A Year in the Life

My fam loves pizza.  A few summers ago I think I averaged cooking at least 2 homemade pizzas a week. I like homemade pizzas better because I know exactly what is on it & can load it with different kinds of vegetables & the people will gobble it up.  Tonight, I went into uncharted territory.  Henry is trying to lean up for lacrosse season.  Being 16, it shouldn't take him that long.  I hate teenage boys.  They can burn 1000 calories by just blinking.  That's fair, said no momma ever.  I've been on a diet most of my life & I'm still trying to lose baby weight I gained when I was pregnant with Henry.  Granted he is 16, but I still have about 10 pounds I need to get off.  I'm thinking at this point it may just be a permanent part of the bod, boo.  Anyway...  Henry started eating much leaner last week, aaannnddd he lost 5 pounds in one week.  (Insert huge eye roll here.)  All he did was cut down on his...

It is called soul food for a reason & I have my own definition too.  To me, soul food is feel good food.  It reminds me of my grandmother's & mother's kitchens.   Old school southern cooks are some of the best around.  Do you think they worry about fat, sodium, or calories?  Um, no.  No they don't.  They want you to leave full and happy.  The biggest insult to a soul food cook is for you to leave hungry.  If you want bland, soul food is not for you.  Anyway, who wants bland?  Not I, said the pig.  In case some of you are not from the deep south & wonder what in the world is soul food, I found a great website that describes what it is .  I love the line that says:  "...all soul food is southern food, but not all southern food is soul food".  Amen to that.  If you've never eaten soul food, I'm so sorry.  It's homemade with heaps of love, so you an have happiness on your plate.  I...

Ok, I have a new recipe for y'all & I'm so EXCITED.  I know that I should post it on a Measure of Joy, but I haven't posted anything on there since 2013.  Wait, what?  That's 4 years.  Yikes!  I'll post it there too.  OMG. It has finally cooled down from the raging summer we had this year.  We had a few weeks of cooler weather in, I think, early September, but that was a joke.  It happens to us every year.  We have a cooler spell for about 2 weeks & we think fall is here!  Then we act shocked when it shoots back into the 90's or high 80's until November.  (there's usually humidity that goes with it and makes it feel like you're walking around with a wet towel on your head.) With the cooler weather brings, for me, soup season.  My people are sick of the same old soups though.  Chili, a southern staple.  We also have wonderful variations of white chicken chili and taco soup.  I make beer cheese soup, ve...