I’m gonna get to the “redneck” part of this post shortly but let me tell ya, this picture does not do the flavor, texture, and incredibleness of this chicken justice. Boneless, Skinless chicken breasts, breaded in crushed Ritz crackers (oh yeah, I just said that!), fried, and then stuffed with pimento cheese….

Voices from the back of the room shout: “But Christy! In order to be a true Chicken Cordon Bleu it must be stuffed with ham and swiss cheese!”

Christy: Yes, but this isn’t a true Chicken Cordon Bleu, this is a REDNECK Chicken Cordon Bleu

Voices from the back of the room shout: “But Christy, you can’t call it Cordon Bleu unless it follows the rules!”

~Christy goes to check the Constitution of the United States of America and finds no law pertaining to this~

Umm…I just did.

And now a history lesson about the term “Redneck”…

As a descendant of a long line of proud rednecks, I thought I’d use my airtime today to explain the origination of the term and the honor that rests in it’s history.

Redneck began as a literal term, describing the sunburned necks of people who spent their day bent over working in a field in the hot sun.

This insult came from the elite who, as my mother points out, “would have starved to death if it wasn’t for the rednecks working all day to support them.”

My grandmother was born to one of those families and spent her childhood being one of those people. She worked out in the fields from the time she was old enough to walk and take orders, alongside her brothers and sister, behind her mother and father, each member of the family needed to tend to the cotton crop of the landowner.

Grandmama spent her childhood picking cotton for families while those family’s children played, and then wearing long sleeve shirts in town in the middle of the hottest days of summer to help hide the field tan on her arms because she dreaded hearing that term by the folks who wanted to make sure the kids knew they were different from them.

However, my great granny raised her kids to know full well that they had dern well better be different from them.

Looking back, I think my great grandmother understood a simple truth often goes unnoticed by some.

You see, there is only one point to insulting someone and that is to tell them that they are not like you.

Generally, there are two types of people who insult. One is a person who does it on dire occasions, when they feel it is absolutely necessary in order to defend themselves. The other type are those who make a living out of it. The ones who do so very little of value in their lives that, in order to elevate themselves and become “better” people in absence of real worth or usefulness in the world, they have to lower others around them. Now, if this is sounding familiar, it should, because this doesn’t just apply to folks who call others “redneck”. This also applies to folks who insult others based on their appearance, skin color, beliefs, etc. There are bullies for everything under the sun, and most of us will be subject to at least a few of them in our lifetimes.

But next time you’re facing one of those people…The next time someone decides to judge, condemn, belittle, or otherwise go out of their way to prove to you that you are different from them, rebel against the ridiculous urge to go on the defense.

Don’t bite at whatever bait they put out. Whether they call you fat, skinny, dark, light, redneck, ignorant, hick, trash or any other of the names they’ve been coming up with for thousands of years…ignore it. That’s just their language, but the translation is the same: You’re different from me.

And really, when faced with people like that, don’t you want to be?

Then Prove them right.

Be different from that.

And thank the good Lord you are.

Then make ya some redneck chicken in honor of some folks who were “different” before you were even born.

You’ll need: Ritz crackers (generic are fine), oil for frying, eggs, boneless skinless chicken, and some pimento cheese.

You can make your cheese from scratch using your own recipe, my spicy pimento cheese recipe, or my grandmama’s recipe, or you can just go buy some.

This recipe is going to be for two boneless skinless breasts so double it if you want to make four. Now keep in mind that you don’t have to stuff all of your chicken, you can just fry some and leave it be. I say this because my daughter loves fried chicken but she is at that point in her life where, if it looks funny, she won’t  eat it. So I just stuff enough for me and the hubs and leave the kids as is.

 Before you get started: Pour oil to a depth of 1/2 inch in a large skillet and put it over medium high heat.

Set up a little breading station with a bowl of crushed ritz, a bowl of beaten eggs, your chicken, and a plate to put it on.

Dip each piece of chicken into beaten egg on both sides…

Then press it into the cracker crumbs

Try not to make as big of a mess as I do.

I doubt you can, though, I’m pretty gifted at making messes.

Reduce the heat under your skillet to medium and carefully add your chicken to it. Cook until well browned, about 7-9 minutes, then turn and cook until well browned on the other side and chicken is no longer pink in the center.

 Like this.  

 Remove to a paper towel lined plate.

Now keep in mind that we just removed this chicken from hot oil, where it spent a good bit of time so consequently, this chicken is going to be of considerable temperature.

If you are someone who has ever ordered hot coffee and then felt tempted to file a lawsuit when you took a sip and it was, in fact, hot, recipes like these (and cooking in general) is not a recommended activity for you. Please view this post (and others like it) as purely a voyeuristic activity and find you a good old redneck to take care of you.

Using a fork to hold the chicken rather than your hands, cut a nice sice slice into the side of each piece to form a pocket.

Like so.

Carefully stuff that pocket with a few tablespoons of pimento cheese. This puppy right here is holding about four tablespoons.

This smaller guy on the left has about 3 tablespoons.

I just put a big old spoonful in there one at a time until I feel like I have all I can get in there.

Prop stuffed chicken pieces up on their sides in a small baking pan or an 8×8 baking dish.

Put this in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted a bit on the outside. Since the chicken is hot, you know it will be nicely melted on the inside, too.

Enjoy

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

~Winston Churchill

Submitted by Tamela. Submit your quote by clicking here.  

Pimento Cheese (pronounced pub-men-uh) is a staple in the Southeastern United States – and also in the Philippines. Clearly, this speaks to the wonderful taste of those folks (love y’all!). It’s one of those things we had often growing up and sometimes you just get a hankering that nothing else will satisfy except a good old pimento cheese sandwich.

There are a couple of ways to make pimento cheese but the main two involve sharp cheddar (like this recipe) and Velveeta (click here for the velveeta version). both are delicous in my book. However, at a photo shoot for Taste of the South last weekend, we had wheat crackers and a big old tub of spicy pimento cheese. It was so heavenly that I decided to come home and whip some up to show folks how to make it, just in case you didn’t know. Because not having a little spicy pimento cheese from time to time would be a crying shame. As if I needed another excuse, I got to go visit my Grandmama this past weekend and she loves pimento cheese so it was the perfect little treat to take to her.

