• Summer strawberry cake

    strawberry cake

    Have you ever gone strawberry picking? We lived less than 5 miles from a strawberry field for two years and kept promising ourselves that we would go, but we never did. However, we did manage to at least go and buy some of the freshly picked strawberries, which are approximately nine trillion times better than […]

  • Sweet potato-pecan pie (with gluten-free crust!)

    sweet potato pecan pie slice

    Turkey gets all the attention, and you know I love me some cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes. But if we’re being honest, pie is really the best thing about Thanksgiving, right?   I’m definitely in the “a little of each” camp when it comes to pie — I can’t choose between pumpkin and pecan, and […]

  • Breakfast biscuit bar

    biscuit bar

    The waffles were delicious. They really were. But building a make-your-own waffle bar is a mess and kind of a pain. The timing is a challenge, because you don’t want the waffles sitting on the table for too long, or they’ll get cold and a little soggy. And having to make the waffles separately is […]

  • Brown sugar buttermilk pie with bourbon brown sugar sauce

    Pie is a must-have for Thanksgiving, but you don’t necessarily have to stick with pumpkin, pecan or apple… or limit yourself to one. This brown sugar buttermilk concoction is a little non-traditional, but with the custardy consistency of pumpkin pie and a bourbon-brown sugar sauce reminiscent of pecan pie, it would make a perfect addition […]

  • Buttermilk biscuits

    Many years ago — when I was young and single — I used to spend whole weekends reading. Or reading and talking to people on AOL instant messenger. Either way. Anyway, one of those weekends, I read “The Secret Life of Bees.” It’s a lovely book, and you should read it, if you haven’t. But […]

  • Cheesy grits casserole

    As I mentioned, my good friend Melissa visited recently from Toronto. Melissa grew up in Atlanta, and we went to University of Georgia together, so we obviously had to have a Southern-themed football brunch for the Georgia-LSU game while she was here. These cheesy grits were the first thing I put on my list. If […]

  • Four-ingredient scratch strawberry shortcakes

    I can’t even tell you how excited I was when we saw (and smelled!) fresh, ripe, local strawberries the other day. It was like surprise Kate Spade sale-level excitement. And then I found a bag of White Lily self-rising flour. O.M.G. It was like God wanted me to make strawberry shortcakes and share them with […]

  • Deviled eggs

    I. Love. Deviled. Eggs. So much. And they don’t seem so hard, right? I mean, I’ve seen my mom make them tons of times. So the summer after I graduated from college, when my roommates and I were having a Fourth of July party, I decided to make some. It didn’t work out very well. […]

  • Pimento cheese (hold the mayo)

    Is there really such a thing as an Oscars party? I ask because every website I visit seems to have guides upon guides for hosting your own Oscars party, for food that fits various Oscar party themes, and for DYI projects for these alleged parties. But I have never heard of anyone actually hosting or […]

  • Coconut cake

    As my mother and most of my friends will tell you, I may have been the pickiest child on the planet. I am a lot better now — although I still won’t eat lunch meat or cold sandwiches, mushrooms, fish, raw onion, cantaloupe or many breakfast pastries — but even at my pickiest, I loved […]