The classic Rotel Queso Dip, but made with sausage and shrimp!

Shrimp Rotel Dip

This is a variation of the classic and ever-popular Rotel Queso Dip, with the addition of shrimp and often ground beef, though ground turkey, pork or sausage or even a combination works well too. I personally love it with breakfast sausage the most, over them all!

Most recipes use a larger shrimp, sometimes whole, sometimes chopped up, but I find the small salad sized shrimp to be a perfect choice. There are lots of them in a pound and they're just the right chip size.

A crisp cookie, made with butter and shortening, brown sugar and pecans.

Pecan Crispies

No time for much chat, Christmas is here and I wanted to sneak in one more recipe! Some of you who scroll past the chatty stuff will probably be happy to hear that! No worries. It's all good.

Y'all already know I'm not super crazy about sweet stuff - oh I enjoy something sweet occasionally, and I do love a good cookie - I mean who doesn't love a handful of freshly baked cookies, right?

Jumbo Shrimp with Homemade Cocktail Sauce

Shrimp Cocktail from Deep South Dish blog. Jumbo shrimp, poached, boiled or oven-roasted and served with a zesty homemade cocktail sauce.

Shrimp Cocktail

Don't you just feel fancy when you're at a restaurant where they still have a shrimp cocktail on the menu? I tend to order one when they are, but even when I don't, I kinda light up when I see somebody else get one delivered to their table. It's a little luxurious to me! Hey, what can I say. Those little small things make me happy! I had a bag of jumbo shrimp in the freezer that I needed to use so thought that it would be a good time to get a shrimp cocktail recipe up.

Sure, there's always basic cocktail sauce, simple lazy man sauce, or even super-flavorful Comeback Sauce, that we whip up in a hurry for our boils, and any one of those works just fine for dipping boiled shrimp. Yes, you can even buy it all bottled up for you at the grocery store, but when we have these nice, beautiful jumbo shrimp that we want to use for an appetizer - like for a holiday menu - well, they deserve a little step up, if you ask me!

Baked Ham, basted with an apple cider, honey, brown sugar, pepper jelly and mustard glaze.

Apple Cider Ham

The Cajun loves baked ham, and I mean he loves it, so much so, that I don't wait for a holiday to cook them - I cook them all year-round! It's pretty good stuff, gotta admit, and it's good hot from the oven, at room temperature, or even cold, right out of the fridge.

There's so many things you can do with ham too, from sandwich fillings to beans to casseroles, that it makes sense to buy a big one for planned leftovers. I also prefer a bone-in ham, just to have the bone, but take into consideration the fact that it can often take up a substantial percentage of the weight of the ham. All the more reason to buy a larger one. I mean you just can't beat the flavor of a pot of ham bone beans!

Green Bean Étouffée - Smothered Green Beans

Green beans with onions and tasso or andouille, smothered in a light roux gravy.

Green Bean Étouffée

Give us the opportunity to smother something in gravy in the south, and we'll sure do it - seafood certainly, but yes, even green beans and peas y'all! Hey, what can I say? Gravy is good stuff.

If you've ever had the opportunity to eat the green bean side dish from Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen - my favorite place for fried chicken when I have a craving for it and don't want to deal with the mess - then you're already familiar with smothered green beans. A simple side dish made from a light roux, sauteed onion, chopped tasso and green beans simmered in the gravy. It's absolutely delicious!

A quicker prep version of meat lasagna, using ground beef, commercial pasta sauce and oven-ready lasagna noodles.

Shortcut Lasagna

There is nothing that can touch a homemade lasagna. Nothing. And let me tell you, when it's made with a sauce made from homegrown, backyard summer tomatoes, it is out of this world. But, like a good classic ziti, it's a labor of love from beginning to end and takes hours. Is it worth it?

You bet it is!

But the time factor pretty much relegates it to being a day off or weekend kind of meal.

Favorite Cabbage Recipes

A round-up of favorite Deep South Dish cabbage recipes.

If you make any of these or any of my recipes, I'd love to see your results! Just snap a photo and hashtag it #DeepSouthDish on social media or tag me @deepsouthdish on Instagram!

