Nothing says Southern cocktail hour quite like homemade cheese crackers.

Ok, I guess a mint julep throws its Southern-ness out there pretty hard.  But for most of my life, cocktail hour consisted of sweet tea and nibblets {yes, nibblets}.  And whenever those nibblets included homemade cheese straws, I was all over that.  As in, adults batting away my greedy little hands so I won't spoil my supper {or, more likely, their cocktail hour}.


According to my mother, a good Southern woman has frozen cheese straw dough in her freezer at all times, just in case.  {Side note: how many food processors full of cheese have I posted?  Probably 65 times more than any normal human cholesterol needs}

But I do love to be a good Southern woman {insert wink}.


I also love recipes that come together in 5 minutes thanks to my food processor.  Skipping steps in recipes is also a hobby of mine.  Yeah, I live life on the edge.  In this recipe, I skipped that whole rolling out the dough and slicing it into perfect long rectangles to make straws.  Rather, I rolled the dough into logs and sliced them.  Done and done.


You should have seen people trying to stop themselves from eating these crackers.  It was very me circa 1995.  So you've been justly warned: cheese crackers are addictive.  Once you pop, you just can't stop?  Sorry.


Throw them on a pretty platter, and feel your Southern Grandma's smile.  {Ok, my grandma is Swedish and loves some good pickled herring on crackers, but I bet these would still make her smile}

Southern Cheese Crackers
Makes about 40 small crackers, recipe from {gasp} The New York Times.  My theory is that all the Southern lady publications are too busy guarding their recipes to post them.

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 pound sharp orange Cheddar
1 stick butter, room temperature

Shred the cheese in a food processor or by hand {please don't use the pre-shredded stuff for this}.  In a food processor, pulse together the flour, salt, pepper, and paprika.  Add cheese and butter and process until it forms the consistency of play-doh. {NYT says you can also make this in a stand mixer by first creaming the cheese and butter, then adding in dry ingredients}.

Shape the dough into long worm creatures, about 2 inches in diameter.  Wrap in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.  When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 and pull out the dough.  Slice the worms into disks about 1/4 inch thick.  Place on a lined cookie sheet and bake for 13 minutes.

Keep in an airtight container.  These theoretically last 3 weeks, but its more like an hour at a party.


It's a classy lady's cheez-it.

It's pizza night, people!

I don't know about you, but without excessive hours of the Bachelor on Monday night, I'm a little lost.  What to do with those now free hours?  Read?  Write my last grad school papers?  Pinterest {most likely}?  I know one thing for sure, I need to be eating some homemade pizza.


So homemade pizza is slightly more difficult than picking up the phone and calling Papa John's, but seriously, SO.WORTH.IT.  I probably make homemade pizza once a week, and every time its different.  Sometimes I go old school with pepperoni and cheese {that would be this recipe}, but sometimes I go crazy with brussels and bacon {I'll ease you into that one}.  And it's taken me about 20 times to get my technique just right.


I like to stretch out the dough, let it bake for just a few minutes {3-4}, then layer toppings and cheese.  It's pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself.

How 'bout you give it a shot and let me know if you were sad the Papa wasn't there?

Homemade Pepperoni Pizza
Serves 2 very hungry people with a few leftovers

2 cups cheese (I mix in just a little cheddar with my mozzarella)
1 ball of dough (I buy wheat dough from TJ's-cheater cheater, I know)
About 9 oz pizza (or marinara sauce)
1 small white onion
6 oz pepperoni slices
1/3 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 teaspoon dried basil

Preheat the oven to 375 and heat a skillet over medium-low heat.  Slice the onion into short slices, and slowly caramelize it in a bit of canola oil in the skillet (this will take about 15-20 minutes to lightly caramelize).  Meanwhile, start stretching the pizza dough to fit onto a large non stick cookie sheet.  Wheat especially will take a few minutes of work to get it all evenly distributed.  Once it is stretched, bake it for 3 minutes in the oven.  Then when the onions are finished layer the toppings on the warm dough: sauce, half the pepperonis, the onions, basil, mozzarella, more pepperonis, and some cheddar.  Bake for 15 minutes and enjoy!


Ugg, I'm hungry all over again.

Tomorrow is Saturday, which means tomorrow you should have brunch.

