Tag: southern food

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Drinks Featured Recipes

Sweet Tea

Southern Sweet Tea

Southern Sweet Tea

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There is nothing more southern than a good glass of sweet tea. This is simple iconic drink goes great with pretty much any meal and is the perfect cool drink to enjoy while sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch. If you’re going to get into southern cuisine, you’ll need a great sweet tea recipe under your belt.

Sweet tea is one of those things that seem simple but without the right technique can turn out bitter and blah. My mom makes the best sweet tea in all the land and her trick is to not let the tea boil. If you let it boil, it’ll be bitter.

The RecipeRecipe
Sweet Tea
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Drinks
Ingredients
  • 3 Family Size Iced Tea Bags
  • 1 Cup Sugar
  • 7 Cups Water
Instructions
  1. Put the 3 tea bags in a small pot with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil over medium heat.
  2. As soon as the water boils, turn off the heat and let the tea steep for about 5 minutes.
  3. Remove the bags from the hot tea and pour into a pitcher with the sugar. Stir to combine.
  4. Once all of the sugar has dissolved, add the remaining water and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Tips and TricksTips and Tricks

Don’t let your tea boil or it will get bitter. The key is taking it off the heat just before the water and tea boil.

Feed the FreezerFeed the Freezer Make Ahead

If you’re making tea for a crowd, double the tea, double the sugar and use a gallon container of water from the grocery store. Once you’ve mixed everything up, put the tea back into the gallon jug and you have a container to transport your tea in!

Fun FactsFun Facts

My mom uses her own blend of teas when she makes sweet tea. She uses 1 Tetley and 2 Luzianne tea bags.

Categories
Featured Side Dishes

Macaroni and Cheese Casserole

Macaroni and Cheese Casserole
Temperature350°Time30 mins

sides_071014_macandcheesecasserole

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There are two things that everyone in the world agrees on: casseroles are great and macaroni and cheese is delicious.  Here is a recipe from my mom that combines these two universal constants and tops them with buttery and delicious Ritz Crackers.

I can do the whole béchamel-fancy-cheese-blend-sauce-with-panko-breadcrumb-topping mac and cheese but this recipe is my favorite.  It probably has as much to do with fond family memories as it does with the overall deliciousness of this mac and cheese casserole.

The RecipeRecipe
Macaroni and Cheese Casserole
 
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This delicious mac and cheese casserole with a buttery Ritz cracker topping is the perfect side for your next gathering.
Author:
Recipe type: Sides
Ingredients
  • 16 oz Macaroni, Cooked and Drained
  • 16 oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Shredded (reserve 1 cup of the cheese for topping the casserole)
  • 2 - 10 ¾ oz Cans Cream of Chicken Soup
  • 1 Cup Mayonnaise
  • ½ tsp Kosher Salt
  • ½ tsp Black Pepper
  • 3 Tbs Butter, Melted
  • 1.5 Sleeves Ritz Crackers, Crushed into Crumbs (about 55 crackers)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350° and spray a 9 x 13 casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray
  2. Mix macaroni, all but 1 cup of the cheese, cream of chicken soup, mayonnaise, salt and pepper in a large bowl and spread into the prepared baking dish
  3. Sprinkle the remaining cheddar cheese on top of the mixture
  4. Put the melted butter and Ritz Cracker crumbs in a separate bowl and toss to combine.
  5. Sprinkle the crumb topping onto the casserole and cook for 30 minutes.
Notes
Note: This dish can be made ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator (without the Ritz Cracker topping) for up to 3 days. You may need to extend cooking time by 10 to 15 minutes if cooking from the refrigerator.
Tips and TricksTips and Tricks

sides_070514_shreadyourowncheeseShred your own cheese!  It only takes a minute or two to shred, it melts and tastes better, and the pre-shredded cheese has cellulose added to it.  Do you know what cellulose is?  It’s powdered wood pulp.  That’s right, there’s sawdust in that bag of pre-shredded cheese to keep it from clumping.

Feed the FreezerFeed the Freezer

Pasta and casseroles freeze amazingly well so a pasta casserole was practically made for the freezer!  Freeze this bad boy after putting the layer of cheese on but before putting the Ritz crackers on – they’ll get soggy.

Cook from frozen at 375°.  Cook it without the topping and covered in aluminum foil for 45 minutes.  Uncover, add the topping and cook for an additional 15 minutes or until heated all the way through.

Fun FactsFun Facts

Thomas Jefferson helped to popularize macaroni and cheese in the United States by serving it at the White House after trying it while on a trip to Italy.

Categories
Bread Breakfast Featured

Buttermilk Biscuits

Temperature450°Time25 mins

breakfast_biscuits_062314

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I love breakfast more than any other meal.  Breakfast has the best meats, the best breads, and sometimes dessert is incorporated right into the meal.  I’ll take a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit over a club sandwich any day of the week!

