Oh my goodness, I have waited SO LONG For the Breakfast Issue of Taste of the South Magazine to come out and IT’S FINALLY HERE!!!! I really enjoy getting to share my heart and recipes with you in my Southern Plate Suppers column in each issue of this wonderful magazine, but sometimes waiting on the issue to hit newsstands or arrive in your mailbox is pretty difficult because the excitement gets the best of me!

Today I’m sharing a recipe from my column that makes my mornings ten times easier. I love to do this for my son from time to time. It’s a handy dandy, fuss free way to cook bacon and fry potatoes at the same time – and I don’t know about you but I need more handy dandy and fuss free things in my life! I love that I don’t have to stand over a skillet to cook this dish, and both the potatoes and bacon are done at the same time. The potatoes cook up wonderfully flavorful because as the bacon cooks, it provides the oil for the potatoes to fry in.

While I’m thrilled to share the recipe for Oven-Baked Bacon and Potatoes with you today, I REALLY want you to go get a copy of the magazine (if you don’t subscribe already) so you can make my Whole Grain Pancake Mix. This stuff is so good, I practially hear angelic choirs when I serve it – or maybe that’s my kids singing my praises ~winks~. They will ask for these pancakes at any possible hope of having them. On this past New Year’s Eve, we were discussing possibly going for doughnuts as a treat when my son said “Do you think you could just make those pancakes? That would be so good right now!” My daughter and husband instantly jumped on it, adding about how we’d be sure to have a wonderful 2013 if they just got t0 eat those pancakes one more time in 2012…

So you just HAVE to get this issue. You really do, because as good as that bacon looks up there, those whole grain pancakes are it’s best friend

You may also want my recipes for quick and easy homemade syrups, including: Blueberry, Apple Spice, and Maple Chocolate, which are also in the Breakfast issue.

But for now, let me show you an easy peasy way to make some bacon and potatoes!

You’ll need: Bacon, Kosher Salt, Pepper, and 2 large baking potatoes, or 4 small-medium ones.

Chop your potatoes into large chunks.

Arrange your bacon slices on the outside of the pan and potatoes on the inside.

Sprinkle a little kosher salt and pepper on potatoes and give them a stir.

Place this in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes, stirring the potatoes every ten minutes or so and flipping the bacon.

Once done, remove to paper towel lined plate to absorb any grease, and serve!

 That’s it! Have you got your copy of the Breakfast Issue Yet? If so, what’s your favorite recipe in it so far?

Run, don’t walk, and get your copy of the Breakfast Issue of Taste Of The South Magazine, on newsstands now. Subscribers have already been enjoying this magazine for a good week and I don’t want you to miss out! I do hope you’ll try my whole grain pancake mix, the pancakes that my kids will pick over anything, anytime, all whole grain and stored in your fridge! In my column I also have recipes for three different kinds of special pancake syrups you can whip up in a jiff, and more! The Breakfast issue is available on newsstands, grocery stores, and bookstores.

“To be able to find joy in another’s joy: that is the secret of happiness.”

~George Bernanos

Submitted by Jenny. Add your quotes to our collection by clicking here.  ]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2013/03/oven-baked-bacon-and-potatoes.html/feed 70 http://www.southernplate.com/2013/02/make-ahead-breakfast-burritos.html http://www.southernplate.com/2013/02/make-ahead-breakfast-burritos.html#comments Mon, 25 Feb 2013 22:23:59 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=22282

We recently went to the beach for a three day weekend and had a wonderful time. If you’re the type of person who enjoys clean, white beaches and serenity (rather than the party atmosphere), Alabama’s beaches are the place for you!

We rented a condo on Orange Beach, rather than a hotel, so that we could have the convenience of a kitchen and really be able to just hang out rather than have to go in search of food whenever mealtime hit. One of the questions I’m asked a lot is “Do you cook when you’re on vacation?”

The answer is ABSOLUTELY! Every chance I get. Cooking while on vacation, versus going out to eat, can save an obscene amount of money. Even if the four of us were to go through a fast food drive through nowadays it can easily top $20. For a fraction of that price I can feed us a much better meal. On this last vacation we did end up going out to eat three times, which was for supper each night. One of those times was worth it, and that was to Lambert’s in Foley, Alabama. The other two times – not so much.

But I still wanted to take a break myself, so I planned meals that would let me do that, like these breakfast burritos. I make these a lot on the weekend for us to have on busy school mornings.  The very first morning at the beach, I got up before the sunrise to make these. We had enough to eat that day and leftovers were wrapped in foil and placed in the fridge. On subsequent mornings, all I had to do was turn the oven on and toss a few burritos in. My husband also wrapped a few in a paper towel and microwaved them for snacks when the mood struck

I really enjoyed getting up early, though, especially when I could go out on the balcony and watch the sunrise. On our second day there, I was talking about how amazing the sun rising over the ocean was and told my family that I was going to watch it the next morning and if any of them wanted to watch it with me, I’d wake them up to see it and then they could go back to bed. I was pretty surprised but thrilled when all three of them immediately said they’d like to do that with me. I’ve got photos of that wonderful experience at the bottom of this post so be sure you check them out, and maybe start the tradition of catching the world’s best light show with your family a few times a year!

Now how about making some burritos today and have an easy go of breakfast the rest of the week?

To start with, you’ll need: 10 – 12 large flour tortillas, 1 pound of breakfast sausage, a dozen eggs, and about a cup of cheese.

