Cinnamon Spiced Pecans from Billie's Pecans

Billie's Pecans

I just love the opportunity to share a Mississippi company with y'all, so when Billie's Pecans contacted me to see if I'd like to try a sample, I was thrilled! Headquartered in Crenshaw Mississippi, the story of how Billie's came into existence, is one that any working mom can appreciate.

Big, fat, juicy burgers, seared in a skillet and finished with a covered steam.

Big, Fat, Juicy Skillet Burgers

I don't know about you, but I don't just crave a good burger in the summer. I crave them all year round and especially after the big turkey and ham holidays.

While grilling isn't all that seasonal down here in the Deep South to begin with, there are times when the wind is whipping up some chilly air, and we aren't fond of standing out in that, any more than we are the sweltering humidity of high summer. Or, we just don't feel like hauling everything outside. I grill plenty of burgers, but I sure do love doing them in a skillet too, and this is my favorite method.

Book Review - Christmas All Through The South

If you love the south and especially if you love Christmas in the south, this is the book to have - whether you gift it to yourself, or someone else. I literally spent hours with this book, sometimes smiling in agreement, sometimes a little teary eyed. It took me a little while to write this review because I literally devoured this book over time.

 

A classic cornbread dressing made with day old cornbread, traditional sauteed vegetables and seasoned with sage.

Cornbread Sage Dressing with Gravy

Wow y'all! I cannot believe Thanksgiving is just days away now. Where does the time go? Before we know it, Christmas will be here, speaking of which... I put my tree up and started decorating this weekend, which is the earliest ever for me. There were a few reasons for starting a little early this year, and none of them have to do with blogging.

First, well... we moved this year and I wanted to make sure my tree would fit in the new house! I bought one of those Bethlehem Lights {affil link} LED instant-power trees (LOVE!) a couple of Christmases ago, and while it fit fine in the family room where I had a cathedral ceiling, I wasn't sure how it would fit in the new house that has standard height ceilings.

It fit, yay!

 

A wintertime creamed corn side dish, made from frozen corn and rich with butter and cream, perfect for the holidays.

Winter Skillet Creamed Corn

There's nothing better than fresh corn on the cob in the summer and hopefully you put some up in the freezer for this super easy, winter holiday side dish. If you didn't, don't fret.

It's perfectly wonderful with good ole store-bought frozen corn and you can even save yourself a pretty penny by using a generic brand. The plus with starting with frozen corn, is that it saves you a few steps too, making it the easiest ever creamed corn and a breeze to throw together.

Chicken and Butter Beans - smothered chicken cooked in a roux with baby lima beans, pictured here with creamed brussels sprouts.

Chicken and Butter Beans

I have been busier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs y'all!! We have the grandkids everyday now after school - which I love, love, love, don't get me wrong. Since our move to be closer to them six months ago, we have seen and spent more time with them from since they were born. It isn't that we were all that far away from them to begin with, but where we did live was off the beaten path and far enough away to be inconvenient for everybody. It does leave me with a small window of time in the mornings to get everything done though, and believe me, it goes by quick! I suppose that some of you moms know exactly what I mean.

Book Review - Around the Table by Martina McBride

If you watch or DVR the daytime shows, you probably remember seeing Martina McBride recently making the rounds with her new book, "Around the Table: Recipes and Inspiration for Gatherings Throughout the Year." Besides having a successful music career, turns out Martina has a passion for entertaining too and, because it's such a daunting process for so many of us, she wanted to bring a book to the public that would show step-by-step how we can do it too.

Homemade Sour Cream Coffeecake

Homemade from scratch Sour Cream Coffeecake, a dense and rich, great tasting cake that is at its peak flavor when served the next day, once the sugars and flavors have settled a bit. Make it ahead whenever you can!

Sour Cream Coffeecake

Many of us are familiar with the classic Duncan Hines sour cream 'Sock it to Me' bundt cake, or at least with some family-adapted version of it. It's an enhanced cake mix cake, made with a swirl of brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts in the center, a recipe that's held its own for years and is still well-loved.

I have nothing against cake mixes at all, although, depending on the brand, I often find them overly sweet to my taste buds, but like most everybody else, I certainly use them from time to time. In fact, some of my favorite cakes start with one!

Divine Casserole, sometimes called simply Sour Cream Noodle Bake, is sort of a cross between baked spaghetti and lasagna in its flavor. Made with egg noodles tossed with a mixture of cream cheese, sour cream and cottage cheese, layered with a tomato-based meat sauce and shredded cheese, it might just become a family favorite!