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I do love cabbage. The way I eat it the most is fried, which unless you're a southerner, probably isn't anything like what you're thinking right now. (No we don't deep fry our cabbage... although I'm sure that somebody has tried it.)

It's really almost a cross between a braise and a pan fry, and while some people do like to let all of the liquid cook out and continue cooking it until it caramelizes, I'm not one of them. I prefer it braised.

Big, fluffy and tender yeast rolls, reminiscent of those old school cafeteria rolls so many of us loved.

Old School Cafeteria-Style Yeast Rolls

If you're a parent or grandparent who has had the occasion to attend a child's elementary school lunch in recent years, you know that kid's school lunches are nothing like the ones we used to enjoy as children. Back in the dark ages when I was in elementary school, lunches were home-cooked meals, and many my age have fond memories of cafeteria favorites - brownies, goulash, even sloppy joes seem to top the list, but the one I find most often mentioned are those homemade yeast rolls.

Many of us have been on a quest for a roll that is as close to those amazing homemade yeast rolls from our elementary school memories, but in more reasonable batches. Fresh baked in the morning, you could smell those rolls all over the school, getting a symphony of tummy rumbling going.

A quicker, off-season version of Crawfish Bisque made using frozen pureed and whole Louisiana crawfish tails, commercial seafood or chicken stock, the trinity (onion, bell pepper and celery), tomatoes, corn and Cajun seasonings.

Shortcut Crawfish Corn Bisque

Bisque is a soup.

A fairly thick, generally smooth and creamy soup, made from seafood, though often fully pureed to intensify the flavors, leaving no recognized ingredients behind, except perhaps of a garnish.

Seafood is precious, even down here on the Gulf Coast where it is abundant, so I prefer not to puree all of it, but rather to use a fairly rough puree to add body to the soup, but also keep some pieces whole, along with the trinity (onion, bell pepper and celery) for texture and appearance.

Cake Recipe Roundup

A collection of cake recipes from Deep South Dish blog!

If you make these or any of my recipes, I'd love to see your results! Just snap a photo and hashtag it #DeepSouthDish on social media or tag me @deepsouthdish on Instagram!

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Typically southern food blogs and recipe books will provide you with lots of dessert recipes. Sometimes more sweets than anything else and even cookbooks dedicated solely to them. We do love our sweets in the south!

Personally, I am not a huge sweets person. Oh, don't get me wrong! I love something sweet on occasion as much as the next person, but you may have noticed there is a lot more savory than there is sweet in the pages of this blog.

An easy, snack-sized chocolate cake, made with cocoa and chocolate chips and a smear of caramel sauce, poked into the warm cake, then finished with a powdered sugar icing drizzle.

Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Caramel Poke Cake

Although I do have a few layer cakes I've done over the years, I'm really not a baker.

Mostly they're not very pretty, though they're certainly tasty!

The cakes I make most often are simple pan cakes, bundt cakes, or smaller, snack-sized versions, rather than tall, multi-layered cakes. I'm not a big fan of super sweet icings on any cake either, and the truth is, I usually scrape it off! I know. Kind of cake blasphemy isn't it? Most frostings are just too sweet to me.

Jumbo shrimp, tossed in a seasoned olive oil mix and oven roasted.

Roasted Shrimp

Well, now... we had a tad bit chilly start to the day here in the Deep South this morning and today temperatures were in the low 70s, instead of the 90s - finally! Perfect opportunity to turn on the oven to try some roasted shrimp.

Just as with vegetables, roasting really intensifies and brings out the natural flavor in shrimp and they're perfect to use anywhere you would use a pan-sauteed shrimp, or even to just eat as is, with a nice side salad, or a veggie and some bread.

Nicely seasoned, thin cut, bone-in breakfast pork chops, and simply pan fried. Great for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Homestyle Breakfast Pork Chops

While chicken and seafood are pretty common on our table, I have to say, pork is one of my favorite meats, and you can't beat a good thin cut pork chop for a quick meal.

They're referred to as breakfast chops because they are super thin, taking only a very short cooking time. This means they can get on the table fast, even faster than most typical pork sides like ham steaks, sausage and bacon. I would venture to say that they're likely just as often served for supper. Great either way!