IMPORTANT INGREDIENT NOTE: You can really customize these with whatever you like. Onions, bell peppers, chicken or ground beef instead of sausage, etc. I am just showing you the basic basic version, which is what I make for my family. We then customize our own as we reheat them. 

Brown your sausage in a large skiillet over medium high heat, breaking up with a spatula as you do so, until fully cooked and no longer pink in the center.

Pour that into a bowl and set the bowl aside.

Crack a dozen eggs into a bowl and beat them up really well.

Pour into a large skillet over medium low heat and stir every so often until eggs are scrambled and no longer runny.

Once eggs are done, pour on top of sausage in the bowl and stir to combine.

Set up a work station with a large skillet to heat the tortillas in, space to fill them, cheese, and sausage and egg mixture.

Now take a warm tortilla and lay it out on a work surface – I just used the piece of foil I planned on rolling it up in.

Spoon a good bit of filling in a line down one side. By “good bit” I mean about 1/2 a cup.

Fold up the top and bottom of the tortillas, this will keep your filling from falling out when you eat it, then roll your tortilla up tightly like I did in the photos above.

Note: You don’t have to roll your tortillas this way, this is just how I do it. There is no right or wrong way to roll up a tortilla and if anyone tells you there is, find out when they became leader of the universe because I totally missed that election

After you finish making each tortilla, roll it up in foil and twist or fold the ends to seal, like this. 

Enjoy now and put the ones you don’t eat in the fridge to reheat and enjoy later!

You can reheat these in the microwave or the oven.

Instructions are included in the recipe at the bottom of this post.

After mine is heated, I like to open it and add a few spoonfuls of chunky salsa, then wrap it up again and enjoy. If there is any filling leftover after I’ve used up all of my tortillas, I just pour a little cheese and salsa over it and eat it like a breakfast bowl!

But first..here are a few highlights from our trip

This is how an eight year old girl packs for the beach. 

This is how an eight year old rejoices on the beach:)

My big boy

And now for the sunrise!

It was pretty cold when we got up so everyone is bundled.

Here they are, waiting on the show to start. 

Beautiful.

More photos from our weekend can be found on my Instagram by clicking here. If you follow me and your profile allows it, I always follow back because I wanna keep up with you, too!

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

“Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit.
Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.”
~Francis de Sales

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2013/02/make-ahead-breakfast-burritos.html/feed 81 http://www.southernplate.com/2013/01/1-minute-peanut-butter-syrup.html http://www.southernplate.com/2013/01/1-minute-peanut-butter-syrup.html#comments Thu, 24 Jan 2013 16:45:07 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=21893 If you’re on Pinterest of Facebook I’d really love it if you could use one of the buttons above. Thanks so much! Follow me on Pinterest by clicking here.

It’s National Peanut Butter Day! My family is made up of a bunch of peanut butter fanatics so when I realized what day it was I dropped what I was doing and rushed into the kitchen to mix up a batch of this delicious syrup so to show you how easy it is to make and some of the many uses for it.

This very versatile recipe has a simple formula: 1 part peanut butter to 2 parts syrup. The syrup I’m using in this post is Honey but you can also use maple syrup, karo syrup or even pancake syrup in it’s place.

Ready? Lets get started! Don’t blink because you’ll miss it if you do

 Place peanut butter and honey (or whatever syrup you’re using) in a microwave safe bowl or measuring cup. Heat for 30 seconds in your microwave, stir. Heat thirty seconds more and stir until smooth and creamy. 

You’re done! 

 This is excellent over ice cream…

But it’s also amazing over pancakes.

Be sure and try it on biscuits, waffles, french toast, regular toast, and if all else fails, just eat it with a spoon!

Leftovers can be stored in the fridge.

This is a peanut butter lover’s heaven!

Surprise your family tonight with this delicious treat!

For more peanut butter recipes, including allergy options,

be sure and click here to visit my Treasure of Peanut Butter Recipes Post! 

Give me a NEW day with sunshine OR rain and you’ve still given me a NEW day,

another opportunity in which to rejoice and be thankful.

Submitted by Kim. Click here to add your quotes to our collection!

This is all good and well when it comes to some things, don’t get me wrong. Of course we want our children to be constantly growing and becoming better people and we want that for ourselves as well, but not in order to impress or appear higher up in the eyes of others.

How many people, do you think, sit back and just breathe and experience contentment on a daily basis? How about even once a month or even once a year? It must be absolutely exhausting never being content.

Being content isn’t about wanting more, it’s about appreciating what you have.

It is one of the greatest gifts that you could ever give yourself and once you’ve given it to yourself, it’s one to guard as closely as you can. I’ll let things in my life (tv, music, magazines, advertising, etc), but when they start messing around with my contentment – it’s time to go. I can count on one hand how many television shows I watch. I have only two radio stations I’ll listen to. I’ve deleted 90% of my itunes library from my telephone because I don’t want to be walking around singing songs in my head about how hard my life is or how angry I am when I’m not.

Some people might argue that me not watching reality tv is an act of sequestering myself from the outside world. That me not listening to the billboard top whatever makes me out of touch. But I’ve seen and heard it enough to know that I’m not missing out on much but making room for more. I have contentment.

I can spend that extra time with the tv off sitting on my back porch and watching the birds hop from branch to branch as I drink my coffee and wonder if the squirrels will ever figure me out. I can keep that radio off and hear my kids ever changing voices tell me about their day at school.

