Saturdate with Southern Plate: Cinnamon Rolls

This week I made cinnamon rolls. Southern Plate cookbook had two recipes for cinnamon rolls. One recipe was completely from scratch, and one recipe use frozen bread dough. You probably already guessed it, but I chose the frozen bread dough way! If you want to use that recipe you can click here and find it over at Southern Plate. (Trust me you are going to want this recipe so click here.)

I normally don't take pictures of the recipes as I cook them, but there's something you need to know about this recipe...it's messy.

What's that green cup doing in this picture. That's my "rolling pin," a pretty sorry rolling pin, but I made do.

Another thing you need to know about this recipe is when the instructions say "roll it up" they need to say "roll it up (tighter than you think)." Because my cinnamon rolls were kind of saggy.




These cinnamon rolls taste really good! They are a little to sweet for my taste, but I don't even like Cinnabon cinnamon rolls. On the other hand, Shad ate two, and had two little boys begging him for bites the entire time he ate.

This is definitely, DEFINITELY a great recipe for taking somewhere or just making your family feel special. I liked the recipe much better when I read on the website that you could let the rolls rise in the fridge all night. I am much more likely to make these if I could do the prep work at night and just stick them in the oven in the morning!



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Saturdate with Southern Plate: fried green tomatoes and milk gravy

I'm trying to catch up on Southern Plate recipes that I made but never blogged. Today I'm sharing fried green tomatoes that I made a month ago, and milk gravy that I made this week.



About a month ago, I made fried green tomatoes with tomatoes from my very own garden! When I told my mom what I was making she said, "Make sure you cut your tomatoes thin." I followed Mom's advice, and they turned out great. I really like fried green tomatoes because they reminded me of fried pickles. I also fried up some strips of jalapeno with the tomatoes. They were great too. You can find the recipe for fried green tomatoes by clicking here.


After our harrowing (yes, I said harrowing) experience with no power for 12 full hours, I felt the need to celebrate when our power finally returned. For some reason, gravy and biscuits popped in my head.

The Southern Plate cookbook includes 5 gravy recipes, milk gravy, red eye gravy, chocolate gravy, sausage gravy, and tomato gravy. I have always been nervous about making gravy. It just seemed tricky so I stayed away from it, but after I make all five of the gravy recipes in Southern Plate, I will be a gravy expert. Milk gravy was not too hard; I just had to make sure I whisked it and kept a close eye on it. Gravy and biscuits was a great way to celebrate having power.

You can find the recipe by clicking here.

Saturdate with Southern Plate: Blackberry Cobbler

I've been kind of slack posting my Saturdate with Southern Plates over the past few months, but I've been cookin' them just not posting them. Here's a recipe I made over a month ago.

One night, Shad and I were riding around on the farm he works on, and Shad said, "Here's the berries I've been eating this week." Normally that line would make me nervous about what he was eating, but I immediately recognized these berries...blackberries and raspberries, and bunches of them!

I knew blackberry cobbler was in Southern Plate cookbook, and being ever so adventurous (and cheap) I set out to pick my own blackberries.

I had several thoughts running through my mind in this picture. Here are just a few of them.

Doesn't everyone wear a sequined sweater when they go blackberry pickin'?

Was that a snake slithering across my foot? Oh, it was just a stick.

Flip-flops were definitely not a smart berry picking shoe choice.

Is that poison ivy?

Does poison ivy have five leaves or three?

Mama said to watch out for chiggars when you pick blackberries?

What are chiggars? (by the way I googled chiggars, and the actual picture of a chiggar now haunts my nightmares)

Is it safe for Brandon to be eating these right off the vine?

He's eaten much worse.

Note to self: Never let the four year old be in charge of the berry bucket.

Here was my harvest (I know "harvest" is an overstatement, but humor me.) Yes, I survived blackberry pickin' chiggar free!


We ate most of the raspberries before we got home, but I saved the blackberries for the cobbler. I hate the little seeds in blackberries so I only put about a cup and three quarters of blackberries in it. I guess it should have been called "cobbler with a few blackberries in it" instead of blackberry cobbler, but it was great. I love the tartness of the blackberries with the cobbler. I will definitely make this again next year when blackberry season rolls around.

