Southern Living Takes It to the Tailgate

A few weeks ago when Husband and I visited Middleton Place, we also had the opportunity to attend The Southern Living Taste of Charleston event to top off our weekend. Southern Living was nice enough to invite us, and when I saw that they were doing a special demonstration for the new Official SEC Tailgating Cookbook, I knew we had to attend.

Football is like a religion of sorts here in the South and, regardless of my personal interest in the sport, tailgating is an art form that most Southern Belles need to learn early. From decking out your tailgating space to preparing food that will still look tasty 3 hours after you arrive is really something. Luckily, this book is full of really great recipes… as if we ever expect anything less from Southern Living, right? A few that we got to try at the event: Buttermilk Chess Tarts, Deviled Eggs (a particular hit with Husband), and these amazing little Mini Bourbon-and-Cola Bundt Cakes…

The unexpected treat of the day? Meeting Southern Living Test Kitchen director Rebecca Gordon, an Alabama girl who was cute as a peach! In fact, she even has a tailgating blog, Tidefan Fare, where she shares stories, recipes, as well as a few Q&As with SEC heroes. (For Tennessee fans like us, here are a couple Tennessee parents you may be interested in: this Q&A with Barbara Dooley or this one with Archie Manning.)

I couldn’t post about the book without giving you a little sample of the goodness, so I asked if I could share a recipe. This one was an obvious choice; what belle doesn’t need a little more bourbon in her dessert library? Enjoy!

Mini Bourbon-and-Cola Bundt Cakes

Makes 3 dozen

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup cola soft drink
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup bourbon
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Bourbon-and-Cola Glaze (Recipe below…)

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1. Preheat oven to 350°. Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar; beat until blended. Add eggs and vanilla; beat at low speed until blended.
2. Stir together cola, buttermilk, and bourbon in a small bowl. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients in another bowl. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with cola mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition, stopping to scrape bowl as needed. Pour batter into 3 lightly greased 12-cup Bundt brownie pans, filling each three-fourths full.
3. Bake at 350° for 12 to 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks, and cool 30 minutes. Drizzle warm Bourbon-and-Cola Glaze over cakes.
Go Big: Batter can be poured into 1 greased and floured 15-cup Bundt pan. Bake at 350° for 45 to 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Bourbon-and-Cola Glaze

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons cola soft drink
2 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 tablespoon bourbon
2 cups plus 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar

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Cook first 3 ingredients in a 2- qt. saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until butter melts. Remove from heat; stir in bourbon. Beat in powdered sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.

Recipe: Chili & Cornbread

Well, I promised to share my favorite ‘Last of the Tomatoes’ recipe and here it is: Chili & Cornbread. It’s the best for the last of the tomatoes for 2 reasons. First, by the end of the season, the tomatoes are no longer at their peak flavor so cooking really brings out their best. Second, it’s Fall! There’s a nip in the air, why wouldn’t you want chili & cornbread?

Chili is also a really handy thing to have in your cooking repertoire simply because it is easy to have simmering on the stove on Saturday or Sunday when you want to clean out the produce drawers. You can pretty much throw any number of veggies into chili, and they will taste awesome as long as you have the basic seasonings in there. Here’s my basic recipe…

Hannah B’s Basic Chili

Ingredients:

1lb. Ground Beef

1 Onion (medium in size; yellow, white, red, it doesn’t matter.)

2 Bell Peppers (For this particular pot I had green, yellow, & red leftover halves from another dish… sometimes I just use green. Each color you choose will affect your flavor but, again, you really can’t go wrong.)

2-3 Jalapenos or Poblano Peppers (Basically just a pepper to give it a rounder little kick.)

Tomatoes (Whatever you’ve got, chop them up and throw ’em in. If I am buying fresh tomatoes from the market to use, I’ll usually buy 5 or 6. Throwing in a few smaller tomatoes: romas, cherries, etc. will also add a nice little something.)

(Sometimes I add zucchini. This time I added a can of artichokes. Seriously, whatever veggies you have in the fridge.)

2 cans of Tomato Paste (These are usually 6 oz. each. The tomato paste helps thicken up the chili.)

1T Cumin

2t Chili Powder

Salt to taste

Play with the rest of the seasonings:
-My mom usually adds a few Tablespoons brown sugar to her’s because she’s from Ohio.
-I’ve been known to add garlic, onion powder, and ground mustard. It’s all about what you’ve got on hand.

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1. In a large skillet, cook the ground beef and drain it.

2.) To a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot, add olive oil and your veggies on medium high heat.

3.) When these start to soften and the onions begin to grow translucent, add the tomatoes, tomato paste, meat, and the basic seasonings. Mix well, cover, and wait until it boils.

4.) When it begins to boil, turn the heat down to medium-low and let simmer. Adjust the seasoning a little bit at a time.

Serve with a dollop of Sour Cream and…

Addendum: February, 2014… Click here to get our cornbread recipe!

Life Lesson: Every belle should own an iron skillet
& have a cornbread recipe up her sleeve!

Sit & Sip: My ‘Welcome Back to Tennessee’ Cocktail

Last weekend, I hosted a Welcome Home party for my honey! (For those that don’t know, he was here all summer.) I tried to make things as ‘East Tennessee’ as possible. There were outdoor games, a galvanized tub of beer, plenty of fried chicken, and this Tennessee Mountain Punch. The recipe was an experiment at the time, and the results were super tasty! The great part? You can make as much or as little as you like!

Cocktails: Thin Man Style

Most days I feel as if I’m living in a Thin Man movie… beautiful clothes, martinis, and a witty husband & loveable terrier that always keep things entertaining.

Life is what you make it! So for your midweek touch of glamour, I thought I’d share a few cocktail recipes. Now if only our lives called for more evening gowns and silk!

Getting ready for the Weekend

If there’s one way to ensure a perfect start to your weekend, it’s to get all the right pieces in place the night before. Husband and I like to start our Saturday mornings slowly–lying on the couch, reading, sipping coffee, listening to NPR. So often, on Friday nights, I’ll make these muffins and get the coffee maker ready so that all we have to do is make our plates and relax. As a bonus, they smell absolutely delicious and happen to make just enough that you can eat one on Friday for a midnight snack if you’re so inclined.

Blueberry Muffins

1 1/2 c All-Purpose Flour
3/4 c Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking Powder

1/3 c Vegetable Oil
1 egg
1/3 c milk
1/3 c Greek Yogurt *

1 1/4 c fresh blueberries

Cinnamon + Sugar **

Directions:

Preheat over to 400°F and grease a muffin tin. This recipe should make 10 muffins.
Mix together dry ingredients. Then, mix together your wet ingredients to make a nice batter.
Fold in the fresh blueberries.
Use an ice cream scoop to scoop mixture into muffin tin.
Bake for 18 minutes.
Pull out and top with cinnamon + sugar.
Put back into the oven and bake for another 3 minutes.

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* The dairy products in this recipe can be played with quite a bit without losing the muffin’s perfect texture… It all depends on what you’ve got in your fridge. I’ve used a bit of sour cream, heavy cream, and I’m sure buttermilk would add a lovely little dimension.

** We always have cinnamon + sugar mixture in an airtight container to use on muffins, on toast, in drinks, etc. Just another thing to make your life a little easier!