A simple, tender and light, old-fashioned hot milk cake, but the real star here is the broiled, caramel and coconut topping.

Lazy Daisy Cake

Some of you will fondly remember this cake from your mother or grandmother's kitchen from long, long ago. Others of you likely have never heard of it.

Back in the day, dessert was as much a part of the supper plate as were meat and three, and this cake often made an appearance. Called Lazy Daisy Cake, and sometimes Busy Day Cake, because it is just simply so easy to throw together, it is really just a very basic, old fashioned, boiled milk pan cake. The cake itself is wonderfully tender and light, but what sets it apart, is this lovely, crunchy, broiled caramel and coconut topping.

One of the primary goals of my website from the beginning, has been to bring back some of the older heritage and heirloom recipes that are practically lost recipes to younger folks today. This is one of those recipes.

In days past, grandmothers and moms passed their recipes down to their children and grandchildren by propping them up on a stool in the kitchen to both watch and participate. As women moved into the workforce and our lives got busier, manufacturers answered by offering us more quick and easy packaged, convenience products and the enjoyment of cooking got moved to the back burner giving way to just getting our families fed! I am glad that there seems to be a shift back to the kitchen these days - maybe not to the level it once was, but certainly more of us are finding joy in getting back to the kitchen to create, at least a couple times a week, even if only the weekends.

You don't hear that much about this cake these days and I don't know why since the ease of preparation fits right into our current busy lifestyles. I'm not sure that it's really a southern cake, though many of us in The South would consider it so since we grew up knowing it. Though not traditional, I've added chopped pecans to mine, and while walnuts are also good, any nuts are totally optional. I think they are a nice addition. Some people also make this cake with a combination of flour and oatmeal, adding a little more substance and fiber. This is also a great potluck or funeral food cake to bring along - simply double the recipe.

A Lazy Daisy cake is as easy as it comes. Here's how to make one.

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Thin rings of apples are dipped into a sweetly seasoned cinnamon and nutmeg batter and then fried. Best served hot!

Apple Fritter Rings

Yay, it's apple season! Well, it's at least the beginning of apple season and you'd know it too if you follow any food blogs because apple recipes have been in abundance around the net. I love apples in cake, cobbler, in pie, baked, even simply sliced up and dipped in peanut butter - a treat I can certainly get easily carried away with.

Fritters are a fun way to enjoy apples for a change too, and while there are a couple of ways to make them, I especially love them fried in rings like this. I also love them in a drop style, deep fried fritter, similar to my corn fritters - those I'll do next.

They're super quick to make and really feature the apple when done in rings like this though. Once you've peeled and cored the apples, you slice them into thin rings and simply dip the rings into a very simple batter. I like the batter a bit more on the thin side, but if you prefer more puff to your fritter, just use less buttermilk or milk to form a thick wet batter.

I used my deep fryer, but these are very easily done in a skillet on the stove also.  Don't they just look like little apple donuts in that fryer?

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Where I've Been

Happy Autumn y'all!

After a full week in Florida at Disney with my son, daughter in law and our two beautiful grand-babies, we arrived home last night. Exhausted. Sunburned. Blistered. Broke. Did I mention exhausted? But... we had a blast with those babies!

I brought my laptop with me with the full intent of working a bit, but either ran out of time or energy or mostly both to be honest by day's end. After hearing from a few readers, I figured I better at least 'splain my absence!

It was my first vacation in 4 years, so I hope you'll forgive me and stay tuned - I'll be back soon with some new recipes.



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Crockpot Coca-Cola Peach Barbecue Pork Chops

Bone-in pork chops, slow cooked in a Coca-cola and peach infused barbecue sauce.

Barbecue Pork Chops

While the idea of a peachy or Coca-cola barbecue sauce is certainly not unique to me, this mixture is one that came to me one day when trying to think of something to do with pork chops and utilize the slow cooker, since so many of y'all are fans of the crockpot. I opened the fridge, saw a can of Coca-Cola Classic and this peach butter and voila, sounded good to me!

I always thought you could stick pretty much anything in a slow cooker and let it go all day while you were gone or at work and come home to a wonderful meal. I'm finding, at least with the newer cookers, that just ain't so... well unless you like everything falling apart or shredded, so I'm still trying to become a fan of slow cookers to be honest. I rather like the whole hands-on process of old-fashioned, low oven cooking and slow stove-top simmering, though admittedly, I know I have more time at this stage of my life for that, where many of the readers here do not - at least not on a day to day basis.