My Grandmother is the cute smiling lady in that photo above. She is my mother’s mother and she and I have a lot of things in common, number one being that she is the only person I know that I can call at 4:00 AM to have a chat and cup of coffee with over the phone. She’ll answer the phone “Hellloooo! I’m just a sitting here having me a little coffee.” I’m pretty sure I’m the only person who calls her at this hour but we enjoy our little conversations from time to time when we have them – and every now and then I send her a tin of coffee as a thank you.

There is something very comforting knowing someone else who gets up as early as I do, and no matter how early I get up, I know my Grandmama has likely beat me to the punch.

Grandmama is a joy to talk to because she is the kind of person who always looks on the bright side and I’ve never once seen her get frazzled. I think that living through the depression and growing up as poor as she did acts as a common sense buffer to life. While the rest of the world is running around shouting that the sky is falling, Grandmama remains even keeled, dependable, and always encouraging.

I want to be like her when I’m gray and I’m sure a lot of others feel the same way. But you know what? You don’t just magically turn sweet, kind, and wise when the clock flips over to 65 (Remember, I had 13 living grandparents when I was born, so I got to see contrast here!). You have to start working towards it now. You have to practice looking for joy, especially when other folks are looking for something to complain about. You have to learn to value loving people over judging them, and be more concerned with what is right than being right. These are just the beginning stepping stones but when you seek out things like this in life, wisdom follows. Many of my grandparents walked this path to end up the kind and wise people they were in their older years and I do my best to follow in their steps. I want to be wrinkled and gray, with an easy smile and twinkling eyes and arms strong as an ox surrounded by folks who want hugs from them. That’s a destination worth reaching, so for me, it’s a path worth taking.

Come to think of it, my grandparents who ended up sweet, kind, wise, and loving, all ate pimento cheese on a regular basis. Now I’m not saying this had anything to do with it but there’s no sense in taking any chances – so let’s get mixin’!

You’ll need: Mayo, sharp cheddar, cayenne pepper, pimentos, and some hot sauce.

Note: I always like to point out for the folks who don’t love mayo that I don’t either, so don’t fret over it in this recipe. You really won’t taste it because the cheddar cheese, sauces, and pimentos really overshadow it. We mainly have it in there to hold it all together.

I also like to point out to the folks who are horrified at the thought of a Southerner not liking mayo that I’m a ninth generation Alabamian, my people having lived here long before it even became a state, and in addition to not liking mayo, I also don’t like seafood. I’ll just share in your horror and admit that I have no idea why they haven’t kicked me out of the South over such atrocities but I realize I’m living on borrowed time If anyone would like to step up and offer their state as refuge, I’ll gladly consider it and offer numerous baked goods should I ever become your new neighbor

Grate all of your cheese and put it in a large mixing bowl.

Add drained pimentos and mayo.

Stir that up really good.

Add cayenne pepper and hot sauce and stir again until well blended.

Place this in a covered container and refrigerate several hours, or overnight, to allow flavors to marry.

Note: This is an arranged marriage, some might even say forced. I’m okay with that because these ingredients are far too young to know what is best for them so I, as their guardian, have chosen the best possible partners. Of course, this will lead to their eventual demise, but t’will be a noble way to go.

The next day, take all of that pimento cheese along with some zesty dill pickle spears and kettle chips to your Grandmama’s house.

Make a sandwich on some nicely toasted bread and try to take a picture of it without getting any of your nephew’s legos in the shot.

Give up, because your nephew has too many Legos… decide it would look better with Grandmama holding it anyway.

Ahh, that’s better

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

“You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude”

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Submitted by Jackie. Submit your quote by clicking here.

If you’re on Pinterest or Facebook, I’d love it if you could use one of the buttons above -Thanks!

Southerners are known for our love of bacon grease and the zeal with which we save this “Liquid gold” but I’ve found that a lot of folks are saving bacon grease without really knowing what to do with it so I decided to write this post in hopes of giving you some ideas and letting you know how it was used in days gone by – and can still be used today.

I’d love for you to chime in on the comments thread if you have other uses not listed here and I’ll come back and add them in with credit to you of course!

Interesting facts about Bacon Grease

*Bacon grease is one of the most flavorful oils.
*Bacon grease is used as an all purpose flavoring as well as a base for many recipes.
*One teaspoon has 38 calories.
*It’s Green! By reusing Bacon Grease, you save money, avoid waste by not using store bought oil when you don’t need it, and have more flavorful results than by using other cooking oils.
*I did a series of posts entitled “Oh My Bacon Grease!” when my husband threw an ENTIRE jar of bacon grease away. I posted recipes using bacon and replenished my stash by week’s end.

How To Use Bacon Grease

Substitution For Oils In Recipes And In Frying – Bacon Grease can be used in place of oils in recipes and in frying.

Greasing Muffin Tins or Cast Iron Skillets for breads - Before you put your cornbread or hoe cake batter in that skillet, grease it with a little solidified bacon grease. To make this mess free, fold a paper towel in fourths and cover your index and middle finger with it. Dip your covered fingers into the bacon grease and wipe the inside of your skillet. Toss paper towel away when done.

Make Milk Gravy - Milk gravy begins with a base of two tablespoons bacon grease. Heat them in a large skillet, add two or three tablespoons of flour and cook until flour is browned. Slowly add milk while stirring constantly and continue cooking until gravy is thickened over medium heat. For photos on making gravy, click here.

Cornbread - Many cornbread recipes call for a tablespoon or so of melted bacon grease added to the batter for extra flavor. This makes such a big difference that it’s worth it to save your baking grease for cornbread alone! Click here for my recipe.

Seasoning Dried Beans - Traditional beans are seasoned with a ham bone or bits of ham to add flavor. If you find yourself without any of these, just add two or three tablespoons of bacon grease to the cooking water and they’ll taste just as good. Click here for my recipe.

Fried Corn- Fried corn is often called Creamed Corn. No matter what you call it, adding a tablespoon of bacon grease makes it better than ever! Click here for my recipe.

Green Beans - Whether they’re from the can, garden, or freezer, green beans taste just like Grandma’s when you add a tablespoon of bacon grease! Click here for my recipe.

Any Other Vegetable You Can Think Of! -  Just about any type of vegetable can be made better with 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of bacon grease added while cooking. Try it with cabbage, greens, I’ve even seen folks fry green tomatoes in it!

