My family LOVES peanut butter. No matter what I cook all week long, we still manage to go through a large jar of peanut butter just about every week. It’s just one of their favorite treats! So today I thought I’d bring you a collection of peanut butter recipes on SouthernPlate.com. I’ve got many more that I’ll eventually get up here but these are the ones I’ve posted thus far.  Look for more peanut butter recipes in the future!

If you or someone you know has peanut butter allergies, see the bottom of this post for some great tips on making all of these recipes allergy friendly. 

We need a song to start this post off…

A peanut sat on a railroad track, his heart was all a flutter! 

Along came a choo choo train (CHOO! CHOO!) 

Peeeaaanut butter! 

Creamy Peanut Butter Fruit Dip

The thing we probably eat the most of next to peanut butter is apples. My Katy Rose loves sliced apples as an after dinner treat and she usually has at least one or two a day. This dip is a special surprise for a kid’s party, barbecue, family get together, or just a nice after school snack. It keeps well in the fridge, too.

No Bake Cafeteria Peanut Butter Bars

We had these in elementary school and just loved them. They are the pre-curser to the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and so very good!

Check out Tricia Hodge’s version she made of them using Sun Butter, which is an alternative to peanut butter for those with allergies, by clicking here.

Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Pie

A restaurant favorite comes home. This post also includes a story about how my amazing Grandaddy lived his life after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.

A Really Good Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

I have three peanut butter cookie recipes that I rotate whenever I’m in the mood to make them but this one is just about my favorite. I love how they are thick and hearty, but still have a delicate crumb.

Peanut Butter Fudge Iced Brownies

HELLO! Brownies with peanut butter fudge icing. Do I really need to say more?

Peanut Butter No Bake Bites

These are the old fashioned no bake cookies so many of our Mama’s used to make in a pot on the stovetop.

How to make Peanut Butter Balls

I make about two hundred of these at a time and still can’t seem to keep them. I store them in the freezer and they are a great protein packed snack that the kids (and my husband) love. Packed with peanut butter, dried milk, oats, and honey, they’ve been a long time family favorite.

Yellow Cake with Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Icing 

This cake is very special to me and I wrote about why on the post. So many folks have fond memories of this type of cake growing up.

Peanut Butter Cake from Scratch with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Icing

A special guest post from a dear family friend where she shares her grandmother’s recipe!

For those with peanut butter allergies, check out my friend Tricia Hodge’s list of recipes she has adapted using Sun Butter on her HodgePodge Mom blog by clicking here.

I love Tricia’s blog, especially her homeschooling tips and posts – and I don’t even homeschool!

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Judging a person does not define who they are.

It defines who you are.

~Unknown

~Submitted by Penny Bolden. Submit your own quote by clicking here.

Be sure and click here to enter my big Dollywood Giveaway!

Grand prize is a complete vacation package. Contest closes at midnight tonight!

Today I’m going to attempt to tell you a little about Dollywood, but you really need to experience it to take it all in.

This is an immaculately clean, family friendly park full of attractions, rides for all ages, shows, and great food. It spans over 150 acres, employs over 2500 people, and is now home to what my husband says is the best roller coaster he has ever ridden in his life – beating out all of the roller coasters at Disney World. That would be the Wild Eagle, which is behind us in this photo. We were able to go on the day of the Grand opening for the Wild Eagle and everyone in my family (except me, my daughter, and my grandmother) rode it and loved it. Ricky and his dad actually rode it three times!

You will see a lot of family pictures in this post and not so many of the park itself because…well I took the photos and I like photos of my family. Another reason why you need to go to Dollywood – so you can see the park without a Jordan family member grinning as they stand in your way

This is my parents with three of their grandsons: Lane, Brady (mine), and Jake.

Jake doesn’t smile. We’re working on that.

My grandmother had a wonderful time there. There are pavilions where musicians are performing and she found one, got her a nice spot to sit in, and sat and watched people perform for hours. We kept going back and checking to see if she wanted to do anything else and she said “Oh no, I’m having me a good time. Did you know I got to meet Dolly Parton’s uncle? He was a nice fella!”.

I didn’t think that was a good time to tell her I got to go backstage and meet Dolly Parton…so I told her on the way home

This is Brady, Katy Rose, and all my nephews that were with us riding a ride that was originally in Opry Land.

If y’all remember Opryland fondly, Dollywood is basically the new and improved version of that.

Brady and his cousin, Lane in their newly acquired Wild Eagle Shirts.