Saturdate with Southern Plate: mexican cornbread

Yesterday, I mentioned that my parents and I ate a meal of mostly vegetables. It was wonderful, but I haAaAated that meal when I was a kid. Every summer, somebody in the church would give my parents a bunch of squash, okra, and such, and my parents would make an entire meal of vegetables. As a picky eater (at the time), I gagged at least thirty times during that meal.

However, when I showed up to GA, my parents had a bunch of vegetables, and I actually ASKED to have a meal of all vegetables. As we were planning the meal, I offered to make "Mexican Cornbread" from Southern Plate. My parents were skeptical because they have had some superior mexican cornbread, and my mom was suspicious when the recipe called for sugar in the cornbread (she says if you use sugar in your cornbread you're not from the south), but they agreed to let me try this recipe on them. This recipe is only in the cookbook, and not on Southern Plate's website.

The recipe called for an iron skillet, but I decided to just try it in a glass casserole dish. I closely monitored my cornbread, making sure that it had just the right color of brown on top. When I was satisfied with its "browness," I pulled my beautiful cornbread out of the oven.

As I stared at my perfectly brown cornbread, I imagined my parent's praises as they ate the cornbread.

"This mexican cornbread is fantastically moist!"

"This mexican cornbread is perfectly brown!"

"The jalapeno distribution is perfect in this mexican cornbread."

I was soon startled from my daydream as soon as I tried to flip the cornbread out of the pan. I didn't loosen it at all...AT ALL, and when I flipped the pan to get the cornbread out the insides came out but not the crust.

My mom came over and worked with a rubber spatula to loosen the crust, and then she placed it on top of the pile of loose cornbread. I just stood there pouting at yet another of my cooking escapades ending in disaster.



When suppertime came, I placed my ugly pile of cornbread on the table, and soon my parents praises began.

"This cornbread is pretty good if you just use your fingers to pick up each bite."

"This tastes really good even though it looks bad."

Although my mexican cornbread was ugly, it tasted good, and that's what matters most, but if you try this recipe just make sure you loosen the sides before you flip it.

Saturdate with Southern Plate: Texas Caviar

This week I made Texas Caviar. You can find the recipe by clicking here.

I love this dish.

(crowd yells) How much do you love it?

I love it so much I had it at my wedding reception. Seriously. At the time, I hated black eyed peas, but I still loved "Texas Caviar."

I have always used shoepeg corn in this recipe, so that is what I used when I made it this week. The Southern Plate recipe uses regular corn, and I'm definitely trying it that way next time. I think regular corn would add a sweetness to it that would be nice. This is such a great summer recipe.

And just for kicks, here is another link to a copy kat recipe for Chili's salsa. I love Chili's salsa!

(crowd yells) How much do you love it?

I love it so much, I could swim in it...sorry...oversharing.

Anyway, you can find that recipe by clicking here.

Saturdate with Southern Plate: Sweet and Sour Green Beans

This week I decided to try sweet and sour green beans. You can find the recipe on Southern Plate by clicking here.

If you don't like green beans you definitely need to try these green beans. I knew it was going to taste good when the recipe's instructions included, "Place green beans in bacon grease."

These green beans were a hit with my entire family. I mushed some of these green beans up and gave some to Collin. He does not like baby food green beans, but would you believe he loOoOoved these, but don't worry Mimi Manus he won't be eating these regularly. Even Brandon, my very picky eater, loved these, and Shad just saw that there was bacon in them and he knew he loved them.



When I was cooking this recipe, I realized that I have the exact same pyrex bowl that's in the picture of the cookbook. Did that make me excited? YeS! I first realized that I loved vintage Pyrex from the bowls in this cookbook. Now, after six months of searching and a close call in a Goodwill, I finally found a set for $2 at a yard sale.

Saturdate with Southern Plate: {Granny's Sheath Cake}

Well the day I have built up for a month is finally here. Please excuse me for one minute.

tap tap tap...

testing, testing, testing 1, 2, 3...

la la la laaaaa...

Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me...eeeeeeeeeeeee. (holding it out for meaning) Happy birthday to meeeeeEEEEEE! (hitting a high note at the end)

This week, I made Granny's sheath cake recipe for my birthday cake. Yes, I know it sounds sad that I make my own birthday cake, but I started this last year and loved it. I love to cook, and my birthday cake gives me a great opportunity to make pick out just the recipe. This recipe is only in the cookbook and not on Southern Plate website.