Wilted Greens - Fry up some bacon and set it aside. Pour a little bit of the hot grease over fresh dark greens and then top with crumbled bacon for a wilted lettuce salad like we had in the old days.

Frying Eggs – I really and truly will not make fried eggs without bacon grease. I place a tablespoon or so in my skillet and let it melt, then fry my eggs in it.

Delicious oven fries - Spread some bacon grease into the bottom of a jelly roll pan. Cut potatoes into long wedges with the skin still on them and sprinkle with kosher salt. Place on top of the bacon grease and put in a 400 degree oven until browned, about 45 minutes to an hour. Turn every fifteen minutes to get evenly browned and allow the bottoms to oven fry in that delicious grease.

These are just SOME of the countless uses for bacon grease and I’d love to hear more ideas fro you in the comments section at the bottom of this post!

How to store bacon grease:

Allow to cool slightly and then pour into a container. It is important to have one specific container for just bacon grease and make sure not to put any other type of grease in it. Many people strain theirs but my mother and I don’t. I enjoy all those little yummy bits of bacon and since I store mine in the fridge or freezer, they’re fine in there.

My grandmother always kept a metal soup can on the back of her stove with her grease in it.

Counter Top or Refrigerator?

Bacon grease is traditionally stored on the stovetop or next to the stove, but nowadays we don’t use it nearly as often as folks used to so it is best to store it in the refrigerator. If left on the counter indefinitely, bacon grease will go rancid. This used to not be a problem because it was used and replenished so often back in the old days. If bacon grease goes rancid, you WILL know it and you will Not want to use it. The refrigerator guards against this and your bacon grease will last for months and months and months!

Having said that - If you prefer to keep your bacon grease on the counter, more power to ya! Your kitchen = your rules.

Another bonus to storing bacon grease in the fridge: Room temp bacon grease remains a little on the liquid side. Refrigerated bacon grease solidifies and becomes the consistency of shortening, making it super easy to measure and scoop out whatever you need for recipes.

Did you know that you can freeze bacon grease?

Every now and then a jar will fill up and I just seal it and put it in the freezer. Then, I start another jar in the fridge. It never hurts to have extra Bacon Grease can last indefinitely in the freezer if sealed well.

Interesting Bacon Grease History

During WWII, Housewives were encouraged to save their bacon grease and turn it in to help with the war effort. Disney even got on board with a propaganda movie to help promote this. You’ll notice Minnie about to pour the bacon grease over the dog food – many people still swear by this. I wouldn’t reccommend a whole skiletful but a tablespoon or so is said to help give them a shiny coat. It is also neat to note that in the film the government suggested keeping bacon grease in the refrigerator to keep it from going rancid, as we discussed above. This wouldn’t have been a problem if it was being used every day, but since it was being stored up for a longer period of time, it was needed, much like we store it today.

Photo Gallery of YOUR Grease Jars!

I asked if anyone would like to send me photos of their grease jars from home and WOW, what an exciting response! I’ve spent about two hours going through them and uploading them to this post. More keep pouring in so I’ll try to add more as time allows later. Thank you so much! I have really enjoyed getting to see these and hope you will too!

Okay so I’m going to start with two of my photos and then I’ll move on to the ones y’all were so kind to send.

This is an example of a range set from the 1930′s – 1950′s. The center piece is the grease jar, but I use it for a salt crock because it is too rare for me to be pouring hot grease into it when I can just as easily use a mason jar. The salt and pepper shaker beside it are reproductions, and not very good reproductions at that, but I don’t have the originals and I wanted to show you what a typical range set looked like.

This is my current grease jar. I have more in the freezer

Now on to yours!! I loved getting to see all of these and know you will, too!

When it comes to storing up bacon grease, Becky Young doesn’t play around!

Alicia from gatewaytosaving.com keeps it simple in a half pint canning jar. Notice all those yummy bits!

Amanda Kornegay is another canning jar gal See that fresh layer on top?

Angie Blake uses an old jelly jar

See how we recycle?

Angie Gilchrist has an old spaghetti sauce jar plum full!

…and now we know that Beth Hamilton uses the same spaghetti sauce as Angie Gilchrist I love her list behind the mixer!

Kat Norman’s used to belong to her grandmother.

 This is my Mama’s grease jar. it is designed for a soup can to fit inside to hold the grease.

Brenda Parker with her red lid topped Ball canning jar

Carolyn Berryhill has a vintage model with a convenient pouring spout!

Charlene Pinke keeps it simple with a coffee cup

As does Cynthia Brandon. Nothing like using what you have on hand and what works!

Jenny Hester uses an old pickle jar

Jenn Preble looks to be using a spaghetti sauce jar as well.

I’m with y’all, I just hate to throw those things away because they’re such good jars!

Heather Dedeaux has a handy dandy bowl to scoop out of

Ginger Grayson looks to be using an old Cheez Whiz jar (perhaps) but I love the short fat size of it and wide mouth opening for scooping!

Donna Gordon has one of the vintage grease cannisters

Dianne Ledet doubles up!

Debbie has another vintage grease pot with a spout and strainer

Jill S has a nice jar of refrigerated bacon grease with a lovely scoop missing that likely made a yummy breakfast!

Rowena Giddings and her well used jar.

Some good cookin’ going on in that kitchen…

Ross Jordan has a cute jar with a reminder from whence it came…

Rose Daily has a beautiful little ceramic container.

Renee HS Calls hers the “Bacon Bliss Bowl”

I love this container Paula Papen!

Melissa Jensen keeps hers in gladware containers – and I LOVE how she has two of them! One filled up and she kept on going! lol

Lisa V shows us the inside of her fridge, with the bacon grease center stage!

I’ve often thought about photographing the inside of my fridge and showing y’all but I’m afraid it would cause nightmares for all of the neat and organized folks…

Laura Morris with another fridge shot. Hey! I have that same salad dressing!

Laura Bailey’s jar looks kinda like a candle

You can actually use bacon grease to make candles ….or you can fry your veggies in it. I’d choose my stomach any day. You can buy candles

Kathy Malphrus posed her big old jar of grease right next to some actual bacon! Now that is a sight for sore eyes!

Sandy Rooks has a pretty stainless grease pot

How could you not love Tom Miller’s “Bacon Butter” pitcher?

Tinnah N Has another well used recycled jar. Way to go, Tinnah!

Teresa Leonard has several jars proudly posing behind some fresh bacon

I buy those big old packages, too!

