classic southern cheese grits

Cheese. Grits. CHEESE GRITS. Need I say more?

If you're from the south, then you know the magic of which I speak. If you've never had them, you MUST try them immediately. Like cheesy mashed potatoes and polenta had a delicious baby.

They're breakfast food. Dinner food. Anytime in between food. And they're so EASY. They take just a few ingredients and about 15 minutes to make.

Grits are made of finely ground corn, which (I deduce) would make them gluten free! Hooray for my gluten free friends.

green chile and chipotle tortilla roll ups recipe

You know those amazing recipes from childhood that you just know by heart? The kind that aren't written down anywhere but are etched deeply into your brain? This is one of those.

For as long as I can remember, my mom has made these tortilla roll ups. Some folks call these "pinwheels." They are a fantastic party appetizer. A real crowd pleaser. And they are sooooooo simple and take just a few ingredients.

I of course couldn't leave well enough alone, though, so I added a special spicy ingredient.

game day chili

This past weekend we hosted a little football watching party. Only, TCU wasn't playing (we figured out that morning...after putting all 4 of us in our TCU gear. Oh well). Also, we forgot to actually watch football. Instead, we watched these two: 

And these three. They are best friends. It's like Harry, Ron, and Hermione only with less magic and more tantrums.

Didn't matter to me one bit. Football is more of a good excuse to socialize rather than something I actually want to pay attention to. I had a lot of mouths to feed: Henry and his two best buds plus Max and his best bud plus their moms plus the hubs plus me. I whipped up a big o'l pot of game day chili for the occasion. This recipe can serve 12 hungry adults. Or 11 adults and one giant beast baby.

Jump to the end for the short version of the recipe. Or read along because it's more fun that way.

breakfast popovers with italian sausage and cheese

This weekend I was delighted to get out of the house attend a baby shower for my friend, Christina, who is expecting her first baby on November 8th. Her little man is due almost a year to the date from Max's due date (which was November 9th), so I think that's pretty cool.

Typically when I escape the house the boys either consume leftovers or otherwise fend for themselves for dinner, but I decided to be kind since I was leaving them on a weekend and whip up something for them before I left. The easiest way to my husbands heart is brinner (breakfast for dinner) so I went with that.

When these came out of the oven, I was barely able to make myself leave the house. The entire place smelled like an Italian bakery.

If you've never had a popover, it's basically a cross between the best dinner roll you've ever had and a souffle. They are light and airy on top, and taste almost a little eggy, like a souffle. These are made by layering Italian sausage and garlic at the bottom, covering with smoky cheese, and then pouring the blender-whipped batter on top. Then they "pop over" the muffin tin into these heavenly pillows of deliciousness. Then you pour maple syrup on top, if your heart desires.

I cannot claim credit for this recipe. Every amazing recipe that I make (that isn't either a derivative of a family recipe, a fabulous Pinterest, or a happy accident that I come up with myself) basically comes from either Giada De Laurentiis or Ree Drummond. This one happens to belong to Giada.

I met her in person once. She's just as darn cute and kind and gracious as she seems on TV. 

Click here for the full recipe. Hers calls for smoked mozerella, but I couldn't find any at my grocery store, so I used smoked provalone. It was epic.

The popover looks lonely and afraid. He was no match for me. Muahahaha.

Any recipes that you guys have made lately that you're in love with? Any other popover lovers out there? I'm ready to start cooking some fall foods in the next few weeks, and this one certainly fit the bill.

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easy garlic herb Focaccia bread

bacon jalapeño cheesy skillet cornbread

white wine and asparagus risotto

tara's house salad dressing

classic summer coleslaw and cheater's BBQ sandwiches

Summer may be winding down where you are, kids heading off to school and all that jazz. But here in Texas, it's still one point five million degrees outside, my littles aren't in school, and technically summer doesn't end until September 23rd, so it's still summer in my book.

I thought I'd share one of my favorite summertime recipes - classic summer coleslaw. Far superior to the pre-made coleslaw dressings fo SHO. And it is so hilariously simple. And it goes great alongside my cheater's slow cooker BBQ sandwiches.

