Calories
May 3, 2016, 9:31 pm
Regional cooking thrives below the Mason Dixon line. Any visit down South is a series of feasts…even for a non-red meat eater like me who passes on the barbecued ribs.
The goodness starts at breakfast. Biscuits and their soulmate grits are standard morning fare on southern menus. A large, buttermilk biscuit will keep me fortified to lunch; add cheese grits to that and I could stay fueled to dinner. I must admit I always reveal my Yankee upbringing by asking for my biscuit with butter, not gravy. Be advised that this is pure heresy in the South.
If you need a sugar shot in the AM, a waffle smothered in pecans and syrup may be in order. Sweet potato pancakes with pecan maple syrup are another delicious option.
My husband and I usually skip lunch in favor of tea time. A southern tea with a variety of savory and sweet treats is a wonderful way to spend a late afternoon. On the top tier of the tray is a variety of tiny sandwiches. The most quintessentially southern of these are the pimiento cheese ones. The filling is a combination of grated cheddar cheese, mayonnaise and pimientos.
The lower tiers display the southern art of dessert baking to the maximum. One of my favorites is hummingbird cake which is a dense spice cake with crushed pineapple, mashed bananas and pecans. By now you may have noticed a recurring tenet in southern cooking: anything can be enhanced with the addition of pecans.
Dinner in a traditional southern restaurant is no problem for vegetarians. The entrees are all meat, fish and seafood. But the southerners love their “sides” and it is perfectly acceptable to make a meal out of sides which are also called “vegetables”. I have never known a northerner who called macaroni and cheese a vegetable, but I think it is a brilliant idea.
Here is a typical list of “vegetables”:
- Peas and snaps
- Mashed potatoes
- Baked sweet potatoes
- Fried okra
- Squash casserole
- Brown rice
- Collard greens
- Broccoli casserole
- Honey glazed carrots
- Black eyed peas
- Macaroni and cheese
- Cheese grits
- Creamed corn
- Cole slaw
- Applesauce
- Fried green tomatoes
What’s not to love about southern fare……..except the calorie count?
1 Comment for this entry
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Greetings and welcome...
The Suitcase Lady Blog is now in its fifteenth year. I intend to keep following the advice from poet Mary Oliver, "Pay attention, be astonished and tell about it". Many thanks for being the people I tell it to.
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May 3rd, 2016 on 10:31 PM
In Florida, there is a small chain called “Po’Folks.” These people know their fried food. Early death from these foods just may be worth it.