Pumpkin Crunch Dessert with Frosting

A cross between gooey butter cake, dump cake and pumpkin pie, this dessert is a fall favorite and perfect for the holidays or to carry to a church supper, family gathering or potluck.

Pumpkin Crunch Dessert

Apple and pumpkin recipes are definitely fall favorites, though I lean more toward the apple recipes than the pumpkin. Unless we're talking about pumpkin pie, of course, or... this Pumpkin Crunch!

This recipe has been a personal favorite for way too many years than I care to admit! Though you'll find variations around the internet today, and in older church and community cookbooks, this is the one that I love dating back to sometime in the 70s.

Brown Sugar Orange Glazed Ham

A simple clove-studded baked ham, made with orange marmalade, spicy mustard and brown sugar, easy but full of flavor!

Monte's Brown Sugar Orange Glazed Ham

You may not have heard of Monte's Ham. It's been around awhile, dating back to 1995, when Monte Mathews developed it for, and it subsequently became, one of Saveur magazine's most popular recipes, earning the author a bit of fame back then.

I haven't seen much talk of it as Monte's ham these days, though to be honest, I'm thinking the origins just got lost in the shuffle, as the popularity of a ham glazed with some form of orange became more commonplace. I'm pretty sure that Mr. Monte drove that trend though.

A shortcut sweet potato casserole with the unusual addition of banana and finished with rows of marshmallows and brown sugar sweetened cornflake cereal crumbs.

Sweet Potato Banana Crunch

I am all for being about tradition when it comes to holiday meals. Keep the dishes that you know and love on the menu, because everyone will be expecting them, every, single year!

My Mama's holiday table was the same every year, with very little variation between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I miss those times so much, and while we now share our holidays with my son, our daughter-in-law and grandkids, I still find myself missing my Mama tremendously this time of year.

A classic Deep South dressing, made with torn French bread, vegetables and fresh Gulf oysters with their liquor.

Classic Oyster Dressing

Growing up, Mama always made two dressings. One, she made with bread, most often using the Pepperidge Farms herb stuffing mix and it went right into the bird, with leftovers to be baked in a side dish. I always ate the one from the turkey and despite modern day warnings, I somehow survived. It really was the best!

The other dressing she made was an oyster dressing for my Daddy. Daddy was the oyster lover in our family and other than me, none of the rest of the family were all that interested in it to my recollection.

A vegetable casserole, made with whole and creamed corn and a mixture of vegetables in a custard-style milk and egg sauce.

Scalloped Corn Casserole

Just like corn casseroles, there are a lot of variations on scalloped corn. Some automatically add cheese, some eggs. Others don't. I can't tell you which is more "authentic" than the other, so let's just say that this one is likely more of a Deep South version and a happy medium!

Not quite a standard corn casserole, creamed corn, corn pudding, or a corn spoonbread, but I guess that it falls somewhere in between all of those.

A mix of tender frozen and creamy corn, baked in a savory egg custard.

Corn Pudding

Corn Pudding suffers a similar identity crisis as corn casserole. What defines it is most often what you grew up with and nobody makes any of it the same way.

What some folks call corn spoon bread, others call corn casserole... and vice versa.

What some call corn casserole, yet others call corn pudding... and vice versa.

Sweetened pear halves, stuffed with a cream cheese and whipped cream filling, garnished with a light sprinkling of mild cheddar cheese, and if you're feeling fancy, finished off with a maraschino cherry.

Pear Salad

This is not so much a recipe, as it is a nostalgic reminder of this delicious holiday side from the past. It's so old school, that some of you my age and older may even remember seeing this at school.

Hardly anybody really thinks about pear salad much anymore, and I'd venture a guess that very few of the younger generation even know anything about it and likely wouldn't be all that receptive to it either.

A super easy, cheesy and creamy, delicious slow cooker corn side dish, perfect for any gathering, church social, reunion or holiday.

Slow Cooker Cheesy Creamy Corn

It's been three years since Charlotte, one of our Facebook family members mentioned a corn dish similar to this, and I've missed at least three cycles of major holidays getting it posted, failing to remember to get that final shot of what it looks like on a plate! Eh, what can I say? These days, sometimes, it takes me awhile to do things.

Well, although those major holidays have once again passed, because peak summer corn is still a bit away from us and since I made this for Easter, I'm posting it now. Besides those big holidays, it's an equally great side dish for those backyard family barbecues, church socials, family reunions and potlucks you'll be attending anyway, and, it's so easy to both make and transport too!

 

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.

Merry Christmas from Deep South Dish

Thank you for making Deep South Dish one of your sources for Southern recipes and for being a part of the family here. Your kind comments, endless encouragement and continuing support is what keeps me doing this.

Merry Christmas from The Cajun and me as we look forward to a healthy and prosperous New Year for all of us in 2014. God bless.

.

