It's Not About Nutrition

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I adore this meal. It’s one of those recipes that happened kinda by accident… one of those “hmm, what can I throw together with what’s in the fridge” situations. You know the ones. The kind that start with, “I don’t feel like making a real chicken pot pie,” but somehow still turn out better than expected? Yep—that’s this dish. I had some leftover rotisserie chicken (bless those little grocery store lifesavers), a half-bag of frozen peas and carrots, a sweet onion rolling around in the drawer, and a pack of egg …

You know what? Some flavors are just soulmates. Not dramatic, rom-com soulmates… I mean the steady kind — the “I’ve got your back on a Tuesday morning” kind. That’s cinnamon and apple. The other day, I was digging through my pantry and found the tail end of a bag of walnuts I’d meant to toss on oatmeal (which, let’s be honest, rarely happens anymore). I had one apple sitting all lonely in the fruit bowl and thought, “Well, we’ve got the start of something here.” Fifteen minutes later, this cinnamon apple cake was in the oven — and my whole …

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 …

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 …

The first time I tried to make real baklava, I cried. Not dramatic, sobbing tears—just the sort of frustrated, silent tears that come when you realize you’ve buttered yourself into a corner. Phyllo sheets tearing, sticky counters, butter pooling in places it shouldn’t. My youngest, bless him, wandered through the kitchen and asked if I was “making paper crafts or food.” That was enough to make me laugh through it, but the pan of baklava never did set right. We ate it anyway—too sweet, soggy bottom, like eating nuts wrapped in damp tissue paper. Now, my mother (who would’ve been …

The first time I heard the words Beaver Nuggets, I honestly thought my cousin in Dallas was pulling my leg. We were sitting at her kitchen table, back in the early 2000s, when she slid a plastic bag across the counter and said, “Try these.” I figured it was some kind of inside joke, or worse, jerky. But no—it was these sweet, golden, crunchy little clouds. One bite and I was sold. If you’ve ever driven through Texas, you already know about Buc-ee’s. That place is less of a gas station and more of an amusement park for road-weary families. …

It’s funny, the way certain foods just attach themselves to particular moods or seasons in your memory. For me, Apple Pan Dowdy doesn’t belong to Thanksgiving or Christmas, or even to the kinds of gatherings where people are bustling around with clipboards of what they’re bringing. It belongs to the in-between days—the gray, misty Tuesdays, the slightly lonely Fridays where you’re restless but not sure why. The first time I made it, it was one of those bone-chill damp days in late October, years back when the kids were still in high school. I had apples sitting too long on …

You ever cook something by accident and then wonder why it took you so long to try it? That’s exactly how I stumbled into fried cabbage with bacon. One night, I had half a head of cabbage staring at me from the fridge (the kind of ingredient you buy with good intentions and then forget about). I also had a pack of bacon—because honestly, who doesn’t? I threw them together, not expecting much, and oh my word… it was love at first bite. It’s not fancy. It doesn’t need to be. It’s the sort of food that makes the kitchen …

Let me tell you something—if there’s one dish that never, ever lets me down, it’s crab legs. Especially baked, dripping with garlic butter, and served to the people I love when the house smells like heaven and everyone’s a little sun-kissed from the day. Crab legs remind me of summers up at the lake—remember those? Long days that started with too much sunscreen and ended with someone accidentally dropping a hot dog into the fire. The evenings were the best, though. Grandma would holler that dinner was ready, and we’d all pile into the kitchen—barefoot, tanned, and starving. She always …

You ever have one of those days where all you want is something warm, crunchy, and made with love? I sure do—and more often than not, that craving leads me straight to these Southern-style crispy chicken cutlets. Growing up, we didn’t need a holiday or special occasion to fry up some chicken. It was just something we did when folks were around and hungry, which, let’s be honest, was pretty much every weekend. Aunt Sharon would be in charge of coleslaw, somebody always brought sweet tea in a gallon jug, and the chicken? That was my mama’s domain. Golden, crunchy, …