I can say that hands down, my favorite crockpot meals are made with pork and beef roasts, whether it's a beef roast for slicing, or a recipe for Italian Beef or BBQ Beef fully intended to be shredded for sandwiches. A pork butt or shoulder rocks pretty cool in there too, especially for a cheater pulled pork - gotta love that! Ribs are nice, beans are good, even some soups, but I'm still iffy on some of the other things, especially white meat chicken and pork chops... and anything with rice. Oh the tricks there are to learn! These bone-in chops were about 1/2-inch thick and came just short of the falling apart stage at about 5 hours. Truth is, I might have been able to serve them at 4, so this probably isn't a recipe you'd want to drop in if you're gone from home for say, 9 or more hours.

The result was a tasty barbecue chop with a nice accent of peach - nothing overwhelming but an interesting little punch of flavor. Here's what I did.

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Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal cookies, filled with chocolate chips, and a glass of milk, is a delicious way to usher in cooler temperatures.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

If my husband had to pick a favorite cookie, I'm pretty sure it'd probably be good ole chocolate chip. I love those too, but hands down my all-time favorite cookie would have to be oatmeal. I love them with raisins and cranberries and nuts and chocolate chips, you name it. This oatmeal chocolate chip version is a nice compromise, because The Cajun really enjoys these, so I'm not left to eat them all on my own! I'm glad that the weather has been a bit on the cooler side recently, because it gave me the chance to make some.

Here's how.

To get a nice spread on these cookies, have everything, including your eggs, at room temperature. If you favor the smaller, fatter cookie - like those chocolate dipped ones down at the bottom - just chill the dough for about 15 minutes before you scoop it out onto the cookie sheet. That got your attention, didn't it? We'll get to those in a minute.

First you'll want to cream together the softened butter and shortening and that's best done with a mixer. You'll need 1/2 cup of each.

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In Remembrance

Crabmeat mixed with a tangy blend of sour cream and mayo, layered on French bread with cream cheese and Monterey Jack cheese. Cut into slices and serve hot for a great appetizer!

Catch of the Day Crab Bread Copycat

Whew! What a week it's been with Tropical Storm Lee, tornadoes, literal bucket-loads of rain, causing all kinds of problems, including, apparently, internet connection issues. But, I've seen the cable trucks working away, as recently as 9:00 p.m. last evening on the way home, so hopefully the issues are getting resolved and I can get back on track with blogging about food! The one good thing of it all, is that Lee left behind some sorely needed cooler fall-like air - a bit of a silver lining we sure needed. Super happy to be back and thrilled to bring you this recipe, finally!

There was a local seafood restaurant, called Catch of the Day, where us gals used to gather on occasion after a long day at the office. Okay. It may have been more often than occasionally that we gathered to gossip, moan and complain about work and co-workers, over a nice tall glass of Long Island iced tea and listen to a little music. It was quite a popular after-work place there for a few years.

It's been gone for a few years now though, as has my nearly two hour daily commute to and fro, and while they had all the typical Gulf Coast fare, their crab bread definitely had top billing. A tangy spread of crab meat, served on fresh, hot, split French bread, like everybody else, I loved it too.

Though the actual recipe isn't out there anywhere that I know of, this is the version I came up with after a few experiments of my own. I did pattern it somewhere between those multiple attempts and a version and that is found in the cookbook, Recipes To Remember from Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Biloxi. I tried using both more and less of the lemon juice and thought that about 1/2 tablespoon seemed right. I tried a white sauce at first, but knew that wasn't right, so I went with a combination of cream cheese with butter on the bread, and a blend of sour cream, lemon juice and mayonnaise for the crab, which seemed to have the right tang to it.

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A classic macaroni salad, mostly unadorned and simple, the kind that grandma used to make it.

Classic Old Fashioned Macaroni Salad

Before there were pasta salads filled with all sorts of yummy goodies, there was the humble macaroni salad. Usually a very simple concoction containing elbow macaroni, a little celery, most always pickles and pimentos here in the south, and sometimes onion, it's dressed usually with a very classic mayonnaise dressing.

I love adding in pickle juice - usually some kind of bread and butter pickle since that is what I have on hand the most. Of course I save pickle juice, don't you? A tablespoon or two will brighten up pretty much any pasta salad, or things like tuna and egg salad where you typically add in pickles anyway, but I love this old fashioned macaroni salad with a little bit more juice added in myself.

It's the classic macaroni salad our grandma's made - though you can certainly add in whatever you like - and perfect for cookouts, church socials and potluck suppers. For more substance, toss in some cooked chicken, cubed ham, small, cooked shrimp, or well drained tuna.

Here's how to make it.

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