Ricky and his dad, Rick, eating the famous cinnamon bread. Yes, you really must try it!

I’ll try to show you how to make it soon on Southern Plate. Y’all might need to remind me!

While we were waiting on Katy Rose and her daddy to finish riding the Tennessee Tornado for the third time, Mama and I hung out with the boys in a nearby arcade.

The boys thought they were being cool but…

Grandmama showed ‘em how it was done!

And while we were doing that, my sweet little angelic Katy Rose was riding this…

I mentioned she rode it three times, right?

I wouldn’t have been able to walk the entire rest of the day if I had of ridden it just once!

The entire park is just beautiful. You get spoiled really quick

Did you know? If you purchase your ticket and enter the park after 3:00 PM, you are allowed to come back in the entire next day for free!

Now THAT is a skillet!

The park has these huge skillets inside the counter service eateries. I want one like that at home!

Everyone kept complementing me and Katy on our matching outfits throughout the park. Katy would beam and say “thank you!”.

I thought “What a coincidence, I had no idea we were going to match today…” Then it occurred to me that Katy Rose had picked out my outfit for the day – the little mastermind

This is the kids…with Katy front and center being Katy

Probably about 3/4 of the park is rides for all ages (dependent on height for the roller coasters) but there is a big section full of rides that really little kids can ride …along with anyone else who gets the hankering! This has always been one of Katy’s favorites.

My grandmother loved going in the model of Dolly Parton’s house growing up.

I swear Ricky and Katy ride everything. I just photograph

The people in the candy store were very nice and took the time to talk to us each time we went in there (we made multiple visits, of course!). My grandmother said this was one of her favorite parts and the kids loved the free samples.

The Bald Eagle habitats are really something to see! I’d never seen an eagle up close but you can get within a few feet of one here.

They rescue eagles that have been hurt and rehabilitate them.

For the opening of the Wild Eagle, they sold the first seats at $700 each and then donated all of that money to the American Eagle Foundation. But that doesn’t even begin to touch on all of the charities and organizations that Dolly Parton has formed and regularly supports. I honestly don’t know if it would even be possible to list all of the good works she has done.

We had a wonderful day at Dollywood. So much so that we had to come back a second day to get to see and do it all!

It was a great time for our generations of my family – and they all enjoyed it just as much.

Here are most of us, minus Ricky and the kids! From left to right: Rick (Ricky’s Dad), Bill (my dad), Me, Linda (Ricky’s Mom), Janice (My Mom), and Lucille (My Grandmother).

Visit Dollywood! You’ll love the park, you’ll love the Smoky Mountains, and you’ll make a lifetime of memories worth repeating!

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

If you haven’t entered my big Dollywood Giveaway,

you only have until midnight tonight!

Click here to visit that post and enter for your chance at a COMPLETE Dollywood vacation, including cabin, tickets for four to Dollywood, tickets to Splash Country, AND tickets to the Dixie Stampede Dinner show! 

Enter quick because it closes tonight! 

Disclaimer: Dollywood didn’t pay me to do this post and disclaimers really get on my nerves.

 ”If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.”

~Dolly Parton

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.”

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2012/05/peaches-and-cream-cornbread-with-maple-sausage.html/feed 17 http://www.southernplate.com/2012/05/italian-sausage-stuffed-bell-pepper-rings.html http://www.southernplate.com/2012/05/italian-sausage-stuffed-bell-pepper-rings.html#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 15:26:16 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=19157 Pin itI’m giving away a complete Dollywood/Smoky Mountain Vacation! Click here for details.

On April 28th I was honored to serve as a judge at the National Cornbread Festival in South Pittsburg, Tennessee. Little did I know, this would be one of the most difficult jobs I’ve ever had. I’m sure all of the judges would agree with me on that, though!

Each and every dish was truly amazing, blending new and classic flavors together in fresh and fun ways. We finally narrowed it down to three finalist but I really and truly wanted everyone to win!

Linda Carman, head of Martha White Test Kitchens, and myself as I look very serious and try to figure out how I can possibly choose a favorite recipe...

Tim Gladdish from Oliver Springs, TN developed this recipe and I'm so glad he did!

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.

Today’s recipe didn’t end up in the top three but it did make the initial top ten and was my personal favorite. I love stuffed peppers and I love cornbread. This recipe replaces the traditional rice with cornbread batter and adds in a wonderful blend of cheeses along with a really fun way to bake it.

