Saturday, April 24, 2010

G.R.I.T.S.


You've seen this acronym before, right? G.R.I.T.S. Girls Raised In The South. That's me. Although I was born in Georgia but raised in Florida, I still consider myself a southern girl. Actually, after having done a bit of math, I realize even though I did grow up in Florida, I have lived in Georgia for most of my life. (10 years in FL vs. 24 years in GA- if you count the my first 8 years of life here and then my living here from college on.) So, anyway, Imma Southern girl and proud of it.

However... when it comes to cooking southern, I'm not sure I measure up. If I were asked to make a good, ole' fashioned, southern meal for a first time visitor from the north, I'm not sure I'd know what to make. For some reason, the first thing that comes to mind is fried chicken. I don't know why that's the first thing that I think of seeing as how fried chicken is not a recipe in my repertoire. I have only ever attempted fried chicken once before, in college. It was a disaster. Either the chicken was not cooked all the way through or the outside, while crispy, was a nice, dark shade of tree bark (that's a fancy way of sayin' I burned it). On top of that, not only the kitchen, but the whole house stunk of burnt chicken skin and oil. I'm not sure what I ended up doing for dinner that night. I'm pretty sure I didn't eat chicken.


I might make something like fried okra or some grits. I'm pretty sure those are southern type dishes. Maybe something with sweet potatoes. I don't make or like collard or turnip greens. My hus does though. If he's lucky enough to get them at home, they come out of a can. I just don't know.


My grandmother on my father's side would know. She was a southern lady through and through. She did leave behind an extensive recipe collection that my uncle was nice enough to put on CD for everyone. I could consult that I guess. If I wasn't afraid of gaining a minimum of 5 pounds per meal, it might be fun to eat my way through her collection. I do know enough about her cooking to know that "healthy" was most likely not included in any of the hundreds of recipes she had. She was known to keep an actual tub of lard on hand to cook with. She also cooked like we were a family of 25. Truth is, there were only 7 of us including my grandmother (whom we called Honey) and grandfather (whom we called Grandaddy). There is one of her meals that I do cook on occasion. It's this spaghetti dish affectionately called, "Honey's Spaghetti." I'm sure she dipped into her tub of lard for this one but I just use bacon grease. Yes, it has bacon, bacon grease, at least a pound of cheese, onion, peppers, and of course spaghetti noodles and a homemade sauce. It's pretty delicious. It makes enough for a small army. Maybe I would make that.


As I think about it though, the thought crosses my mind that maybe I cook more southern style dishes than I know. After all, I have lived in the south all my life. I don't know anything else. I've never spent any real time up north. I've actually only been in the north twice in my life. NYC both times. I've been to VA a few times though I think it is funny that they consider themselves part of the south. I did make it to the gateway to the west a couple of times (St. Louis for those of you not in the know). Could it be that since I've lived in the south so long and have so little experience outside of the south, that I am more of a southern cook than I realize? I didn't know that words like "fixin' to" and "usetacould" were terms only used in the south until I heard Jeff Foxworthy's, You Might Be a Redneck... *Disclaimer* I do draw the line at being referred to as a "redneck." I'm not a redneck, nor am I country. There is a difference between these things and Southern. I am southern. A lady. *snicker, snicker* My husband is probably laughing right about now.

I did make biscuits this morning. Do people up north eat biscuits? Surely they do. We put butter and jelly and sometimes honey on them. Is that how they eat them? It doesn't really matter. I am proud of my heritage. My husband is from the south. (worse than me, he was raised in Alabama!) Our kids are being raised in the south. We eat what tastes good. That may include mayonnaise, honey, fried things and yes, occasionally some good, ole' lard. Yummm... I guess you could say that because I am a southerner, I cook southern foods. Does it stand to reason that one effects the other?

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

One more thing...

I know, I know, I already posted today... Oh, no! Oh, no!! Two posts in 1 day! What should we do!?? Don't worry, I promise I won't make a habit of this. I just had to write a quick ad on to my previous post....

