Sides

When I was a young girl, my family attended Mt. Zion-St. Luke Lutheran Church in Oglethorpe, Georgia. The Methodist church was directly across the street from our church and most of my friends were either Baptist or Methodist, so I felt a little like an outcast sometimes at school. I loved our church though and …

A few weeks ago I bought some ready-made stuffed peppers at Costco and we absolutely loved them. There were six or eight in the container so I put most of them in the freezer and we got several meals out of them. Then we wanted more, so I went to work coming up with a …

Homemade sweet potato fries, oh how I love thee! Do y’all like sweet potato fries? They are so easy and make a great side dish for so many things: chicken, pork, fish, or even just a big salad. And homemade sweet potato fries are way better than any frozen ones you can pull out of …

Do you ever just want to eat a bowl of fresh vegetables? That’s how we felt a couple of weeks ago. We’d had a pretty indulgent weekend with a large wedding shower for Brian and Caroline and a houseful of company. Lots of food, lots of wine, and lots of fun! But, on Monday we …

Fresh salsa made with garden fresh tomatoes, bell peppers, Vidalia onions, and herbs. It’s a great sweet and savory appetizer! If you’re lucky enough to live in the South, then you know we have an abundance of choices when it comes to fresh vegetables all throughout the spring and summer. One of our favorites around …

I’m not sure what makes this a Texas dish, but it sure is good wherever it comes from. Texas Caviar is basically a salsa made with black-eyed peas. And there are probably as many variations as there are Texans! We like it with lots of fresh vegetables like bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, and corn …

Mexican creamed corn with jalapenos, bacon, scallions, and cilantro is a great side dish for a potluck or cookout. The bacon got you didn’t it? Bacon just makes everything taste better. Well, most things. Bacon is trendy at the moment so folks are putting it in almost anything, even dessert. Sorry, but I don’t want bacon in …

I have no idea why I have never shared this recipe with y’all because it’s one that I make all the time. It’s easy, there’s no butter, and it’s pretty universally liked, except by my children who want only traditional classic Southern style green beans. But everyone else loves these green beans. All you need …

Roasted baby potatoes with garlic and Italian herbs are crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. Easy to make! What does your family meal time look like? Do you sit down with your kids and have dinner together on a regular basis? If you’re juggling sports, after school activities, homework, traffic, …

So simple but so tasty, this Parmesan Roasted Asparagus will have your people coming back for more and more! You just roast the asparagus on a baking sheet then add a little grated parmesan cheese. The whole thing takes less than 20 minutes and you have a perfect side dish.  If you don’t like asparagus …

When I was growing up, hamburgers were a regular feature on my mother’s menu. Ground beef was cheap, largely because we grew our own cows, and every kid loves hamburgers so there were no complaints about what was for supper. Mama usually fixed the hamburgers in a cast iron skillet and I still prefer them …

This easy polenta recipe is creamy and cheesy and bakes in the oven—no stirring required! Here’s what I don’t understand about polenta: How is it that Southerners never discovered this dish? We do everything imaginable with cornmeal—bake it as cornbread, fry it as hushpuppies, use it as breading or thickener—how did we never cook it …

Creamy sweet potato casserole with pecan and brown sugar streusel topping. It strikes me as so funny that this dish is considered a vegetable or side dish in most old cookbooks. It has basically the same ingredients as sweet potato pie…why is it not a dessert? But I say that and folks just look at …

Three Bean Salad is a tangy and sweet bean salad that can accompany grilled or roasted meats and makes a perfect addition to a vegetarian menu. Thanksgiving menus abound with starchy, cheesy, fat-laden dishes. That’s what makes Thanksgiving so wonderful! You get to eat all the potatoes, cheese, bread, and butter that you want and …

Farro Salad—a mix of farro, chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, arugula, and golden raisins, it hits all the right notes. Savory with just a touch of sweetness.  We’ve been going to the Marietta Square Farmers’ Market just about every weekend, and one of my favorite booths, Simply Fresh Market, has several healthy salad options, one of which …

Honey Cumin Okra is quickly sautéed in a skillet with garlic, cumin, and a touch of honey. The perfect way to cook okra in less than three minutes! If you don’t have this wonderful cookbook, Eat Like There’s No Tomorrow, by Hans Reuffert, then you need to order it today. I t’s full of beautiful photographs, …

I was in Oxford, Mississippi a couple of weeks ago, visiting my dear friend Rita’s daughter, who is a recent Ole Miss graduate. We dined with Calli and her friend Alex at a lovely restaurant called Snackbar, where we had delicious food such as truffle/parmesan frites (yes, they were as good as they sound). Rita and …

Roasted Brussels Sprouts, caramelized with a little brown sugar and spiced up with some chili powder and cumin…these are divine! My grandfather did not grow Brussels sprouts. He grew cotton for a few years, corn, peanuts and soybeans—and he would fall over laughing if he knew that people now pay good money to eat soybeans right …

Pearl onions, caramelized with a glaze made of sherry and honey…these are delicious! Takes about 10 minutes to put together and an hour to bake. My friend Ashley made these roasted pearl onions years ago at a dinner party and shared the recipe with me. Everyone at the dinner party ate these onions until we …

Creamy mashed potatoes with butter and sour cream will have your family coming back for seconds every time! Nothing says comfort food to me like homemade, creamy mashed potatoes. Butter, cream, warm potatoes…there’s just something about that combination that feels good from your tummy to your soul. I use the same combination of ingredients for …

Oven-roasted French fries, a little spicy and slightly crunchy on the outside and velvety smooth and soft on the inside. Your family will love these! We are a French fry loving household. We would eat them every day if we could…but unfortunately, we cannot or we would be as big as the side of a …

My friends think that since I have a food blog and sometimes like to cook fancy stuff, that I never take shortcuts or use convenience products. Nothing could be further from the truth. While I do like to use fresh, real (as opposed to processed), or homemade ingredients as much as possible, sometimes when you’re …

Fried rice that you can make at home! It’s easier and better than take-out and you can add vegetables as you want! Take-out fried rice is often greasy–it is fried, after all–and tasteless. But even bad fried rice is still usually consumed by the non-discriminating palates around here. And sometimes, take-out is not available or …