Brandon and I ate a slice of this cake about an hour after I made it, and it was good. Then we had another piece several hours later and it was GREAT! If you are planning on making this cake for a function, I would definitely suggest that you make it the morning of or the night before the event. I guess the icing and the cake just need some time to get to know each other.

Saturdate with Southern Plate: {french breakfast puffs}

The other night, I was feeling all warm and domesticky, and I decided to make french breakfast puffs from Southern Plate. I believe this recipe is only in the cookbook and not on the website.

Anyway, I started cooking right before Brandon went to bed. He ran in and asked what I was making. In an excited voice, I told him, "These are muffins because Mommy is making you a special breakfast for tomorrow. Just go to bed, and it will be ready when you wake up." He gave me a kiss and scurried off to bed. Seriously, that's how it went.

When the oven timer told me that my french breakfast puffs were done, I opened up my oven, and was surprised to see that my muffins looked more like donuts. They had fallen. When I tried to get the muffins out of the pan, they completely crumbled. Here are my "muffins."



I looked at the recipe to see what could have gone wrong. The recipe called for one cup of sugar so I put in 1 cup of sugar easy peasy! Right? However, when I read the recipe more closely, I realized I was only supposed to put 1/2 cup of sugar in the mix and save 1/2 cup for dipping the muffins in when they were done. FAILURE to read and FAILURE to cook.

However, I don't cry over spilt milk or crumbly muffins so when life hands you crumbly muffins make bread pudding because you win some and you lose some because you've got to know when to hold 'em. Know when to fold...Okay, I'm done.

When Brandon woke up the next day, he was so excited for his "special muffin breakfast." Let's just say he wasn't nearly as excited to see mushy bread pudding. Life Lesson # 532,234 - Never promise food until it's done!

Saturdate with Southern Plate: {sweet tea and baked ham}

I know what you are thinking? Who needs a recipe for sweet tea? Well, I do, because according to Shad, my tea is, "Naaaasty."

Unlike everyone else, I like my tea almost unsweet. I put just about a 1/2 cup of Splenda to 3 quarts of tea. When I was pregnant with Collin, I liked straight unsweet tea, no sugar. Now, because my taste is for unsweet tea, I can't tell when sweet tea tastes good. Everything just tastes too sweet.

Making sweet tea was a perfect excuse to use my new beverage server! I had been looking at these at Pottery Barn and Walmart, and loved them. I was very excited to find one at a yard sale!



Anyway, I made this yesterday, and when Shad came home I said, "I made sweet tea. Try it!" He hesitantly grabbed the cup, took a very small sip, and surprisedly said, "This tastes good." You can find the recipe for Shad approved sweet tea here. This week, I also made a baked ham. I could not find the recipe on Southern Plate, but I did find this recipe for an easy glaze here.

The magic ingredient for the baked ham I made was pancake syrup. That's right, pancake syrup, and that ham was great! Make sure when you cook it to save the drippings in the bottom of the pan. When I serve the ham, I put a spoonful of that on top of the ham. It's so thin, you don't even notice it's on the ham, but it just gives it a slightly sweet taste.

Saturdate with Southern Plate: {Meme's mashed potatoes}

Warning: Never, ever, ever, make your husband chicken planks (recipe found here ). I made chicken planks for Shad in November, and he has been asking for them ever since. No matter how many times I make them, anytime I ask the question, "What would you like to eat?" His answer is always, "Chicken planks!" Chicken planks are very labor intensive, and if I make chicken planks, I have to make comeback sauce to go with them.

The other night, Shad was helping me pick a recipe from Southern Plate to cook this week. Shad said, "Hey, is there a recipe for mashed potatoes in there?" Excited to have a good pick, I said, "Yeah! Genius Shad! I'll make that this week." Shad smiled and said, "Great! Mashed potatoes go great with chicken planks!"

Curses! Tricked! Well, I am making Meme's mashed potatoes tonight, and I'll let you know how they taste. I love mashed potatoes, and I consider my mashed potatoes to be great, but I'm interested to see what this recipe tastes like. You can find the recipe here. So tonight we are having chicken planks, mashed potatoes, and some other vegetable. It's okay though, Mother's Day is Sunday, so I'm just buttering them up.