I didn’t give anything up, I just traded it. For contentment.

I definitely traded up.

Today’s recipe is difficult to describe. If you love peach crisp and old fashioned baked Rice Pudding like my Mama Reed made, this is a blend of those flavors. Techincally, it is a breakfast but it is so very good and just lightly sweet enough that it could also be a dessert at the end of a soothing meal. Rather than just oatmeal, it has a custardy texture and taste to it, with a hint of brown sugar and warm peaches to keep you coming back for just one more bite.

I have been working on this post off and on for three days and every time I get back to working on it I have to stop and go make this dish again because just writing about it makes my mouth water and my stomach growl. I hope you’ll get to make it soon and eat it slowly, with contentment.

You’ll need: Milk, Old Fashioned Oats, Cinnamon, Butter or margarine, eggs, brown sugar, peaches, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla.

*You’ll notice I’m using margarine here. I choose margarine because it is so much cheaper, it is a personal choice. I’ve gotten away from buying margarine lately because whenever I post it I get nasty emails from folks for not using butter. I understand that people have personal convictions with valid roots in choosing butter over margarine. But I had gotten to the point where, when I was shopping, I’d feel a sense of dread and felt as if I had to get butter or I’d have to deal with the emails. It is good for people to have convictions but it is wrong for me or for you to be bullied into following convictions of others. So I’m with margarine here. Choose butter if you prefer but know that I’ll support you and your convictions whichever way you go P.S. I saved $2.00!

In a medium sized bowl, place melted butter, milk, vanilla, and eggs and stir up with a fork or whisk until well blended.

In a large mixing bowl place oats, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

Weird Confession: I love oats so much that I eat them raw whenever Im cooking with them.

Stir together until well combined.

Add in liquid mixture.

And stir again.

Add in peaches..

and stir again.

I bet you knew I was gonna say that, huh?

Spray an 8×8 baking dish with cooking spray or you can grease it with butter or margarine. 

Pour in your mixture.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until set and lightly browned on the top.

 I love the beams of sunlight shining through my window in this photo. 

Spoon into bowls and try to maintain your dignity when you smell this and see how moist and yummy looking it is.

 Eat it as is, because it is utterly wonderful. If you want to take it over the top though… 

Pour a little heavy cream over it or serve with vanilla ice cream.

A great idea is to eat it as is for breakfast and save any leftovers to heat up and have with cream or ice cream for dessert after supper!

“Even if something is left undone,

everyone must take time to sit still

and watch the leaves turn.”

~Elizabeth Lawrence

Submitted by Diane Smith, thanks Diane!

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2012/10/baked-peach-oatmeal-pudding.html/feed 119 http://www.southernplate.com/2012/08/anytime-any-kind-muffins-and-why-you-dont-need-lipliner-in-an-earthquake.html http://www.southernplate.com/2012/08/anytime-any-kind-muffins-and-why-you-dont-need-lipliner-in-an-earthquake.html#comments Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:53:16 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=20157 If you’re on Facebook or Pinterest and can use one of the buttons above it would be really appreciated!

Let me dive right in and tell you why these muffins are wonderful and why you need to make them TODAY.

*You mix up the batter ahead of time and you probably have most, if not all of the ingedients already.
*The batter keeps for up to a month in your fridge, provided you use fresh eggs and milk (but why would you use old eggs and milk anyway, right?) This will probably remind you of that raisin bran muffin recipe but I actually like it better, so much more versatile and you don’t have to buy that gargantuan box of Raisin Bran.
*You can make just one muffin at a time, or five dozen at a time.
*You can mix in whatever you want to make whatever type of muffin you want.
*They are moist, so so moist, tender, so so tender, and delicious.
*They freeze well once they are baked – but even the batter freezes well before it is baked.
*They’re pretty dern healthy too. Don’t go spreading that, though, because these days more than ever “healthy” is relative. Some people think the only way you can claim that is if a dish has two ingredients: Grass and water. I never did pay no mind to them. Common sense wise, this is pretty dern healthy.

Seriously, what are you waiting for? Oh yeah, you want to tell you my story about how an Alabama girl handles an earthquake in Los Angeles, right? Pfft. What was I thinking! Of course ya do. Then you can make the muffins.

Gotcha.

I’m on it. ~grins~

Get comfy.

I’m SO EXCITED for the premiere of Beat The Chefs tonight (August 23, 2012) on GSN (this is where my earthquake story starts, honest). It will directly follow the American Bible Challenge and I’m really looking forward to both shows. I had a wonderful time filming Beat The Chefs and the crew of folks I got to work with were just exceptional in every way. I can’t wait for you to see the final product! I’ll be live chatting with all of y’all during the premiere tonight on my facebook page so hop on over and “Like” us over there if you’d like to join in.

For more information on the show, click here.

Now the Earthquake story… 

This was my third time in Los Angeles. Kraft flew me out there a few years ago and then a television production company flew me out to meet with me about two years ago. I hadn’t thought I’d be back this soon but Beat The Chefs called and wanted to work with me and within two weeks I was there filming a television series. As always with new experiences, there have to be a few surprises. My surprises on this trip were learning that Jeff Foxworthy is even more awesome in person (especially when you send 200 moon pies to his set), finding out that a one hour game show can actually take 12-15 hours to film, and experiencing my very first earthquake.