I believe Tammy Bish said this jar was from her mother

Stephanie Carlton has some good looking solid grease in there!

I have MANY more pictures to post but have to get some other work done first so check back later for more of your pics! 

Be sure and tell me how you use bacon grease in the comments section below! 

“If it can’t be fried in bacon grease, it ain’t worth cooking, let alone eating.”

~ Southern proverb

Pickled Onions, Pintos, and Mexican Cornbread on a 1970′s Corelle Spring Blossom Plate.

I’m going to start this post out with a disclaimer: half of you will hate even the thought of this recipe,  but the other half will take one bite and set about doing paperwork to rename all of your children after me.

Pickled onions are not for the novice who is new to Southern food. These are hardcore, for old school Southern tastebuds – but oh will they make those buds sing! Would you believe that I had them for the FIRST TIME this past weekend? We went to a restaurant in Nashville with the kids and they brought out a bowl of pickled onions and hot cornbread, still in the cast iron skillet it was cooked in. I reached for a wedge of cornbread and put it on my plate where I topped it with a spoonful of pickled onions. Not knowing what to expect but trusting the instinct of my Alabama roots, I dug my fork in to get a bite full of hot bread and onion….

…and tasted all that was reverent and good in the world of old fashioned soul food.

I started praying over the food right then and there. “Oh LORD! We thank you for this meal.” ~Shoveled another bite in~ “Dear God, thank you for this food that is so good, oh Lord it’s still warm and these onions are so crisp and sweet…” ~shoveled in another bite~ “We thank you so much for letting us take this trip and getting to spend this ..” ~reaches for more onions~ “time together!” After a moment, I just about started speaking in tongues, it was so good. But then I got to thinking that if I kept on describing it to God, He might just come down to join me and then I’d have to give Him most of it because, that is the only nice thing to do considering all of the exceptions and forgiveness he’s had to pipe out on my account. I paused and noticed that my kids and husband were just looking at me, blank faced.

I encouraged them to eat.

One child took a timid bite of the spicy cornbread and put it down. “That tastes weird.” My husband waved his hand over the plate “I’m just not into that kind of stuff, you can have mine.” My other child just continued watching me in disbelief and looking at the cornbread trying to figure out if I saw something he didn’t.

Apparently, I did. Oh good gravy, it was amazing!

As soon as we left the restaurant I called Mama and Grandmama and by the time I was home I had a recipe.

My husband came in yesterday while I was cooking a big pot of pintos (definitely not one of his favorites, he won’t even eat them) and said “What is that SMELL?” Note that this was said in the tone that let you know he left out “horrible” before smell because he knows it will get him killed. ~sighs~ I get that a lot from him. Bless his heart, he doesn’t know any better. He’s good hearted but terribly uncultured when it comes to  an appreciation for po’ folk food.

“Pintos” I replied “If you don’t like that you might wanna hurry back to work because I’m about to get some cider vinegar boiling.” You’ve never seen a man eat lunch so fast in all your life. I made up a quick pan of Mexican cornbread (my mama’s recipe is in my first cookbook) and come suppertime I had a spread so good it’s a wonder my ancestors didn’t rise up from the grave at the smell of it!

My husband texted “Do I need to stop and get anything on the way home?” That is his code for: are you going to serve that stuff I smelled earlier for supper?

 I texted back “Well I made a big pot of pintos, mexican cornbread, and pickled onions for supper – so you might wanna grab takeout for you and the kids :”

Sometimes we gotta do what we gotta do.

These onions are heavenly. I sent a pint jar of them to my 81 year old Grandmother yesterday along with a quart jar of pintos. She called at 5 this morning. “Did you try it yet Grandmama?”

“LORD Yes! Done had me two bowls! That was the best stuff. Lord oh that was so good. You fixin’ to put that recipe up on your website?”

“Yes Grandmama, I’m putting it up today!”

You’ll need: Salt, Garlic Powder, Black Pepper, about 4 sweet onions (Preferably Vidalia), Cider Vinegar*, and Sugar

You can use white vinegar instead of Cider so if you prefer the taste of white, I’d recommend you go with that instead. I want to try them with white next time but I did love the extra little tang cider vinegar gave it.

You see my Kosher salt up there? My friend Jyl turned me onto that a year or so ago and I’ve fallen madly in love with it. It really does taste amazing and it doesn’t cost a lot, so it’s an easy switch. I still use regular old iodized salt, too, but am using Kosher more and more these days out of personal preference.

Soapbox time! Whenever you make a change in your cooking or eating habits, do it out of personal choice rather than some ad campaign or a zealot on the internet telling you that you have to. There is big business in buying and selling opinions out there so just be careful that you don’t ever feel the need to adopt anyone else’s personal convictions because they bullied you into doing so.

~tucks soap box away~

In a medium saucepot, place vinegar, sugar, salt, and garlic powder.

Stir that up well and put over medium high heat to bring it just to a boil while you cut up your onions…

Keep a watch on it and stir it often.

Peel your onions and slice them into rings.

I cut my rings in half, too, to make them easier to eat.

You could even dice them if you want.

It’s your kitchen, you’re a big boy/girl,  and the only rules are the ones you decide to make

Oooh look! Our cider mixture is boiling! Now, if you or anyone you know has their sinuses stuffed up, alls ya gotta do is invite them into your kitchen and have them stir this pot Actually, cider vinegar is an old folk remedy for many an affliction.

But if someone decides onions are outselling a vegetable they represent they are liable to launch a pr campaign talking about how onions are causing brain damage or some such. Sadly, that really is how this works most of the time.

Remove pot from heat.

Dump your onions in and stir them to coat.

At first, it will seem like there are way too many onions but just let them sit for about five minutes and they will wilt a bit.

Like this. Now stir that again and let sit just a few minutes more.

Until they look kinda like this. Now place all of these in a container and cover it to put in your fridge.

If you do not cover it, your sinuses will clear each and every time you open your fridge, which is good or bad depending on how stuffed up you are Come to think of it, maybe this is a good springtime recipe in the south when our world is coated in that lovely yellow dust…

Voila! My refrigerated onions all ready to make my stomach happy!

These are wonderful served as a side or as a topping on beans, hot cornbread, etc.

Just git ya some!

THESE CAN WELL. FOR INSTRUCTIONS ON CANNING, CLICK HERE TO VISIT MY CANNING TUTORIAL.

