Jyl’s Favorite

Lemon Meringue Pie With Cookie Crumb Crust

Some people in this world take care of others. Chances are, you’re one of those people. The ones who step up to the plate when things need doing. When your Mother gets sick, when someone gets hurt and needs help around the house, when folks fall on hard times and need just a little help getting by. There is always someone who, despite their overly crowded schedule and already tight finances, can manage to fit in just a little more to help someone else or tighten their own budget just a little extra in order to fit in a way to help others.

My friend Jyl is one of those people. She takes care of others. She’s always been like that and I know she’ll still be the same way fifty years from now. Last year around this time she stepped up to the plate when there was a medical scare in her family. Jyl took care of things and people as needed and was grateful to be able to do it.

In the midst of that, when her birthday was forgotten in the shuffle, she didn’t complain. In fact, I doubt folks who forgot her birthday last year realize to this day that they did. But knowing that you’re probably one of those people just like Jyl, I thought you might like to join me in wishing her an even Happier Birthday today.

In honor of her birthday I wanted to showcase Jyl’s favorite dessert, Lemon Meringue Pie, along with a few other lemon favorites on Southern Plate. I’d love it if you’d join me in wishing Jyl a Happy Birthday, by clicking here to visit her blog and leave a comment. I know it will mean the world to her.

You can also make her favorite lemon pie or any of the lemon recipes listed here. I’m sure Jyl would approve!

Lemon Blossoms

Like little bits of sunshine!

Lemon Bars

Old Fashioned Favorite in a butter crust

Lemon Chess Pie

I first had this as a girl and have loved it all my life.