I love how Tim made stuffed pepper rings rather than just stuffed peppers, the rings make a perfect sized side dish and allow for a yummy crust to form on the bottom when it’s cooking. The peppers themselves were cooked just enough to bring the sweetness out and soften them without letting them get mooshy.

In each of the recipes you’ll be seeing from the Cornbread Festival you’ll notice that they use a Lodge Cast Iron skillet and Martha White Cornbread mix because these were the requirements for the competition. Each recipe is so creative and delicious, I know you’re going to enjoy them!

Lets start with these stuffed pepper rings, my favorite!

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

My work philosophy:
1. If you’re gonna do a job, do it with joy. 
2. If you can’t do it with joy, don’t do it. 
3. If #2 isn’t an option, see #1. 

~Source, Me

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2012/05/italian-sausage-stuffed-bell-pepper-rings.html/feed 73 http://www.southernplate.com/2012/05/win-a-complete-dollywood-vacation.html http://www.southernplate.com/2012/05/win-a-complete-dollywood-vacation.html#comments Tue, 08 May 2012 15:48:59 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=19136 Pin it

THANK YOU to everyone who entered. This giveaway is now closed. 

The winners are: 

Grand Prize – Karen Bentley

Second and Third Place Prize – Candy Rogers and Nancy Gordon

To all who entered, thank you for supporting Southern Plate and look for more great giveaways soon!

As someone who fully understands the value of having fun with your family, I’m thrilled to be able to offer a giveaway today courtesy of SouthernPlate.com and Dollywood of a COMPLETE Family vacation to Dollywood and Pigeon Forge – one of the most family friendly places you could ever want to go!

Grand Prize Vacation Package Includes: 

• Four 2012 one-day admission tickets to Dollywood (if you enter the park after 3 p.m., the next day is free so this essentially can be a two-day ticket)
• Four 2012 one-day admission tickets to Dollywood’s Splash Country
• Four 2012 admission tickets to Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede Dinner Attraction
• Two-night stay in a one-bedroom cabin with a loft (cabin sleeps six total)*

Second and Third Place winners will each receive Four 2012 one-day Admission Tickets to Dollywood!

TO ENTER: 

Simply leave a comment  below!

Contest closes at midnight, Tuesday May 15th. Winners will be chosen at random using random.org and announced on this post and on the Southern Plate Facebook Page Wednesday, May 16th. Winners will have three days to respond or another winner will be chosen.

For a BONUS ENTRY: Post a link to this giveaway on your Facebook page and leave a separate comment below letting me know you did! 

Disclaimer: I have not been financially or otherwise compensated for this post but I’m pretty dern tickled to be able to give some of you a vacation so that is a good size payment to me! This park is fun for all ages, my seven year old enjoyed it just as much as my 81 year old grandmother! I personally don’t ride roller coasters but I happily serve as photographer for those who do. Hmm…what else can I disclaim? Oh yeah, *the dates for cabin reservations exclude all peak and holiday time frames; lodging is offered based on availability. And one more personal disclaimer just so I can say I disclaimed in a thorough manner: I hate water chestnuts. Now enter the contest and tell your friends! 

Stay tuned for my post on taking my family to Dollywood! 

If you’re on Facebook or Pinterest, please consider giving Southern Plate a hug by using one of the buttons above. Thank you!

When was the last time you sat outside and sipped on something? When I was little, that was what folks did during their downtime. They’d drag a chair underneath a shade tree, pour a big glass of iced tea or lemonade and sit and sip as they visited.

You used to love company showing up because that meant you had an excuse to take a break from work! This weekend with all of the Derby talk, I got to thinking of apple juleps and how much fun my family has sitting and chatting on the patio so I mixed us up a batch of these blushing ones and my kids were thrilled. This is one of their favorite fruity drinks and I usually make a double batch for us to sip on for a few days. Mixing these delicious concoctions up is as simple as pouring the juice in and stirring, so I do hope you get to try them soon!

P.S. Unlike traditional juleps, these are alcohol free and family friendly

You’ll need: Lemon Juice, Pineapple Juice, Apple Juice, and a bit or Orange Juice

The orange juice is in a measuring cup because it was from frozen concentrate and my pretty pitcher was being used for this tutorial.