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to everyone who takes the time out of your day to chat with me in the comments. Getting to hear back from you is my favorite part of Southern Plate!

Do you have any memories of pickled onions? How often did you dine on beans and cornbread growing up (it was weekly at least at my house)? I’d love to hear from you in the comments, or just drop a Hidy! 

Gratefully, 

Christy 

It requires less character to discover the faults of others

than is does to tolerate them.

~J. Petit Senn

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2012/08/pickled-onions-heaven-for-an-old-southern-soul.html/feed 262 http://www.southernplate.com/2012/06/sticky-chicken.html http://www.southernplate.com/2012/06/sticky-chicken.html#comments Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:14:28 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=19446 If you’re on Facebook of Pinterest, I’d sure appreciate it if you have time to use one of the buttons above Thank you and be sure and drop a howdy in the comments below!

This is one of those dishes that, somedays, you just gotta have. Sticky Chicken has been around about as long as folks have been cooking. The recipe has evolved and been tweaked over the years but the flavorful sticky marinade that clings to the chicken is still every bit as good as folks remember from the days when Granny used to make it for Sunday dinner.

This recipe for sticky chicken is pretty simple, mix up some ingredients, bring them to a boil, pour them over chicken pieces and bake. It’s a home run with kids as well as adults, too!

You’ll need: Brown sugar (dark or light, whatever you have), garlic powder, ketchup, honey, and soy sauce. 

You’re also going to need about 3-5 pounds of bone in chicken with the skin still on it.

Traditionally, folks use legs and thighs for this but my Kroger had bone in split chicken breasts for buy one get one free – so I have four HUGE Chicken breasts halves that cost me about $2.50 and that is what we’re using! 

Put everything in a sauce pot and stir it up really good. Place over medium high heat. 

You can do medium heat but I like to get things rolling. 

Patience is a virtue and all that but I find that my patience is best used in dealing with people, critters, and my spotty internet connection.

Bring it just to a boil and then remove from heat. 

Place your chicken pieces in a 9×13 baking dish and pour all of the sauce over. 

In my last post, we sang Leslie Gore around about this time. So today, we need to sing Buddy Holly.

Every day, it’s a getting closer! Going faster than a roller coaster! love like yours will surely come my way. hey hey hey hey hey!

This has nothing whatsoever to do with Sticky Chicken so I’m not even gonna try to tie it in.

If staying on point was a requirement of my job, I’da lasted one blog post.

Not good with the whole monotony thing. I gotta sparkle a bit

If you tuned in to the Leslie Gore Video in my Fried Dill Pickles Post and now my Buddy Holly video you may be wondering why someone born whenever I was born (sometime in the past 20-50 years or so) is such a huge fan of music from an era I wasn’t actually present in.

Simple: I have exquisite taste in music.

Oh, and also My Mama and Daddy took good care of their records . My brother, sister, and I spent half of our childhoods rocking out to Leslie Gore, Buddy Holly, and then Elvis. In between we were big fans of Disco Duck just to keep it well rounded.

What music did you listen to growing up?

I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!

Place this in a 350 degree oven and bake, uncovered, for 90 minutes total.

After 45 minutes…flip all of the chicken over in the dish.

An hour and fifteen minutes into cooking, flip pieces again and baste with some of the sauce in the pan. Bake another fifteen minutes.

NOTE: cooking time is the same if you use legs and thighs.

Booyah! Sticky chicken!

This dish was extremely difficult to photograph because I really just wanted to eat it.

“Click click, ok, photo session is done! Let’s eat!”

I’m serving some green beans with it (recipe coming soon) and simple Mahatma Saffron Rice. Rice goes great with this because the chicken is so flavorful.

It’s almost newsletter time again!

Each Friday I sent my email subscribers a newsletter with links to the week’s most popular recipes, latest recipes, inspiring quotes, Q&A, and more! If you’d like to subscribe by email click here.  No one will ever see your email but me and I typically send anywhere from 2-4 emails a week.

UPDATE: Can I make this with boneless skinless breasts?

I’ve had so many people ask this question that I finally got around to trying it last night. I threw a few boneless skinless chicken breasts in the baking dish with my bone in, skin on pieces. I basted it just like the other pieces and flipped and cooked it the same way. It was good and it can certainly be done but it doesn’t come out like sticky chicken. You’ll have a good tasting chicken breasts, but the sauce doesn’t stick to it or form a glaze on it. You’re pretty much just cooking chicken in the sauce. It is good, but it really isn’t sticky chicken. I would suggest holding out until you have the bone in/skin on pieces

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap,

but by the seeds you plant.

~Robert Louis Stevenson

Submitted by Diane. Submit your quote by clicking here.

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2012/06/sticky-chicken.html/feed 252 http://www.southernplate.com/2011/10/crispy-breaded-pork-chops-with-milk-gravy-and-memes-mashed-potatoes.html http://www.southernplate.com/2011/10/crispy-breaded-pork-chops-with-milk-gravy-and-memes-mashed-potatoes.html#comments Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:09:33 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=17220 Goodness gracious alive, am I ever blessed. As I write this, I have a small suitcase open and waiting for a quick trip to Texas to appear on Great Day Houston. I’ll fly in, do a live tv show (I have so much fun doing tv I feel guilty about it) and then fly back to the great state of Alabama. My kids won’t hardly know I was gone! Don’t forget that I’ll be on Paula Deen’s Best dishes November 5th (Check times in your area). To stay up to date with all of the goings on, join us on Facebook and have a great Monday! 

Comfort food. Pork chops breaded in a delicious crunchy coating served with my MeMe’s ultra creamy mashed potatoes and all of it happily covered in a good coating of milk gravy.

I sure do wish you would have been here last night when we were eating this. I even had an extra pork chop set aside. But alas, we’re screens apart and truth be told my house wasn’t clean enough for company anyway, so you’ll have to make this yourself if you wanna eat it anytime soon.

Now some of you are looking at that plate and thinking to yourselves “There’s nothing green! You’re supposed to have something green!”. Calm down, it’s okay. I kicked the “supposed to” people out of my kitchen a long time ago. There are plenty of restaurants they can eat at on their way back to their house where they do everything they’re supposed to do. If you need something green, head on over and have some of my sweet and sour green beans. I could eat a vat of those every day and still want more. Besides, it’s not like we have to eat the entire food pyramid in one sitting.

