Sugar & Spice by Celeste

Glorious strawberries are coming into season here in Alabama, and what better way to celebrate than with a decadently delicious Strawberry Shortcake??  But, not just any old Strawberry Shortcake, my friends.  I've created a recipe for Toasted Pecan Buttermilk Biscuits that make such an absolutely perfect addition to the traditional strawberry shortcake recipe.  And guess what?  I recently got to share this recipe on a Good Day Alabama cooking segment on Fox 6 News here in Birmingham, which is scheduled to air on Monday morning, April 30th!   I couldn't be more excited to share this experience and recipe with you all.  I'll update this post with a link to the video as soon as it's ready! UPDATE:  CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE SEGMENT! I'm particularly proud of the Toasted Pecan Buttermilk Biscuit recipe.  I wanted to find a way to kick things up a notch when it came to regular ole' buttermilk biscuits.  Toasted p...

Boy was I excited when I was selected to participate in the OXO Blogger Outreach Program recently.  As part of the program, they sent me one 5 lb. Food Scale with Pull-Out Display to put through its paces, and a second one to giveaway to one lucky reader!!! A food scale is one of those things that I've been wanting to purchase for a while now, but for some reason or another just haven't gotten around to it.    They come in handy in the kitchen in so many situations. There are several things that I love about this particular OXO scale: 1.  It's small, slim and doesn't take up a lot of room in my kitchen. This is great, because cabinet space real estate is getting harder and harder to come by around here! 2.  The digital display is easy to read, with large numbers and an illuminated background. 3.  If you're measuring something in a large bowl, you can pull out the display so that you can still see it.  This is a really great fea...

One can never, ever go wrong when combining the creamy goodness of southern grits with plump and juicy shrimp.  Seriously...It just might be one of the greatest food combinations there is.  I've blogged about Shrimp & Grits before HERE .  Brad is crazy about the dish, so I'm always on the look-out for new versions to try.  When I came across this recipe by the lovely and talented Virginia Willis, I immediately put it on my "To-Make" list. I had the pleasure of meeting and spending some time with Virginia at Food Blog South in January of this year.  What an amazing lady!  Her recipe for Shrimp & Grits is quite superb and is a decidedly dressed up version of the classic dish.  She kicks things up a notch with fresh herbs, whole tomatoes and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.   She's also lightened the dish with the help of low fat milk and olive oil instead of cream and butter. Perfection on a plate. And guess what - Virginia prepare...

  Is a big plate of hearty, delicious pasta ever a bad thing?   I think not!  While shopping the aisles the other day at the grocery store, Brad said, "Baked Ziti sure would be good for dinner soon."  Baked Ziti?  That DID sound yummy.  And wouldn't you know it...We made our way to the pasta aisle and the boxes of Ziti Rigati were buy one get one free.  It was pasta-fate...If there is such a thing. To make the dish a little healthier, we decided ground turkey would be a good substitute for ground beef.  I love cooking with ground turkey lately.  It tastes great and is indeed a much healthier option.  That's a no-brainer, if you ask me. This dish comes together in no time.  I added bell pepper, onion and mushrooms to the turkey as it cooked.  These veggies added a nice, fresh flavor.  As for the marinara sauce, just use your favorite brand.  I happened to buy Barilla.  Or, if you're f...

Springtime is in full bloom around here, and with it comes sunshine-filled days, cheerful flowers, garden projects and playful bumble bees that our springer spaniel, Hannah, just loves to chase around the back yard.  Thankfully, they are just a little too fast for her, and they cleverly stay just out of her reach.  It's fun to watch the little game they play, though. The spring season of course also brings Easter each year, and I hope that you all had a blessed Easter holiday last weekend.  This year, I was in charge of making dessert for Easter lunch.  I knew that I wanted to make some sort of layered cake...perhaps a carrot cake.  However, in the midst of my Easter brain-storming session it hit me - A coconut cake!  But not just any coconut cake, see.  In the latest issue of Saveur magazine, they did a feature on layered Southern cakes.  The photo of the Coconut Cake practically had me drooling, so the decision was an easy one. ...

A year ago, I wouldn't touch a sunny-side-up egg with a 10 foot pole.  There was just something about a runny yolk that completely turned me off.  It's funny how our tastes change over time, though.  I find myself being open to more and more foods that I disliked growing up.  And I have to admit, it's fun to cook a delicious dinner and then watch Brad realize that "Hey, maybe black olives aren't so bad after all, and wow...mushrooms really ARE good!"  We should all try new foods at LEAST once, right?  We might just be surprised. Anchovies?  Well, that's a completely different story...I'm not quite there yet!  With all of the egg recipes floating around in honor of the upcoming Easter holiday, I recently had a hankering for them one Sunday morning.  This recipe in my latest issue of Glamour magazine seemed like just the thing to calm that craving. And yes...it helped me conquer my fear of the dreaded runny yolk. The beauty of this d...