If anyone talks to the executives at Dole today, can you tell them that this pineapple juice container is completely ridiculous, please? Something with a resealable lid would be nice. I’ve personally never downed two quarts of pineapple juice in one sitting but maybe that’s just me. Maybe the ridiculous container is part of their marketing plan. “If we refuse to package pineapple juice like every other conceivable type of juice on the aisle, if we withhold the convenience of a resealable bottle, maybe people will feel compelled to drink it all at once! Maybe a huge pineapple juice addiction will erupt! Maybe they’ll feed it to their babies to get them addicted, too! We’ll be rich! Rich, I tell ya!”

See? I uncover evil plots every day. When you start seeing news reports on rampant pineapple juice addiction you can just scoff and smugly say “Pfft, Christy totally said that was gonna happen.”

This is what is going to make our juleps blush, a jar of maraschino cherries.

Who decided how to spell that, anyway?

So we’re going to use a bit of the cherry juice and also put a cherry or two in each glass….and then I’ll pretty much eat the rest as I’m going about uploading these pictures.

Mix all of your juices together in a pitcher. 

Add 3-4 Tablespoons of Cherry Juice to make it blush, then stir.

I blush easily. Very easily. It has something to do with the fact that I have the complexion of Casper, as my friend Tim says.

Place this in a refrigerator and chill until ready to serve.

Some folks (I know you’re out there) were wondering what that picture looked like that you’ve seen in the background of my last two photos so here is a close up. It’s made by Dayspring.

And while we’re detouring… 

So this weekend while making the juleps, I remembered that our PPB (Poor Pitiful Bachelor who desperately needs someone to cook for him, to hear him tell it) had requested something fruity, citrusy, and cold in the form of a pie. Katy Rose just loves and adores PPB so she and I made two pies, one for us and one for him. Katy Rose made his. Can you guess which one it is?

These are Mandarin Orange Pies and you can click here for the recipe if you’d like it. It kind of has a lemon meringue pie taste to it, with bits of pineapple and mandarin oranges.

Ready for the finale?

Serve over ice.

VOILA! Blushing Apple Juleps!

AND I got to put those two years of high school french to good use! You can only imagine how very useful french is in North Alabama, a clear testimony to my wisdom as a teenager.

I’m not usually one to garnish but the sprig of green that you see in this photo is Lemon Balm, part of the mint family. I planted Lemon Balm three years ago and it pretty much refuses to die. It has grown into a huge bush, won’t even die back in the winter, and thrives despite my complete and total neglect. I think that is what it takes to be a fresh herb that makes it into one of my tutorials .

If you pick a leaf of lemon balm and rub it between your fingers, it smells like lemon drops. I like to take three or four leaves and drop them in my tea as it’s cooking (I “cook” tea in a pot, we’ve never called it “brewing”), right along with the tea bags. I discard them with the bags before I mix it up and my tea has just the slightest hint of lemon to it – delicious! Now go make juleps!

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

“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go;

they merely determine where you start.”

– Nido Qubein

Submitted by Jenny. Click here to visit our Give A Penny Page and submit your quote!

I had planned on this being a prettier post photography wise but I ended up needing to run to my doctor’s office and get some stitches in my head about halfway in (More on that later).

So this morning I was faced with the option of writing it using the photos I had or re-doing the entire thing – and I really didn’t want to rephotograph it- so I decided to take Tammy Warr’s advice on Facebook when she said “Girl, just roll with it…. Time is too precious to waste it worrying over the small stuff…. You can’t un-ring a bell and none of us expect perfection anyway. Just think of everything else you could be doing to enjoy today rather than worrying about the pictures for your post…. “

 I thought of deadlines I needed to meet and having time to write this week’s email newsletter. I thought of drinking just one more diet dr pepper while I looked out to watch the squirrels get into mischief in my back yard. Did I mention my squirrels?

We have tons of them here. They’re pretty bold, too, sunning on our back deck.

My kids have named them all Henry.

When people come and eat in our sun room they will always inevitably comment on the Henry’s and y’all know how I like to mess with people, right?

So I got this sign and put it right on the door leading out to where the squirrels play.

~giggle~

I’ve had a good bit of fun with that one.

Okay so on to my post. This past weekend while I was at the National Cornbread Festival, I got to try a cornbread omelet. It didn’t sound all that good at the start but my curiosity was piqued and I was won over at first bite!

If you like omelets with all the goodies inside and you love that delicate crispness around the crust of cornbread, you’ve just met your new best friend (that’d be me–or this omelet). This is a great way to throw together a quick supper or lunch and you can use whatever you have on hand as filling options. It also cooks up in just a few minutes.

