Food & Drinks

Sweet potato pie is a Southern tart that will make you hum with every bite. This wonderful pie was developed by African-American slaves but, historically, it appears to go as far back to the early colonial days.

I learned this recipe from my Carolina grandmother, Ma’ma Cockrell. The one thing that I can’t even replicate is her homemade crust. Thank goodness for Pillsbury pie crust, because I would be lost without it.  Without further ado, here is the recipe for this delicious, subtly spiced treat.

Ingredients

1 (1 pound ) Sweet Potato                                           ½ teaspoon Nutmeg

½ cup Butter (softened)                                             ½ teaspoon Cinnamon

1 cup White Sugar                                                        1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

½ cup Whole Milk                                                       1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

2 Eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚
2. Bake your sweet potato at 350˚ for 20 to 30 minutes until done. Peel the skin off the potato in preparation to mix with all the other ingredients.
3. Blend your cooked, skinless sweet potato with all the other ingredients.
4. Prep your baking dish or glass with your uncooked 9 inch pie crust. Pillsbury pie crust is a wonderful crust that has worked for me every time without an issue.
5. Pour your blended ingredients into the pie shell and place in the oven.
6. Your pie should cook for about 55 to 60 minutes until the knife comes clean from the center.
7.  Let it cool for about 5 to 10 minutes to settle; slice and serve.

I look forward to hearing how your sweet potato pie turned out.  Now, get to cooking!

As a Southern girl, collards greens are a must have at the dinner table. The history of this green goes way back to prehistoric times but the style of cooking it came from African slaves. The plantation kitchens gave their help any leftovers and with that said, nothing was every wasted including pig’s feet or ham hocks.

When I was a little girl, my grandmother cooked collard greens by the stockpot full. These greens would simmer for hours. Mind you, collard greens is from the cabbage family and can create strong smell of awesomeness to some and for others, not so much.

Here’s how to cook up some mess o’ greens:

Ingredients

1 Mess o’ Collard Greens – cleaned, patted dry and vein removed.

1 Package of Bacon

1 Valdia Onion

1 Box of Chicken Broth

2 Tablespoons of Sugar

Salt & Pepper to taste

1/3 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar

1. Prepare  your greens by removing the large middle vein and cut into small squares. I roll my greens, cut them up and put in my large stone oven.
2. Cook the bacon until it’s nice and brown, dab the bacon with a paper towel to take off any extra grease, dice up and put in stone oven.
3. Now, in the same pan you cooked the bacon, dice up your valdia onion and cook until golden brown. Once done, place the cooked onion in the stone oven.
4. Now you are going to add 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar, 1 box of chicken stock, 2 tablespoons of sugar, a smidge of salt & pepper and a cup or two of water. You need to make sure that the greens have enough liquid because you are going to bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer for the next 1.5 to 3 hours depending on the amount of collard greens in the stone oven.
5. Continue to check on the collard greens throughout the cooking time. Some greens are more tender than others and can cook pretty quickly.
6. If you have a person in your family that is allergic to poultry, you can remove the chicken broth and replace with water. Please make sure that you have enough water slightly covering the greens.

Let me know how your collard greens turned out! I would love to hear from you. Feel free to email me or comment below.