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Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Mississippi Food in Vegas?

If you didn’t know, I am originally from Mississippi. There is a restaurant here in Las Vegas that has always caught my eye when I drove by- the M&M Soul Food Café (Mississippi Mary is what the M’s are for). It is not in the best part of town, but that is usually where the good food is, right? It was really busy- we went on a Sunday morning for breakfast, and the crowd was mixed- people of every color, age and background- I consider that a great sign!

Andrew went with the ham steak and I had the catfish nuggets. It was all super yummy and a great taste of home. The biscuits were fluffy. The sweet tea was delicious (and authentic- you have to add enough sugar to practically rot your teeth while the water is still super hot so it melts in just right!) When I am craving some good Mississippi food this may just be where I will head- if I’m not in the mood to cook, that is!



Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Red Velvet Cupcakes

It has been awhile since I have shared a cupcake recipe, and I thought, in honor of Christmas coming up, I would share a red velvet cupcake. It is so traditionally Southern and the red just screams Christmas. I think this is a great recipe, because the frosting is just a smidge different. It has marshmallow cream and almond extract, which is just a little surprise if you are expecting regular old cream cheese frosting. Delicious!



Red Velvet Cupcakes

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 Tbsp. Dutch processed cocoa powder
2 Tbsp. red food coloring
2 ½ cups cake flour
1 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp. distilled white vinegar


1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, at room temperature
8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup marshmallow crème
¼ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp. almond extract
1 (1 lb.) bow powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Place cupcake liners in muffin tins.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed. Beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. In a small bowl, mix the cocoa and food coloring. Add to the sugar mixture and mix well.

Sift the flour and salt together into another large bowl. Slowly add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Beat in the vanilla. Combine baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl and then add to mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared liners.

Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out cleanly, 14 to 18 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

For the frosting: Using an electric mixer on high speed, blend the cream cheese and butter together in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Change mixer speed to low and add the marshmallow crème, extracts, and powdered sugar, and blend just until well combined.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

My Paula Thanksgiving

Wow, it has been a little while since I have posted! It has been busy, busy, busy! Went to Philadelphia for a conference and then Andrew and I went to New York for a few days. So much fun! And I had some delicious Philly Cheese Steaks- I will be trying to make my own version here soon.

Then 2 days after we were back from that trip, we had Thanksgiving. It was my last meal to cook from Paula Deen Celebrates! That’s right; I am done with the cookbook- one year and every recipe from the book. It was a great experience to have people over and have good food so often. Not that I ever really need an excuse for good food!


Now, the Thanksgiving menu had 13 recipes, and I knew I was just going to be getting back from our trip, so I shared the recipes with others. My mother in law and sisters in law each made a couple of recipes, and it was really fun to share the Paula-ness with them!
Here’s what we made:
Turducken
Brown Gravy
Southern Cornbread Dressing
Deviled Oysters
Southern Green Beans
Sweet Potatoes with Butter and Brown Sugar
Stuffed Cranberry Sauce
Ambrosia
Turkey and Stuffing Casserole
Fresh Apple Cake
Double- Chocolate Cream Pie
Pumpkin Cheesecake



Know what a Turducken is? It’s a chicken stuffed in a duck, stuffed in a turkey. Yup! And Paula’s recipe? Go to turducken.com and order one. So that was not too hard!

It was all very delicious and a great way to end the year of Paula! (Although with my love of her, I am sure she will be popping up from time to time...)