Oh and it’s good. I mentioned that, right? Yup, I got to eat a few bites of this one before I headed off to my doctor, but we’ll get into that later in the post. Let’s get cooking!

You’re gonna need: Milk, egg, a little bit of vegetable oil, and self rising corn meal mix.

If you follow me through this entire post, you’ll soon need:

A. Stoneware plate on a shelf about six feet or so up in the air

B. A towel to stem the blood flow of your newly acquired head wound

C. A cell phone

D. A family doctor

E. Car keys and a baseball cap so you don’t freak people out driving down the highway.

But we’re not to that part yet so let’s just focus on the cornbread ingredients.

For the filling, use whatever you like in your omelets or whatever you have on hand.

Veggies, leftover ham, turkey, chicken, anything will do.

I’m using some frozen pepper and onion blend and bacon.

The only thing you really need for your filling is *cheese* because that is what holds this whole shenanigan together.

Place all of your cornbread batter ingredients in a bowl.

Mix that up well.

Basically this is just a thin cornbread batter, kind of the consistency of pancake batter.

So the problem is that at this point I decided to go look through my prop closet and find the plate and table linens that I wanted to photograph this with.

For me, food photography just seems a little silly. I understand fully the need for it and the benefit of it, but I have always felt it was silly with regards to my cooking because I’m cooking to feed people, not to dazzle them with how pretty something is once it’s cooked. That’s just not my thing. Cooking is far too practical to me.

I should have gone with my gut on that.

As I was looking through a pile of linens in the bottom of the closet, a stoneware plate on the top shelf, about six feet above my head, got curious and wanted to see what I was up to (My friend Jason pointed out that the irony in this is that I was attacked by a Southern plate .

A stack of plates fell down on my head and I just took a deep breath and sat there a minute thinking “Okay, that hurt.”

It didn’t stop hurting so I lowered my head and pressed the part that was smarting into the carpet for a few seconds, waiting on it to pass. When I lifted my head, I saw that I was going to have to now clean up the plates and the carpet as well. That’s when I noticed a broken stoneware plate on the floor beside me. My first thought was “Crud. I gotta clean the carpet.”

I had put my veggies in to sauté a bit and forgot about them so I grabbed a towel, pressed it to my head, and hurried into the kitchen to take the very blurry picture below…

So please pretend this is a clear picture. I mean, hey, it’s peppers and onions in a  skillet. Good enough to demonstrate that, right?

Take a small nonstick pan and sauté your filling ingredients. I sprayed mine with nonstick cooking spray but you can use a pat of butter or a wee bit of oil if you’d like to cook them in or if your pan isn’t as nonstick as you’d like for it to be.

Cook this over medium to medium high heat until veggies are just tender. 

Set your veggies aside and then spray the pan again with cooking spray, or add a tablespoon of butter or oil to it.

Place pan over medium heat again. If you opted for butter or oil, let it heat up a minute or two. 

Balance a towel on your head so you can use both hands to take this shot and go ahead and call your friend Jyl on speakerphone because she used to be a paramedic. When she answers, give her a minute to stop laughing after you say “So not all head wounds end up needing stitches, right?” 

Go into the bathroom and take the photo she requested and send it to her and wait for her to call back laughing harder.

We’re really good friends that way.

Pour a very thin layer of batter into the bottom of the skillet and immediate tilt your skillet all around a it in order to spread it out over the whole bottom. Cook for a minute or two, until bubbles form on top and the bottom is browned.

Bite the bullet and call and leave a message for your doctor because you know if you go to the hospital in your town it will end up taking all day, possibly two, and even then you’re not guaranteed medical treatment (Been there, done that).

Then flip.

Cook this for a minute or so until it lightly browns on the bottom.

Flip it over again and add in your filings, beginning with cheese and ending with cheese. 

Answer your phone when the doctor calls back and tells you that you definitely need to come into the office. Tell him you’ll be right there and then hurry and finish up the omelet because you’ve gotten this far and you’re kinda hungry and don’t know how long you’ll be gone…

Flip that over and let it cook just until the cheese begins to melt. 

Take a quick photo, take a quick bite, and head to the doctor. 

Managing all of this and still being back home in time to cook supper = pretty cool.

Seeing the look of surprise on your husband’s face when you answer his question of  ”What did you do today?”  = Priceless.

“I’ve always thought that a big laugh is a really loud noise from the

soul saying, ‘Ain’t that the truth.’”

