I was asked to review this cookbook by Southern Living. It sounded interesting and so I said, “Bring it on!”
First of all Glorious Grits is a book with some awesome photography. I wasn’t expecting the images to be as dramatic and beautiful as they are, after all…we are talking grits here.

(That is the chair in my bedroom where I curl up next to the fireplace and read)
But that wasn’t the only surprise.

The bread in the image above is Kalamata Black Olive Bread
In order to get those awesome artisan breads and pizza crusts you have to have a pizza baking stone of some type in your oven.
Why?
Simply because the baking stone makes for a far superior crust. It is the only way to get the crust right.
Personally, I have plans to construct

Image:(c) MaryeAudet 2006
Assembling your cake is really the scary part but it shouldn’t be. It is a lot easier than it looks. It is really important, though, to go slow, and measure carefully. You don’t have time to cut corners or save time at this point!
You will need:

cakes, baked and iced, on cake bases (either plastic or cardboard)

1/4 inch dowel rods OR 1/2 inh if your layers are bigger than 12″ or very tall and heavy

pillars

cake separator plates

something to cut the dowels

a pen

 
If you are transporting the cake you will need to assemble it at the reception …read more

Well, besides this.
I don’t know about you but I spend way too much time on the computer. Really. I do. I am always looking for new recipes, to see what other people are doing, to see if anyone has left cool comments (hint) and to see if, you know, PBS has emailed me about giving me a cooking show yet.
Anyway, with the lack of time we all experience I thought that you might be interested in my 10 picks for the top foodie sites on the internet. These are the sites that i find myself heading toward …read more

I have just come across the cutest thing. No, really. Look at this:

This is the description from, Cooking.com
Sassafras Kids’ Mini Fairy Princess Magic Kit:
Sassafras mini kits are an offshoot of their deluxe boxed baking kits and include the necessities to create delicious cookies.
Kit includes:

Cookie mix that turns pink
Pink Frosting
Fairy Dust Sprinkles
Cookie Cutter
Fairy Wand
Rhyming Recipe/Instruction Book
Clear Storage Bag

Now, this is Kyrie. She is 4. As you can imagine, being the youngest of 8 means that you get lots of attention. Kyrie Grace believes, without a doubt that she is a princess.

Is that a match made in heaven, or what? …read more

A week or so ago I did a post on the silicone cupcake liners which I love. Someone commented that they did not feel that the silicone was a safe thing to use as it had chemicals that could leach into the food, etc.
This concerned me, because anyone will tell you, I am an eco-freak. Actually, I am an eco-freak from long lines of eco freaks, my ancestors were all pretty much farmers and were into organics way before it was cool. But I digress.
I n my eco- freakiness I decided to do some research to see what I could …read more

I have had people ask me why I take the time to grind wheat berries. The answer is quite simple. Oh my gosh! It is SO much better than the preground flour you buy at the store! The taste is fresh and wheaty…it smells wonderful. All of the vitamins and nutrients are intact..and the flavor of the finished product is fabulous.
  And yeah, it’s cheaper.
The wheat that I like best is a hard white hi protien berry.  The flour is lighter than the traditional hard red, has a more delicate flavor and the higher protien gives the dough more elasticity …read more

So the recipe goes, “roll into 1-inch balls…” or “drop by heaping teaspoons…” and you’re looking to make cookies that are nice and neat, all the same size. With those big, chewy chocolate chip cookies, or (two-)bite-size rum balls that make your throat burn, I like using ice cream scoops to measure the dough to roll or drop.

Keeps ‘em all pretty.

This is a Wilton cake leveler that I’m using here. The cake is halfway between soft and crusty, so it does take the teeniest bit of work for that wire to get into the cake and start cutting. However, I’m pretty happy with it. I’ve been thinking of upgrading to the “professional” (read “more expensive”cake leveler for years, but after reading the reviews at Amazon, I think I’ll just stick with this cheaper one. I find that I switch back and forth — old method with knife (and toothpicks if necessary) and this cake leveler. …read more