Divine Casserole

This is one of those casseroles that's been around forever and is found in almost every old cookbook I own, though it's got as many names as the cookbooks where you'll find it.

You may remember it as Sour Cream Noodle Bake, Sour Cream Baked Spaghetti, Husband's Delight, Italian Delight, Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole and I've even heard it called Godfather Casserole. I'm sure there are others I've forgotten. The only difference, as usual, is the variation in the amounts of the ingredients, and sometimes in the process. Typically containing noodles, most often egg noodles, but sometimes spaghetti, to which is added a layer of cream cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream or some combination of them, the casserole is then topped with a ground beef tomato sauce.

Buttermilk cornbread made with cheese, jalapenos, corn kernels and honey and finished with a honey butter glaze.

Honey Jalapeno Cornbread

I made a pot of taco soup on Saturday. The weather was overcast and cloudy, dreary really... the kind of weekend weather that just makes you want to nap all day. Or get in the kitchen and cook something.

Mini meatloaves, made in a jumbo, Texas style muffin pan, with lean ground beef, the Trinity of veggies, barbecue sauce, topped with a brown sugar, Creole mustard barbecue glaze and finished with cheese.

BBQ Cheeseburger Meatloaf Minis

It's Fall y'all!! Well, so says the calendar at least finally, and while we've only "cooled" down a bit here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast - mid to high 80s and some cooler nighttime temperatures - I'll take it!! This weekend was absolutely beautiful and I enjoyed it in its entirety.

Classic peas and pasta salad, made with tiny shell pasta and dressed with homemade buttermilk Ranch, spicy mustard, dill, red onion, cubed cheese, bacon and gently tossed with tuna fillets.

Peas and Pasta Salad with Tuna

Okay y'all. I know everybody's in fall mode, sharing their favorite apple recipes, and pumpkin recipes won't be far behind - if they haven't started up already. Heck, we're only in the high 80s this week here in South Mississippi, so that's practically fall weather here, far as we are concerned. But... I'm gonna squeeze in at least one more "summer" recipe before the calendar tells me it's officially fall.

Cucumbers and onions, layered in a bowl, topped with a vinaigrette and topped with crushed ice and refrigerated overnight to marinate before serving.

Iced Refrigerator Cucumber Salad

As of this writing, I'm not quite ready to let go of the summer and start up with fall recipes.

Oh, I'm definitely ready to bid summer goodbye alright.

To walk outside and feel that fresh, crisp fall air, the kind that sends a quick chill down your spine and requires at least a light sweater. I'm ready to turn off the air conditioner and get some relief from those high summer cooling bills. Maybe even open the windows and let fresh air flow through the house and put on a pot of hearty soup or chili.

That's sure to be awhile yet here in The Deep South.

Round up - Last Week's Top Recipes

Top Recipes Roundup from Deep South Dish

September has arrived! Summer is still with us of course, though most everybody considers it at least unofficially over at the close of Labor Day, when vacations cease and everybody is back to work and school. September 23rd marks the official beginning of fall this year and let's pray that some cooler weather comes along with it. Mercy.

Y'all liked the Labor Day Roundup of Dips, Burgers, Ribs, Sides & More post so much last Friday, and in fact, it was one of the top posts for the week, that I decided to gather up some of the other favorite recipes that were most popular on Deep South Dish in the past week.

Labor Day Recipe Roundup - Dips, Burgers, Ribs, Sides and More

A round-up collection of great recipes for your Labor Day party.

Labor Day Recipe Roundup

It's kinda hard for me to believe that Labor Day, marking the UN-official end of summer, is just around the corner y'all!!

Fresh Fruit Salad tossed with a lime and mint infused simple syrup.

Fresh Fruit Salad with Lime and Mint Dressing

Okay. I'm a gonna say it again. It is HOT y'all. Whew!

Magazines are arriving all decked out in the unmistakable colors of fall, loaded with fall baking recipes, chilis, soups and stews, and apple recipes are everywhere, even already with many bloggers. A Florida Sam's Club even has Christmas decorations out now. Yes. In August. I'm serious y'all!

 

Broccoli and cauliflower combined with chopped cabbage, carrot, bell pepper and red onion, tossed with a mayonnaise and vinegar dressing to make a fresh coleslaw that will last for days, making it a perfect refrigerator salad to have on hand.

Broccoli and Cauliflower Refrigerator Salad

Whew! It is hotter than hot here in the Deep South y'all. I'm still cooking... of course, we gotta eat no matter the heat, right?

And yes, like most Southerners, I really don't have a season for the occasional treat of any of our Southern Classic recipes, even during the heat of the summer, though I do tend to lean more toward simple food on the outside grill, sandwiches and a lot of veggies and salads - in case you hadn't noticed from my summer postings this year.