If you’re still feeling guilty (Hey, I had that same homeEc teacher in high school, too!) have a salad for lunch. Then you’re good to go

To make the pork chops, you’ll need: Chops, two eggs, and a sleeve of saltine crackers.

Make sure you use the salted crackers because they really give us a great flavor here. This recipe will make four -five pork chops and you can get the thickness you prefer, adjusting cooking time accordingly. I’m using chops that are almost one inch thick so they will take a little longer to cook.

I like to use pie plates for my ingredients to get ready for this.

Crack your eggs into a pie plate or bowl and beat them up with a fork.

In another plate, place your crushed saltines – I crushed the entire sleeve.

Dip both sides of each pork chop into the beaten egg.

and then press each side of each chop into the cracker crumbs.

Place in heated oil and cook over medium heat until browned, then turn and cook to brown on other side, removing when fully cooked and center is no longer pink.

Here is a photo of them just about to come out. It is a bit blurry but so are my kids when they run in and out of the kitchen wanting to know when supper is going to be ready….

so this pic will work just fine because they’re hungry

When your pork chops are completely done, remove them from the skillet and place on a paper towel lined plate.

Now it’s time to make our milk gravy.

There are just a few simple ingredients to making milk gravy and one of them is optional.

Flour, milk, salt and pepper are a must. Bacon grease makes it even better and I’m going to use it in this post but you can leave the grease out entirely if you like, you don’t even have to use oil.

It is entirely possible to make a perfectly good milk gravy with nothing but flour, salt, pepper, and milk. My mother was shocked when I told her this and others probably will be too so lets just keep the whole “greaseless milk gravy” thing to ourselves .

If you are using bacon grease, go ahead and put it in a small skillet and place that over medium heat until melted.

I’ve been storing mine in the refrigerator so it may look a bit more solid than yours.

Now add your flour and give it a gooooood stir. 

If you’re not using grease just put your flour in a dry skillet.

Continue cooking, stirring constantly, over medium to medium low heat until your flour is browned.

Now with bacon grease added the flour is going to quickly become paste-like. Without bacon grease it will just stay dry but it will still brown in a dry skillet. Stir constantly, especially if using a dry skillet, until your flour is good and browned.

You can go ahead and add the salt and pepper before it is done browning.

or whenever you think about adding it  

This is a photo of my browned flour.

Remember, if you aren’t using bacon grease it will be dry instead of pasty but it will still brown.

Pour in milk while stirring.

Cook this over medium low, stirring constantly, until gravy is thickened.

To start with it is going to look like milk with a bunch of brown globs in it. Just hang in there and keep on stirring.

You’ll know it’s thickened when it coats the back of a spoon like this If it gets too thick, just stir in a little more milk. 

Serve pork chops with Meme’s Mashed potatoes and pour gravy over it all. YUM!

P.S. This entire meal is also excellent without the gravy if you have non-gravy lovers.

Come and get it! 

 When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.

~Gilbert Chesterson

I am so excited that this is apple week for Southern Plate. The weather has turned cooler here and brought with it thoughts of beef stew and apple dumplings. Of course, I love apples cooked any way, Apple Dapple cake, fried apples, apple pie and these apple dumplings.

Tonight I made a big pot of beef stew , a skillet of cornbread and a large casserole full of apple dumplings. Christy wanted me to take some pictures and send her the recipe that I use for apple dumplings. You will see that I am definitely not a photographer but the end product was delicious. This is an old fashioned recipe that uses a little of this and a smidgen of that so I have done my best to measure all the ingredients for you. Do not be scared of adding or adjusting the ingredients to suit your taste. This is a very delicious and forgiving recipe. It would be even more delicious with vanilla ice cream on top!

Before I give you the recipe, let me tell you a little about how I went about making these dumplings. I use the small cheap canned biscuits. We call them whampum biscuits since you whampum on the counter to open them. I open the biscuits, take them apart and lay them out on wax paper to come to room temperature while I prepare the apples. This makes the biscuits easier to roll out. Then I peel the apples and cut them up into little pieces about the size of Chiclets chewing gum. Now the original recipe said to place a small amount of apples (about a heaping tablespoon) on each biscuit and then sprinkle with cinnamon. I can never remember to sprinkle the cinnamon on the apples when I get in a rhythm of making the dumplings so I just sprinkle cinnamon on the apples in the bowl and stir them up to distribute it. If you don’t like cinnamon, the dumplings are just as good without it. I have had them both ways and love them either way.

~Mama

Alright, this is where I step in and take over. I, being me, Christy . Now I know my Mama and Grandmama really well. In fact, I’m pretty confident that I know both of them just about better than any living person at this point. Mama and I are best friends and talk several times a day on the phone and for a good bit of time when I was in college after my Grandaddy had passed away, Grandmama and I lived together as roommates. So knowing the two f them and seeing this post, I know that y’all missed out on the best parts and I’m here to insert them, word for word, as I am sure they went down in the making of these dumplings.

Mama: Mama, this don’t look right. Go get me a bath towel because Christy says you gotta have a light background.

Grandmama : Well what kind of a bath towel you want me to get? What you gonna do with it?

Mama: Get me a white one and hurry, I’ve got to get supper on before they all get here. Lane, baby, can you go do your homework on the kitchen table so I can take pictures here for Aunt Christy’s website?

To make this recipe you’ll need: Sugar, Cinnamon, 2 cans biscuits (ten count cans), apples (Granny smith is best but others work), and butter.

~in comes Grandmama with the towel~

Mama : Oh now that looks better.

Grandmama: It really brightened it up, didn’t it? Let me see how it looks…

~Mama holds up the camera with the image on the back~

Grandmama : Oh I never could see them things on these new fancy cameras…

Peel and slice your apples however you want, a knife is fine.

Mama uses this fancy thing, which is really awesome, but I just use a paring knife and it works just as well. Mama has more storage space than me for gadgets – and she also has the ability to keep up with them far better than I do! If I bought one of these I’d probably use it once and then never be able to find it again.

Grandmama: Jan are you about done? I’m gittin’ tired of holding this towel up here…

Mama: Almost, let me get one more picture and then you can put it down.

Grandmama : Well alright, hurry it up, we ain’t got all day and I’m hungry. Reckon Christy will really put this on her website?

*Click*

Grandmama: Jan you ain’t done took a picture of me did you! Janice! I’ll say!