A simple and easy side dish casserole made with diced yellow squash, bacon, small shrimp and corn.

Squash Casserole with Shrimp and Corn

Yeah, yeah, I know... everybody is all about pumpkins, soups, stews and fall dishes right now, but I'm still working on end of summer amid these nearly 100 degree days we're still having along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. That hasn't stopped me from making fall favorites like chicken and dumplings, shortcut shrimp etouffee and Cajun-style chicken and andouille gumbo, because I've fixed all of those the last couple of weeks!

This recipe involves the use of yellow straightneck or crookneck squash, a veggie once relegated strictly to the summer months, but now available slap dab in the middle of winter these days. I admit, it's nice but I can't quite get used to that, although you still can't beat the flavor of one that's plucked right out of your backyard.

An easy and flavorful skillet ragu made with sweet or hot Italian sausage, a mirepoix of veggies in a light broth and tomato base with pasta.

Sweet Sausage Ragu - Ragù Di Carne

I have been cutting back on expenses this past year. We rarely go out or do social events outside of family events anymore - been there, done that, bought the t-shirt. We don't even eat out much, so home entertainment and wireless services were the first two to get trimmed back.

Since ditching expensive satellite television, I've been watching a lot of antenna TV. It's not completely reliable though, so I did eventually enroll in a streaming service, of which there are many to choose from these days. Far less expensive, I have found that I actually like that far better than cable or satellite. Unfortunately though, when we ditched our expensive cell service, we also lost our unlimited internet, so I had to start budgeting the streaming time.

Summer Vegetable Gumbo - Garden in a Pot. A mix of summer's best veggies like sweet onion, fresh corn, zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, green beans, sweet bell pepper and okra, a perfect dish for the veggie lovers!

Summer Vegetable Gumbo - Garden in a Pot

Let's have a last hurrah for summer y'all! We are finally at the end of it this Friday, well, at least according to the calendar. There won't be any fall-like temperatures showing up here in the Deep South for awhile yet even then. In fact, the past two days there has been a heat index advisory of 110 degrees. Hey, the good news is this dish can be served hot, warm or at room temperature!

I love vegetables, and this stew is loaded with the summer vegetables I love.

Other than just a general vegetable stew, I actually wasn't quite sure what I wanted to call this recipe when it was all said and done, but when I opened the stored container to heat up a serving the next day, and the aroma immediately spoke gumbo to me, so that's what I settled on. 

A mixture of fresh and imitation crab, veggies and a homemade ranch style dressing, perfect for a sandwich, snacking or stuffed into a tomato or avocado half.

Crab Salad

This salad has been a favorite for me many years, and you may remember something similar called the Seafood Sensation Salad from Subway, where you could get it on a sub or in a salad. I used to get them for lunch in my corporate working days, loaded up with vegetables. While mostly removed from their menu, I think you can still find it at Subway in some markets, and you will probably find some version at your local grocery store deli.

Now... I realize that some of y'all are gonna get mad at me, because while ingredients vary, this salad has always been made with imitation crab or in combination with imitation lobster. Relax a bit.

Fresh green beans, quickly skillet blanched, then stir fried with sweet onion, garlic, a hint of brown sugar and herbs.

Skillet Green Beans

I love green beans. They're easy to grow, but even if you don't grow them, they're readily available and reasonable, and you can even buy them in the middle of winter these days. It's one of the few vegetables The Cajun will eat, so we eat them in one form or another pretty often.

As to cooking them, let's face the truth here. If you are from the south, you, probably, like me, aren't super fond of crispy green beans, unless, of course they are battered and fried. You, like me, likely rather love the slow-stewed green beans that cook down forever.

Hot Roast Beef with Gravy - Instant Pot

An open-faced hot roast beef sandwich, made with a rump roast and served with white bread, homemade mashed potatoes and topped with gravy.

Instant Pot Hot Roast Beef

Who remembers a hot roast beef? You don't hear much about them these days, but basically, it's an open-faced roast beef sandwich, served over plain or toasted white bread, with a scoop or two of homemade mashed potatoes... and plenty of gravy. Typically a leftovers meal, I had a very specific craving for one, so I had to start from scratch and make a roast!