Yes. Earthquake. Now y’all get this. I’m from Alabama. I live in tornado alley. I survived my first huge round of tornadoes at the age of two weeks old. I’m used to that. But the earth moving beneath you? That mess t’ain’t natural.

I’ll never forget that experience. Some said it was “just a 3.8” with a wave of their hand, as if that made it okay. As if the earth needed to stand up, play music, and do a full on Macarena for it to be noticed by the ultra cool of California.

Dear California,

I love you and all that- but y’all crazy.

I woke up at 3:19. Isn’t it wierd how we check our watches when something like this happens? As if knowing the time of our almost death is gonna somehow help us later on…Well it helps us to tell the story I suppose.

I woke up at 3:19…There was a single loud boom and it felt like someone had picked up my bed and slammed it down one time. But anytime you’re awakened from a dead sleep by having the earth decide to toss your bed in the air, once is more than enough to make a point.

My heart was instantly racing, instantly. Did I say instantly? Because, seriously. It went from dozing on the porch swing to KILL THE ATTACKING GRIZZLY in less than a blink. Adrenaline pumping, my thoughts came in surprisingly calm order – completely defying the way my heart was beating.

Holy COW An earthquake!

Then, as I waited one…two seconds for whatever was going to come next I braced myself with “This is probably gonna hurt but there’s nothing I can do about that.”

My third thought, which really happened within moments of the quake was “Not to split hairs, God, but I remember distinctly asking for no earthquakes while I was in LA.”

And then my fourth thought: “What do I do?”

At this point, maybe four seconds had passed. My Southern kicked in and I flew into full on “pull me from the rubble mode”. Which meant I had to get dressed really quickly because the last thing I wanted was to be on national television in my pajamas. I got dressed in all of thirty seconds, it’s amazing how fast you can do things when there is a real possibility of the building you’re in crumbling around you.

Then I got to thinking “Well if they pull me from the rubble, and my body gets on news cameras, no one will recognize me if I don’t have makeup…” So I grabbed my makeup bag and went and sat in the bathroom floor. Southerners are programmed that when disaster strikes, you go to the bathroom. Technically, this is supposed to be because it is one of the safest places to ride out a tornado but in reality, it’s just where we keep all the good books and magazines because that is the one place women can get a little privacy – if you lock the door…AND your kids don’t know how to pick a lock yet. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat in my bathroom floor reading in the evenings just to have some time to myself. You ever notice that women like to get those huge plush bathroom rugs for their private bathroom? Yeah, you think they’re rugs, but they’re really nap mats…

So I put on makeup really fast. Not the full face, mind you. Just base, concealer, eye shadow, eyebrow liner, eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick – I left the lipliner off since this was a rush job ~winks~

After I finished my makeup I got out of the bathroom floor and turned on the news, expecting to see a full report and live, on the scene eye witnesses.

Again, I’m used to tornadoes. Whenever there is a severe weather warning where I’m from, schools let out and workplaces shut down just so we’ll have more people stationed around the state who can call in and describe the sound a train makes.

I turned the news on, expecting to see a headline of “Woman from Alabama experiences first earthquake!” Nothing. Not even a blip. I’d later find that most of the natives slept through it about like I would an F2 or 3 ~raises an eyebrow~

After that there were no further shakes so I went and sat on the edge of the bed, my heart still racing. Where should I go? What should I do? If a bad one comes no one will come looking for me. I’m out here in Los Angeles all by myself and no one will even think about me here in this hotel in Podunk nowhere. Ok so my hotel wasn’t Podunk nowhere and I was surrounded by millions of people , but when all of those people are complete strangers, it feels like Podunk no matter how close you are to LAX.

So then I thought about driving to the studio. I’d have to be there in a few hours anyway, but I didn’t know if security would be at the gate to let me in unless someone was filming overnight there…so I may end up sitting in a parked car in a parking lot or outside the studio, and that would lead to more encounters with people knocking on my car window yelling at me to give them money – this happens often to me in LA.

After about half an hour, I decided to lay down again and turned off the bedside lamp, accepting my fate and knowing that if the big one hit I’d at least be partially identifiable, should anyone care to or even think to identify me. I mean hey, eventually my husband back in Alabama would say “I’m hungry. Kids, didn’t we used to have someone who took care of stuff like that?”

I laid down in the pitch dark and total silence and it felt eery, because that is exactly how it was right before the world decided to toss my bed up in the air one good time to see if I’d notice.

Fortunately, nothing else happened.

So I just closed my eyes and tried to convince my heart to slow down.

Then, as I laid there in the dark I got to thinking “There wasn’t anything on the news about this…” I took a deep breath as another thought occurred to me “Crud. What if it wasn’t a earthquake. What if my hotel room is haunted?”

Now, I just had to turn that one over to God right then and there. “God, you know how I said I didn’t want any earthquakes, well I meant ghosts, too so I’m just giving this one to you and I’ll get up in about twenty minutes and head on out of here.”

Just in case, I pulled the covers up to cover my face, because everyone knows  that makes you invisible.

ALRIGHT so onto muffins…..

 You’ll need: Eggs, sugar, all purpose flour, salt, cinnamon, old fashioned oats, shortening (can substitute butter), baking soda, buttermilk, and hot hot hot water.

