Southern Cooking

Although raised in Texas on lots of beef, baked potatoes and salads, my mom came from a very southern family in North Carolina, and oh, my, could those aunts of mine cook!!! And naturally some of that came my way.

In the 70s we began to learn that all that bacon grease and lard wasn't so good for us. We learned that veggies could be steamed and taste good instead of having the life cooked out of them for hours. And that red meat was not as good for us as we might like.

So - along with many friends and even the country in general, I began to change the way I cooked and the food the family ate. I was still a southern cook at heart though so once in a while we ate the old fashioned way. And last night we did it again!

Daughter and Son-in-Law came to dinner. This was SiL's first visit to our home. I asked D if she had any preferences - something she remembered from mom's table that she might like to have for dinner. She did. We had fried chicken, cheese grits, salad, biscuits, gravy and chocolate bread pudding for dessert. :D :D Forget calories. Forget arteries. We just Ate. And it was Wonderful ~ recalling many dinners around many tables, even ones where we hadn't been. We ate, we talked, good food, good conversation, lots of love ~ and they even left and made it down the hill before the snow started to fall.

Neither Dean nor I are used to that much food at night any more so sleep didn't come easily for a while. That's was ok. While I lay awake, I thought about how good the food was, how lovely the evening, and how important family and family traditions are. It was a Very Special evening ~ with blessings