The variations of this sauce that have moved through my family are expansive. They began with my grandmother Rella—a complicated woman who never approved of my mother, had a tumultuous relationship with my father and his sister, and yet loved us, her grandchildren, with unmistakable devotion. I recall nothing but love and heartfelt gestures from…
Food Writing: Honoring My Aunt
The Culinary Influence on My Life If you ever have the chance to tell someone how deeply they have impacted your life, take it. Say it out loud. Write it down. Let them know while they are still here to hear it. So much of my path, my direction, and the life I’ve built was…
Gooey Butter Cake
Hurricane Milton showed up this week. To calm the nerves I baked. Fortunately my area of Florida was spared. So as the storm moved on, in the new cool morning temp, I sipped a lavender latte and had a slice of this. Hello Fall. BOTTOM CAKE LAYER2-1/2 cups flour2 teaspoons baking powder¼ teaspoon salt8 tablespoons…
Sheet Pan Pecan Pie
Sheet Pan Pecan Pie When you need to feed a huge crowd, this is what you want on the dessert table. Pecan pie is loved by southerners old and young. Sheet pan desserts can be cut small into bite size pieces for parties where guests graze or like bite-sized snacks. Ingredients: For the Crust: For…
Banana Pudding
Does anyone really have to sell you on banana pudding? The classic southern dessert on potluck, barbeque, cook out tables for any celebration under the sun. I have made this a number of ways but this version is the one I use the most. It’s a little more work than instant vanilla pudding and vanilla…
Miso Tahini Whipped Sweet Potato Bowl with Spiced Beans and Broccolini topped with Brown Sugar Toasted Pecans
Miso Tahini Whipped Sweet Potato Bowl with Spiced Beans and Broccolini topped with Brown Sugar Toasted Pecans This is a great vegetarian dish that can easily be made vegan. But it is far from lacking flavor and depth. Use this as an intricate side dish to roasted meat or all on its own. Ingredients For…
Southern Peach Berry Cobbler
This is a crowd favorite cobbler. Southern style biscuit like batter baked around bubbly sweet fruit and topped with vanilla ice cream. Anything leftover will cause a fight about who gets to take it home. Originally, I made this with peaches and blueberries, my dad’s favorite. But I have landed on using yellow and white…
Food Writing: Latkes for Hanukah
Between Thanksgiving through to the new year over 144 holidays are celebrated around the world. As the earth settles into rest, and the natural world slows down, cultures everywhere give thanks to harvest, family, health, and spirit. I am blessed to have a circle of friends that broadens my celebrations outside of my own family traditions….
Country Ham Scones with Pecan Cane Syrup Butter
Nothing pleases me more as a chef then to immerse myself into culinary culture. I created these scones to highlight cane syrup, one of the souths favorite but also forgotten sweet condiment. These are aggressively southern, utilizing staple ingredients that would be easily found in any southern farm kitchen. Smoky, salty country ham meets sweet…
Food Writing: Preserving Tradition
Exploring the Time-Honored Tradition of Florida Cane Boils from Farm to Bottle The Florida Cane Boil: Liquid Gold, Labor, and Legacy In the backroads of North Central Florida, long after summer’s humidity softens and the air carries the first whisper of fall, a centuries-old tradition still simmers—slow, steady, and stubbornly alive. The cane boil. It…
Slab Pies, Get on board!
Sometimes you just need more pie. Especially if you make good ones, people will just start showing up. So pull out the the sheet pans and feed them! Here’s the thing about slab pies, you don’t really need a special recipe. Just double your time honored passed down recipe and breathe new life into it…
Tarragon Peach Mustard
It was peach season and it was impossible not to pick them up by the pound. But that also meant I had to cook them in everything. And I did. This is a really great condiment you’ll keep reaching for all summer. Tarragon Peach Mustard 1/2 cup white wine vinegar 1/2 cup white wine 1…
Sheet Pan Blueberry Pie
LOVE blueberry season. My Great Grandmother Lola used to get lost in the woods picking huckleberries; a wild blueberry-like cousin. She would come home with bites and scratches all over, but a pile of berries gathered in her dress. I think about her every time I am picking my weight in blueberries at a u-pick…
Food Writing: Hawthorne Creek Creamery
On the back end of Covid I took a trip out to a local creamery where Kevin and Shelby Lussier and their crew have been steadily producing cheese. And they come by it honestly, the family dairy farm sits right around the corner. I wrote an article for a beautiful local publication, Edible, that tells…
Squash and Chicken Tortilla Soup
The puree of squash in this helps to add a hearty consistency to the broth while also sweetening just a tad. If you are going to freeze this soup (I recommend doubling this recipe just for that) omit the sour cream until you reheat to serve. INGREDIENTS INSTRUCTIONS *Cooking the Chicken: I take chicken breast…
Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese
Tomato soup and grilled cheese. While I would gladly eat this year round it really shines in the colder months. Less is growing but all the work put into canning a tomato harvest and processing basil in spring makes the effort so worth it. Fresh and bright. Hearty and comforting. Grill up some cheese and…
Sheet Pan Chicken Pot Pie
Sheet Pan Chicken Pot Pie Ingredients: Instructions:
How many Southern foods have you tried?
I have a seen a few food writing mentors create southern food lists to try and almost every time I find something new. Southern food, with its very complex quilt of origins, has been influenced by many cultures since colonization. It can be often found that recipes in south can vary from town to town,…
Ginger Snap Cookies
In the fall of Florida cane sugar growers take to the field to harvest cane stalks to make annual batches of cane syrup, the sticky coffee-brown southern cousin of molasses. On the outside of east Gainesville lies Morningside Nature Center, one of the only living history farms in the area. They put on a cane…
Chocolate Chip Cookies
This isn’t a typical chocolate chip cookies post where I tell you I have the best recipe. Because I just don’t. There are not only tons of recipes, but people love these cookies in very specific ways. I have at least a dozen recipes for chocolate chip cookies. I think they are all amazing they…
THE FOOD STORIES PROJECT 