They were at it again after dinner. All 3 this time, ran outside as soon as they were finished eating, in a hurry to get back to the riding toy races. I wanted to post again because in my earlier post, I didn't have any pictures of Elliott to include. Being only 2, she does not have the attention span the other 2 do so she wears out or gives up easily (about the time I decided to get my camera out for the pictures in my 1st post). I got her this time though. I wanted to share some of the pictures of her.

One more thing I love about this weather and playing outside...it WEARS them OUT! They hit the pillow and they are gone. There is no, "be quiet!" "Get off your sister!" "Stop laughing!" or "GO TO SLEEP!" (all 3 girls share one room, not out of necessity, but because they want to. It's sweet and I'm glad they want to be together, but it does have it's draw backs). We said goodnight and that was it. It was wonderful! Peaceful.




Monday, April 5, 2010

I LOVE this weather!

If you've been following my blog for a little while, you know that my hus recently built a 49 square foot sandbox in our backyard. Let me just tell you what a good idea that was! And I'm not even being sarcastic! I'm sure most of their time in the sandbox is due to the beautiful weather we've been having, but who cares! They are outside and entertaining themselves! Yesterday, my older two played outside from the time Kristin got home from school until I said, "time to come in and wash up for dinner!" 3 hours they played outside. On their own. They are outside now, plus a neighbor kid. Kristin and Grace made up a "game" where they ride these little riding toys that Grace got for her 1 year old birthday (she's almost 5 now) down the incline that is our backyard. They did that for 3 hours yesterday. Riding down the hill, running back up carrying the "car." Fortunately, we happen to have 3 riding toys (all given to Grace on the same birthday) so no one, heaven forbid, has to take turns or share.

You might be saying, "Wow, Katie! 3 hours! That's great! You must have a lot of time to get a lot of stuff done around the house!" To this I say, "Heck, NO!" I get myself a book, a cocktail and I chill. It is the life, isn't it! It's just a precursor to how I plan to spend my summer; out by the pool, with a book and something to drink, maybe a snack, a couple of magazines. I'll jump in the pool when it gets too hot. I'll play with the kids for a bit here and there. But mostly, I plan to chill.

God has truly blessed our family. I get to stay home with my kids. I don't need to work. I have a husband, who, although appreciates a clean home and freshly ironed shirts, does not complain if he comes home to a sandy house with every room littered with toys or if he has to iron his own clothes for the day. (He does protest if I say we are having sandwiches or breakfast for dinner, but that's another post for another day). Love you, hon! :) We live in a neighborhood with a pool that is rarely used by our neighbors allowing us to feel like we have our very own pool without all the fuss and expense. We live in a beautiful part of the country. We live in America. I could go on and on about the ways He has blessed us and takes care of us. For now, I'm just thankful for the warmer weather and that my kids like to play outside. As Kristin puts it, she's and "outdoor girl."





I know it's been a while since I've posted anything. The truth is I have to be in the mood to write and lately, I haven't been.


Actually, I've not been feeling well. I was dizzy for about 4 weeks, almost daily. After approximately 7 different Dr. appointments at various dr.s, it seems that I have benign positional vertigo. That's just a fancy way of saying I was just dizzy and there's nothing you can do about it. *sigh* Wonderful news. At least I know it's nothing serious. It seems that this condition comes about with season change and can last up to 8 weeks. According to the ENT I saw, I had a mild case. Anyway, I've been feeling pretty good for 4 days straight now. I'm good to go.


We had a nice Easter yesterday. We had some friends over from church for Easter lunch and an Easter egg hunt. We had a nice, albeit, noisy time. Those kids are loud!


I've posted some pictures from the egg hunt. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed our time with friends.


~side note~ The kids got Moon Sand in their Easter baskets this year. Never again. If you are not familiar with Moon Sand, it's kind of like a cross between beach sand and play dough. It's kind of neat if you are playing with it at someone else's house. At your own house, however it's terribly messy. It doesn't stick together as well as play dough and so leaves a crummy mess all over the floor. You have to vacuum practically after every use. For that reason, moon sand would not be on my list of endorsements. (as if my inbox were full of vendors wanting me to try out their product). :)


Something that would be on my list of endorsements however, is Healtastic. Have you seen the commercials for it? We'll save that for another post. Suffice it to say, "I like it."