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Peach, Brie and Ham Sandwich 

9/15/2014

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Every Southern gal worth her salt should be able to whip up easy meals in minutes.  No time for that nonsense, you say? I call bullshit. This sandwich is super-easy to put together and can be customized any way you like. I love to add both a touch of honey and balsamic vinegar, but you're welcome to leave 'em off if you don't want to get sticky. I always go for Cuban bread at the store, but feel free to mix things up with sourdough or even a whole-wheat baguette. Want to use cheddar and apples instead of peaches and brie? Be my guest.


Peach, Brie and Ham Sandwich
Makes 1 sandwich
Cuban bread
5 slices of Maple Ham
4 slices of Brie (cut from a wedge)
1 Peach, sliced
Panini press
Optional: Honey + Balsamic Vinegar


Cut yourself whatever size piece of Cuban bread you'd like.
Lay two slices of Brie on one side of the sandwich and two slices on the other side.
Pile on the ham!
Place three to four peach slices on top of the ham (depends on how large your sandwich is).
Drizzle with honey and balsamic.
Close it up and place on the panini press for four minutes or until flattened.
Slice in half and serve.
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Make Banana Bread, Savor the Last Bit of the Weekend, Yeah.

9/7/2014

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This moist, chocolate-studded banana bread is slowly becoming a staple at my house. My aunt passed along the recipe a few weeks ago, and three loaves have come and gone in my kitchen since then. The key: Ghirardelli chocolate. I'm a sucker for the milk chocolate, but the dark is equally good. Also, take the time to separate the ingredients as the recipe instructs. I've tried it both ways, and it makes all the difference. 

Jeanette's Chocolate Chip-Banana Bread
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (3 large ripe bananas)
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 stick), softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease 9" by 5" metal loaf pan. In medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. In small bowl, stir together bananas, milk, and vanilla until blended. 
In a large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, scraping bowl occasionally. 
Add chocolate chips. Stir a few times. 
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake 1 hour 10 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of bread comes out clean. Cool loaf in pan on wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack. Makes 1 loaf, 16 slices.
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The Only Key Lime Pie Recipe You'll Ever Need

8/11/2014

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Being born and raised in Key West, I've been making key lime pie for as long as I can remember. It's ridiculously easy, so tasty, and the perfect dessert on a hot summer night. I made one this weekend for my gentleman and family, and although we didn't let it set in the fridge as long as you're supposed to, it was yummy enough to be gone within 24 hours.

Feel free to make this recipe with or without meringue, but never desecrate this masterpiece with whipped cream! 

Key Lime Pie with Meringue
Ingredients:
1/2 cup fresh key lime juice* 
6 eggs
1 can condensed milk
1 pre-made graham cracker pie crust
1 cup sugar

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400° F.
Squeeze key limes until you get 1/2 cup of juice. Make sure to strain out any seeds. *If you can't find fresh key limes, then substitute with Nellie & Joe's Key West Lime Juice.
Separate eggs and yolks; set aside egg whites for the meringue. 
Whip egg yolks together, then add condensed milk and key lime juice. Stir until smooth.
Put the pie crust in the oven for 5 minutes (just to brown). Raise oven temperature to 500° F.
Pour the key lime and condensed milk mixture into the pie crust.
In a new bowl, whip the egg whites until they start to form stiff peaks; slowly start adding the sugar. 
Scoop the meringue on top of the pie, using a fork to form swirls.
Put the pie in the oven just long enough to brown the meringue.
Let set in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.
Dig in!

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The Easiest Fried Okra Recipe Ever

8/2/2014

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I am becoming far too familiar with my cast-iron skillet. And, honestly, I'm really not mad about it. I'd like to think that layers of magic have been worked into the skillet over the years, making everything extra-yummy, seasoned just-so and perfectly crisp, when really it's probably just because I'm using gallons of vegetable oil. 

Last week, our neighbors graciously gifted us with a basket full of okra and banana peppers (have I mentioned how I'm not really all that great at gardening?), so we decided to deep fry those puppies. Fried banana pepper is surprisingly good. The recipe below is one I adapted from boyfriend's mom — she's a true Southern belle if I've ever met one — and I know we'll be using it again and again.


Easiest Fried Okra Ever
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup Alabama King cornmeal
1/2 tbs black pepper
1/2 tbs Adobo seasoning
1/2 tbs powdered garlic
1/2 tbs salt
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
5-7 okra
5-7 banana peppers
vegetable oil
cast-iron skillet

Instructions:
Slice the okra and banana pepper into thin rings.
Make an egg wash: Crack one egg into a medium-sized bowl, then pour the milk in. Whisk together until slightly fluffy.
Mix all of the dry ingredients (flour, cornmeal, pepper, Adobo, garlic, salt) in a second medium sized bowl. 
Working from one bowl to the other, dip the vegetables in the egg wash and then roll them in the breading mixture, placing the breaded pieces on a dry plate. 
Once finished, put the plate in the refrigerator to chill (it helps the breading stay on). Pour enough vegetable oil into your cast-iron skillet so it's 3/4 full. 
Once the oil is hot, fry the breaded okra and banana peppers until golden-brown. 
Take out and let rest on a paper towel. 
     



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The Southern Recipe Box: Papa's Cornbread

7/1/2014

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This year, I was lucky enough to receive my grandfather’s cast-iron skillet as a housewarming gift for my digs down South. Now, this isn't the same cast-iron skillet I used to make cornbread with him as a kid (that would be the one pictured above), but it's still spread lots of love and made many memories in my new place. 

