spring like weather

over the holidays, we had a lot of pleasant warm weather.  sunny and 60’s in the daytime.  a couple of days, it felt more like spring, with grey skies threatening rain and just blowing on by.

factory ruins

while heading through tate, georgia the other day, we saw this old ruins on the side of the road and decided to explore.  i don’t know what it used to be, but there’s only lonely beauty there now.

southern baked spinach and artichoke dip

this weekend was filled with lots of celebrations to bring in the new year.  amongst the collards and black eyed peas i made a spinach artichoke dip to share.  this one is always a crowd pleaser.

ingredients

2 cans of artichokes, not marinated

3/4 cup mayonnaise

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 cup + 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, shredded

2 cups fresh spinach

1 small can of chillies

crushed red peppers, optional

directions

-pre- heat oven to 350 degrees

-usually artichokes are quartered so i like to chop them up a little bit

-put the artichokes, mayonnaise, chopped garlic, 1 cup parmesan, spinach, chillies, and spice to your likings

-mix and pour into a baking dish

-bake with foil for 40 minutes

-remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes or so .  you want the cheese to be melted and slightly browned.

-enjoy with crackers, pits, crostinis, or fresh bread

Pine Bark

red barn beauty

i visited a new friend and was captivated by his mindblowing red barn.  check out these pics!

pine woods

pine trees are something in a southerner’s soul.  the sight of tall trees against the sky, the spicy smell as you walk near them, the quietness of pine needles underfoot.  here’s some scenes from a rainy pine walk on the edge of a pasture.

bourbon sweet potato pie

for our holiday feast,  my contribution was sweet potato pie.  we ran out of vanilla so i added some

bourbon

.  i think that this will be my new standard sweet potato pie!

there was enough filling for one full pie and another partially filled pie.  glad that there was left overs.

click to read recipe

ingredients

1 pie crust, i used a pre-made crust

2 cups sweet potato puree

4 Tbsp brown butter, click

here

for instructions

3 eggs

1 egg yolk

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup sea salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

directions

-pre-heat oven to 425 degrees

-blind bake pie crust with pie weights

-remove crust and turn oven down to 375 degrees

-mix the rest of the ingredients together

-pour filling into pie crust

-put pie into oven and bake for 50 minutes at 375 degrees

-enjoy with some freshly whipped cream, sweetened with maple syrup

lovin' the rust

you have to realize, living in the south’s humid climate, you see a lot of rust.  you also have to realize that, for a southerner, the color of rust lies close to the heart.  after all, it’s the color you’re most likely to see in nature: pine needles on a forest floor, or a carpet of fallen oak leaves in autumn; red clay banks and red dirt roads; rusty tin and plowed fields - all that beautiful rust color.  that color speaks to us of old south, and we love it.  here’s a gallery of gorgeous rust to admire -

[gallery link="file"]