Be sure and click here to wish Jyl a Happy Birthday! Thank you!

~~~~~~~~~~~

I would rather be Small and Shine, than be Great and cast a Shadow

Submitted by Patricia. Submit your quote by clicking here.

Below you’ll find a collection of quick and easy recipes to enjoy on your game day. Visit each one to find a full photo tutorial on how to make it as well as a print friendly button in each post to print them out and take them with you. You’ll also find some quick tips from me as well!

Have a GOOD GAME!

1. My number one tip anytime you entertain is this: Cook as much as you can ahead of time. Everyone wants to enjoy the big game so planning ahead can keep you out of the kitchen and with your guests.

This photo is from last fall but it works! Notice the junk on top of the refrigerator, just keepin' it real for y'all ~winks~

2. Slow Cookers are your best friend! Slow cooking makes tender and juicy meat, perfect for sandwiches and BBQ plates. Many new models are easily portable, too!

Try this: Slow Cooker Pulled Pork BBQ (Click for recipe)

Click here to browse through Side Dish recipes on Southern Plate.

3. When it comes to desserts, think “grab and go”. Cookies, bar cookies, pound cakes, and brownies are great desserts to have on hand. They are sturdy, travel well, and easy to walk around with at tailgating events.

Try these: Peanut Butter Brownies with Peanut Butter Fudge Icing (Click for recipe)

4. Don’t forget the iced tea! No matter the season, Sweet tea is always the beverage of choice in the South. Here is my recipe for perfect sweet tea every time! To view a video of how to make it , click here.

Sweet Tea

• 5 regular size tea bags (orange pekoe is what we generally use)
• 3/4 cup sugar

Makes 2 quarts

Place tea bags in sauce pot fill about three inches and bring just to a boil, then remove from heat.

Fill pitcher 1/2 of the way with cool water and add sugar. Stir. Add hot tea, stir. Add more water, if necessary, to make two quarts. Serve over ice.
*It is important to add the cold water first and then the sugar before adding in the hot tea to prevent the sugar from being scorched and having a bitter flavor.

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

5. Enjoy your day! I’d love to hear about your favorite games and teams in the comments below. I’m team neutral myself so let me know your team and I’ll root for all of them!

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it

is like wrapping a present and not giving it.

— William Arthur Ward. Submitted by Jennifer. Got a great quote to add? We’d love to have it! Please click here to go to our quote submission page.

More great tips and exclusive recipes for family meals and entertaining are in my new cookbook! It will be on store shelves October 5th, pre order now!

This is a staple at barbecues, family gatherings, and reunions. During our Southern Summers, we love the juicy and refreshing experience of eating this salad! Although I had seen it plenty as a child, the first time I actually tasted fire and ice salad was when I was pregnant with my daughter. My husband’s company hosted family night at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, renting the entire Museum out for the night and having a catered banquet.

Now most of y’all probably think the Space museum is a pretty neat place. After all, it is home to the first Space Camp (a great deal of the 80′s movie by that name was filmed there), it is a part of our Marshall Space Flight Center and hosts the IMax along with countless priceless artifacts and memorabilia.

I thought it was pretty cool, too, the first fifty or so times I went there. You see, when you are born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, you tend to have an awful lot of family and school field trips to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center (Two of my grandfather’s even built rocket engines). As a little girl, my enthusiasm remained so long as Miss Baker was there. Amidst all of the rockets and space suits which I knew little about and understood even less, it was still a thrill to get to see a space monkey eat a banana.

But Miss Baker passed away in 1984 and 14 years (and many more field trips) later I married someone whose childhood dream had been to visit the U.S. Space And Rocket Center. ~sighs~. We got annual passes. We went, and went, we did the tour, we walked around the museum. We had a son – who loved to visit the U.S. Space And Rocket Center. We renewed our membership. We visited. We walked, we watched, we participated, we rode, we ate, we oohed, we ahhed, we photographed.

So now I’m standing here at this banquet sponsored by my husband’s company in a museum filled with people just bursting with zeal over seeing an astronaut’s space suit that probably knew my face as well as I knew it, and I spied what amounted to a vat of Fire and Ice Salad on the buffet. Being several months pregnant, NOW I had something to get excited about.

Katy says babies sit in their Mama’s tummies and wait on her to drop food down so that they can catch it. If her theory were true, she would have been covered in tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions on that day! I don’t know how much I ate, but the next day I came home and wouldn’t you know it, I made me some more and ate that too!

If I had to describe the flavor of this salad in two words, I’d say “Refreshing” and “Fresh”. Alright so perhaps my description is a little redundant but you try it and see if I’m not right! This is the embodiment of everything a body craves on a hot summer’s day. Well, everything a body craves that doesn’t come with a little paper umbrella in the glass!

You’ll need: Two fresh tomatoes (I’m using three because mine are small), Two cucumbers, one red or purple onion, sugar, water, and…

White vinegar. Go for the cheap kind here, make me proud.

