Monthly Archives: March 2012

Pineapple-Coconut Pie

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Our friend John from Louisville, Kentucky was visiting last weekend and he only has a few requests while here, lots of shrimp, a good home cooked German dinner and pie.  I’ve known John and his wife Karen for almost 20 years and way back when we lived in the same town, we often had dinner parties at their place or mine.  Pie was always on the dessert menu. Always.  I wanted to make something a little different this time and have been drooling over this recipe lately.  Our other dinner party guests that night, Jeff and Norma, adore coconut so I figured I couldn’t really go wrong with this pie.  The overwhelming consensus on that wine and beer soaked Saturday night was to declare this pie as simply amazing.

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Tomato Grits

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I love grits and this is coming from someone who had never tried them until after I graduated from college and moved to Mississippi.  At first I was a bit befuddled by them, do you eat them with salt and pepper? butter? sugar?  Finally I decided that straight up with a dash of hot sauce was going to be my way to eat this Southern breakfast favorite.

Last week the local newspaper decided to highlight grits in one of their Wednesday food articles.  When I saw this recipe I knew that I had finally found a way to serve grits for dinner.  The original recipe called for a whole (!) stick of butter to be stirred into the casserole.  Listen, I love butter just as much as the next person, but that seemed a tad bit ridiculous, so I left it out entirely.  If you think it would taste better with some butter, I would suggest using only a couple of tablespoons, as the casserole is rich enough already with the cheese and the sausage.  In addition, you can substitute a can of Ro-Tel, undrained, for the diced tomatoes and diced green chiles.  I also used reduced-fat sausage which only comes in a 12-ounce package.  If you use a 16-ounce package of regular sausage make sure to drain away any excess fat before adding the onions and garlic to the skillet.  This casserole would also make an excellent addition to a brunch menu. Continue reading →

Banana-Nut Bread

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Let’s just get this little fact out of the way to start with, I don’t like bananas.  So you may be asking yourself “Why is she cooking with the darn things then?”.  Well, I have a husband who adores them and the latest hand of bananas got a little too ripe for his liking.  Although sometimes I think he leaves them on the counter too long just so I’ll bake him a batch of banana bread.  Sneaky, I know, but I really hate to throw perfectly good food away when it can be transformed into something else.  This is Jeff’s favorite banana bread recipe out of all the ones that I have tried.  If you don’t have or don’t like whole wheat flour feel free to use 2 cups of all-purpose flour.  Melted butter can also be substituted for the oil which will add a nice richness to the bread.
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Blueberry Muffins

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I have been wanting to get my hands on some white whole wheat flour for quite awhile now.  Recently it (in the form of Gold Medal brand) has started showing up in the stores in my neck of the woods so I brought a bag home on my last shopping trip.  It isn’t exactly white and comparing it to regular whole wheat it does not look that much different.  However, it did seem to have a milder taste in the muffins.  I decided to bake up a batch of blueberry muffins since it was the weekend and it seemed like a nice change of pace from the buttermilk waffles I usually make.  Not to mention that blueberry muffins also make my husband extremely happy.  I have quite a few frozen blueberries hanging out in the freezer from last summer so that is what I used.  If you use frozen berries do no thaw them out or you will wind up coloring your batter a rather sickly shade of blue as you fold in the berries. Continue reading →

Garlic Lemon Chicken Breasts

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Chicken is a ubiquitous ingredient in our house, so this will be the first of many chicken entries on the blog.  The original recipe is from the Barefoot Contessa’s newest cookbook and calls for fresh thyme.  However, I did not have any on hand and really did not want to make a special trip to the store and spend $3 on a tiny package either.  I do have a potted rosemary plant on the front porch so that is what I used.   Besides, lemon and rosemary are one of those magical culinary combinations.  The pan sauce is tangy and garlicky and would be perfect spooned over mashed potatoes.  The sliced lemon that is cooked with the chicken will lend a slightly bitter flavor to the sauce.  It looks really pretty, but if bitter is not your thing then leave it out.  Next time I make this it will be without the sliced lemon.  When we warmed up the leftovers the next day, the bitterness was much more pronounced and not very pleasant.    Continue reading →