It's Not About Nutrition

I don’t remember the exact year when I first saw people raving about Beatty’s Chocolate Cake online—it was sometime between my kids being old enough to pour their own cereal but still young enough to leave socks under the couch like confetti. I must have brushed right past it, too, because chocolate cake wasn’t really “my thing” back then. Strange, right? I was always the one who gravitated toward lemon bars or a cherry pie (my mother made the sourest cherry pies that puckered your whole face, and I miss that). But lately, maybe it’s age or just the way …

So here’s the thing: every December, my kitchen turns into a bit of a madhouse. Between the cookies for the neighbors, casseroles for the freezer, and all the “just one more thing” moments before company shows up, I’m usually one oven meltdown away from calling it quits. That’s why this slow cooker apple cinnamon dump cake is my not-so-secret weapon. I don’t even pretend it’s fancy. It’s literally three ingredients, zero fuss, and exactly what I want after a long day of doing too much. I make it twice a week. Sometimes more. And when someone asks for the recipe, …

The cold side dish that disappears first at every potluck. Always has. Always will. This one takes me back. There’s something about pea salad that just lives in my memory — right next to paper plates on picnic tables, pastel Tupperware bowls, and plastic serving spoons that somehow never made it back home. You know what I mean? My mama used to make this every summer. No matter what else was on the table — fried chicken, deviled eggs, seven-layer dip — the pea salad bowl was the first to be scraped clean. It didn’t matter how much she made. …

Let me tell you, I was raised in a kitchen where Sunday meant two things: the smell of garlic hitting hot olive oil by 10 a.m., and someone yelling, “Did you remember the provolone?” before noon. Cold salads? Those were usually pasta-based, maybe with a little cucumber tossed in for crunch. But broccoli? In an Italian salad? I would’ve given you that look — you know, the one that says, “Are you sure Nonna would approve?” Well, as it turns out, she probably would’ve gone back for seconds. This Italian Broccoli Salad takes all the bold, briny, meaty goodness of …

It was one of those mornings — cloudy, kids already up, coffee barely brewed — and I opened the fridge just starin’ like it was gonna talk back to me. We had folks comin’ over for brunch, and I hadn’t planned a darn thing. But sitting there? A leftover hunk of cornbread, a pound of breakfast sausage, and a half-used jar of salsa verde that had been hangin’ out on the fridge door longer than it probably should’ve. You ever just throw a bunch of things together and cross your fingers? Well, darlin’, that little moment of desperation turned into …

I’ll be honest with you: Egg Fu Yung isn’t a dish I grew up eating at home. It was something we ordered — wrapped in wax paper, tucked inside those white takeout boxes with the metal handles, always steaming and smelling like the best kind of salt and nostalgia. But somewhere along the way — probably in my 30s, after a few too many soggy versions from corner joints — I thought, “Why don’t I just learn to make this myself?” And let me tell you, once I did… it was like unlocking a little secret.Because it’s not fussy. It’s …

Years ago, I was in the middle of a late summer cleanup — you know, that awkward stretch when your fridge is mostly condiments, half a bell pepper, and whatever you forgot you bought at the farmer’s market. I was staring down some tired-looking onions and a few peppers, trying to convince myself I didn’t need to order takeout again, when I remembered something. My friend Lucia — raised just outside of Lucca — once made this thing she called scarpaccia. I couldn’t even pronounce it right the first time (I think I said “scarpazza?”), but oh my goodness, the …

You ever take a bite of something and immediately think, “Now that’s a sandwich”? That’s exactly what happened the first time I made these Muffuletta Sliders for our neighborhood block party. It was a late summer afternoon — the kind where everyone brings a folding chair and a covered dish — and I was determined not to show up with another pasta salad. I wanted something bold. Something a little different. Something that said “I put some love into this, y’all.” Well let me tell you — by the time I went to grab one for myself, they were gone. …

When I was a girl, my parents would sometimes drive us to Tybee Island in the evenings just to watch the shrimp boats head out. You’d see the horizon dotted with tiny lights, like fireflies dancing on the dark water, and I always imagined my father knew each captain by name. The smell of salt and diesel wasn’t pretty, but it felt like part of home, and it’s one of those memories that never really leaves. Now, years later, whenever I make this dip, I think of those boats and that coast. It’s a simple recipe—no fussy extras, just shrimp …

You know those recipes that aren’t showy or complicated, but people always ask for the recipe after one bite? This is one of those. I first made this lemon butter cake on a random Tuesday when the weather couldn’t decide if it was spring or still dragging its winter boots around. I had a couple of lemons on the edge of “use me now” territory, and a box of cake mix that had been loitering in the pantry for… let’s just say, a while. What came out of the oven was this buttery, tangy, creamy thing that somehow tasted like …