I call this cheaters BBQ, because no self respecting Texan would actually believe that a slow cooker can give you authentic smoked BBQ flavor. It can't. But it is far cheaper, easier, and weeknight friendly. It's also great to make for a crowd. Make this now and save your money to go out for real BBQ on a date night or something. No sense in spending $15 a lb on the real stuff for your whiny kids who won't appreciate it anyway.

chicken lettuce wraps

Last week I got a magazine from my neighborhood in the mail. Yes, my neighborhood is apparently fancy enough to write and publish a monthly (quarterly?) magazine. I mean, we have a golf course and a country club and people roam the streets in golf carts, but let me assure you, we are members of neither.

We do pay $50 a year to the HOA to have American Flags placed in front of our house at every patriotic holiday and have pretty flowers at the neighborhood signs. And it supports our local Girl Scout troop. So we're not total Scrooges.

At any rate, thankfully there are some even fancier people in the 'hood that put out this circular. This month amongst the 57 pages of ads there was a recipe for healthy chicken lettuce wraps. I couldn't stand the taste or smell of Asian food while I was pregnant with Max, so I'm making up for lost time now.

Surprise of the century, my kid actually ate this. The kid that has not willingly put a vegetable in his mouth in 2 years. I guess if you dice it all up, he wasn't as offended by it? He even wanted Sriracha on it. That's my boy.

yummy chicken salad

Something about summertime makes me a bit, how do you say, laaaaaaaazy in the kitchen. When the leaves begin to turn and temperatures drop in the fall, I'm a power house. But triple digit temps mean that I'm not really bringing it in the cooking department. Eh, such is life.

Enter another delicious and not at all intensive recipe perfect for lazy summer people like me. It's based on the world's best chicken salad in the world, which is obviously from Potbelly.

If you're feeling extra lazy, you can buy a rotisserie chicken and just cut it up. No judgement here. But just in case, I'll tell you how I cook my chicken.

tara's house salad dressing

Fact: homemade salad dressing is far superior to store-bought salad dressing.

Fact: I only ever remember this 3 minutes before dinner will be ready.

Fact: This dressing can be made in under 3 minutes.

summer bucket list #9 - jalapeno margaritas

This post requires very little introduction. If margaritas are good, jalapeno margaritas are better. Especially poolside. 

Enough said.

THE GOODS:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1-1/2 cups good tequila
• 1/2 cup orange liqueur (Triple Sec or Grand Marnier or similar)
• 3/4 cup lime juice
• 1 sliced jalapeno
• lime slices for garnish
• Kosher salt (optional)
• ice

STEP ONE: Make your simple syrup. On the stovetop combine the sugar and water over medium-high heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Don't let it boil, otherwise you will have carmel, and that's not great for margaritas. Allow this to cool.

If you are impatient, just use less water in the pot and add a bunch of ice cubes after. I'm a lazy genius.

STEP TWO: Combine all ingredients into a pitcher. Stir it around and rough up the jalapenos a bit with a wooden spoon. If you only want a hint of heat, strain out the jalapenos before you serve. 

STEP THREE: Rub the rim of your glass with a sliced lime. Pour your salt onto a plate. Swish the glass rim into the salt. Fill the cup with ice, pour over your delicious concoction, and serve. Serves 3-4.

I'm a Texan girl who used to eat jalapenos straight off the plant as a child. My stomach can't quite handle that much heat now, but I do like things spicy. About 10 minutes into this drink I did want to die just a little bit. I took out my jalapeno slices and was good to go again. You could also use less jalapeno or take the seeds out.

Word to the wise, if you have any left over, for the love of God don't store them overnight in the fridge with the jalapenos still in the pitcher. Not that I did that.

Another item checked off our summer bucket list! This was the most delicious, by far.

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY:

jack & coke float

bacon jalapeño cheesy skillet cornbread

weeknight tomatillo chicken enchiladas and cilantro-lime rice

pool renovation diary (or, the death of swamp thing)

summer bucket list #14: yummy (healthy) frozen yogurt popsicles

One of the more delicious items that I added to our summer bucket list is making homemade popsicles. It's crazy-simple, yet somehow, I completely forgot to do this last summer. Whoops. We'll chock that up to pregnancy brain (along with everything else I neglected to do last year).

These are beyond simple to make, like to the point that it barely qualifies as a recipe. There are thousands of things you can do to customize them to your liking.

so southern pinto bean soup

Pinto bean soup is a staple of the South. And when I say "the South" I mean the oooold South. I grew up here in Texas and remember eating my Grandmommy's version as a child. She tells me about the version that her mother-in-law made.