One of my favorite things to cook in a slow cooker are roasts, but I've really fallen in love with using my multi-cooker/pressure cooker for them. Instead of taking 3 hours on the stovetop, or even longer in a crockpot, you can have a fork tender chuck or rump roast on the table in about an hour.

A quick and easy homemade cheeseburger and macaroni skillet dinner. Better than the box!

Homemade (Hamburger Helper) Cheeseburger Macaroni Skillet

If you've followed Deep South Dish for any length of time, y'all probably already figured out that I do love me a quick and easy skillet meal, especially on these hot summer days.

This one is no exception, but back when I was a young, young bride, I sure relied on that handy dandy boxed pasta meal. It was quick and easy after working all day and I actually liked the way it tasted. The lasagna one was a personal favorite.

A sour cream, cream cheese and Ranch based dip, filled with spicy Fire 'n Ice pickles. Serve with kettle or ridged potato chips, pretzel chips or veggie sticks, made from celery and carrots.

Fire 'n Ice Pickle Dip

The sound of football has returned to my house. Doesn't matter that it's only preseason to my husband because by now, he is totally jonesing for a game of any kind. Course, the Saints opener could certainly have been better... but it is what it is, and they won.

If you've been around the blog for very long, y'all probably already know by now how much I love pickles. I mean how many people have one of these in their fridge for no reason except they eat a pickle just about every day?

This one pot skillet meal starts with a butter roux based gravy, cooked with the trinity of veggies, chicken is tossed in and the dish spooned over steamed rice.

Skillet Cajun Chicken and Gravy

Most times when folks think of a chicken and rice dish, it's the classic version where they are baked together in a casserole form, and it's delicious no doubt. We love it! But even though kids are mostly already back in school down here, it's actually still summer, and skillet meals are definitely a go-to.

I especially love this one because it utilizes already cooked chicken and cooked rice. I always have cooked chicken in my freezer because when you use a FoodSaver sealer, (I love mine!) it keeps it so nice and fresh and free of freezer burn for a pretty long time.

Having already cooked chicken in the freezer sure is a big-time saver and comes in handy for those hurry-up meals. Rice is so common here with meals that it's not at all unusual to have some leftover. It's also super easy to make in your Instant Pot.

Fresh peaches, tossed in lemon juice and skillet cooked in a buttery, brown sugar sauce with cinnamon, vanilla and a bit of whisky or bourbon, if you like. Shown here with my Grandma Mac's Perfect Pound Cake.

Skillet Peaches

Southern peach season - typically mid-May through mid-August - is in full force... and I have barely eaten any fresh peaches!

I don't cook with them much, mostly preferring to take them as a fruit snack really, and the past few years, I've been ordering peaches from around the south that we don't get here.

Somehow, I missed it this year, and last year even. Although you can still find some peaches around town, mostly from California. No doubt they're fine peaches too, but you can't match a local peach, and by local I mean the south in general - Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina, of course.

A quick beef and rice skillet with a little Southwestern flair from sweet and hot peppers, chili powder, cumin and paprika, diced tomatoes with green chilies and Mexican blend cheeses. Eat as is, or roll up in flour or corn tortillas and top with a dollop of salsa, guacamole and sour cream.

Southwestern Beef Skillet

I love a good skillet meal! They're easy and certainly quick and because of that they don't heat up the kitchen too much, an important bonus in these triple digit summers we're having in the south.

I actually cut this recipe off of a package of Kraft shredded cheese sometime back and finally got around to giving it a try. I found it to be a bit bland sounding though, and it also appeared to be lacking in some of the typical flavor elements you might find in a dish labeled as "southwestern," so I used it as a base, and made some changes by adding more veggies, spices and seasonings.

A tomato and cucumber salad, dressed lightly with a seasoned, mayonnaise-based dressing and lots of crumbled bacon!

Bacon, Cucumber and Tomato Salad

I didn't have nearly as many tomatoes or cucumbers this year. Early on, in the spring, they did great, but then by June we had constant, heavy rainstorms - which, by the way haven't stopped - intertwined with heat indexes in the triple digits - that haven't stopped either - and the tomatoes really suffered.

