RECIPE FILES

Is it ok to have two food posts in a row?

Well... either way it's happening :)

Thought I would check in and share some recipes we have tried {and loved} recently.  Plus a delicious coca-cola cake recipe by my Great-Great Aunt Gladiola at the end.  It was a favorite among my sisters and I when we were little and now it is requested by my husband and own children.

First up, RECIPES {click on the picture to be redirected to recipe site}

Baked Brie and Sundried Tomato Dip

Sausage Stuffed Zuchinni Boats 

{all three of my kids ate these!}

I Got The Power Salad

Grilled Pesto Chicken and Tomato Kebabs 

{my kids all loved these as well, I cooked them inside on a grill pan}

Corn and Cotija Guacamole 

{ah.mazing.  I used feta instead of cotija}

Tomato Mozzarella Basil Tart

{I could eat this whole thing in one sitting.  And so easy to make.}

{I cooked it in a pie pan}

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About once or twice a year as a child, while we were visiting family in Jackson, Mississippi, my mom, sisters and I would take a day, turn back the hands of time, and make the drive up to Duck Hill.  Duck Hill was a place, in my mind, that only existed in a world of farmers, local grocers, and the Cleavers.  We visited my Great Aunt Vivian and Great Uncle L.L. {the L's didn't stand for anything.  Just the letter} and ate amazing food cooked by my Aunt Vivian with the help of the family's life-long housekeeper Beulah {she was the real-life Mammy in my mind}.  Creamed corn, fried chicken, fried okra, black eyed peas, butter beans, roast and gravy, homemade rolls, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs... all followed by Lemon Ice Box Pie and/or Cracker Pie.  DIE

After lunch we hopped in my great uncle's pick up truck and took a rather adventurous drive around the family's ranch land...literally driving through horse and cow pastures, dodging livestock, circling hay bales, crossing five million railroad tracks and too many small creeks {I knew the truck would sink and we would drown}.  Then my sisters and I would pretend we had on boots and use my uncle's shoe horn to remove our Saltwater sandals, eat a slice of whichever pie we hadn't tasted earlier, and run off to the sea-foam-green-carpeted formal living room {which wasn't ever used, of course} and played century old board games and thumbed through pop up books.

My Great Uncle L.L. {who was my mom's mother's brother} had three aunts himself {making them my Great-Great aunts}.  There were actually a total of four sisters and two brothers but the only ones I remember were Aunt Mamie Lee, Aunt Gladiola {we called her Aunt Glad} and Aunt Augusta {Aunt Gusta}.  Mamie Lee had bright white hair and was blind and nearly deaf and a frail old thing; I thought she looked like a porcelain doll.  Aunt Gusta was the youngest, funny, and had a tiny but pristine house with tiny old furniture and a garden and a car.  Aunt Glad was healthy, friendly, a fabulous artist, and a SERIOUS cook.  Of the "Country Cooking" kind.  She gifted me her cookbook on one trip and this is where the following is found:

Aunt Gladiola's Coca Cola Cake

Cake Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 sticks oleo {that's butter for all you city folk ;) }

3 TBS cocoa

1 cup Coca Cola

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

Cake Directions:

Combine flour and sugar in a mixing bowl.  Heat coca, oleo and Coca Cola on cooktop to boiling.  Pour mixture over flour and sugar and mix well.  Beat eggs in a separate bowl, then add buttermilk, baking soda, vanilla and marshmallows.  Mix well, then add this mixture to the first mixture.  Beat well.  This will be a thin batter with marshmallows floating on top.  Bake in a long shallow pan at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.  While cake is cooking, make icing:

Icing Ingredients:

1 stick oleo

9 TBS Coca Cola {basically the rest of a 12oz can of Coke}

3 TBS coca

1 box powdered sugar

1 cup chopped pecans, toasted while oven is preheating for cake {I have never added the nuts}

Icing Directions:

Combine oleo, cocoa and Coca Cola and heat until boiling.  Pour over powdered sugar in a bowl and mix well.  Beat, then add toasted pecans {if using}.  Spread over cooked cake while cake is still hot.

Enjoy!