Food is always better with a story. Am I right?

My Grandpoppy grew up in rural Arkansas. He was the baby of 7; 5 older brothers and 1 sister. I think they may have been "over" having kids by the time he came along. His parents let his aunt name them. She chose the name Wenford. Seriously? That's not even a word. Which is why he went by Ray, or Ben, or a myriad of other names (a funny story for another day). But he was an awesome grandpa and I love and miss him so much that we gave Max the middle name of Ford after him. Because I love Max enough not to name him Wenford. Also because Grandpoppy made me promise before he passed away that I wouldn't give any of my children his awful name. He was awesome.

They lived on a cotton farm when he was a child. His dad would go "to town" twice a year for supplies. It was a full day's journey each way. By wagon. As my dad says, they may as well have been living in the 1700's.

He was born in the early 1930s, and everyone was still trudging their way through from the Depression. He told my dad a few times that the only food they had to eat sometimes was pinto bean soup and cornbread. Sometimes just cornbread. This meal is cheap, and there were lots of mouths to feed. Their house had no electricity or running water. Grandpoppy would tell me that they could see through the cracks in the walls of their house straight to the outside.

Makes me realize that most of what I complain about does not actually qualify as a problem.

So his momma made the soup, and her momma probably made the soup, all the way back until goodness knows when. Everybody does it a bit differently. It's one of those "little of this, little of that" kind or recipes.

This is my version. Probably a smidge fancier than my Great Grandmother's was. And it is awesome, and it makes me feel connected to my Grandpoppy.

easy garlic herb Focaccia bread

Ever since becoming a stay at home mom, I've had this burning desire to make a show stopping homemade loaf of bread. It's like some latent Suzy Homemaker gene that was always there has been kicked into overdrive. 

I've experimented with tons of recipes, but the perfect loaf was still alluding me. I guess that yoga-mat-plastic additive really is the difference between a dense homemade loaf and a super-soft store bought loaf.

Most of the recipes I've found are profoundly irritating because they tell you that you'll "just know when the dough is ready." Thanks, Julia Child. Kind of like gardening when the plants will just "tell you when it's time to split them / prune them / transplant them / water them."

Well, I don't speak plant and I don't speak dough.

Until now.

On our stay-at-home-mom budget, we don't have the leisure to eat out very often. I miss the warm, yummy focaccia and artisinal breads that they give you at Italian restaurants before your meal. I wanted something equally yummy to go with the Gorgonzola Pasta dish I shared with you last week.

I also needed a way to use the absurd amount of Oregano growing in my back yard.

perhaps I DO speak gardening

And, friends, here it is. This garlic herb Focaccia bread is a no guesswork recipe that even I couldn't screw up. I added lots of photos to help you along the way. It takes very little skill, but does require a bit of time. Save this for a weekend or a lazy rainy day.

Thumbs up. Let's do this.

THE GOODS:

• 5 cups flour. I used 3 cups all purpose and 2 cups bread flour, because that's what I had around. You can use a combination like I did, or just go with all purpose.
• 1-3/4 cups warm water (110°)
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon Kosher salt 
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
• Fresh herbs of your choosing (hearty ones like rosemary and oregano work great and stand up to the high temperatures in the oven) or dried Italian blend herbs
• 3 cloves fresh garlic

HOW TO:

STEP ONE: Proof your yeast. I microwaved my water in my measuring cup for 1.5 minutes until the temperature reached 110°. I don't like the guesswork of "warm" water - what's warm to me might not be to you. 110° - 115° is just the right temperature to make yeast happy. Add your yeast and sugar (aka yeast food), stir, and then leave it alone for 15 minutes.

before proofing

after proofing. very "fragrant" and puffy

STEP TWO: While the yeast is working, combine your flour, salt, and 1/2 cup olive oil in your Sir Mixalot. After your yeast concoction looks totally disgusting like the photo above, mix that in on low speed. Once the dough comes together, set your timer for 5 minutes and increase the speed to 4. If your mixer starts bucking like a bronco, reduce the speed to 2 and just mix 1 minute longer. 

If the dough is crazy-sticky, add a sprinkling of flour. If it's dry and stringy, add a tablespoon of warm water at a time until it looks like the photo below.

dough has just come together. set timer for 5 minutes and increase to speed 4.

dough has been kneading for 5 minutes and is ready to go.

