A fresh tomato pasta sauce, made with garden vegetables - peppers, squash, zucchini, corn, eggplant, okra, beans - whatever you have! For a protein boost, add leftover roasted chicken, seasoned and sauteed shrimp, cooked ground beef, sausage, or other meats.

Garden Fresh Vegetable Spaghetti

I have been up to my ears in garden fresh tomatoes the past few weeks... not that it's a bad thing, don't get me wrong! It's just that as fast as I process some into sauce, I'm plucking a near equal amount off of the plants.

The last picking right before the tropical storm and steady coming!

Snickerdoodles, a light, pillowy-soft and chewy sugar cookie, finished with a roll in cinnamon before baking, are a long held favorite.

Classic Snickerdoodles

Most of y'all who have followed this blog for awhile, know that I am not super huge on sweets and I am certainly not much of a baker. I do love to make all kinds of bread (because I am a bread addict), and I especially enjoy the quick and easy, sweet batter breads, because they aren't overly sweet like layer cakes tend to be. I do love a simple old school coffee cake, but overall, I'm one of those people who scrapes off the icing from most layer cakes. Yep. Blasphemous, I know.

The South's Best Butts Cookbook Review

The unofficial opening of summer BBQ season is on the books now, and it's the perfect time for the launch of this new cookbook by Matt Moore.

You may know him from his music, or you may remember him from my review of his previous cookbook, A Southern Gentleman's Kitchen. Now Matt has moved on to the next project, The South's Best Butts: Pitmaster Secrets for Southern Barbecue Perfection, offering up one of his favorite indulgences.

A garlic butter bread with Parmesan cheese, reminiscent of Sizzler Steakhouse Cheese Toast, toasted on one side in a skillet, or on a griddle or flat top!

Skillet Parmesan Cheese Toast

I have a favorite garlic bread butter blend that I have been using for years. It's an awesome blend for garlic bread that not only goes with many meals, but I also use some form of it for other things, like my over the top cheesy bread, my French bread pizza with a twist, and an oven toasted garlic bread that adds a sprinkle of Parmesan to the mix, and what this is patterned after.

I love them all, though my biggest problem with any of them I guess, is that I am a complete and total bread addict. I. Love. Bread. And, I can easily overeat it.

My take on the popular Crockpot Angel Chicken that's going around the internet, made with Italian dressing mix and cream cheese, except using pork chops, a homemade cream sauce, and cooked on the stovetop.

Creamy Angel Pork Chop Skillet

Although it's been around for years, I'm guessing that you've likely seen this recipe around the net a lot here lately using boneless, skinless chicken breasts and cream soups in the slow cooker. What is it they say? All things old become new again? Kinda like the rage here lately with the Instant Pot {affil link}. It's a basic, multi-function electronic pressure cooker pot that's actually been around awhile now, but for some reason, this one brand has picked up a big cult following here lately.

I'm not the biggest fan of boneless, skinless chicken breasts to begin with, and I prefer using my slow cooker more for longer braising types of things like bone-in thighs, whole chickens, beef roasts and even sauces, rather than things that I can whip up on top of the stove in 30 minutes or less. I also didn't have chicken breast, but I did have some assorted pork chops, so I went with those because it sounded good.

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!

Bone-in, skin-on, chicken thighs and legs, or a whole chicken, cut up, seasoned and baked with cream soup and rice for a flavorful, tender baked chicken.

Old School Baked Chicken and Rice

With the usual errands and chores of life, it can sure make for busy days and I'm happy to turn to the old school dishes like this chicken and rice when days are super active. It's simple - throw it all together and throw it in the oven. This truly is old school y'all, as it's been around as long as I have, but it's delicious too!

Sometimes called "no-peek" chicken, I like to uncover it toward the end of cooking to brown the top of the otherwise pale chicken.

A quick skillet meal, made from andouille sausage, broccoli, leftover, cooked veggies, bow tie pasta, and a touch of sour cream added at the end for creaminess.

Creamy Andouille and Pasta Skillet

Don't you just love a good, quick skillet meal? This one I especially love because it's so versatile. In this instance, I just used some good andouille sausage, making it super easy because it's something that I always have on hand, and smoked sausage thaws pretty quick, making it an easy last minute meal. It's delicious with both chicken breast and shrimp also.

A cabbage and rice dish, commonly called dressing here in the Deep South, made with the trinity sauteed in bacon drippings, stewed down with cabbage, browned ground beef or sausage, cooked rice, and cream soup, baked, and finished with a buttered bread crumb topping. Pictured here with my collard greens and squash salad.

Cabbage Rice Dressing

Okay all you kindred cabbage lovers - if you've been around here any length of time, y'all know how much I love the stuff... though to be honest, 99.9% of the time when I pick up a new head of cabbage, thinking I'll bring something different to the blog, good intentions fall the wayside and I end up making fried cabbage. What can I say? It's an easy dish, and it really is my number one favorite.

Chargrilled Oysters on the Half Shell

Freshly shucked Gulf oysters, grilled in the shell, with a lemon and garlic butter sauce, and served on an ice or rock salt covered platter with cocktail sauce, horseradish, lemon wedges and hot sauce and French bread on the side.

Chargrilled Oysters

Oysters are so common along the Gulf Coast, most folks who grew up here, eat them in some form. Most of us buy them already shucked, by the pint, quart or gallon, from our favorite seafood or grocery market. Many others, like my father in law, and like my daddy did, buy them by the sack and shuck them fresh. Sweet and salty, fresh from the Gulf - those are the absolute best oysters you will ever put in your mouth, y'all!