Cookin'

I love food, I do. If I could marry it I would.
I love everything about food, its a whole experience. Its not just about nourishing my body, its about the taste, smell, look and creating the food.
Over the years my cooking has evolved to fit the lifestyle I live. When I lived in the city I cooked lots of things that were interesting, I tried new recipes quit frequently, never worrying about it. If it didn't turn out yummy, well there were about dozen places to grab a bite just down the road.
But now I live in the country and Iv found myself trying to perfect those tried and true favorites in my cook books. One genre of food that Iv always loved but never really was good at cookin' was southern style (or really any food that my Texan husband wants to eat) foods.
Fried Chicken
Chicken Fried Steak/country fried steak
grits
black eyed peas
chicken and dumplings
chili
catfish
biscuits and gravy
fried green tomatoes
collard greens
sweet tea
and many more that I can't think of right now. But there are a few on this list that Iv figured out and a few that still have me stumped.
I got a recipe for chicken and dumplings from Russ' grandma and its pretty darn good! And although its been a few summers ago I perfected fried green tomatoes when we had a ton of tomato plants in our garden.
Recently Russ purchased a huge bag of Aunt Jamima grits from the grocery store...my thought..."what the heck do I do with these?"
Well so far Iv only made hot cereal, but Iv got a few recipes Im going to try.
One southern food staple that really just never comes out well for me is chicken friend steak. Iv got the gravy down, (as well as biscuits and gravy) but the actual steak always comes out less then satisfying for me. Although Russ eats it anyway and is happy for it!

So this summer my goal is to perfect the chicken fried steak!
Also Im making sun tea today:-) Baby steps:-)

Mmm sweet tea, one of my favorites, but frankly when I first moved to Texas the sweetness of the tea about made me gag! Now I can handle it, but sometimes I still have to ask for half sweet/ half unsweet tea at certain restaurants.

Speaking of sun tea, its a beautiful sunny Monday here. Lots of blue sky. My favorite thing about Texas is all the blue skies we have. Because remember I am a Seattle girl. Blue skies are a treat!