I know I like for y’all to use what you have on hand but I’d really like you to get old fashioned oats for this because they’re just so good with them and you CAN make due but if you buy generic old fashioned oats, they don’t cost very much – so you can justify it. If you don’t feel comfortable buying generic, pretend you are reaching for name brand and then put generic in your buggy and don’t tell them that they’re not Quaker. See the secret is, ingredients can’t read! So if you don’t tell them they’re not name brand they’ll never know ~beams~

Pour your boiling water over 2 cups of the oats.

Don’t worry, these exact instructions are below in the printable recipe at the bottom of this post

Set that aside to soak a bit while you work on the rest of the recipe.

In a large dishpan or really big bowl (I love my dishpan) place all of your remaining dry ingredients.

Stir ‘em up good and then make a little well in the center kinda sorta like what you see pictured.

Crack your eggs in there…

Get you a wooden spoon or something similar and beat ‘em up a bit with it.

Add your milk….

You know that is a habit I had to work on breaking when I was cooking on television and camera for folks. Directors would always tell me I need to say  ”Break the eggs” instead of “break your eggs” and “pour the milk” instead of “pour your milk.”

Which is silly because if you’re cooking it at home along with me, I would fully expect it is your milk and your eggs…unless you borrowed them. In that case I’d say “Pour your neighbors milk….break your neighbors eggs…”

So today, I’m talking however I want to because I may not be Leslie Gore, but it’s still my party

Stir that up really good.

Stir your melted shortening into the hot oats.

Dump that oat mixture into your batter and stir again.

Cover that up and let sit at least overnight in the fridge.

When you’re ready for muffins, add mix ins…

1 cup of batter will make about 4 muffins. To every cup of batter, add about 1/2 cup of mix ins.

Some ideas are below

This is just a cereal bowl with one cup of batter in each one. Add in about 1/2 a cup of mix ins of your choice.

PIctured clockwise are: Almonds and dried cherries, chopped apple, blueberries, and chocolate chips.

Just stir those up with a spoon.

Place into a muffin tin that has been sprayed with cooking spray or muffin papers like I’m using here. Either one works just fine.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. ENJOY!

Baked muffins keep for up to three days if kept in a sealed container on the countertop, and at least a week if kept in the fridge.

Prepared batter keeps for up to one month in the refrigerator, provided you use fresh eggs.

This batter also freezes well, as do the prepared muffins!

I WANT YOUR IDEAS!

What would you add to these muffins?

Please tell me in the comments section below!

The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting

happiness from common things.

— Henry Ward Beecher

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2012/08/anytime-any-kind-muffins-and-why-you-dont-need-lipliner-in-an-earthquake.html/feed 126 http://www.southernplate.com/2012/05/from-scratch-bran-muffins.html http://www.southernplate.com/2012/05/from-scratch-bran-muffins.html#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 15:11:17 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=19155 If you’re on Facebook or Pinterest, please consider using one of the buttons above to help support Southern Plate, thank you!

I promise I’m gonna show you how to make these delicious, old fashioned, easily customizable, from scratch bran muffins in this post, but I gotta drive around the bend a bit first…

Have you ever eaten at a Picadilly restaurant? My great grandmother used to consider that one of the greatest dining treats! I have to admit, I’d much rather go to a cafeteria for lunch than an “upscale” restaurant. My tastebuds get far more excited about boiled cabbage and carved beef than a glass of wine and a …well whatever those places serve with wine.

Growing up, I’m sure there were nicer restaurants in Huntsville, but they didn’t exist in my little world. Every now and then on Sundays my grandparents would pick up Kentucky Fried chicken to go with our dinner and they’d take us out to eat at Piccadilly on very special occasions. On birthdays we’d get to go to Mullin’s Drive In, where I still find myself gravitating a few times a year for a small hamburger and an order of broasted potatoes.

Nowadays my favorite local haunt is The Blue Plate Cafe, a meat and three that is only open for breakfast and lunch. If you ever go there, ask for Selvenia, she’s a waitress who dishes up hugs along with sides of peach cobbler, and look up Jerry Sparks and tell him I sent ya – maybe he’ll send me an extra helping of tomato and cucumber salad next time I’m in! Speaking of Blue Plate, what a thrill for me to be featured in the latest issue of Alabama Magazine – which also lists Blue Plate as one of the “must try” restaurants in Huntsville! There is a big feature on me and my family (I love the photos) and another feature on my hometown and all there is to do here in the latest issue of Alabama Magazine. So if you live near the heart of Dixie, be sure and pick up a copy.

Now where was I before I went off in the ditch? Picadilly, yes!  My favorite part about eating at Picadilly is that you can usually get a bran muffin as the bread to go with your meal – and I dearly love bran muffins.

With that in mind, I’m bringing you my incredibly versatile bran muffin recipe. These can be made plain, or you can add in your favorites mix-ins. They can be made only slightly sweet for a dinner bread or muffin-sweet for a breakfast muffin or dessert.

This is just a good basic bran muffin recipe so feel free to make them exactly as I am in this tutorial or run for the hills with it!

See? If you stick with me long enough eventually you will be rewarded by me getting to my point! ~grins~

OH! If you’re looking for the recipe using Raisin Bran cereal, just click here to visit that post. I actually like these I’m about to show a little better though!

You’ll need: Wheat Bran, Vegetable Oil (or melted butter), Self Rising Flour*, Buttermilk, Vanilla, Egg, Brown Sugar, and Dried Cranberries and Walnuts – but you can use different add ins if you prefer them to the cranberries and walnuts.

