5 Ingredients or Fewer

I think people who say they hate grits just haven’t had them prepared correctly. Basic grits are pretty simple, and you can add what you like to make them tastier. My sister experimented with this flavorful herb and garlic cheese version for a yummy twist on an old southern favorite.

My daddy loved boiled okra, but it’s too slimy for me. Fried okra, on the other hand, is great with everything!

Cook out as much liquid as you can by uncovering and stirring often. A little browning doesn’t hurt. You know, I don’t even like squash, but this sounds yummy to me!

If you have access to real Vidalia onions, by all means use them here. Onions from Vidalia, Georgia, are the sweetest onions on the face of the earth! (But how do I really feel about them?) My uncle Wilson made these onions one Fourth of July, and they were a huge hit.

I make this with our home-canned green beans, but canned green beans from your grocery store cook down nicely with a little help from a ham hock. The recipe says to cook these for 30 minutes. I would really say just to cook them to death, but 30 minutes sounds sweeter.

We call these butterbeans in Georgia. I serve them with Baked Ham with Brown Sugar Honey Glaze (page 88) and Potato Salad (page 53). In college I had a friend named Tina, who is from Mississippi. When I would go home with her for the weekend, she would put mayonnaise in her butterbeans. Don’t try this at home, because you will love it and it’s more added fat that none of us need! (Okay, try it once!)

In the country, we planted a large garden every spring. It never seemed like a chore to shell peas or shuck corn because I always knew how good they were going to taste when they were cooked! If you’ve never had homemade cream-style corn, you don’t know what you’re missing. We always had a huge corn crop, so we made a lot of creamed corn and froze it in quart containers to enjoy year round. The kind of fresh corn you use can determine the thickness of the cooked dish. If it’s too thick, add a little water. If it’s too thin, add a little cornstarch.

Garth and the girls and I went to Colorado one spring break and spent the week in the guesthouse of some friends. We skied all day and came home exhausted in the evenings. Our friends provided a chef for us, and it was great to come back to the cabin after a long day to a beautifully prepared meal. I had always made Cooked-to-Death Green Beans (page 130), but the chef made these green beans one night and we fell in love with them. (The girls also fell in love with the chef, who looked a little bit like Tom Cruise.) When we have veggie night, the girls always ask, “Are we having Tom Cruise?” You can imagine the looks we get from guests who’ve never been to our house on veggie night!

I could live on collard greens and corn bread! I like collard greens better than turnip greens because I think collards are sweeter. When I make my corn bread and greens bowl (crumbled-up buttermilk corn bread covered with collard greens and a little juice), I add a little hot pepper just for fun. In the South, collard juice, or the cooking liquid that accumulates, is often called pot likker. My daddy always planted a big collard patch every spring, not only for the family but also to share with friends. Through the years, friends knew the patch was just out back of the barn and they were free to drive in and help themselves.

When Beth first made this very simple zucchini dish (which she created for our parents), Daddy asked, “Honey, how’d you learn to cook?” I thought that was funny because I think what he was really wondering was how she’d learned to cook something that Mama didn’t make at home!

It’s hard for families on the go to eat enough vegetables, so we decided to have one night every week that is only veggies. When we do, I always make this recipe. As the cabbage cooks, it sweetens a bit. I like to let it brown a little in the pan because I like the crispness and the flavor. Try it!

Here’s another dish that’s a hit on veggie night!

Growing up in a classic meat-and-potatoes family, I can’t remember a meal that didn’t include meat. As an adult, I’ve learned you don’t always have to have meat at dinner. This dish is a perfect choice for a meal that is all veggies and will leave you full and satisfied.

Growing up, I was lucky to have a catfish pond just down the hill on our farm. My daddy had created the pond from a natural spring when I was a little girl and stocked it with catfish and bream. We had many a wonderful fish fry with freshly caught catfish from our pond all through my childhood. Fresh fried fish served with Mama’s Cornmeal Hushpuppies (page 140)—you couldn’t ask for a better meal! My only suggestion is that you let someone else dress the catfish. Yuck!

For some people, it just isn’t Thanksgiving without giblet gravy for the turkey and potatoes. Mom has included directions for a giblet-free version for those of us who have seen a giblet and never want to eat one!

Comfort food. That’s all I’ve got to say!

As a young man, my dad worked with the State of Georgia Extension Service, where he learned to barbecue chickens by the hundreds. Over the years, he cooked thousands of chickens that were sold on the town square, at football games, or horse shows. He and his friends would build a huge pit with cement blocks and top them with specially made racks that could hold about 50 chicken halves each. To turn the chickens, another rack was placed on top, and two men, one on each end of the racks, would flip the entire rack at once! My mom has adapted Dad’s recipe to serve a family, not the whole town.

This is a nice recipe for southern girls like me who love fried chicken but realize they can’t eat it everyday. The cornflakes give you that crispy crust like fried chicken without all of the added fat of deep-frying—not that I’m saying there’s a thing wrong with deep-frying! My motto is “Everything in moderation, including moderation.”

My biggest complaint about fried chicken is that all of the flavor ends up on the outside, and the meat is usually bland. Not my mama’s! The secret is in the prep. When you soak the chicken overnight in salt brine, the salt infuses into the meat and makes it so tasty! When I asked my mom how long to fry the chicken, she said, “Just cook it ’til it sounds right.” I have since fried enough chicken to completely understand this sentence, but at the time—you can imagine! As chicken begins to fry, it’s loud because of all the water cooking out into the fat. It gets quieter as it gets done. Who knew? Now you do!

I respect people who won’t share old family recipes, but when I find something good, I want everybody to be able to make it for themselves, and that’s how I feel about my daddy’s barbecue sauce. I truly believe Daddy could have bottled and sold this sauce, it was so popular! It’s a personal preference, but I like a thin, vinegar-based barbecue sauce instead of the thick, ketchup-based sauces.