Eat Your Heart Out Paula Deen

That's right.

There is now a new maven of homestyle Southern cooking...and I am she.
After feeling like I was in a cooking "funk", I proclaimed to John (mostly so that my intention was made public, and then I couldn't back out of it!) that I would start actual meal-planning for upcoming weeks. That means researching and discovering new recipes- then actually planning which days to make them, what ingredients I needed to buy, and even preparing marinades and sauces ahead of time. So I armed myself with my all-time favorite cookbook, and declared it my mission.

I bought this book a few years back, and it has been my secret weapon ever since. Plus, it has introduced me to some classic southern foods that I would have never tried. So I am happy to report that a month or two later after my "cooking resolution", I have been successful at my new venture! Some recipes were lip-smacking fantastic. And some....not so much.

Tonight I whipped up my first ever made-from-scratch-southern Mac N' Cheese.

Not from a box. Not made by Kraft.

My very own creamy oven-baked batch! Ok, so the picture may not look to appetizing. I had already served up a couple spoonfuls to the kids before remembering that I wanted to take a picture of it! So ignore my messy presentation. But oh boy, was it delicious. I'm a sucker for good old fashioned comfort foods...so this reigns supreme on my list. It's made with everything that would make a cardiologist feel faint...but I don't mind a little indulgence. It's like Julia Child once said,

"If your afraid of butter, use cream".

And in case any of you are curious about some of my other favorite new recipes, here are the top favorites so far:

*1* Garlic Fried Chicken Breasts

*2* Chuck Roast BBQ Sandwiches (my slow-cooker favorite!!)

*3* Garlic Lime Chicken

*4* Pork and Pepper skillet

*5* Ziti with turkey sausage and broccoli

Food Network, here I come.......