Sunday Southern Days

Newsflash: Fried food isn't good for you. That doesn't stop me from loving good (re: real) chicken nuggets. These are my answer to an easy weeknight dinner with a great crunch and very little fat or oil. These are great for dunking, kids, and as an appetizer or for a group! 4 six ounce boneless skinless chicken breasts 1 c corn flakes 1 T fat free mayo 2 T parmesan cheese 1/2 t salt 1/4 t pepper Spray a small pyrex dish or baking pan with non-stick spray. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Trim the chicken of excess or visible fat and dice into 1" cubes. Top with mayo and mix well to coat all sides of the chicken. In a small dish, crush the corn flakes and add the salt and pepper. Coat the chicken pieces in the corn flake mixture and place individually in the pyrex dish. Do not allow the chicken pieces to touch so they will cook evenly on all sides. Top with parmesan cheese. Bake for 20 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Enjoy!

Every couple has their version. This is ours, apparently.

Winter is a time where I enjoy working on our house -- with Chicago winter weather outside, it just seems like a good idea to enjoy the nice weather while I can and save my home improvement projects for a time when the weather turns chillier. This winter holds an ambitious list of home improvements, the first of while was to re-paint our kitchen/dining room area. Upon moving into our home in 2006, we painted the kitchen a rich brick red and added a wide crowne molding to accent the ceiling. Four and a half years later, it was time to brighten up our kitchen a bit, this time with Martha Stewart's Opal Blue paint. See these photos of the painting process -- only 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint to go from brick red to a very light blue! I worked up a combination of dark walnut wood furniture and black wall decorations to best show off the blue in the new paint. The chandelier is original to the house (circa 1999) and was originally a delightful hunter green and brown crackl...

After a rough day for both of us, Sam and I were in need of some heartier dinner food. In hopes of using up some items in the fridge and freezer, Bleu Burgers were in store. 4 Frozen or Fresh Hamburger Patties 1 t Hamburger Seasoning 4 ounces crumbled Bleu Cheese (I used Amish Bleu Cheese, which is a little saltier. Domestic, Maytag, and French work well too) 1/2 onion (yellow or white), diced 2 c slice mushrooms (I used white mushrooms) 1/2 c beef broth 1 T butter Add butter, onion, and mushrooms to saucepan over med-high heat and saute for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Add beef broth and bring to a boil. Simmer over med-low heat for an additional 30 minutes. This can be done ahead of time -- keep marinated mushrooms in airtight container in the fridge. Turn broiler on in your oven or toaster oven. Once hot, add seasoned burgers to broiler pan. After 8 minutes, flip burgers once and cook an additional 3-8 minutes, depending on your preferred level o...

I love a bargain; no secret there. I also have recently enjoyed decorating our house a bit, but I just can't bring myself to pay upwards of $50 each for throw pillows. In my efforts to convert our red throw pillows to a blue color scheme, I decided to break out my Singer (thanks Elizabeth) and sew some new covers onto the existing forms. Going for a mix-and-match look, I decided on a navy blue cavas with a thick ivory rope trim, light blue and white 1" stripes with a thin navy blue rope trim, and navy blue colonial toile with no trim. Here's at look at the 'after'.

We were thrilled to recently welcome my sister, Elizabeth, and her husband, David's, first child into the world! In January, I went to Virginia for her baby shower, and so many wonderful friends and family came to help prepare for Little Miss Miller's arrival. While the shower was beautiful (thank you to all of the hostesses!), Elizabeth really wanted a diaper cake. Mom (our yiayia-to-be) created a beautiful one, complete with pacifiers, socks, lotions, shampoo, a teething ring, bibs, and an adorable stuffed pink elephant to complete the shower theme. When I head back to Virginia for visits, I always get a little nostalgic for the ocean. I just had to share this fabulous view, as seen from Elizabeth's Baby Shower.

Souffle. That word had always frightened me. From the days of cartoons depicting a majestic souffle falling at the cry of a baby or slam of a door, I feared that hours of hard work would result in nothing more than a popped balloon of a dessert. Valentine's Day this year brought a renewed kitchen spirit and culinary bravery to wow my husband with Julia Child's favorite dessert creation and the first in her MAFC's Volume I section on Souffles -- the Vanilla Souffle. She writes this recipe as the base for more elaborate and flavored souffles, so I decided to start small and basic. This is where I always recommend you read the entire recipe before starting it. I decided to make the souffle the day before, as Valentine's Day fell on a Monday this year. Big mistake. Within two hours of taking the souffle out of the oven on Sunday afternoon, it was less than half of it's size upon removal from the oven. Here is a photo of the souffle at it's height of perfection (...