A Common Shepherdess

Brunswick stew Vidalia onion rings Roasted peanuts Coca-cola Peach cobbler Brunswick stew is traditional in the southeast. There is a debate over whether it originated in Brunswick, Georgia, or in Brunswick County, Virginia. As the Georgia humorist Roy Blount Jr. quipped, "Brunswick stew is what happens when small mammals carrying ears of corn fall into barbeque pits." According to www.vidaliaonions.org, "it is only in the defined production area in Georgia that the soil and climate combine to produce the special characteristics of the sweet Vidalia onion that has attracted the attention of gourmet taste buds everywhere. Under the terms of Federal Marketing Order No. 955, as well as a state law, Vidalia onions are defined to include only those produced in 13 counties and portions of seven others, all in Georgia." If it is labeled Vidalia in the grocery store, you can be sure it is a Georgia onion. Vidalia onions are also the official state vegetable. Peanuts a...

Chicken Bog Boiled peanuts Fried okra Sweet tea Huguenot torte Chicken bog is a type of pilau, probably African in origin. This particular type of pilau is found only in South Carolina low country cooking; however it is similar to Cajun jambalaya and other pilaf dishes. We used a turkey smoked sausage to cut down on the fat. The recipe above was very good. Definitely going into my recipe collection! Boiled peanuts are the official state snack. I had several cans on hand from when my mother traveled south and sent me some. To make your own, you have to have access to raw, green peanuts which are hard find outside of the southeast. If you can't find canned boiled peanuts at your local Walmart (sometimes carries a pretty good selection of southern food), maybe try a specialized Asian foods store. My sister finds them fresh boiled at a local Asian market. They contain sugar so are a little sweeter than what you would find down South. Boiled peanuts are a popular street food i...

North Carolina-style pulled pork barbecue sandwiches Three-Potato Salad 7-layer salad Pepsi Blueberry Sonker North Carolina-style barbecue has a vinegar base rather than a tomato base. I chose the Three Potato Salad because potato salad is great with barbecue and it uses sweet potatoes. North Carolina is the leading producer of sweet potatoes in the US. Pepsi was first made and sold in North Carolina in 1 898. A sonker is a variety of cobbler unique to North Carolina.

Barbecue chicken Buttermilk biscuits Wilted lettuce Variety of pickled vegetables Strawberry lemonade Molasses stack cake with apple butter I'm sure the barbecue chicken recipe I linked above is very good. But tonight I didn't have time to make my own barbecue sauce. I marinated the chicken pieces for 2 days in Kraft Italian dressing. I used Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce since that is our favorite barbecue sauce. The buttermilk biscuit recipe is the best I've tried. I did add an additional 2 Tbsp of butter. Maybe it's the dry weather here but they turned out better with the added fat. The biscuits are so soft and tender. My six-year-old ate four of them with supper. For the pickled vegetables I used some homemade refrigerator pickles I already had on hand. According to AppalachianHistory.net, the stack cake is one of the most popular southern Appalachian cakes. At holidays and weddings, early mountain settlers traditionally served stack cake in lieu of mor...

Southern fried chicken and cream gravy Mashed potatoes Spicy green beans Milk (official state drink) Blackberry cobbler Colonel Sanders perfected his fried chicken recipe in Corbin, Kentucky, during the 1930s. His endeavor was so successful that in 1936 the governor of Kentucky granted Sanders the honorary title of Colonel. The blackberry was voted the official state fruit of Kentucky in 2004 and milk was voted the official state beverage in 2005.

Ham and red-eye gravy Grits Collard greens Sweet tea General Robert E. Lee Cake Virginia is famous for her country hams. Country hams are quite salty and may be hardwood smoked then aged anywhere from several months to a couple of years. Red-eye gravy is made from the drippings of pan-fried country ham and black coffee. One legend surround the name is that President Andrew Jackson requested ham with gravy as red as the eyes of his cook, which were bloodshot from a long night of drinking. To make ham and red-eye gravy, simply pan-fry slices of country ham in a skillet. Remove the ham. Deglaze the pan with about 1/2 a cup of strong coffee. Scrap all the bits and pieces from the bottom of the pan. Boil until it has been reduced to about half it's original volume. Season with black pepper. Grits is a corn-based porridge very popular in the southern United States. Corn is a crop native to America. Native Americans ate a mush made of softened corn and offered bowls of the boil...