Guess I'm either going to have to start from seed so I can plant earlier, or else just forget about it and hit the fresh market weekly for my tomato fix!

My early tomatoes - Deep South Dish on Instagram

An easy, re-purposed pasta dish made from leftover pasta, pasta sauce, meats, like pepperoni, smoked sausage or other leftover meats and cheese. Fast and delicious!

Fried Pasta

While you can certainly make fried pasta intentionally using freshly boiled pasta, sauteed meats and jarred pasta sauce, it's really a dish born out of leftovers and wow is it a delicious repurpose!

Although, I've written it out here for you with measurements - which results in about 4 cups pasta, or what I say is two healthy adult sized portions - essentially there's no recipe. Just a good olive oil, butter, leftover pasta and leftover sauce is really all there is to it. Throw in some leftover cooked or smoked sausage, meatballs, pepperoni, shredded beef, whatever you've got.

Pasta Salad Collection

A collection of pasta salads from Deep South Dish blog.

I love pasta salads, anytime of the year really, but most especially in the hot summer months. You'll almost always find one in my fridge, and my Tuna Macaroni Salad is a summertime favorite.

Some form of pasta, often with a protein, dressed with a vinaigrette or creamy dressing, and you've got a great meal, that's not too heavy for those super hot days when your energy is already sapped.

A dense, lightly sweetened cake, perfect for sugar-sweetened, syrupy strawberries and whipped cream.

Classic Strawberry Shortcake Cake

Strawberry shortcake. It's a very simple dish really, but so good! Freshly sliced strawberries left to soak in a little sugar until a syrupy glaze forms, then spooned over a sweetened, biscuit-like dense cake, with those gorgeous sweet juices drizzled on top and finished with a dollop of whipped cream. Now, that's an easy and delicious dessert.

Truly, you can use any good biscuit recipe and sweeten it with a bit of sugar for a decent strawberry shortcake. I certainly have. Cream biscuits are especially good, however, a more classic shortcake, which back in the day, often appeared in the form of a single layer cake, is something that will hold up to those juices!

A few basic ingredients: cherry pie filling, crushed pineapple, sweetened condensed milk and Cool Whip make up the base for this old school frozen delight! From there, make it your own with easy add-ins.

Frozen Cherry Fruit Salad

I live on the Gulf Coast, and down here, the humidity is as important as the temperature. Maybe even more so! We've been under 100+ degree heat advisories here for awhile now because of that heat index. In June. Already. I pray we don't see a hurricane this year, well, ever again in my lifetime really, that knocks out power for long. Gotta have that air conditioning down here!

When the weather heats up like this, cooling foods are a steady in my house. Watermelon, cucumbers, grapes, cantaloupe, strawberries are consumed regularly around here! Of course, although they may mostly be relegated to those family gatherings more so these days, we have our icebox and freezer desserts too. This cherry salad is one of those that has been around for years.

Ham Bone Red Beans and Rice in the Instant Pot/Electronic Pressure Cooker

Ham bone red beans and rice, both made in an instant pot/electronic pressure cooker.

Instant Pot Ham Bone Red Beans and Rice

The Monday tradition of red beans lives on here in the Deep South, even if they’re made on Sunday, which, when they're made from dried beans, more often they are!

Because time is precious these days, I have four different ways I make them up here on the blog currently, depending on the time factor I have on my hands.

From a quick skillet version like you get with those convenience boxes (but without the added chemicals and preservatives), to a shortcut version that you'll never believe started with canned beans, plus one for the slow cooker and of course, old school, slow-stewed from dried beans (still my number one favorite)... I've got you covered. 

Hand-formed, extra large, lard-based cathead biscuits, baked in a hot cast iron skillet.

Cathead Biscuits

It's hard to believe from modern-day biscuits, that southern biscuits were once teeny, tiny little things. Not so much anymore, because like many foods, we've super-sized them!

Who can blame us, though. From skillet biscuits, to cream biscuits, to sweet potato, classic buttermilk and everything in between, we do love our biscuits in the south and we pretty much love them large.