A cold dip made with Mexicorn, cheese, green chilies, jalapenos, Rotel, mayo, sour cream, green onion and seasonings.

Cold Corn Dip

If y'all have been hanging around here any length of time, you pretty much know that any kind of dip - from that good old fashioned 7 layer dip that's been around forever, to my more delectable hot crab dip (and everything in between) - are party favorites for me. Though I do actually favor hot dips over cold, I have to say that this corn dip, served cold, is downright delicious and even a tiny bit addictive!

A summertime Southern favorite, fresh speckled butter beans are stewed down with a ham hock enhanced broth.

Southern Style Speckled Butter Beans

Somewhere in the dark recesses of my deep freeze, I have some ham hocks. But... The Cajun handled the transportation of our freezer from the old house to the new, along with the contents of it, all scattered about in massive coolers, and frankly, I just crammed it all back in there with no manner of organization once it arrived.

Needless to say, I now can't find a thing.

Chicken thighs, simply seasoned and slow cooked in the crockpot with a mixture of pineapple juice, brown sugar and soy sauce, that is thickened and brushed on as a finishing glaze.

Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Chicken

It's become pretty clear that folks love the combination of savory meats with sweet brown sugar. I've used it to candy bacon, love it for ham, for rubs on ribs and steaks, it's amazing with chicken and I've even used it for fish. Here lately, I've been seeing brown sugar everywhere in these 2, 3 and 4 ingredient dishes you see pass via Facebook and Pinterest.

Fresh fish, trout pictured here, seasoned simply with salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning and Old Bay, drizzled with butter and dusted with lemon zest, baked and garnished with sliced green onion and fresh parsley. Works well with many fish. Served here with Southern style green beans and parslied potatoes.

Baked Fish

You'll notice that despite being a Mississippi Gulf Coast gal, you don't see a lot of recipes on here for fish. It's not because we don't eat it - we do! Every chance we get. While Mondays are always red beans and rice here in the Deep South, Fridays mean fish, or at least seafood of some kind, thanks to our heavy Catholic population and abundant access to it.

Heck, I'm not even above cleaning them, and the basic rule is that if you catch them, you clean them, and well... it's not a pretty job, though the end result is, of course, fabulous. If you're too skittish for all that, the local fishmongers will sell them to you already cleaned and filleted.

 

Whole okra, steamed, salted and dipped in butter.

Steamed Okra

Many, if not most of us of a certain age in the South, love our okra, but right up front y'all, there are true haters of okra out there.

The second you share something with okra on social media they show themselves for sure. 

Those of you who are among them will certainly not be interested in this post at all, and really, those of us who love it really don't need you to let us know! We get it.

Southern Field Peas and Snaps - Field peas cooked with green beans and served here with grilled smoked andouille sausage and cornbread.

Southern Field Peas and Snaps

It can be a little bit confusing when a Southerner talks about field peas, because kinda like with butter beans or what we mean when we say "Coke," they might be referring to any one of literally hundreds of Southern field peas.

Field peas, or cowpeas as we also know them, aren't really peas at all. They are beans that grow very well in the South because they are heat and drought tolerant and grow in just about any soil. They're categorized generally in four groups - crowder, cream, black-eyed and field peas, and there are many varieties to be found in each of those categories.

South Your Mouth Cookbook Review

Mandy Rivers' debut cookbook, South Your Mouth, Tried & True Southern Recipes

Update! Congratulations to Katherine Kelley who said:

Thank you for your great recipes! You've helped transform this former Yankee now loving life in Mississippi into a respectable Southern cook, and provided loads of laughter as well. My southern-born & bred & fed husband sure is happy!

Katherine, please contact me by Monday, July 14, 2014 at mary@deepsouthdish.com with your full name and mailing address so we can get your cookbook to you!

I started my own food blogging adventure in 2008. Even writing that seems so odd to me that I've actually been doing this that long already!

In the beginning there weren't that many of us blogging about food specifically, and most especially about Southern food. Facebook was new, Pinterest and Instagram didn't exist, but all that's certainly changed over the past six years, and I've met many different bloggers along the way through all of those mediums. Some became friends, others came and went, posting for a little while and then fading away, and others, well, you just seemed to connect to right away.

 

Bratwurst sausage, braised on the grill in a hot tub of beer, onions and butter, then seared and returned to the tub. Serve on hard rolls, with mustard, onions and pickles.

Grilled "Hot Tub" Beer Brats

Now, yes, right off the bat before some of y'all insist on thinking I don't already know, bratwurst ain't exactly a Deep South dish.

