A classic butter cookie made using a cookie press, lightly glazed and decorated with sprinkles, candied cherry halves and nonpareils.

Classic Butter Spritz Cookies

Simple spritz cookies. You gotta love them for the ease and simplicity!

A basic, if not a little extra buttery, sugar cookie dough, that's easy to work with, and that you stuff into a tube and press a button that squirts out a perfect little cookie. In fact, spritz comes from the German word spritzen, meaning to squirt - oh my. I think spritz sounds so much nicer don't you?!

Fresh carrots, pearl onions and sweet green peas, slow simmered in butter and finished with a toss of fresh herbs.

Classic Buttered Peas and Carrots

I am a vegetable lover and frankly, there are very few that I don't like. Brussels sprouts would be one. Oh, I'll eat them, and I've even tried them multiple ways to put them up on the blog since many of you do enjoy them, but they just aren't in my top favorites. Other than that, I pretty much love any vegetables, including carrots and peas, and I especially love this classic combination of the two, slow simmered in butter and finished with some fresh herbs.

 

 A classic Christmas cookie for many families, this soft and puffy butter cookie uses anise for flavoring and is finished with a lemony, powdered sugar glaze and colorful nonpareils.

Italian Anise Cookies

These are a classic Christmas cookie all around the country, and yes, even in the Deep South for many! I love them, for one, because they are as easy to make as spritz cookies, but also because they are a slightly different take on the classic butter cookie.

One bite and you wonder, hmmm.... what is that?

 

A beef broth and tomato based, meatball and vegetable soup with bowtie pasta, made super easy with frozen Italian-style meatballs.

Meatball and Vegetable Bowtie Soup

Christmas is upon us y'all and once we slip past the Thanksgiving holiday, well... the days, they seem to come and go faster than ever, until before we know it, Christmas is here!

Shopping and wrapping, planning and decorating, and all the hustle and bustle take over, multiplying our already busy lives... and in the midst of it all, we still have to eat and sometimes there are house guests on top of the usual crew.

Those quick drive through windows can sure look tempting during this busy season, but something from home is on the way with a little help from a few common pantry items, and a bag of frozen meatballs.

A traditional baked ham popular in the south, glazed with a mixture of brown sugar, pineapple and mustard, and a little whisky if you're so inclined, baked in a 7-up or ginger ale tub and decorated with cloves, pineapple rings and cherries.

Old School Pineapple Glazed Baked Ham

If there were a classic combination for a "southern" baked ham, it would probably include brown sugar, mustard and pineapple. Every once in awhile we throw in a little "coke"... whether that's Co-cola, 7-up, Sprite, or Ginger Ale. If you're from The South, you completely understand that statement!