Mama: ~giggle~

Place your diced apples in a bowl and sprinkle with cinnamon. Stir to coat.

Mama: Okay Mama, you can put the towel down now.

Grandmama : Oh good, I think the weather is fixin to come on.

~Grandmama shuffles off into the den to watch her favorite meteorologist~

Take each biscuit and roll it out as best you can on waxed paper. Don’t roll it too thin, just roll it out enough to be able to put some apple filling in the center.

Y’all don’t know this but every time Mama takes a picture that she thinks turned out well she grins and tucks in her chin proudly as she looks at it. So just pretend that big old shadow isn’t there and if she notices it we’ll tell her it is in her head and looked fine to us.

Wow, there’s the flash! lol

Put a heaping tablespoon of filling in the center of each one.

This is the point in the tutorial where Mama had to stop for a minute to try to help my nephew Lane with a math problem. The real problem occurred when she called me to help her figure out how to help him. My engineer husband wasn’t home just then and it was like the blind leading the blind…

Alright well the good news is that Mama turned the flash off in this one but…

~squints~

Lets just use our imagination here.

After you put the filling in each round of dough, fold up the sides and press them together to close them.

Place all of you dumplings in a baking dish (I’m using a 9×13). Top each with a small pat of butter and sprinkle your remaining apples over them. If you don’t have apples left, don’t worry, just go with it and it will be fine. Sprinkle your sugar over the apples*.

*Mama uses half sugar and half splenda when she makes these.

Mama’s Note: If you counted my dumplings, you will notice that I only had 17. My grandson ate two of the raw biscuits and his sister wanted to try one. She was not impressed! But 3 biscuits were missing in action.

Gently pour boiling water over the apples.

Mama says :I know this seems strange pouring water over this but trust me, it will turn into a delicious syrup.

Bake at 350 for one hour.

Sit back and enjoy fall and the all the wonderful flavors that it brings!

Mama: Mama come sit down and eat.

Grandmama: Well just a minute, I’ma cleaning up the stove a little bit coz you done made a mess…

Gotta love ‘em!

P.S. I just read this post to mama. She said “Well sounds like you got us pegged alright!”

“Grandma always made you feel she had been waiting

to see just you all day and now the day was complete.”

~ Marcy DeMaree

From time to time I send out a call for submissions to email subscribers with details on where and how to submit their family recipes. I have a great collection now but as I share more of those I’ll send out another call in a few months so if you’d like to be a part of the Heritage Recipe collection on SouthernPlate.com, make sure you’re subscribed and be thinking over what you’d like to share!

Gratefully,

Christy

Julie as a baby with her Grandmother

Julie Says:

My Nanny, Janet Thomas Joyce, was my inspiration, my mentor, my prayer warrior and my cheerleader. When she passed away a little over a year ago, she left me a legacy of recipes, family photos and many notes and journals written by her throughout her 85 years. Her bible is dotted on most every page with her thoughts and notes – it is a special item that I will treasure forever.

Do you have one of those recipes that the minute you smell it or taste it, you are suddenly transported back to your childhood? This recipe does it for me! My Nanny kept these in the “Fridgidare” all the time. Once the pickle jar was almost empty, she started a new batch! This pickle is tart, sweet, crunchy, and just plain delish! I love to eat these with salty fried catfish or southern fried chicken. I even chop up the pickle slices to use in place of relish in potato, chicken or tuna salads. It is as much a staple in my kitchen as the mayonnaise and butter is!

Candied Dill Pickles

Ingredients

• One large jar (46 ounces) whole dill pickles (I use Vlasic)
• 3 cups sugar
• ½ cup white vinegar
• heaping tablespoon of pickling spice
• cheesecloth, cut into a 3“ x 3” square

Instructions

1. Drain off pickles into a large bowl, reserving about a half cup of pickle juice (save for later). Slice whole pickles into slices - I prefer thicker slices to thin.
2. Cover pickle slices with sugar and stir. Pour reserved pickle juice and half cup of vinegar over pickles. Stir thoroughly. Allow pickles to sit at room temperature for several hours, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved.
3. Place the heaping tablespoon of pickling spice into the center of the cheesecloth square. Tie up corners, or secure with a piece of string.
4. Drop pickling spice bundle into the pickle jar and return pickles and juices back into the jar as well. Secure lid and place in the refrigerator. Pickles need to “sit” for about four days, turning the jar upside down every so often to mix the juices.
5. After 4-5 days, pickles are ready to enjoy!

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Julie also blogs! To visit her food blog, Southern Cooking Light, click here!

Julie and her Nanny shortly before she passed away.

I found a smile today. Every time I tried to give it away, someone would give it right back to me!

Submitted by Donna. Click here to submit your quote.

This morning as I was walking through the den going on my daily dirty clothes scavenger hunt, someone said the name “Sally Mae” on tv and I stopped and looked up in surprise just as if they’d said “Christy Jordan”. I chuckled at myself as the memories flooded back of all the times I’ve answered to Sally Mae in my life.

I have no idea who Sally Mae is but during my childhood, I must have looked an awful lot like her. “Come on in here, Sally Mae” Mama would sing out as she opened the door when I ran in from playing to grab a quick cup of Kool Aid. Or she’d call out to me after running my bath at the end of a long day of playing “Get on in here and get in the tub, Sally Mae”. I never questioned it, even though in retrospect I realize my sister answered to it just as willingly as I did.

I got to thinking about that nickname as I read an email from Elaine Wong who mentioned how her Grandpa used to call her “Lanie girl”. There is something about a nickname that shows an acceptance, familiarity, and its sort of a way of saying “You and I are special”. It’s like in Little House On The Prairie (I think everyone should be required to watch the entire run of Little House On The Prairie before they are allowed to be an adult). Did you notice how Laura, who had been called Laura all of her life, suddenly became “Beth” to Almonzo and Almonzo suddenly became “Manley” to Laura? They wanted a special connection and way of talking ot each other that set them apart and so called each other by their middle names instead of first. Surely we all know what Laura’s Pa called her, do you rememeber it? Half Pint. She was his little tagalong, his best helper, and calling her what everyone else did just wouldn’t do.  She was his Half Pint.

I received my most prominent nickname shortly after I was born, the one my dad still calls me to this day (I don’t know if I’ve ever heard him call me Christy) and wrote about the story behind it in my book (page 171). It’s funny because every now and then I’ll be out and someone I don’t know will call me that, I instantly know where they got it from!