Enter, Cathead Biscuits.

Large shrimp, baked in a buttery seasoned beer, oil and vinegar sauce, great for a party, or the beach!

Party Shrimp

Shrimp is abundant here along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and this is a party recipe that we've been making in one form or another for as long as I've been around. Often made simply with bottled Italian dressing, and maybe the addition of a few other ingredients, it's also been floating around social media for several years now, sometimes called Italian Shrimp. I made my sauce base from scratch instead.

Southern Living dubbed it Beach Shrimp

I don't know where this idea originated, but back in 2007, Southern Living magazine dubbed it with the title of Beach Shrimp, since it's a great dish to make for that beach vacation! It's delicious slightly warm from the oven, or chilled and brought to room temperature. Prepare it in a disposable aluminum pan for easy clean up.

A beef broth, marinated flank steak, with Creole mustard, balsamic vinegar and herbs, prepared in the classic London Broil method, with a quick sear on a hot grill and sliced at an angle, against the grain, for a full-flavored tender steak.

Marinated Flank Steak - London Broil

If you set out to research it, over and over again, you will read that London Broil is not a cut of beef, but instead is a method of grilling and carving. Yet... like this chunk of meat I cooked here, there it sat in the meat case with a label calling it simply, "London Broil" and nothing else.

Really?

A cornbread dressing made with yellow squash, sauteed with onion, celery and bell pepper.

Cornbread Squash Dressing

I hear from a reliable source that squash is starting to come in! I didn't plant any this year so if you're trying to get rid of some, stop on by with a bag and I'll gladly take some off your hands!

For some reason, I never see pattypan squash around here, not even at the farmer's market, but yellow squash happens to be my favorite in the summer squash family. I like it far better than zucchini, though I do eat both. I think yellow is a little sweeter and more mellow than zucchini but both make pretty good zoodles.

An easy to make and take no egg, no meringue version of banana pudding, using my delicious hack on the standard instant pudding filling. Make it in a deep 9 x 13 inch disposable lidded container, perfect for those potlucks, family reunions, funeral gatherings or church suppers.

Potluck Banana Pudding

I am an egg custard gal. From warm, oven baked custard or a simple custard pie, to dessert custard cream sauce, drinking custard, eggnog base, and real deal, homemade from scratch, custard banana pudding. And oh my goodness, let's not forget Vanilla Custard Ice Cream!  I love them all.

Stone ground grits, made with whole milk or half and half, chicken broth, and roasted fresh corn, scraped from the cob.

Roasted Corn Grits

As a side dish, these roasted corn grits rock!

I patterned them after the dish of the same name at Zea Rotisserie and Grill in Metairie, Louisiana after hearing somebody, somewhere along the way talking about them recently. Oh my goodness. I thought my garlic cheese grits were good, but these? Off. The. Chain.

The roasted corn adds such incredible flavor.

A Deep South fry bread, called Galettes, made from simply flour and whole milk, shaped into biscuits and fried in a skillet. Serve with butter, jam, jelly, preserves, honey or cane syrup.

Galettes Skillet Biscuits

These skillet biscuits, what we call galettes down here along the coastal south, are for those times when you just want a biscuit but don't feel like all the mixing, cutting in, rolling and baking. They are quick and delicious, whether it's with a dab of butter alone, or served with jam, jelly, preserves, honey or cane syrup.

The term galette can cover a lot of culinary territory from pies to flat pastries, to pancakes, to cakes, to biscuits. Just depends on the culture, I guess. For us, it comes from the French Gulf Coast population in the form of a hand shaped biscuit, fried in a skillet, like a fry bread.

Galettes are sometimes made into one big biscuit, as with my biscuit bread, but mostly they are like a fry bread or a fritter. In some places around the country, they are called flitters, or flitter bread. Pinches of dough are pulled off, rolled into balls and then flattened to about 1/4 inch thick. To avoid overcrowding skillet and chilling the oil, cook them in batches in hot oil until browned on both sides.

Chili cheese dogs made easy in a baked form, fork and knife required!