I do realize that!

Once upon a time, you would have been hard-pressed to even find a bratwurst sausage anywhere in The South to save your life. But now that they are everywhere, we Southerners sure do enjoy our share of them.

A cookie bar made with cherry pie filling and blueberries and drizzled with a powdered sugar glaze.

Cherry Pie Bars

This is another one of those recipes that kept passing by on my personal Facebook timeline so much that I decided to make it for our Memorial Day celebration with my son and daughter-in-law.

Since that holiday is the unofficial beginning of summer and falls right in the midst of crawfish season, they host a crawfish boil every year, along with the usual hot dogs and burgers.

One of my son's closest friends, Brad, is the master crawfish cook, so he always handles the cooking of the crawfish and does an excellent job of it. They sure were good this year! The boil has become a bit of an annual tradition for them and we look forward to it every year, though it was so hot that day, that The Cajun and I didn't stick around too long.

Old Fashioned Slow Stewed Southern Style Green Beans

Fresh green beans, slow stewed in the Southern way with cubed or sliced fatback, salt pork or bacon and shown here with potatoes.

Old Fashioned Slow Stewed Southern Green Beans

I make my speedier version of green beans the same way most of the time - a little bacon, a little onion  and a little chicken broth or plain water. Sometimes, new potatoes are added. Doesn't matter whether the beans are fresh, frozen or canned - I use the same method for them all, and each of those elements add so much depth and flavor to green beans. I love them.

But when I have the time, this is the way that I love them the most. Fresh green beans, snapped and cooked in the old-fashioned way - a low and slow simmer in water, with a little fatback or salt pork and pepper is all there is to it. I don't even add onion to these, because, as much as I love and use onion, I want the pure flavor of the beans and fatback to be predominate and not the onion. Once they are done, I like to stir in a tablespoon of bacon fat or butter to add just a little extra richness. Taste them first, then add other seasonings as you like.

Fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped and marinated in a herb vinaigrette. Serve as is, spoon over a mixed garden salad, use as a garnish with grilled meats, or spoon over individual plates of plain shredded lettuce.

Marinated Tomatoes

With the big move to our new home, I planted a little late this year, and just picked the first of my homegrown tomatoes off the vine in my backyard. They will soon be part of my annual summer ritual.

This year, I was short on time to dig a garden or set up raised beds like before, so I just did a few containers of tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets and planted some herbs, beans and cucumbers right outside the patio door.

Grilled Huli Huli Chicken, a popular Hawaiian-style barbecued chicken, basted with a honey and brown sugar sweetened, soy and pineapple barbecue sauce.

Grilled Huli Huli Chicken

I don't know about y'all, but the last couple of months I have been busier than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs! Between buying a new house, moving, renovating the old house for sale and now that summer's rolled around, spending a lot more time with the grandkid's on summer vacation too... I truly don't know if I'm coming or going anymore. I sure could use a vacation of my own - Florida beaches here I come!

If you've ever been on a Florida vacation and done the luau show and dinner somewhere, you have likely had some form of this Hawaiian-style barbecued chicken. I've never been to Disney where we didn't go to one either at the Polynesian Hotel or up the road at the Wantilan Luau at Universal Orlando.

Luau shots from one of our Orlando vacations!

Yes, I know they are touristy and to some degree a bit cheesy, but I just love those shows and I really feel like I'm on vacation when I go to one.

 

Layered with iceberg lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, red onion, bacon and Parmesan cheese, and dressed with a vinegar and mayonnaise, mustard dressing. Shown here with my Southern Style Green Beans and Ground Beef Mac and Cheese casserole.

Next Day Salad

I seem to be on a roll here with salads! Well, it is that time of the year I suppose and I sure hope that you can bear one more, because it's a good one.

We have a family owned market (now catering and buffet restaurant) here on the Coast called Broome's Grocery. They've always been a favorite store for locals - I can remember when they were one of the very few stores to open shortly after Hurricane Katrina.

There wasn't any electricity, but they opened to sell bread and snacks and whatever non-perishables they had left on the shelf. We were all standing in the line, hot, sweaty, wore out and frankly, a little dirty from the cleanup process, none of us having water to bathe for days already, but so grateful to be able to pick up a few familiar things to eat after those first days.

I tell you what... you don't know how much you miss having running water and electricity until you don't have it anymore.

Chicken Pasta Salad made with a homemade Ranch style vinegar dressing, short cut pasta, cooked chicken, Vidalia onion, celery, cheese, bacon, peas and tomatoes.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

Hey y'all... the unofficial start to the cookout season is here, the heat is on and that means it's pasta salad time! Don't you just love a good pasta salad in the summer?