*If you don’t have self rising flour, see my FAQ page on how to make your own

If you want to make your own buttermilk, here is an easy way. For each cup of milk, add 1-2 tablespoons of white vinegar or lemon juice. Stir and allow to sit for five minutes before using.

Finding Wheat Bran – Wheat Bran is the hard thing to find here. If you have a health food grocery store near you, they should have it. I seldom go to those though because they are just so stinking expensive. I understand that it’s worth it and all that…but understanding that doesn’t soften the blow to my wallet or make money magically appear. My Krogers has an organic foods section and I can usually find it there, but I always have to look pretty good in order to find it.

Place your wheat bran and buttermilk in a bowl. 

Stir well. It will look kind of like sawdust paste

Add in egg, oil (or melted butter), brown sugar, and vanilla and stir well once more.

Add all remaining ingredients.

Note: I’m using chopped walnuts and dried cranberries but you can use whatever you like.

Get started customizing by adding 1/2 to 1 cup of any of the following or a combination of the following:

• chopped nuts of your choice (pecans, walnuts, peanuts, etc)
• Dried Cranberries, raisins, dried blueberries, chopped dried peaches, chopped dried apples, etc
• finely chopped fresh apple
• fresh grated carrots
• Seriously, pretty much anything you’ve got a hankering for!

Stir until it’s well combined.

You’re not supposed to eat it at this point because it has raw eggs in it. I would never do such a harrowing thing as tasting raw batter. No sirreee…not me.

~licks the spoon~

Oh, by the way this is a Pyrex bowl in a pattern called “New Dot”.

Spoon out into 12 muffin cups.

You can either line them with muffin papers or just spray your muffin tin with cooking spray.

I have done both but I usually put these in muffin papers because I like to freeze them and it just makes it a little easier.

I have a “stunt muffin pan” that I usually use for photos but it was way back in the cabinet and this one hopped out first so I guess it was feeling neglected. I had Mama look over this post before I sent it out and she called to say “The post looks good, but I can’t believe you used that ugly old muffin pan…” I’m just keeping it real. Oh the tangent I could go off on about folks talking ugly and hiding behind the phrase “keeping it real”….but I’ll spare you that one today.:)

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned on the top.

Allow to cool for a few minutes in muffin pan and then remove to cool completely on a towel lined counter or platter. Can serve warm, of course!

To freeze: Cool completely. Place in zipper seal gallon sized bags and freeze. Thaw by wrapping in paper towel and heating in the microwave until heated through, about 45 seconds or so.

What do you like in your bran muffins?

I’m giving away a complete Dollywood Vacation including tickets to the park, tickets to the Dixie Stampede Dinner Show, Tickets to Splash Country, AND A Cabin! Click here for details. Contest closes Tuesday, May 15th at midnight!

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

Aesop, The Lion and the Mouse

Submitted by Brenda. Click here to add your quote to our ever growing collection or to read more!

Martha White has graciously given me permission to share with you some of my favorite recipes from the competition. So I’ll be doing that the rest of the week and then sending out an exclusive recipe in my email newsletter on Friday. If you don’t subscribe by email and would like to, just click here.

When I tasted today’s recipe, it was so good my eyes rolled back in my head.

This sounded like an odd combination to me at first, but this amazing cornbread dish ended up being another one of my dear favorites in the cornbread cook off. Think of it as a country danish, with a heavenly combination of peaches, cream cheese, and maple sausage. I had to stop myself from asking for seconds!

The flavors blended perfectly and it’s one of those dishes that will impress and surprise your guests, I’ve never had anything like it but I’ll sure be having it from now on! If you have a brunch coming up, here is your showstopper dish.

Cristy K from Scott Depot, WV

Check out yesterday’s recipe, Cornbread Stuffed Pepper Rings, another delicious favorite of mine from the Cornbread Festival!

“The best part of life is not just surviving,

but thriving with passion and compassion

and humor and style and generosity and kindness.”

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Sometimes you happen upon perfect combinations that just call out to the Southern tastebuds. Watermelon and Salt, Bacon and biscuits, Tea and sugar

Today I couldn’t resist sharing my new favorite combination. I’ve been eating this at least once a day for about a month now, especially when I was working on my book. And as soon as I’m done writing this, I’m going to fix myself another one because it is just that good. Sometimes this is breakfast, sometimes it’s lunch, sometimes it’s an afternoon snack. It’s always good though and if you are even remotely a yogurt or molasses person, you’ve got to try this.

If you’re not currently a yogurt person but love molasses (or honey), this may change your outlook!

Meet Greek Yogurt.

Not just any yogurt, greek yogurt is thicker and has more protein than regular yogurt. I don’t know a soul at Dannon and I’m not being paid or anything to blog about this particular brand (but hey, if anyone decides they want to pay me, my kids grow out of their clothes pretty fast…) but this is my favorite one to get. I get the individual cups most of the time because I can grab it and go if need be.

It is important to get plain. Not vanilla, but plain. That way we don’t have all of the added sugar and we can add our own. And believe me, some yogurt out there really racks up the sugar grams!

These little cups cost about a dollar each and I buy five or six a week to keep in the fridge.

You can also use this in place of sour cream in recipes if you like.

To make it like I do, add in one or two packages of Splenda.

