stir up some memories from days past, and that will nudge you back to the kitchen. I spent most of my pre-blogging life in a highly competitive legal career, but the growth of my site has been pretty organic, and I kinda like it that way.

A simple deep fried drop flour fritter featuring corn. Cream corn adds such a nice creamy texture, but fresh corn milked from the cob is excellent too.

Drop Corn Fritters

A reader on the Facebook page recently asked for a corn fritter recipe, and I thought that it'd be a good time to get mine up on the site.

Cornmeal is often used for corn fritters, but I like to reserve that for hushpuppies and hoecakes myself, since I prefer a corn fritter to be lighter and fluffier, almost a corn puff really.

A light, tender yellow butter cake with a classic boiled icing, traditionally made from burnt sugar or for more modern versions, with boiled brown sugar.

Southern Caramel Cake

As soon as I knew they were making a movie from the book The Help, I knew I wanted to make a caramel cake for the website. Really, from the first time I read about Minny's caramel cake in the book in 2009, I knew I'd be making one. There is just something about this book that makes you want a caramel cake... and maybe never want to eat a chocolate pie - at least for awhile. You'll know what I mean on all of the above counts if you read the book.

My intention had been to make this cake over the past weekend, but I was dragging my tail-end here recently thanks to fighting off a summer cold while simultaneously pulling a muscle in my back and found my motivation lacking. With the film making its debut at the theater Wednesday, I decided to make the cake anyway, and found myself up at 2:00 a.m. that morning icing a cake!