I have so many nicknames for my kids it isn’t even funny but they willingly answer to each and every one. My favorite nickname for myself to date though is Ma, Mom, or Mama, whichever one the two of them feel like calling me on any given day. I’ll never forget though, about two years ago, when Katy Rose asked “Mama, when you were born, how come Grandmama named you ‘mama’?”

I’d love to hear about your nicknames in the comments below and especially the stories behind them! While we work on that, let me show you how to make some awfully good baked beans. This is how my mother has always made hers and I can make a meal out of the beans alone! They get rave reviews at any barbecue and would be the perfect addition to your fourth of July menu. They’re also a breeze to throw together, always a plus in my book ~grins~.

You’ll need: ground beef (cooked and drained), 28 ounce can baked beans (any kind you want), 2-15 ounce cans Navy beans, onion, barbecue sauce, mustard, worcestershire sauce, bacon, and salt and pepper.

*Instead of the 28 ounce can of baked beans you can use 2-15 ounce cans.

Now I have my ground beef already cooked and in the freezer but if yours isn’t you wanna go ahead and cook that before this step.

Place beans (liquid and all) and ground beef in a large mixing bowl.

This is the largest of a set of vintage Pyrex bowls called “New Dot”. This one was hard to come by but it completed my set. The others are blue, red, and yellow. Just in case you wanted to know that…

A lot of folks have asked me about my salt and pepper shakers. They came from Cracker Barrel and I got them on Clearance

I could chat all day but I guess you came here for a recipe so I’ll get on with it…

(~whispers~ but the plate below is a Corelle pattern called “Memphis”)

Chop up your onion

Add to the bowl all of your other ingredients except for the bacon.

Stir it all together really well.

Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray

And pour your bean mixture into the dish.

Top with 3-4 strips of uncooked bacon.

Place this in the oven at 350 for 45-60 minutes.

During that time your husband, who has repeatedly stated that he does not like baked beans, will ask you “Man, what are you cooking? That smells good!”. When you tell him it is baked beans he will say “Oh….really?” and look at you in disbelief. This scenario will repeat itself ever ten minutes or so until the beans are done and then your husband, who has repeatedly stated that he does not like baked beans, will magically appear in the kitchen with a bowl and a spoon.

At least that is how it goes down at my house

Enjoy!

Now pull up a chair while this is cooking and chat with me about your nicknames in the comments below!

Beefed Up Baked Beans

Ingredients

• 28 ounce can baked beans, undrained (or 2-15 ounce cans)
• 2-15 ounce cans navy beans, undrained (or bean of your choice)
• 1 pound ground beef, cooked and drained (can substitute cooked shredded pork bbq if you like)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 cup Barbecue sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Yellow Mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 to 4 slices uncooked bacon

Instructions

1. Spray 9x13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Stir together all ingredients except for the bacon. Spoon into baking dish. Top with strips of bacon. Place in 350 degree oven for 45-60 minutes.
2. This is a very forgiving recipe so feel free to use what you have on hand and modify it to suit your family's tastes.

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Get rich quick … Count your blessings!

Submitted by Debbie Strum. Submit your quote or read hundreds of others by clicking here. Don’t worry if you have a good quote and you think it may have already been submitted, that just lets me know that it bears repeating.

I’ve lost count of how many of you have tried this icing since I first brought it to Southern Plate back in 2008 on Red’s birthday cake. Our family tradition has us putting it over a yellow cake but the combination of chocolate brownies paired with this old fashioned boiled icing is a whole new level of old fashioned decadence – so much so that I’m devoting a whole new post to it!

We’re gonna start with boxed mix made brownies. I used two boxes of mix to make mine extra thick. If you do that you need to cut your oven temperature down to 325 and add about fifteen minutes to the baking process.

As far as which mix to choose goes, I usually get Kroger brand or some other generic but when I went to Krogers this brand was on sale for $1.00 a box. I’d go for whatever is cheapest where you shop because I’ve never met a brownie mix I didn’t like .

You don’t have to use two boxes of mix, one is fine and you get to taste more of the icing!

You can also make them from scratch by using your own recipe or Susan Spencer’s Grandmothers recipe for Blue Ribbon Brownies.  The peanut butter icing will take on the star of the show so go with whatever you prefer and what you have time for but as for me and my house, we will make them from a mix today.

Folks that turn their noses up at anything that was baked for them, be it from a mix or completely from scratch, don’t deserve to have people making them brownies anyhow. Snootiness doesn’t bother me though, because that just means there is extra room in my life for good hearted folks with more sense

For our icing we’ll need: Peanut butter, sugar, a bit of salt, bit of shortening and margarine, little vanilla (I really do need to get a smaller bottle coz eventually someone is going to think they have to go buy a gallon), and some milk.

Place your milk, sugar, shortening, margarine, and salt in a good sauce pot and put this over medium heat.

Stir constantly while you wait on all of it to melt and come to a boil.

This is what it looks like as it starts to melt.

My photo turned out with more yellow than it actually had so ignore that. Clearly, I’m not seeking accolades for my food photography.

I’m more like ~tilts head and looks before snapping the pic~ Eh. Good enough.

This is the icing mixture as it has come to a boil.

What you are going to do is stir it constantly until it comes to a full rolling boil and then stop and let it boil on it’s own (no stirring) for two minutes.

Remove from heat and pour in vanilla.

(I forget this half the time and it still turns out fine)

Add in your peanut butter and stir quickly until it is all melted and well blended.

Folks, I’m NOT kidding about stir quickly here. This sets up fast.

Now this is ready to pour.

Pour over your cooled brownies and spread to cover it all.

Mine would have been all smooth but I was trying to take photos at the same time and that ate up some of the time I should have been spreading.

Allow to cool completely .

You can occupy yourself during this time by licking the sauce pot clean once it cools enough to let you!

Go impress people because you rock. Seriously, you do. Look what you just made!

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

~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you’ll take time to read the story of why this icing is so special to me by clicking here.

You can also find the story and this icing recipe on page 258 of the Southern Plate cookbook.

I want to thank you again for all of your kind reviews on Amazon.com - My mother actually read them all the other day!

“Smile and give your face a holiday”

Doris says, “This was my Mom’s favorite saying.” Thank you, Doris!

Submit your quote by clicking here.

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