~Quincy Jones

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2012/05/cornbread-omelets.html/feed 95 http://www.southernplate.com/2012/04/cherry-enemy-pie.html http://www.southernplate.com/2012/04/cherry-enemy-pie.html#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:52:32 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=18958 Pin it

I’m thrilled to bring you this delicious cherry pie today. I just love cold fruit pies and this one is a new spin on my Fresh Strawberry Pie for the cherry lovers among us! Since it uses canned cherries, this is one of those pies you can keep all of the ingredients on hand for and make whenever the mood strikes you.

I had the best time this past weekend at the National Cornbread Festival. I was one of the judges in the big cook off so I got to taste each dish that was entered- and they sure were good! I was honored to be able to serve as judge alongside all of the other amazing folks who were judging and I was so glad there were as many of us as there were because judging was very difficult! One of the juges said “Next year can you try to get at least one recipe that isn’t so good to make this easier for us?”

He says I'm funny. ~grin~

I also had a great time getting to meet many of you beforehand. One little boy in particular stood out. I was talking to his Mama about my book and he was standing between us making short work of a sucker I’d given him. He was about three or four years old and as his mama and I were talking he took that sucker out and looked up at me with a serious tone as he said “You’re funny.”

I knelt down to talk to him with a smile as I responded “I am?”

He nodded and took the sucker out again to reply “Yeah. I seen them story videos of yours. You’re always funny.”

I grinned back and asked him which one was his favorite and he looked at me like I was crazy for expecting him to pick just one as he said “All of them.”

He was so sweet! I had a LOT of kids come up to me telling me that they’ve watched my story time videos and I can’t tell you how tickled that made me. I just love doing those and I really do them for my own fun and for my favorite folks – because I just love kids.

So today I’m bringing you another great story time video that my daughters librarian (the most brilliant librarian ever – read about her by clicking here) sent home with her for me to read to you. But this book has a recipe to go with it, too! So below is the video if you want to know why this pie is named like it is, then head on into your kitchen and whip up this deliciously fresh tasting Cherry Enemy Pie – the perfect way to kill your enemies – by making them your friends

If you would like to see any of my other story time videos, click here to go to that section of the website. 

The Recipe For Cherry Enemy Pie is below the video

Yowza. Don’t you just love that still photo shot of me before the video starts? Eep!

Enemy Pie by Derek Munson

Click here for more story time videos. Keep reading for the recipe! 

You’ll need: Sugar, 1 can of sweet pitted cherries, small box of cherry gelatin, and some corn starch.

You’ll also need a regular sized pie crust (not deep dish) but I’m using my mix in the pan pie crust so you can use that as well if you like. I have a link to my pie crust recipe in the ingredients list at the bottom of this post.

 In a medium sauce pan, place your gelatin (check the recipe below for amount, we’re not using the whole box), sugar, and corn starch.

Stir those together.

Pour in your water and stir again.

Now place this over medium high heat and stir constantly until it becomes translucent.

This will take about ten minutes or so. It won’t become totally clear unless you are really, really patient.

I knew a patient person once – and it wasn’t me. So let’s just go for translucent.

See? Translucent.

Basically, you want to cook it long enough for everything to dissolve together and form a gel of sorts.

Then set that aside and let it cool for a bit, about half an hour.

Once cooled, drain cherries well and place them in your baked pie crust.

See this pretty crust? It’s my mix in the pan one. It’s so easy and I love how it tastes.

Now pour your cooled cherry pie gel over the cherries.

Cover and refrigerate until well chilled.

Serve to your friends, families, loved ones, and your very best enemies

For a Strawberry version of this pie, click here. 

If you would like to see any of my other story time videos, click here to go to that section of the website. 

Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?

~Abraham Lincoln

Thank you for all of the great feedback on the new Southern Plate Popular Recipes Newsletter! Once a week I send out a newsletter to email subscribers with the most popular Southern Plate recipes that week, the latest recipes posted on SouthernPlate.com, news, events, inspirational quotes and more! If you’d like to subscribe by email, you can do so by clicking here. No one will ever see your email address but me and I send out anywhere from 3-4 emails a week.

Have a GREAT day!

Gratefully,

Christy

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2012/04/cherry-enemy-pie.html/feed 47 http://www.southernplate.com/2012/04/my-favorite-quick-fix-snack-greek-yogurt-meets-molasses.html http://www.southernplate.com/2012/04/my-favorite-quick-fix-snack-greek-yogurt-meets-molasses.html#comments Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:39:40 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=18661 Pin it

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.