 Or Sunday.  Whichever weekend day is your brunch jam.  Regardless of the day, your brunch should include quiche.  Specifically this caramelized onion, sausage, cherry tomato quiche (with goat cheese and parmesan, of course).  Why?  Because sometimes scrambled eggs are just tired.  And they don't include caramelized onions.  Ok, sweeping declaration: onions should always be caramelized.



Sausage, Caramelized Onion, and Cherry Tomato Quiche
Serves 4

1 pie crust, I use pillsbury
1/4 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered or halved depending on size
3/4 pound of sausage, I always use spicy (I also cook the whole pound, because that's how it's usually packaged, then save the rest for scrambled eggs later)
1 whole onion, sliced
1 tablespoon rosemary
3 tablespoons goat cheese
2 tablespoons grated parmesan
3 eggs and milk to make 1 3/4 cups when measured with the eggs

Preheat the oven to 375 and roll the pie crust out into a pie pan.  Bring a cast iron skillet (or other pan) to medium heat with oil and begin to caramelized the onions.  Stir onions frequently to prevent burning.  When the onions are mostly cooked (about 10 minutes, when they are light brown and slightly wiggly), add in the sausage and rosemary and brown.  When everything is cooked, pour onions and sausage into the pie crust.  Then evenly distribute the tomatoes and goat cheese ove the top.  Crack the eggs into a 2 cup measuring cup and mix into a scramble.  Add milk to the measuring cup until the mixture measures 1 3/4 cup.  Stir again.  Pour egg/milk mixture over the ingredients in the pie pan.  Sprinkle parmesan on top.  Bake for 45 minutes or until the eggs are set and crust is brown.


Mmmm, brunchbruchbrunch.  Is it Saturday yet?

There's a deep part of me that longs for the days when meal times were more formal, when people got dressed up for dinner (instead of changing out of work clothes into leggings and a husband shirt.  guilty.) and when there were extra food gatherings.  An era when events like tea time and cocktail hour still happened!  I guess to make that really work, I'd need more servants.  At least that's what Downton has taught me.

But in the evenings when I like to pretend we still live in that time, I round up Mr. S&S, put a tasty drink in his hand and present a unique hor d'oeuvre (or, let's be real, a bowl of cashews).  Something like this very fancy sounding gougére.

They're really just french cheese puffs.

But light and airy cheese puffs, perfect with white wine, champagne, or sparkling water.


To make a batch takes only 10 minutes, and then you can freeze all the extras.  They go straight from the freezer to the oven and take about 25 minutes to bake.  How impressed would your impromptu guests (Lord and Lady Grantham, of course) be to see a lovely arrangement of warm, buttery puffs?  Probably just as impressed as Mr. S&S is when I obnoxiously over-pronounce gougéres.  I would also bet that I'm not even pronouncing it correctly.  But when in doubt, just say it louder!


Of course with a leisurely cocktail hour and beautiful hor d'oeuvre, I'm off the hook for a dinner taking any longer than 30 minutes to prepare.  Salad it is!

But tote these along to your next potluck occasion, and I can guarantee you'll get impressed looks.  Also guaranteed are a lot of questions about whether these are like Red Lobster cheddar biscuits.  The answer: only if you need them to be.

Gougéres aka French Cheese Puffs
Makes about 30 puffs, more if you make them smaller than I did
From Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
5 large eggs
1 1/2 cups coarsely grated cheese (Gruyére or sharp cheddar)

Preheat the oven to 375 and line two baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper.  Bring the milk, water, butter, and salt to a rapid boil in a medium saucepan over high heat.  Add the flour all at once, lower the heat to medium-low, and immediately start stirring.  The dough will come together.  Keep stirring (with vigor) for another minute or two to dry the dough.

Turn the dough into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a bowl you can mix with a wooden spoon or hand mixer).  Let the dough sit for a minute to cool, then add the eggs one by one, allowing each one to be incorporated into the dough before adding the next.  Then beat in the cheese.  Once the dough is made, it should be spooned out immediately onto baking sheets, about 1 tablespoon of dough per puff. If you would like to freeze some, place the baking sheet in the freezer, then later place the frozen puffs into a freezer bag. Frozen gougéres just need a minute or two more in the oven, and no defrosting!

Bake for 12 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake for another 12-15 minutes until the gougéres are golden, firm, and puffed.  Serve warm.