Growing up in the south, biscuits were a pretty regular sight on the table – whether breakfast, lunch, dinner or supper.  The difference between lunch/supper and dinner is that dinner is fancier and was more likely to feature all the good stuff that southern food is known for, AKA biscuits.

Nanny (my mom’s mom) taught me the basics of biscuits but she never measured so I couldn’t turn out reliable biscuits like she did.  My goal this year was to “get good at biscuits” so I picked up a book called Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking and a bag of flour and went to work and here’s what I came up with…

The RecipeRecipe
Buttermilk Biscuits
 
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Tender and flaky buttermilk biscuits will make people think that you are a southern grandmother.
Author:
Recipe type: Breakfast
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 3 Cups Flour
  • 4 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 Tbsp Sugar
  • 5 Tbsp Butter
  • 3 Tbsp Vegetable Shortening
  • 1⅓ Cup Buttermilk
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 450°
  2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a large bowl
  3. Cut in cold butter and shortening with a fork, your fingers, or a pastry cutter until you get pea sized chunks of flour/butter/shortening
  4. Pour in buttermilk and mix to combine. The mixture will be clumpy kind of like dry cookie dough.
  5. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and bring together into a dough - being careful not to overwork the dough.
  6. Pat dough out into a rectangle that is about ½ an inch thick and cut into biscuits. I cut them into squares because I didn't want to get out the biscuit cutters and reform the dough but you can cut rounds if you'd like.
  7. Place on greased sheet pan and put into the oven for 12 - 15 minutes. Watch them at the end and pull them out when they are golden brown and delicious.
Tips and TricksTips and Tricks
Feed the FreezerFeed the Freezer

Biscuits are super easy to make and freeze really well.  Get the hang of it and you’ll never buy a bag of frozen biscuits again!

  • Place uncooked biscuits in a single layer in the freezer so they’re not touching.
  • Once the biscuits have frozen, place them in a freezer bag for up to 6 months.
  • Cook biscuits directly from frozen at 375° on a greased pan for 20 – 25 minutes or until they’re golden brown and delicious.
Fun FactsFun Facts
  • A biscuit refers to a cookie in the United Kingdom and Canada.
  • White flour, commonly used to bake biscuits, is almost instantly metabolized into sugar. Biscuits will quickly spike your blood-sugar level.
Categories
Breakfast Featured

Homemade Breakfast Sausage Patties

Tasty breakfast sausage...
Temperature400°Time25 mins

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I’m going to show my hand in the controversial bacon vs. sausage debate and align with Team Sausage.  Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and, while all of the breakfast meats are delicious, sausage is my favorite.  Don’t get me wrong, I love bacon – I just love sausage a wee bit more.  There’s nothing quite like a spicy/sweet sausage patty inside a light and fluffy buttermilk biscuit to get your day started off right.

The RecipeRecipe
Homemade Breakfast Sausage Patties
 
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Making your own breakfast sausage is super easy and you probably have most if not all of the spices you need in your cabinet right now!
Author:
Recipe type: Breakfast
Cuisine: Southern
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 1 - 1.5 lb Ground Pork
  • 1 tsp Kosher Salt
  • 1 tsp Black Pepper
  • ½ tsp Dried Sage
  • ½ tsp Dried Thyme
  • 1 Tbs Brown Sugar
  • ¼ tsp Cayenne Pepper
  • ½ tsp Red Pepper Flakes
  • 1 Tbs Mustard Powder
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400°
  2. Combine all ingredients in a big bowl until it's one big mixture - think meatloaf.
  3. Divide mixture into 8 equal portions (mine are about 2.5 oz each) and form into patties
  4. Place patties on a sheet pan and cook for 10 minutes, flip the patties and cook for an additional 10 minutes.
  5. Test for doneness and enjoy!
  6. You can also cook these on the stove top in skillet.
Tips and TricksTips and Tricks

Here are some things you may not know about sausage:

  • It’s incredibly easy to make at home.
  • You can cook it in the oven!

I had no idea you could cook sausage in the oven!  I’ve been cooking it on the stove top like a schlub for years.  Like bacon, sausage in the oven is super easy and way less messy than cooking it on the stove top.  Give it a shot and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

Feed the FreezerFeed the Freezer

Sausage patties freeze beautifully and can be cooked from frozen on the stove top or in the oven.

  • Place uncooked sausage patties not touching in a single layer in the freezer until they are solid.  Once solid, transfer them to a freezer bag and keep them for up to 6 months.
  • When ready to cook, remove the number of patties you need from the freezer and cook in a cast-iron skillet directly from the freezer until they are no longer pink in the center (about 5-6 minutes per side).

You can also freeze cooked sausage patties and reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop for a quick and mess-free breakfast!

Fun FactsFun Facts
  • 83% of sausages are made from pork.
  • Sausages were called bangers during the Second World War because they contained so much water they exploded when fried.