Old Fashioned Holiday Fruit Salad with Custard Sauce

Old Fashioned Holiday Fruit Salad with Custard Sauce - a mixed fruit salad, made with canned fruit cocktail, mandarin oranges, grapes, maraschino cherries and fresh apples and finished with an egg custard and fruit juice based dressing - a long-time favorite on many Southern holiday tables.

Holiday Fruit Salad

Fruit salads are popular for holiday meals and there must be thousands of variations, from congealed, to mixed fruit, to frozen. This classic version made from an assortment of fresh and canned fruits and dressed with an egg custard that substitutes juices for the traditional cream sauce, dates back many years and has been a holiday favorite in my family for years.

Creamed Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts, steamed first, then sauteed in butter and cream, and finished with a bit of salt, pepper and Parmesan.

How to Cook Brussels Sprouts

I have been trying to learn to love brussels sprouts all my life, and more so since I started blogging about food. I've tried them a multitude of ways, and quite a few different versions here lately - a simple saute, oven braised, roasted and now creamed.

Baby carrots made with a traditional butter and brown sugar glaze.

Brown Sugar Butter Glazed Carrots

Honestly, what would a holiday be without some kind of glazed carrot on the table? One of my favorites is Julia Child's savory glazed version, slow stewed in beef stock and butter, but the orange juice and cane or maple syrup glazed is another great version too. This is probably the more classic holiday glazed, candied carrot, made with a traditional brown sugar and butter glaze.

Easy spiced peaches, made from canned peach halves and a spiced vinegar and brown sugar syrup - a perfect holiday side.

Spiced Peaches

Lots of folks still put up peach preserves and butters and jarred slices and peach halves in the summer, and many of them are sure to include a few jars of them spiced.

They really are delicious.

Did you know that you can get that same tasty flavor for a practical holiday side dish, with no canning and just a few basic, pantry items? These really are so simple to put together and just the perfect accent to the holiday meal.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a beautiful Christmas Day,

filled with lots of food,

the love of family,

and the making of many memories

for years to come.

Thank you for being a part

of the Deep South Dish family.

I treasure you all. 

Merry Christmas!

.

Fresh green beans, blanched then seasoned with onion, garlic and herbs, and tossed with bacon and pecans and a browned butter pan sauce.

Browned Butter Green Beans with Bacon and Pecans

When I'm putting a meal on my table, Mrs. George's voice still rings in my conscience when it comes to menu planning.

She was my Occupational Home Economics teacher at Biloxi High School and I truly loved her.

The term "Occupational Home Ec" probably sounds odd, but it was the way that the Future Homemakers of America were addressing the fact that women had transitioned from being full time homemakers to working women - who happened to still run the home too.

 

Divinity, made a little easier by using marshmallow creme.

Never Fail Divinity

First things first. {pulls out hissy fit soapbox} Calling a recipe "no fail," or "never fail" is bound to be risky because without fail, somebody is gonna come along who doesn't follow the directions and yet, will blame the recipe, or even me, for their failure.

The truth is, this never fail version of divinity has been around at least as long as, or maybe even longer, than me, and it truly is no fail - if you follow directions. Thousands of folks have been making it successfully for many years, but like any divinity, shortcut or not, you must beat the hot sugar.

An old-fashioned yeast roll, baked in a round cake pan, for pull apart rolls.

Old Fashioned Pull Apart Pan Rolls

A lot of folks get scared off by the homemade yeast rolls, and there are two things that typically do it. Overly dense rolls, resulting from improper measuring and using too much flour by scooping into the flour rather than spooning from it - and the process of having to shape them.

This roll takes a little bit of that away since the rolls are just formed into balls and tucked into a cake pan, or if you prefer an oblong baking dish, slightly smaller than a 9 x 13-inch pan. You don't even have to be all that precise with that to be honest, but I've included a tip in the Cook's Notes of the recipe that might be helpful to get a more rounded top on your rolls.

 

One of the easiest candies to make, this Tiger Butter Bark is made using almond bark candy coating mixed with peanut butter, topped with chopped peanuts and melted semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Tiger Butter Bark

Even if you think you can't make candy, bark candy is probably one of the easiest and most versatile candies there is. It's always a nice addition to a holiday sweets tray but even better received as a gift. Add in some of those sugared nuts with your gift bag and you've got a great sweet and salty combo!

The basic recipe for Tiger Butter is simply a thin layer of melted white chocolate or the lesser expensive vanilla almond bark, mixed with peanut butter and poured into a jelly roll pan, over which melted semi-sweet chocolate chips are poured and then swirled into the almond bark layer.

Anything and Everything Salad - a mixture of lettuces and various toppings, here topped with broccoli, bacon, mandarin oranges, dried cranberries, dressed with a sweet and sour dressing and topped with a buttery almond, pecan and ramen noodle crunch.

Everything Salad

I love this salad. It's sort of a hybrid of Ramen Noodle Salad, Mandarin Orange Salad and Broccoli Salad with a few extras thrown in.