They are so adaptable and easily varied, make-ahead friendly, hold well in the fridge for awhile, and are a great take along for family gatherings, potlucks and church suppers. You can literally make an easy meal of it on a hot summer's day if you like, especially when you throw in a little protein. I've added chicken here, but a good smoked ham or shrimp are both excellent too.

A cucumber and sweet Vidalia onion salad, dressed with a sweet and sour vinegar dressing.

Cucumber and Onion Salad

I shared the sour cream and onion cucumber salad and had so many requests for the plain vinegar variation, that I figured instead of pointing everybody to the variation at the bottom of the recipe, that I would plant it here right beside that version, to include it among all of the other summertime cucumber salads I enjoy.

A cucumber and sweet Vidalia onion salad, dressed with a vinegar and sour cream dill dressing.

Sour Cream Cucumber and Onion Salad

The cucumber consumption has begun!! I think that I have been through at least a dozen cucumbers in the past week, because when it starts getting hot here, and believe me, that comes fast in the Deep South, I eat a lot of cucumber salads.

Cucumbers are something like 95% water and they really do have a cooling effect on the body, so the phrase "cool as a cucumber" truly does have some meaning to it. They are surprisingly full of antioxidant vitamins also, help to rid the body of toxins and have many other health benefits.

Low to No Calorie Diet Iced Tea

A low to no calorie recipe for a full gallon of presweetened, robust iced tea, using sugar substitute.

Low to No Calorie Diet Iced Tea (Milo's Copycat)

It used to be you ordered tea anywhere in The South, and iced sweet tea was what you both expected and got, without you having to say so.

There is no doubt that we are still very endeared to our sweet tea in The South, but these days you have to specify - sweet, unsweet, half and half sweet and unsweet, half and half, tea and lemonade, or, hot! I don't have a huge sweet tooth, and find most everybody else's sweet tea to be far too sweet for me, so when The Cajun and I eat out anywhere, I always order the half sweet and half unsweet and that suits me just fine.

This is my Deep South take on classic German Potato Salad, made with a warm bacon dressing, including our Holy Trinity of Southern cooking, along with pickles and juice, sugar, mustard, horseradish, hot sauce and black pepper. Best served warm or at room temperature.

Deep South Style German Potato Salad

We love our Classic Southern Style Potato Salad here in The South, but German Potato Salad is a popular Southern favorite too. I make no claims to the authenticity of this version, but with the inclusion of our Deep South Holy Trinity of Southern cooking, mine is a Deep South take on this classic favorite. Not only is it the perfect potato salad for our sweet and sour Southern palates, it's a great potluck, picnic and church supper dish too.

A simple skillet meal of nicely seasoned shrimp and pasta with asparagus.

Skillet Shrimp and Pasta with Asparagus

Y'all already know that, being not only a gal from the Deep South, but also growing up right here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, that I love my fresh from the Gulf seafood.

I have also talked here about how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE asparagus - any way you make it. Roasted, steamed, grilled and butter-steamed, asparagus is great as a side dish or included in other dishes. This is such a simple and easy skillet meal and the combination of asparagus with fresh shrimp is frankly, just downright delicious.

Baked bone-in half ham, made with a brown sugar and honey mustard glaze.

Honey Mustard Glazed Ham

Most of y'all familiar with my website know my No. 1 ham is the one that has been a favorite of The South for many years and the same one my Mama made - a brown sugar and mustard glaze with a Coca Cola pan sauce.

It's just such a good ham and always so well received, that it's pretty much the standard around here.

A classic, cold salad made from carrots, raisins and pineapple, sometimes coconut and peanuts, and dressed with a sweetened mayonnaise.

Classic Carrot Raisin Salad

We are still in the process of moving out of our old home, while the new house is looking more and more like we have lived here for 20 years! And the garage, oh you don't even want to know what that looks like, but as I have the energy, I bring in a box and go through it.

We are moving all of the Christmas stuff, the china from the china cabinet and have a freezer and a few pieces of furniture to go and we'll be finished... finally. The Cajun and I were so tired and hungry yesterday afternoon that we stopped by Hartz's Fried Chicken and treated ourselves to their buffet for an early supper.

Skillet Asparagus

Fresh asparagus prepared by butter steaming in a skillet.

How to Prepare Asparagus

I have been a huge fan of fresh asparagus for years and love it just about any way that you can cook it - steamed, blanched, stir fried, grilled, roasted - the marinated bacon wrapped version is mighty delicious and a favorite of mine too.