A simple soup, made from tiny butter beans, lightly seasoned with onion and celery, thickened with a puree and finished with a sprinkle of sliced green onions. Easy and delicious!

Butter Bean Soup

Among the varieties of southern beans and peas, butter beans are right at the top. In addition to their creamy buttery texture and taste, they are a powerhouse source of low fat, high protein fiber, rich in iron and B vitamins too.

They're certainly popular in the south and a lot of folks start planting them in the early spring for a plentiful summer crop. I hope that you put some up in the freezer, because this soup is fantastic! No worries if you didn't though, because they're widely available year round in both dried and frozen forms too.

A bone-in turkey breast, oven-braised in chicken stock with aromatics, in a covered pot and pictured here with a baked sweet potato and my Super Creamy Macaroni and Cheese.

Braised Turkey Breast

It's rare that I will cook a turkey or chicken without brining it first. Although I use an in oven thermometer {affil link} these days, there has been many a time that I thought I had that timing down perfect, only to result in an overcooked, tasteless and dry bird. It's not hard to do given how poultry is bred today. Those thermometers are a godsend, especially with roasting any meat.

A brine gives a little extra insurance against that, whether you're using a thermometer or not, as well as infusing some salty goodness into the meat. That said, since this turkey breast was going to be cooked with a braising method, I decided to give it a try without either. The braising process does wonders to meat and I was delighted with the result!

Heaven on a Cracker or a Chip - Bacon Cream Cheese Dip

A super easy dip, made with cream cheese, Monterey Jack cheese and mayonnaise with green onions, finished with a bacon and Ritz cracker topping and warmed in the microwave. Simple and divine!

Heaven on a Cracker - Bacon Cream Cheese Dip

New Year's Day food is just about played out in the house. I made both my black-eyed peas and the cabbage with sausage and tomatoes, plus the rice of course, in my Instant Pot! Well, Instant Pots because I had three of them going!

Yesterday though, The Cajun and I were enjoying the opening of NFL playoffs (quite exciting they were), so I thought I would make a dip I've been wanting to try forever and kept forgetting about. It's a variation of a recipe from one of the Sweet Potato Queen's books {affil link}, that she calls Heaven on a Cracker, and it is rich and delicious.