You know, speaking of drinks that come with umbrellas, people talking openly of alcohol is really strange to me. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it. Up until a few years ago, I had lived in towns that weren’t even allowed to sell alcohol, “dry counties” is what they were called. Ordinances like this are prevalent in the old south, where are cultural roots are held deeply in the Baptist traditions. When I was in Los Angeles, I went in a drug store and they had an entire cooler of alcoholic drinks! I was really surprised to see that.

It’s amazing when the old gal gets out of the house, huh?

Cut up your tomatoes.

You can cut them in chunks, slices, or dice them. I’m doing little thin slices because it’s pretty that way.

Peel and cut cucumbers.

Allow cute little dimpled hands to steal a few slices even if it does make your picture blurry.

Cucumbers are for stealing. I wholeheartedly encourage it.

Cut up your onion.

I slice mine and then cut the slices in half, still leaving pretty big pieces.

This way, those of you who don’t care for the raw onions can pick them out easily enough.

By “those of you”, I really mean my mother.

See, Mama? There is a point to my onions being big sometimes. Now you don’t have to eat them.

Dump all of that into a bowl.

Now we have to make our dressing.

For this all we are going to do is combine equal parts water, vinegar, and sugar and stir it up.

I start with 1/2 cup of each but you can do more if you like. I wouldn’t do any less though.

This is me adding my sugar to the vinegar and water mixture.

~waves~

Stir that up good.

Don’t worry if your sugar isn’t dissolved all of the way because we’re going to let all of this marinate in the fridge for a spell before we eat.

Pour this over your veggies and stir.

Cover and place in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving.

It will make more juice but I like to go give it a good stir after an hour or so.

Save some for me!

Oh and if you’re ever in Huntsville and decide to go to the Space And Rocket Center, give me a holler. My family and I will probably be there, too!

Add this recipe to ZipList!

Fire and Ice Salad

Ingredients

• 2 Tomatoes
• 2 Cucumbers
• 1 purple onion
• water
• white vinegar
• sugar

Instructions

1. Peel and slice cucumbers. Chop tomatoes and onion. Combine all in a large bowl. Mix up a dressing of equal parts Vinegar, Water, and Sugar. Pour over vegetables and refrigerate.
2. *I start with 1/2 cup each of my dressing ingredients.

Google Recipe View Microformatting by ZipList Recipe Plugin

1.2

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Be more concerned about your character than your reputation because your character is who you are and your reputation is just what others THINK of you.

~Submitted my Southern Plate Reader, Emily. To submit your quote, and make someone’s day a little brighter, click here.

I’m bringing you a little treasure which I discovered buried among our belongings at the old house this past weekend. This is a recipe of Granny Jordan’s, whom I’ve mentioned here several times before – and if you haven’t tried her frozen cranberry banana salads, you’ve lived a wasted life. (Sorry to break it to you so bluntly, but its true!)

As I’ve always said, Granny Jordan was the epitome of everything that a Southern Lady should be. Kind, caring, intelligent, and always seeing to others comfort in her actions and words. From the day we met, she treated me as if I had been her granddaughter all of my life. She was the kind of person who made the world a better place just by being in it.

Granny Jordan passed about seven years ago at the age of 87. When her health was in a state of serious decline, we all knew it was only a matter of time. My husband had accepted a job offer near Atlanta and we were planning on a move soon. Granny Jordan called me a few days before she passed away. She wasted no time as soon as I answered the phone, “Christy, Live every second of every day”.  I’ll never forget exactly how her voice sounded when she said that, or how much meaning lived inside those few words. She went on to tell us “I hear you’re going to be moving. You know, my house is going to be empty, you’re welcome to it”.

She passed away shortly after that and a month later, we made a temporary move to Granny’s house. That is where I really got to know her.

In the back of her pantry sat several extremely well organized file boxes filled with index cards and folded pieces of paper. All of which were contained handwritten recipes. Being the incredibly organized person that she was, she had written on each card the date she had made it, who she had served it to, and what she thought of it by using good, very good, or bad.

Realizing what a treasure these files were, I set out trying to preserve them. I spent a great deal of our time living there typing up all of her recipes and including her handwritten notes with each one. Those are some really great recipes, most of them classic Southern dishes that you just don’t see anymore. I made up a cookbook which included Granny’s recipes and those of my grandmothers, mothers, and myself. It took me the better part of a year to finish. My intent was to print them out and give them to every family member as Christmas gifts.

This backfired on me, though. As a young mother (and a college student to boot), by the time I got finished with the cookbook it was so large that I couldn’t afford to have them printed for everyone. I ended up having to explain this and folks were happy to step up and pay for the printing of their own, my gift ending up being the work I put into it.

But today is Granny’s day because this past weekend, as I was going through boxes looking for yard sale goods, I came across a small bundle of cards and folded papers held together by a rusty paper clip. Somehow, these little fella’s hitchhiked back to Alabama with me. Opening them up, this was the first one I came across and I knew I had to make it soon. Thank you, Granny. Seeing as how it was your recipe, we weren’t surprised by how delicious it was.

