Sugar & Spice by Celeste

A few weeks ago, we ventured to a wonderful little place called McEnally's Mercantile in Pinson, AL.  It's a great little store, and I hate that it took me so long to discover it.  Their website describes it as:  " McEnally’s Mercantile is a family-owned general store offering hardware, home & garden items, grocery, feed & supplies for those seeking locally made products, home-grown foods and DIY home & décor items."   When we walked through the front entrance, we were immediately greeted by the inviting smells of farm-fresh local greens being sauteed in coconut oil with bell pepper, onion, tomatoes and topped with some of the best bacon you've ever had in your life...all being prepared by a local farmer.  After seeing the rows and rows of local produce, milk, butter, freezers of local meats and several aisles of organic products, I knew I had found my new favorite little place to shop. I filled my cart with peppery arugula, farm fr...

Who's ready for some more biscuit deliciousness???  This recipe is one of my personal favorites when it comes to desserts that are perfect for the upcoming spring and summer season.  It's my take on a traditional shortcake.  Sky-high buttermilk biscuits take the place of the usual shortcake, and juicy peaches mixed with a little brown sugar make a mouth-watering filling.  Freshly whipped cream, a drizzle of maple syrup and toasted pecans take this dessert to stellar status. Recently, I shared the news that my blog had been featured in Wiregrass Living magazine.  This recipe was one of the dishes in my feature.  It's definitely a hit around our house.   In fact, I have a confession to make - After photographing this dish, I unashamedly devoured the.whole.thing.  I mean, I couldn't let such a beautiful thing go to complete waste!?!  Shhh...Don't tell anyone.  ;)  A girl's gotta indulge every now and then. I know that fresh peach...

What do you get when you combine the ooey-gooey goodness of a cinnamon roll with the light and fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth amazing-ness of a buttermilk biscuit? Well, this Caramel Pecan Biscuit Bake, of course. My mouth is watering right about now, just remembering that wonderful first bite of this concoction.  You might be wondering what a "biscuit bake" is.  I had never made one, and really had never heard of one, until recently.  You basically make an easy biscuit dough and press it into the bottom of an 8x8 inch dish.  Next, it's topped with a heavenly mixture of yumminess, which in this case turned out to be melted butter, syrup, brown sugar, chopped pecans and plenty of cinnamon.   Um, yes PLEASE! I was surprised at how high the biscuit dough rose during baking.  I kind of assumed that the topping mixture would weigh it down a little.  Boy, was I wrong.  The first bite is undoubtedly the best.  Trust me, you won't be ...

How many recipes can you think of that only call for 3 ingredients, yet can evoke such special memories in the hearts and minds of so many southerners?  These days, we rely too often on fast food and frozen meals, that we sometimes forget how wonderfully comforting and easy things like biscuit-making can be.  Sure, you can buy frozen biscuits at the store, but there's just nothing quite like a hot, fluffy biscuit right out of the oven that you've made from scratch .  It's rewarding.  Plus, it's so much fun to teach the people you love how to make the perfect biscuit.  It's something that everyone should undoubtedly have in their arsenal, and a lot of people don't realize how dadgum easy it truly is. Last weekend, my two adorable nieces spent the night, and on Sunday morning we hopped into the kitchen for a lesson in biscuit-making.  They were so excited, and it turned out to be quite the fun little adventure!  By the end of it, we were all c...

Cornbread is so under-rated, don't you think?  There are so many fun things you can do with it.  For example, this recipe incorporates buffalo chicken, cheddar cheese, blue cheese and freshly chopped cilantro right in the batter.  Um, yum!  And if that deliciousness isn't quite enough for you, a flavorful salad is served right on top of a generous wedge of the cornbread, making this an excellent addition to your weeknight repertoire.  Before eating this, I had never seen a salad served on TOP of cornbread, which I thought was pretty creative and made for a great pairing. Upon first bite, Brad was hooked.  He loved this cornbread, and I'm usually the only bread fanatic around here.  In fact, this dish is so fantastic, that it actually won first place in the Martha White-Lodge Cast Iron National Cornbread Cook-Off in 2009!  I mean, come on...You can't go wrong here. I was also hooked the first time I had this dish.  It was at the ...