It's important to note that my family makes savory cornbread. You'll find none of that sweet "cornbread" shit here. We're proud users of Alabama King Corn Meal and not that Jiffy muffin mix nonsense. Needless to say, I have passionate opinions about cornbread ingredients (and, well, cornbread in general).

To this day, my grandfather still loves to tell people how I’d sneak into the kitchen while the skillet was still on the cooling rack and tear off just the crispy edges. Inch by inch, bite by bite, I’d eventually work my way around the entire crust like a little mouse. I, of course, always got caught, but now that the skillet is mine I can enjoy every bit of crust (and fluffy middle) without feeling guilty.

After years of living hours away, my grandparents are just a quick one hour drive to Montgomery. I always swear I'll go often, but as can be expected, life usually gets in the way. I finally got the chance to spend the weekend with them, and we of course had to make cornbread. My grandmother is going to kill me for posting this photo, but it was so dang nice to be in the kitchen with her again.

Make sure to get your cast-iron skillet screaming hot before you add the cornbread mixture — 
it makes the crust extra-crispy!
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Cornbread
Preheat oven to 450° - while preheating, place 9-inch cast-iron skillet in oven with 2 TBS vegetable oil. Beat 2 eggs in mixing bowl. Add 1 cup water and 1 cup buttermilk. Mix together 2 cups Alabama King Corn Meal, 1 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons baking powder. Stir into egg/milk mixture and blend well. Pour batter into hot pan and bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown (can brown top with broiler if sides are are brown enough).
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My Love Letter to Pimiento Cheese

6/19/2014

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Oh, pimiento cheese, how I love thee.

Seriously. Have you tried the stuff? I’ve become downright obsessed since moving to the South. Pimiento Macaroni & Cheese? GET IN MY BELLY. Pimiento Biscuits? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?  Pimiento Sandwiches? GIVE ME THREE FOR BREAKFAST.

My first taste of this creamy spread came at the Pepper Place Market when my mom came to visit. As ma dukes and I were perusing the stalls, we kept catching wafts of something buttery and perfectly toasted. Lo-and-behold, one of the stalls was serving pimiento sandwiches, and we promptly gobbled one down for breakfast. With my fingers soaked in buttery grease, I knew I’d found a little piece of heaven. 

Traditionally made with sharp cheddar, roasted bell peppers and a bit of mayonnaise, this stuff is pure gold. A lot of people say the pimiento peppers add a “kick,” but I find them mild and slightly sweet in all the right ways. Doing some research for work yesterday, I came across a twist on this classic from Southern Living using goat cheese. And dare I say it might even be better than the original.

This stuff is so tasty I ate it right out of the bowl last night with a spoon. And I thoroughly plan on using the leftover cheese to make a pimiento-goat cheese sandwich for lunch today.

Pimiento-Stuffed Baby Bell Peppers
Adapted from Southern Living

Ingredients:

1 bag baby bell peppers
1 goat cheese log (or 1 container of Publix crumbled goat cheese)
1  medium jar diced pimiento, drained
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400°.
Stir together goat cheese, chopped basil and diced pimientos until smooth.
Cut top from each baby bell peppers, and scoop seeds from bottom. Feel free to rinse them clean to get rid of stray seeds.
Spoon cheese mixture into bottom (and top, if you’d like) of each squash.
Put in the oven on a baking sheet for 10-15 minutes. The goat cheese won’t melt, but you’ll notice that it starts to warm.
Serve and enjoy!

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The Southern Recipe Box: Granny's Zucchini-Nut Muffins

6/8/2014

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If I've learned anything at work these last few months, it's that the kitchen is the true heart of the Southern home. It's sacred in all of its secrets: how to season a cast-iron skillet, how to make Grandma's biscuits just right, and even how to share recipes. I'd always known my grandmother's recipe box was a cherished staple of the kitchen, but it wasn't until she gifted me with a box of my own (OK, so it's a more modern recipe book, whatever) that I understood its power. 

It isn't just a random collection of things to make my beau on a weeknight; it's my family history passed down from generation to generation in recipe form. Not to get all sappy about my lineage, but the strong women in my life won't always be there. This handwritten collection of recipes from both my grandmother's (plus a few from my mother) is a family tree of sorts. Some of the recipes are ones I've made so many times I don't even need to follow the instructions, while others were added just because someone aught to know how to make Granny's Lima Bean Soup.

Either way, every good Southern gal should have at least a handful of go-to recipes under her belt, and this recent edition to my recipe box is definitely one of them. Granny only started making these zucchini-nut muffins a few years ago, but they've quickly become a family favorite. Since this recipe yields about 36 muffins (if you make small ones, if you don't, it's around 24), I love to make a batch on Sunday and freeze the extras for the week (or longer).  

Granny's Zucchini-Nut Muffins

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
4 eggs
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups raw zucchini washed, peeled and grated
2 cups chopped walnuts
2 cups sugar
1 cup light olive oil or canola oil
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:
Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together and set aside.
In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat 4 eggs and sugar until creamed.
Slowly add 1 cup oil, mix well.
Add vanilla, zucchini, walnuts and raisins, mix well.
Fold in dry ingredients, only a few turns, don't over mix.
Pour into greased muffin pan.
Bake in preheated 375 oven for 20 - 25 minutes.
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    Victoria Margaux💋

    I'm a digital + social maven for Cinnabon and Moe's Southwest Grill.
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