I did make something unusual this week.

Recognize these handsome guys...chocolate covered peeps. I made a fried peanut butter and peeps sandwich a month ago, and now I had to try this treat. It would have been better if they were fresh Peeps, and not slightly stale 50% off two weeks after Easter Peeps, but they were still good.

Is there a Peeps cookbook? That may have to be the next cookbook I cook through.

Saturdate with Southern Plate: {lemon meringue pie}

It is finally feeling like spring around here. I heard spring started a month ago, but I think Maryland just got the memo.

Good bye, sweaters. Good bye snow. Good bye Winter B. Good bye shoes Good bye socks (at least for a few months). Hello yard sales. Hello capris. Hello flip flops. Hello happy dirt covered boy. Hello fresh fruit and veggies!

Yes, I'm just a little excited about spring and all the things that comes with it. So this week, I decided to make a "springy" dessert. I looked in the spring section of Southern Plate and found Lemon Meringue pie. Bingo! You can find the recipe here.



I really liked how this pie tasted. Next time, I'll put the cookies in the food processor and get them ground up even finer. I made one pie for our family and one to give to someone else. (Something that would make Christy Jordan the author of Southern Plate very proud.) This is a very easy recipe to double.

Before I started making Southern Plate recipes, I had never made meringue. One thing I have learned about meringue is how fickle it is. The recipe may say one thing, but your oven may be different, and next thing you know instead of "golden brown" meringue, you've got "burnt toast" meringue. In all my cooking mishaps, I have not burnt a meringue yet, but I look like a crazy woman when I cook meringue obsessively checking on it every couple of minutes. The good news is even burnt meringue tastes good, and you can always just scrape it off and try again.

If you are not a fan of lemon meringue, you can still welcome spring with some with these lemony Southern Plate recipes, lemon chess pie, lemon bars, or lemon blossoms.

Saturdate with Southern Plate: Daddy's Rise and Shine Biscuits

In all my years, I have never...ever made biscuits from scratch. I haven't felt the need to make biscuits from scratch because I am a master chef of Pillsbury's frozen biscuits.

Yesterday, I set out to make biscuits from scratch for the first time. You can find the recipe I used here. As I have been cooking through Southern Plate, I have burnt chicken fingers, made oozy chocolate chip pie, and tea cakes that did not taste like Ms. Hooper's, but my biscuits were heavenly! I could not believe it! They were the perfect shade of brown and gorgeous, the perfect biscuit. Somewhere in Savannah, Paula Deen felt a shiver run up her spine. When someone asked her what was wrong, she said, "Someone just pulled the perfect biscuit out of the oven."

Here's the irony though. On Monday, my camera broke. I had no camera to document my perfect biscuits. I believe these will be the prettiest biscuits I will ever make, and I have no picture of them!!! So to help out, I drew a picture of the biscuit.



Note: I may have taken some artistic license, and I may have seen the Lion King recently.

Saturdate with Southern Plate- {banana crumb cake}&{chicken poulet}

In case you don't know what Saturdate with Southern Plate is, you can check it out here.

This week for Saturdate with southern plate, I made chicken poulet and banana crumb cake. (to get the recipes on Southern Plate just click on the words)

Banana Crumb Cake (click on title for recipe)

Saturday night, Shad asked me if I could make something to bring for Sunday school the next morning. I looked through Southern Plate, and realized I had all the ingredients for Banana Crumb Cake in my house, even the old bananas. (I keep old bananas in my freezer.) Even though I had all the ingredients, I broke my #1 rule of cooking...

Always...Always make a test run of a new recipe before you take it anywhere.

Although I broke Rule #1 of cooking, I found a compromise. After it came out of the oven, I cut the cake, and tried a piece. There was no way I was sending it to Sunday School without trying it, and much to my delight it turned out really good! This is a very moist crumb cake (could be all the butter). I made mine the morning of, but it would be safe to make this the night before.