Before we get started, here is the original slip of paper I got this recipe from:

If  you’re detail oriented, you’ll notice that she called for 1/3 cup of cracker crumbs and I left those out because I overlooked it.

Feel free to do that if you like! Granny won’t mind either way.

And here is Granny Jordan:

Nell Jordan in her high school graduation portrait.

She was every bit as kind and wonderful as she appeared to be, too.

Y’all know we’re about to make something wonderful now, don’t ya?

I had never made this before so you’ll have to bear with my having three different pics to show all of the ingredients. I tend to be a speed reader so I only got half the stuff out for the first shot and had already started making it when I realized I had left things out.

So, in a three part photographic set, here are the needed ingredients:

Ritz crackers, Mayo, onion, two boiled eggs, celery, and a chicken, chopped up.

I normally purchase a whole fryer and cook it for recipes like this but I got a wild hair (as I often do) and wanted to make this the day of the yard sale so I was a bit too tired to be stewing a chicken. I went out and purchased a whole rotisserie chicken instead.

It just cost about a dollar more and I figure one of Granny’s recipes is worth it.

You’re also going to need a can of cream of chicken soup

And some potato chips .

Chop up your onion and your egg.

Mama says I don’t chop my onion fine enough.

I don’t feel like chopping my onion finer though so…

Chop up your celery, too. Now we’re ready to toss it all in a bowl!

Onion, celery, eggs…

Chicken, mayo, soup…

Excited four year old who has been waiting patiently for her chance to help to stir it all together.

Hey, it’s summer. I’m seeing a lot more of my kids so you’ll be seeing a lot more of my kids .

This is what it looks like all stirred up.

Spread that into an 8×8 casserole dish and top with crushed chips. Bake at 350 for twenty minutes.

Serve hot. Refrigerate leftovers and serve cold on a bed of lettuce with Ritz crackers.

We ate some hot and it was delicious, but I have to say, I LOVE This cold!

Add this recipe to ZipList!

Granny Jordan’s Chicken Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 cooked, cut up chicken
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 2 boiled eggs, cut up
• 3/4 cup celery, diced
• onion, diced (I used half of an onion)
• 1/3 cup cracker crumbs (I omitted these)
• Potato Chips
• Ritz crackers
• Lettuce

Instructions

1. Mix chicken, mayo, soup, eggs, celery, onion, and cracker crumbs in a bowl. Spread into an 8x8 pan. Top with crushed potato chips. Bake at 350 for twenty minutes. Serve hot or cold. If cold, serve over bed of lettuce with Ritz crackers.

Google Recipe View Microformatting by ZipList Recipe Plugin

1.2

I’m quoting myself today!

Each day when you wake up you have a choice. You can have a good day or you can have a bad day. So you might as well have a good one.  ~Me

To submit your positive or uplifting quote, click here!

(Originally posted July 10, 2008. Please see letter at bottom)

Tea rooms in the south are a far cry from formalized locales where you sit up straight, sip hot tea, and nibble on a scone. In the south, our tea rooms have a relaxed and bright atmosphere. They are filled with smiling ladies gathered together for a special treat of girl time – away from kids, husbands and demands of home. Plates are filled with an assortment of salads: potato, vegetable, pea, macaroni, and chicken or ham usually served inside a fresh buttery croissant. Tea is still drank over ice, served in special stemmed “iced tea” glasses.

While the salads vary by tearoom, I have personally never been to one which did not serve a frozen cranberry salad such as this. Creamy, fruity, light tasting and just the right size when prepared in a little muffin paper, this is the quintessential tearoom must have and a very special treat to enjoy at home.

This recipe came from my husband’s grandmother, Granny Jordan. She was the embodiment of everything a southern lady should be. Practically anytime guests happened by, she was always prepared with a warm welcome and plenty of southern hospitality thanks to these little delights.

Once you make them, simply remove the muffin papers from your tins, pop them into Ziploc freezer bags and have an instant company worthy dessert or special treat for yourself anytime!

As always, the entire recipe is at the bottom of the page. You will need sour cream, sugar, whipped topping, crushed pineapple, two cans of whole berry cranberry sauce, and four bananas. I used light cool whip and light sour cream but you can use whichever type you like.

Drain pineapple well and put in large mixing bowl. Add sugar.

And whipped topping….

Add whole berry cranberry sauce and sour cream.

(Originally published July 1, 2008) I told my mother I was going to do a web tutorial on how to make buttermilk biscuits, a staple in the south. She said “Oh, you HAVE to do that new recipe!”. Now, admittedly, these are awfully good. So good, in fact, that my mother has abandoned the long taught family method in lieu of this one. The finished product is lighter and more tender than our usual biscuit and it is worth the effort. If you have had problems in the past with your biscuits turning out to be more like hockey pucks than our beloved southern staple, this recipe is the one for you.

The cast! Featuring milk from Piggly Wiggly, butter or margarine, a tablespoon of lemon juice added (because I rarely have buttermilk in the house so this is a homemade concoction), and self rising flour. That’s it! (The actual recipe is at the bottom of this page)

For those of you who have no idea what self rising flour is….

You’ll also need salt and baking powder to make your biscuits rise .

This is only IF you don’t have self rising flour available where you live.

Put your flour in a bowl (With the salt and baking powder stirred into it if you don’t have self rising) and toss in the margarine. Now you need a pastry cutter or just fork with long tines , which is what I use.