STEP THREE: Transfer your dough to your work surface (which you've sprinkled with a bit of flour). Just knead it for a moment to get it into a ball. Place in an oiled bowl - use either olive oil or olive oil cooking spray - and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise for 1.5 to 2 hours, until it has doubled in size. I went to the grocery store, came back, and it was just right.

before rising

after rising 2 hours. see, it's huge.

STEP FOUR: Get out a jelly roll pan (or a cookie sheet with sides. Is that the same thing?) and drizzle the other 1/2 cup olive oil all over it. Yes, it looks ridiculous. Don't worry, your bread will soak all of that goodness up.

Plop your dough onto the sheet and start working it with your fingers like you're giving it a deep tissue massage. You want to poke holes with your fingers all through the dough as you stretch it to fill the cookie sheet. It should look like the cellulite on the back of your legs. Oh, you don't have cellulite? Well, I hate you. Eat 9 loves of this bread and then you will.

hey, it's starting to look like focaccia! as dimply as a baby's bottom.

STEP FIVE: It needs to rise again. Stop groaning, it will be worth it. Drape that plastic wrap you used earlier loosely over the top and let it rise again for an hour. Go paint your nails or have a cup of iced coffee or something. Preheat your oven to 425°. I have a convection oven, so that's actually 400° convection, if you care.

see? it's all big and fluffy-like.

STEP SIX: Chop up your fresh herbs and garlic cloves and sprinkle all over the top, like so. Also drizzle a bit more olive oil (because we haven't used enough already), Kosher salt, and black pepper over the top. If you like calamata olives or roma tomatoes, that would be delicious to add now as well. My family hates olives, so I couldn't add any. Life is tough.

pretty, pretty dough.

STEP SEVEN: Seven? Dear Lawd let's bake the friggin thing already. I'm starving. Bake your bread for 22-27 minutes. The top should be golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean (albeit slightly covered in olive oil). Remove from the oven and let it rest 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack. 

it's finally done!

It will be incredibly difficult not to dive in right this very second, but if you'll let it cool for 20 or 30 minutes, you will be rewarded with extra soft focaccia.

This bread is awesome for paninis, dunking in soup, or devouring alongside any pasta dish known to mankind. You can also slice it up and freeze it to thaw and enjoy later.

Hopefully you're feeling brave and give this recipe a shot. Let me know if you do!

Thanks to The Noble Pig for the Focaccia recipe inspiration and being the first Pinterest bread recipe ever that turned out like actual bread. They have lots of other great recipes up in there, so go take a peek.

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pasta with gorgonzola cream sauce

white wine and asparagus risotto

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super dreamy restaurant worthy tiramisu

pasta with gorgonzola cream sauce

There once was a time where I did not know how to cook. At all. The Hubs and I sustained in our early days of marriage on Pasta Roni, frozen chicken patties on a George Foreman grill, and Hamburger Helper. Happy times, sad menu. God bless the man, he never complained. To this day, though, he can't eat Pasta Roni. And thankfully he doesn't have to.

This was the very first gourmet dish that I learned how to make. After months of enduring dinner-from-a-box, I think the Hubs was ready to marry me all over again after he tasted this. I found it in a random cook book that I no longer have, because the second dish I made from the book was so horrendous that I got rid of the book (and the food) immediately. 

I've improved upon it over the last ten (OMG...TEN!) years to what it is today. Which is pure lick-the-pan-until-it's-gone deliciousness.

Gorgonzola pasta is one of my go-to dishes when we're having people over and I want to make something that seems really fancy but that I don't have to fuss over too much. Luxurious creamy cheese sauce is usually pretty popular in my circles. Unless you hate blue cheese. If that's the case, don't touch this recipe with a ten foot pole.

If you don't know much about it, Gorgonzola is just a fancy type of blue cheese. They taste really similar, so you can always substitute good o'l blue if you can't find Gorgonzola.

super dreamy restaurant worthy tiramisu

OK, not to toot my own horn, but TOOOOOT, this is the best tiramisu you well ever put in your pie hole. It is both rich and light. It is sweet, but not too sweet. It has both coffee and rum in it. 

This tiramisu made the 60 year old former CEO of my company do a high kick. In the office. In front of people.