Hot Pintos and Cheese Dip (Texas Trash) - made from refried beans and onion, sour cream, cream cheese, taco seasoning, red sauce and both pepper jack and cheddar cheeses.

Hot Pintos and Cheese Dip (Texas Trash)

There's a dip that's being passed around Facebook called Texas Trash Warm Bean Dip. I have no idea why it has that name, but it passed by my timeline so many times that I decided to give it a whirl. I mean if you love beans, and especially refried beans and bean dips, how can you lose with beans and cheese, right?

 

Peach Cobbler, made with canned peaches and a sugar and flour crumble topping.

Canned Peach Cobbler

When I went to make some spiced peach halves recently, I accidentally opened a large can of sliced peaches, so I thought it would be a great time to put up this version of peach cobbler. As if any Southerner would need an excuse for a comforting pan of warm peach cobbler, even if slap in the middle of winter, right?

I usually refer to this as a winter cobbler because it's intended to be made when peaches are out of season, though I see no problem with using canned peaches or frozen peaches any time of the year frankly. It is especially excellent when made with peaches you've home canned yourself, though store bought canned peaches are delicious too.

 

An unstuffed casserole form of all the ingredients you love in stuffed cabbage, Cabbage Patch is made with a layer of cabbage, topped with a blend of veggies, tomato, rice and sausage or beef, finished, if you like, with a layer of shredded cheese. Perfect for cabbage lovers!

Cabbage Patch Casserole

Wow. Has it been cold enough for y'all? Good grief.

I know it's been pretty cold all across the nation with this recent Polar Vortex, but as I write this in January, we've had some record breaking temps in the teens even down here in the Deep South along the Gulf Coast.

I'm sure if some of you are coming across this recipe at some point in the future, you're probably facing cold weather yourself right now.

I'm so glad that this frigid weather is finally gonna be moving along though, because I don't think I could have taken it too much longer. We just don't get along with that here in the Deep South. Thank goodness relief is on the way!

A breakfast casserole made with eggs, biscuits and sausage gravy.

Egg, Biscuit and Sausage Gravy Breakfast Casserole

This is another one of those recipes that's been making the rounds on Facebook for awhile, made with canned biscuits, a packet of sausage gravy and eggs. Nothing wrong with that!

I wanted to make it from scratch though, so I made up a quick biscuit dough and easy homemade sausage gravy instead. You may certainly exchange that out for the convenience products to save time, but do keep in mind the sodium levels on any pre-packaged product so that you don't oversalt or overseason. You'll need an 8-count can of refrigerated biscuits and a packet of sausage gravy mix that makes 2 cups (such as Pioneer brand).

A classic soup combining dried split peas and ham, with a mirepox of onion, carrots and celery, enhanced with a ham bone or ham hocks.

Split Pea and Ham Soup

As much as I look forward to all those delectable holiday dishes that we wait all year to eat, I tire of it all pretty quick. By a day or two later, I usually start craving simple things like egg salad or grilled cheese and tomato soup, and anything that hasn't been consumed is destined for the freezer, where it will be re-purposed in another way, another day.

Merry Christmas from Deep South Dish

Thank you for making Deep South Dish one of your sources for Southern recipes and for being a part of the family here. Your kind comments, endless encouragement and continuing support is what keeps me doing this.

Merry Christmas from The Cajun and me as we look forward to a healthy and prosperous New Year for all of us in 2014. God bless.

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A traditional Mississippi Gulf Coast Christmas treat, this is my small batch version of pusharatas - a heavily spiced, drop fritter, made with apple, orange and lemon, raisins and pecans, and deep fried and finished with a dip in a thick powdered sugar glaze.

Small Batch Pusharatas

I love pusharatas. Love. Love. Love. But, because of their history here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the best recipes are mostly huge batches, making hundreds! That is excellent when you are giving them away as gifts, of course, but sometimes you just want enough for your own cookie trays, so this year I wrote a smaller batch recipe.

 

  An old-fashioned heirloom fruit salad recipe, made with whole seedless grapes dressed with a sour cream and cream cheese dressing, whipped cream folded in and finished with a brown sugar and pecan topping.

Grape Salad

This is a retro fruit salad recipe from waaay back. You'll see versions of it all over the internet with very little variation in the base recipe of seedless grapes tossed in a creamy, sweet dressing, usually made with cream cheese, sour cream and sugar and finished with a brown sugar nut topping.

A wonderful heirloom recipe dating back 100 years, this simple pecan cookie bar is topped with a brown sugar meringue layer, giving them a slightly crisp, cracked topping.

Original Old Fashioned Mud Hen Bars

You may never have heard of Mud Hen Bars before, or you may have seen them for first time in the last couple of years across the explosion of food blogs, but it's actually one of those recipes that's been around even longer than I have.

Santa Claus Whiskers Cookies - a slice and bake butter cookie, filled with chopped candied cherries and pecans, and rolled in coconut before baking.

Santa Claus Whiskers Cookies

I have the tried and true favorites that I like to make every Christmas, but sometimes I like to add something new to the cookie tray and this was one that I kept running into when browsing my cookbook collection. It's a slice and bake log cookie, so it needs an overnight rest once you roll it up, but it comes together easy enough.