It all started with my Mama's gumbo recipe!
It was easy to get up early on those Saturday mornings when Mama and Ma Ma were taking us shopping in the big city of Lafayette. Especially if we were going to eat at The Piccadilly Cafeteria. The food was so appetizing. It was hard […]
One day I was describing my mother-in-law’s tea cakes made with Steen’s syrup to my mama. She told me of tea cakes they used to make using left over dough after making sweet dough tarts. All they did was roll the dough out, cut it […]
A friend recently asked if I had a recipe for Tea Cakes and I told her, “No, but my mother-in-law does!” These flat, dense, large cookies made with flour, sugar, butter, milk, eggs, and flavoring quickly becomes a frequent request from those my mother-in-law, Clarice […]
“Uh-huh, tell me what the weather is like,” is what Mama asked over the phone when I told her I was making pralines for a Christmas party that night. At first, I thought she was changing the subject rather quickly, then while I was describing the […]
Grandma George’s Croquesignoles (French Donuts) I didn’t know my great-grandma, Grandma George, who was called after her husband’s first name. That’s how the married women used to be referred to in south Louisiana, by their husband’s first names. My daddy’s mama was “Madame Bill” and […]
Dehydrating fruit is something I just started doing. I’m such an amateur, but I wanted to share how easy it is and what I’ve learned so far. The drying process is used to preserve food by removing most of the moisture in order to stop bacteria […]
My Great-Aunt Mary Lou made the best fruit tarts. My favorite, of course, was her fig. She was my grandfather’s sister and he would take me to visit her in her home just up the road. It was the same house where they both grew […]
I started making fig cakes when I had an oversupply of preserves in my pantry. The jewel filled jars of figs came mostly from visits with Mama. It seems we couldn’t leave empty handed. Then I remembered a spicy, moist cake from my childhood.
This moist apple cake of sweet fresh apples and warm cinnamon is my grandmother’s signature dessert. It’s quickly associated with her just by it’s appearance at family gatherings. We all remember enjoying a piece after Sunday dinners or with a cup of coffee during […]