Reckon I’m just not fancy enough for the pastry cutter.

I actually own three of the dern things. They’re floating around here somewhere…

Begin by simply cutting the butter into the flour.

Sit down and turn on the tv, this will take a few minutes (make sure your butter is cold).

When it looks like this and you can’t find any lumps of butter, you’re good to go . Stick this bowl in the fridge for ten to fifteen minutes. If this is your first time making biscuits with this method, I recommend fifteen. The colder it is, the easier the next step is going to be.

Add a tablespoon of lemon juice to your milk before you go get your bowl out of the fridge.

Stir it around and let it sit a minute or two.

Pour milk into flour mixture and stir until just moistened.

This is gonna be much looser than your typical biscuit dough, but it should look something like this.

Flour a surface.

I like to roll out waxed paper or do this on a large baking sheet so I don’t have such a hassle with the counter top.

Most folks just use the counter top though.

Be generous with the flour, you’re going to need it.

Dump out your dough onto the floured surface and sprinkle more flour on top of it.

Brush some flour on your hands and then wipe down your rolling pin really well. This is a family heirloom. My great grandmother bought it with green stamps for my mother when she was twelve. Once you have flour on your dough and on your hands, knead the dough with your hands two or three times. Don’t over knead your dough!

I always say: In dough, as in relationships, it is never good to be too (k)needy.

How do you knead your biscuit dough? If you’ve never done this before. Just place your dough ball (or wad as I call it. Attractive term, huh?) on a flat surface and then press down on it with the heel of your hand. Then fold it over into a bit of a ball again and repeat with the heel of your hand once more. You’ve just kneaded your dough twice. Stop there because we really don’t want to over knead and that is the most common mistake I’ve encountered in people’s biscuits turning out flat.

The second most common mistake I’ve encountered when biscuits turn out flat is someone who has accidentally followed the recipe for self rising flour biscuits using all purpose flour.

Roll it out until it is about 3/4 of an inch. Then lightly square it off with your hands. It should be about 9×5 inches at this point. You are going to have to stop after rolling it the first time and wipe down your rolling pin with flour again, as well as sprinkle some more on the dough to keep it from sticking.

Here is where these little suckers take on a bit of arrogance in my book. Normally, you would just roll it out and cut them, but in this recipe we want tender little pillowy biscuits, so we’re going to put a little more effort in them. Take one side of your dough and roll it over to the middle. Repeat with the next side until you have something like this.

I know this is awfully wet but go with me here……

Now pat or roll that out with your hands back to the original 3/4 inch and gently shape it back into a rectangle.
Repeat this process of folding over and patting out two more times. Don’t be afraid to dust your surface and your dough with a little more flour if need be. Oh, and you didn’t really have to use the rolling pin, you could have just patted it out all along with your hands, but I wanted to show you my heirloom rolling pin!

Now we’re ready to cut our biscuits. Most folks would use a biscuit cutter for this, but diehard southerners know one of the best way to do it is to use a swanky swig! Tin can is also acceptable as is a drinking glass. I used a smaller mouthed swanky swig because I prefer a bit smaller biscuits. I have small people in my house.

What is a swanky swig? Typically, it is a jelly jar which was decorated by the company to add charm and flair, thereby making it “swanky”.

Cut out your biscuits by pushing straight down with your glass, don’t twist it. I didn’t really waste all of this dough but I was trying to make it look a little more uniform for the picture. Normally, we cut them suckers one right on top of the other, then wad up the leftovers, pat it out, and cut again.

A lot of readers have said that they cut their biscuits with pizza cutters and just do a grid pattern. This ends up with square biscuits but no wasted dough! I do this every now and then myself.

Place these on a well greased baking sheet and make sure the sides touch, This helps them rise evenly and higher.

Bake at 450 for thirteen to fifteen minutes.

Until they look like this.

While still hot, brush with melted butter.

Now you’re done!

Alrighty, here is the actual recipe and I promise I will put an easier one up on my blog eventually but after doing all of this work to get the tutorial posted, I’m thinking these aren’t that pretentious after all.

VOILA!! I’m done!!!!

*Current note on White Lily Flour- For generations, this has been “The South’s Flour” and loved by all. However, last summer J.M.Smucker’s bought out White Lily and moved all production of our precious flour out of the south. Many people have said the quality and performance of the flour is no longer the same although J.M. Smucker’s states that it is. I suppose at this point it is a matter of personal preference and whether or not you can see a difference. I’ll always remember the White Lily from my grandmother’s and mother’s pantry fondly, but you’ll notice that I’ve strayed to other brands since the buyout.

“Friends will come and go. But your Family will always be there. Make your family your best friends.” ~Submitted by Southern Plate Reader, Janice. To submit your quote, click here.

Several readers have emailed me asking about ideas for Christmas entertaining when hosting gatherings. Seeing as how this is the best time of the year, we don’t want to be sweating away in the kitchen when our family comes to pay call! (Mama would object to me using the term “sweating”. She says ladies do not sweat, we “glisten”).