I usually just add one but when I’m not feeling as sweet as I should be, an extra packet might help

You know you can use sugar if you want to, of course, but I’m saving my sweet calories for the grand finale!

Oh, and by the way, this little cup has 15 grams of protein and 0 fat.

and now it has two packets of splenda.. ~grins~

Stir that up really good.

Drizzle top with about one tablespoon of molasses.

OH how I love molasses. Deep, dark, sweet and bitter molasses.

Doesn’t that look good? Like a molasses sundae

If you don’t love molasses, this is also divine with a good drizzling of honey.

You CAN buy greek yogurt with honey on the bottom but that is just a big old mess. The honey is watered down and weak so just get plain (not vanilla) and make it yourself for the real deal.

Me. Happy.

Do you have  favorite quick fix snack right now?

Tell me about it in the comments below!

“Good Mom’s have sticky floors, dirty ovens, and happy kids.”

~Submitted by Jayme.

I’m going to be bringing you a recipe that isn’t a sweet soon, but I wanted to have this delicious recipe to you before Valentine’s day in case you’d like to make it for your sweetie’s breakfast. Assemble everything the night before and then just pop it in the oven in the morning and breakfast is served!

Before I go into the recipe you know I have to chat though! Yesterday evening while I was making supper I got a phone call from my friend, Tim (or Teeeyuhm as is the proper Slabama pronunciation). Tim and I have known each other for several years and lately we’ve been working on our first project together, a Southern lifestyle radio show that we’ll be distributing through several channels (including the internet, so anyone reading this will be able to download it and listen free).
I’ve spoke about it briefly on the Front Porch and got some great input from y’all there! We filmed our first few shows two weeks ago but then never put them out there once we got them produced because – dun Dun DUN!

Some friends of ours who are Dj’s listened to them and liked us (there’s just no accounting for taste these days ya know) and invited us to come record our show live in their studio. Out of this we’ve also managed to get advertisers and a producer, which is pretty dern cool for not having a single show air yet!  So that is where I’ll be this Saturday morning, recording and likely feeding people in a radio studio. This time around you should hear the final product hopefully within a week.
Oh wait, I had a point…

So Tim was acting as a go between to set up a time that we would be there to record. I asked him if we could do it in the morning since that is a special day for me and I wanted to spend the bigger part of it with the kids.

He said “Oh sure, the morning works best for me, too. So you wanna meet say around ten?”

I laughed at him. You know, because I’m just that kind of friend.

“Tim, 10 o clock is not morning. 10 o clock is practically lunchtime”

Tim spoke in his defense that he wakes up at 6:00 AM each morning but he can’t be creative until at least ten. After I explained to him that my grandmother refers to his getting up at 6:00 AM as “just a laying up in the bed until six” I finally managed to talk him down to 9:00. Now my goal is to eventually shame him into 8:00 a.m. ~giggle~

Yeah, I’m definitely a morning person. I have a multitude of reasons for this BUT
It’s not that I’m better than anyone else, therefore I rise in the morning…AND
It’s not that I don’t like sleep (sleep and I have a very committed relationship)…AND
It’s not that I want to one up everyone else with my wakeup time or that I really and truly have to start work at 4:00 AM.

The truth of the matter is I’m a major construction project so I’ve got to get to work early. No, I don’t mean makeup and hair, although that takes a good bit of work as well.  I mean Me, as a person, myself, I’m under some serious construction. In order to be a better person, to live up to whatever meager potential that has been placed within me – I’ve got some serious work to do so I gotta get going on it early.

Being a positive person? That takes work. Making sure I have a filter in place so I don’t say everything I want to say? That takes some serious work (and sometimes i have to sit on my hands so they won’t type!). Having my head in the right place so I don’t even think ugly things to begin with? Better make sure we have a full crew present on site each day by 5:00 am at the latest. 

Loving others? Okay, that comes easy. It’s so very easy to love other people and I’ll admit that part comes naturally for me. But being the kind of person I was meant to be? Disciplining myself on a day to day basis to fill the shoes that were placed before me?  – that takes some work. So I gotta start early.
Coffee anyone?

11111

You’ll need: Eggs, Strawberry Preserves*, Cream Cheese, Vanilla (not the gallon I have pictured here, just a little bit will do), Milk, and a loaf of French Bread.

*If you aren’t crazy about strawberry preserves just get your favorite, but this sho nuff is some good stuff with the strawberry in there!

Make sure your cream cheese is good and soft and place it in a mixing bowl with about 3 Tablespoons of preserves.

Mix that up with your electric mixer until good and blended.

Like this.

Now take your loaf of bread and cut some big old honking slices out of it.

We want our slices to be anywhere from an inch and a half to two inches thick.

Using a knife, cut a little pocket into each one, making sure you don’t cut all the way through to the bottom or all the way through to the sides. We just want a little pocket in the very center that we can stuff our cream cheese mixture into.

Oh, by the way, you can totally use fat fee or low fat cream cheese or that other thing folks use in place of cream cheese called neufetchel or something like that.

You can also use sugar free preserves if you want. It’s a free country

Here are our slices all stuffed and ready to go.

Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.

This is a deeper than normal baking dish but you can use a regular one if you like, it will be just fine.

Place them all on their sides in the baking dish.

Mix your other ingredients really well.

I just use a fork to do this with..

Slowly pour liquid over bread slices. I pour a little over the top of each one until I run out.

Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

Sometimes I make this as a special treat as part of our supper and then I just assemble in the morning and let sit in the fridge, covered, all day.

When ready to bake, remove cover and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, or until golden.

At this point my assistant food stylist had set the plate out and arranged some strawberries for me and said “Here, get a picture of me so they know I helped”

Here she is, in her rhinestone tiara. We had just got back from going out shopping together and she wore the tiara the entire time.

I asked her, before leaving, if she thought she should take it off or wear it and she said “Oh Mama, it’s just the same thing as a headband, only sparklier!”.

I’ll be danged if that isn’t a smart kid!

And here is the lovely final photograph she helped arrange!

To prepare your strawberry syrup, simply take some strawberry preserves and place them in a microwave safe cup or small pitcher and follow the instructions in the recipe below. This makes a delicious and super easy syrup!

MAKE THIS SUGAR FREE – simply by using sugar free preserves! 

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

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I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed reading your comments in the post my mother wrote yesterday.

I dearly love any time I get to hear from you but I especially enjoy the comments here on Southern Plate because I get to save them here and I have a much better chance of getting to write back to you.

Are you a construction project, too? Do you think you’re going to make this french toast soon? What is the best part of each morning for you? I’d love for you to answer any of these questions or just drop a “Hidy” in the comments below!

~~~~~~~~~~~

For more Valentine’s Recipes, be sure and check out:

• My Sweet Valentine’s  (cookies that are the actual Valentine!)
• Valentine’s Cupcake Toppers (video) - This has my kids in it and wow, they’ve grown so much since then!
• Mama’s Milk Dunkin’ M&M Cookies for Valentine’s Day - A childhood favorite, use those Christmas M&M’s!
• Cinnamon Love Knots (using frozen bread dough!)

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~The Wolf Within~

An old Grandfather, whose grandson came to him with anger at a schoolmate who had done him an injustice, said, “Let me tell you a story. I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do. But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times.”

He continued, “It is as if there are two wolves inside me; one is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way.”

“But the other wolf, ah! He is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit.”

The boy looked intently into his Grandfather’s eyes and asked, “Which one wins, Grandfather?”

The Grandfather solemnly said, “The one I feed.”

A Native American tale told many times around the Sacred Fire.
Author Unknown

This delicious recipe is at the bottom of the post. Hope you get to try it soon!

Be sure and share your special Cast Iron memories in the comments below!

(more details at bottom of post)

Today I’m thrilled to bring you a guest post from the good folks at Martha White, along with a fun announcement! The National Cornbread Festival is coming up! The cornbread festival is held each year in the neat little town of South Pittsburg, Tennessee, and this year Martha White has asked me to be a judge. So I get to participate in the festival AND taste all of the yummy entries, to boot! The festival is a weekend long family event with all sorts of fun activities taking place, including tours of the Lodge Cast Iron Factory. Click the Cornbread Festival logo at the bottom of this post to visit the official homepage and learn more.

I’m really looking forward to meeting more of the Southern Plate Family! We have a page over on Facebook where folks can RSVP that they are coming so if you plan on coming out for the fun this year so click here to head on over there and let me know so I can look forward to seeing your face and keep you posted on times and location of the Southern Plate Family meet and greet.

I’m also hoping some of you will enter the competition. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if a member of the Southern Plate family won it? I happen to know that y’all are a group of extremely talented cooks – who cook for the love of family and friends – and I can’t imagine a dish tasting better than one made by one of you. For the official rules of the competition, click here. To go ahead and enter, click here.

This Monte Cristo Skillet was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2006 National Cornbread Festival. It caught my eye because I recently had my very first Monte Cristo Sandwich and absolutely loved it. Southern Living sent me to Charleston to do some presentations for the Taste of Charleston Festival. Have you ever been to Charleston? Oh my goodness gracious, is that a beautiful town! With every sight and sound I became more determined to bring my family back there someday so I could experience it with them (It is hard to enjoy a trip without the folks you want to share it with beside you).

As I’ve started traveling from time to time I’ve taken a queue from my adventurous counterparts at SL and started making it a point to try something new in each place if possible. In Charleston, I had my first Monte Cristo Sandwich and it was right up my alley. I ate it in the cafe of a beautiful hotel right downtown. The flavors were a unique combination for me: Ham, cheese, battered and toasted bread drizzled with a sweet fruit preserves and sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar. It was part lunch, part breakfast, part sandwich, part dessert, and all the way good!

So when Martha White offered to guest post I got to nosing around for what recipe I thought would appeal the most to everyone and as soon as this skillet came before my eyes, my heart just settled on it.

This recipe is quick to throw together and feeds six people. I like strawberry preserves with mine but feel free to use whichever you like best. I also omit the turkey and use additional ham in it’s place. Lunchmeat ham works just fine!

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Love Your Cast Iron?

Be sure and pick up this month’s special Cast Iron issue of Taste Of The South. It is filled to the BRIM with delicious recipes for your cast iron skillet, gorgeous food photography,

and those sweet people even put my name on the cover!

I don’t know who is more tickled, me or my mother!

In this issue of Taste of the South, Paula Deen, Myself, Lucy Buffett,

and many others share some of their special Cast Iron cookware memories.

These skillets, pots, and pans aren’t just cookware for us, they’re part of our heritage.

I’d love to hear if you have any heirloom cast iron memories in the comments below!