Fork and Knife Baked Chili Cheese Dogs

I. Love. Hotdogs. I do! I don't care about what's in them or how they're made. I don't even want to hear about it. If somebody on Team Food Police tries to lecture me about them, I just plug my ears like a child, and drown them out, lalalalalalala... because I love them.

Seasoned shrimp, smothered in a trinity enhanced brown gravy and best served over homemade mashed potatoes. Gravy pictured has a splash of Kitchen Bouquet added for richness.

Smothered Shrimp in Brown Gravy

Okay, you have probably not considered shrimp cooked in a brown, beef-based gravy, I'll give you that.

In a gumbo or stew form, shrimp is usually prepared with water, a shrimp stock, or maybe even chicken stock, but beef stock? Sounds a little odd for sure! This was not a dish my Mama ever made, and I remember thinking the very same thing first time I saw it, until... I tasted it. Fabulous!

A smoked bone-in half ham, baked and finished with a glaze of Maker's Mark whisky, Creole mustard, pepper jelly and lemon juice.

Whiskey Glazed Baked Ham

My favorite baked ham, hands down, has always been what is probably the most classic southern baked ham - a brown sugar and mustard glazed ham with a Coca-Cola pan sauce. It is so good! Still, like everything else, I do enjoy mixing it up occasionally and this whiskey-glazed ham is a mighty fine version too!

Sliced whiskey-glazed baked ham, pictured here with cornbread from the recipe in my cookbook, purple hull peas from the freezer, and my favorite steamed broccoli recipe. {affil link}

A one pot spaghetti dish made with ground beef, tomatoes with green chilies, taco seasoning and shredded cheese.

Cheesy One-Pot Taco Spaghetti

Although most of the time when I make spaghetti, I use my favorite semi-homemade recipe. It's easy, it's reliable, it's tasty, and The Cajun absolutely loves it. That's really what counts the most, isn't it?

Still, spaghetti is so easy to make and delicious that I also like to mix it up a bit from time to time. In the summertime when the backyard tomatoes are in abundance, you just cannot beat a homemade, fresh tomato sauce and my big batch recipe is enough for two meals - spaghetti, usually followed by a lasagna or ziti. When the garden is overflowing with fresh vegetables, there's my veggie spaghetti, and my smaller batch fresh tomato pasta sauce is fabulous for those weeknight meals.

 

  A chicken stock based soup, made with a homemade cream sauce, sauteed vegetables and fresh mushrooms.

Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup

Did you know that if you transfer mushrooms from the plastic wrapped, Styrofoam container they come in from the grocery market, to a plain brown paper bag, they will last longer? It's true, try it.

Unfortunately, they still won't last forever, and if you're like me, sometimes we buy them with the intention of making something in particular and then forget about them and end up with some mushrooms that need to be used up quick like!

Enter fresh mushroom soup.

Classic and basic tuna noodle casserole, made with a homemade cream sauce, tuna and peas and topped with kettle chips.

Old Fashioned Tuna Noodle Casserole

Canned tuna is always a good standby, anytime really, and definitely during Lent. We eat it most often in its most basic forms, straight out of the can over white bread slathered with mayonnaise, or on a melt, in tuna and egg salad, tuna mac, or even a slightly more fancy tuna pasta salad.

And then, of course, there's this classic tuna noodle casserole to stretch it out into a full out meal. Since it's just me and The Cajun, I'm making it in a smaller 2-quart size here, which amounts to about 4 full adult servings with other sides, but double it up for a 9 x 13 inch dish if you've got a bigger family to feed.

Kielbasa sausage, braised with cabbage, onions and potatoes in chicken broth.

Braised Kielbasa and Cabbage

Between Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, there are some pretty awesome smoked sausages to be found down here. Distinctly Deep South, they are unique, highly spiced and incredibly flavorful, and the sausages we use the most in our cooking.

And then there's unassuming, simple and mild, soft-textured Polish kielbasa.

Very much different than Conecuh, Savoie's, Polk's or Country Pleasin', but we love it down here just as much as anywhere else in the country. There are times you just want something simple and basic. Something that's comforting and delicious.

This cabbage dish is just that and kielbasa is perfection here.