Here is what I would do for a meal for a gathering.  The best part is, you can start making it today! My timetable begins preparations three days before the event, and leaves you relaxed and with a clean kitchen when your guests arrive!

(Simply click on recipe title to be taken to the recipe and tutorial on how to make it!)

2 to 3 days before the gathering:

Shop for all groceries, make dessert. Refrigerator cakes are wonderful for large gatherings because they can be made so far in advance and rather than getting dry, they actually get better as the days go by. On the day of your event, simply open the fridge and dessert is served!

Personally, I would make one cake per ten to twelve people.

My recomendations are:

Coconut Cake

Butterfinger cake

These two are crowd pleasers!

1-2 Days Before Gathering

Set table completely. Make sure you have hot sauce and crackers. If you are serving Chili, make sure you have shredded cheese, sour cream, and any other toppings your family likes.

Make your main course. Stews and Chili are great this time of year. More filling than soups, their warmth and meal-in-one convenience can’t be beat for serving a crowd! Whats more, to multiply this chili or stew recipe, all  you need to do is double all of the ingredients EXCEPT the meat! The same amount of meat will be just fine if the recipe is doubled, making it very economical. A double recipe will feed at least ten to fifteen people.

Chicken Stew. This is my personal favorite. Also easily customizable if you are feeding one or more vegetarians. Simply use a can of vegetable broth and mix up a separate pot with all the other ingredients except chicken!

Soups, Stews, and chili are wonderful if left in the fridge a day or two (they actually tastes better!) as the flavors have time to develop and blend.

My Crock pot chili can easily be made in a pot on the stove or just fire up the crock pot a day or two before.

Allow stew or chili to cool and store in the refrigerator.

Day of Gathering:

Heat up stew or chili. Make bread, I suggest:

Dixie Cornbread

or

Southern Hoe Cake

Both of these are always hits with my family and friends. I would make about a pan of bread for every eight people or so. This is the only thing you have to bake on the day of the gathering and it is quick! You can even assemble your dry ingredients in a plastic bag a few days ahead of time.

As your guests arrive, your house will be filled with the aroma of your stew or chili, your kitchen will be spotless, your table set, your bread warm, and they’ll wonder how you did it all so effortlessly!

ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY!

Gratefully,

Christy

For all of the recipes I have posted in the Holiday Baking category (including gift mixes), click here!

I have so many things photographed and ready to bring you that my mind is reeling with what to do first! Today I decided to bring you a super quick and easy recipe to give us all a break during the rushed holiday season. Can you believe, after all you do, your family STILL expects supper every night? ~grins~

Even though the world won’t stop for us, we can at least streamline things a bit by serving these gorgeous sandwiches. My nine year old has fits over them and my husband just moans while he eats them, unable to put it down long enough to speak!

This is what I make when I just don’t feel like cooking (can you believe I sometimes don’t feel like cooking? Shocks even me!). You know what? I had these done from start to finish in TEN MINUTES!

You see, my son and husband think they will keel over and die if they ever have to eat a bell pepper. I think they were dropped on their heads as children, but I’m pretty sure I’ve said that before in previous posts .

As kids, one of our favorite Sunday desserts was pecan pie. It seemed like Mama made one almost every Sunday, too. That was the day when we always had even more dinner guests than usual.

You see, people tended to gravitate towards our house at meal time (Mama has always made amazing meals) and my parents had a policy of never turning anyone away at suppertime. Over the years, we ended up “adopting” various bachelor uncles here and there who would show up every Sunday, many of them every weeknight as well. My brother had two friends, brothers, who were invited for dinner one night and literally ate every single night after that (unless they had dates) for the next three years. Mama said she never minded, she always hoped that someone would do the same for one of her kids.

Pecan pie was one of our all time favorites but it was often a hit or miss recipe. Sometimes it turned out perfect but most of the time we had pecan “soup”, which we still loved. Mama laughed along with us as we called it that and she would joke about it as she dished it out into bowls instead of saucers. A friend gave her this recipe when I was a young teen, though, and she announced that Sunday that we were not going to have pecan soup anymore, but pecan pie. Ever since then, its been perfect every single time. Although I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss those good old days of Mama dishing pie out into a bowl…

Today, I’m bringing you a real rarity. In fact, it is pretty much unheard of outside of North Alabama. White BBQ Sauce, even my husband (who is from a town in Georgia only four hours away) had never heard of it. A lot of folks in south Alabama have never heard of it.

This is truly a regional thing, but also a regional requirement. EVERY BBQ restaurant in North Alabama features white bbq sauce on their menu, their meats, and their tables and North Alabamians eat it with everything from french fries to bread to chicken and ribs. This unique, tangy flavor is the perfect compliment to just about everything.

Personally, I like to use so much that my food is swimming in it. How about we make up a batch for you?