Chicken Poulet(click on the title for recipe)

You can see a picture of this over at Southern Plate if you check the recipe out. Five years ago at a function at the school I was teaching at, I had something similar to this. I fell in love, and it didn't help that I was pregnant at the time. The dish was sooo good I started to crave it. I searched for recipes for "chicken and dressin' " but every recipe had HARD BOILED EGGS in it. (I think I gagged just typing the word) I hate hard boiled eggs so much. It freaks me out just to look at them. Anyway, chicken poulet is exactly what I fell in love with 5 years ago. I'm so excited I have a recipe for it now!

By the way, I'm saving cooking "deviled eggs" in Southern Plate towards the end.

Saturdate with Southern Plate- pimento cheese

In case you don't know what Saturdate with Southern Plate is, you can check it out here.

Recently, I went to a birthday party that served homemade pimento cheese. Now, I showed great control when I didn't load my plate up with the cheesy Southern goodness. I just squealed with delight when I saw it, and got myself a reasonable few scoops.

Then our happy story takes a very ugly turn. The bowl of homemade pimento cheese fell on the floor and broke. Now, on the outside, I said, "Oh, no the bowl broke," but on the inside I was thinking, "5 second rule!!! Everybody grab a cracker." However, despite my inner thoughts, I resisted the urge to get on my hands and knees with a cracker.

All that to say, I've had a hankerin' (yes, I said hankerin') for homemade pimento cheese. So I thought I would try that recipe in Southern Plate this week. I hate to say this, but... I didn't like this pimento cheese at all. AT ALL! However, it's not the recipes fault, I just don't like velveeta which is the main ingredient for this pimento cheese (you can find the recipe here). It's like creamy or chunky peanut butter, mayonnaise or miracle whip, or regular or boneless buffalo wings. I just like sharp cheddar cheese in pimento cheese. I searched the internet for a recipe I liked and found this one from Paula Deen. So hopefully, no matter what your taste you can find a pimento cheese you like!

Saturdate with Southern Plate {chocolate chip pie revisited}

In case you don't know what Saturdate with Southern Plate is, you can check it out here.

I have made chocolate chip pie before, but it turned out very gooey...still good but very gooey. I made it twice, and both times the pie turned out gooey. Well, for pi day I made two chocolate chip pies (Pie is a circle and that is what pi is all about). I knew I was taking a risk making the recipe I had failed twice at for the classes I'm subbing in, but guess what? The pies turned out perfect! They were fantastically wonderful, but I felt like the biggest idiot in the world when I realized why these pies turned out better. Are you ready for the secret to perfect chocolate chip pies?

Let the frozen pie crust defrost!

Seriously!?! I felt so stupid. I don't know why I didn't think of it or realize it before. I'm so glad I know now though. I made the pies the night before, and then I put them in the oven for about five minutes just to warm them up right before the classes. Life Lesson 12,483- frozen things need to be defrosted.

Saturdate with ???

I did not get a chance to make a Southern Plate recipe this week, but I do have a craft I did this week.

One day, after Shad got off work, we went out in the woods to look for glass bottles. We had so much fun, and found 12 milk of magnesia bottles! My mother-in-law said it best. When I told her about the 12 m.o.m. bottles,she said, "Someone must have been ReAlLy sick."

As soon as I saw the first one, I knew it would make a cute bud vase, but I thrilled when we found so many. I knew they would make a great centerpiece. I got some brown stickers and put "{blessed}" on the bottles. (Some of the letters are crooked. Oh well! It's still cute!) They make some $5 daisies look wonderful!

Yesterday's trash is today's centerpiece!



Post linked to Junkin' Finds Fridays, Thrifty Thursdays, Saturday Showcase, Sunday Showcase, Works for me Wednesday.

Saturdate with Southern Plate- {Fried Potatoes}

In case you don't know what Saturdate with Southern Plate is, you can check it out here.

Surprise! I did not make a dessert this week! I've been stuck in dessert mode for several weeks, but this week I made fried potatoes (click here for the recipe).

This is a great easy side. I made them one night when we were having leftovers. The potatoes made the leftovers seem new.



Because I hate to have a Saturdate with Southern Plate without a dessert, you can check out potato candy (click here).

Saturdate with Southern Plate: {Mud Hens}

In case you don't know what Saturdate with Southern Plate is, you can check it out here.

This week I made Mud Hens. Again, this recipe is only in the cookbook, but I hate not having a link to some recipe. Here is a link to some cute spring cupcakes.


Shad and B loved these cookie bars! They were gone very quickly!