Rosalynn Carter’s Baked Cheese Grits

Rosalynn Carter’s baked cheese grits are light, fluffy, almost souffle-like, with lots of extra sharp cheddar and crispy bacon. They are soooo good! 

In honor of Women’s History Month which begins on March 1st, my Sunday FunDay friends and I are sharing recipes from inspirational women. I am hosting so my instructions for the theme were simple: “Make and share a recipe from an important, significant woman in any field, not just cooking, and from any era. It can be something they were known to love OR actually cooked themselves. Please tell us how they are inspiring to you and perhaps others.”

As I researched various women of significance, hoping for a person that wasn’t a cook or chef yet had still shared at least one recipe of something we might actually like to eat, I came across several recipes purporting to be Rosalynn Carter’s cheese grits. Most of them had Vidalia onion and bacon so I was totally onboard, until I discovered that those were later additions by a fellow blogger and everyone else had just copied her. 

I also came across a grits recipe from the White House Cookbook which turned out to be the one the blogger had embellished. When I finally found Rosalynn Carter’s actual original recipe, shared on the back of an Equal Rights Amendment flyer, it was pretty basic so the recipe I am sharing here is a sort of combination of both. 

[“ERA Flyer Back,” National Organization for Women, Tallahassee Chapter Records, MSS 2008-033, Box 15, Folder 5, Florida State University Libraries Special Collections & Archives, Tallahassee, Florida.]

I chose Rosalynn Carter to honor because of her advocacy for better mental health care throughout her life, starting as first lady of Georgia in 1970. As she said in an interview when asked why she chose to focus on mental health: "For every person who needs mental health care to be able to receive it close to his home, and to remove the stigma from mental health care so people will be free to talk about it and seek help. It's been taboo for so long to admit you had a mental health problem." 

Carter was ahead of her time and I am certain her advocacy helped a lot of people get the care they needed. Truly an inspiration. 

Rosalynn Carter’s Baked Cheese Grits

The original recipe, as you can see, did not call for bacon or cayenne but I do believe that both are a great addition to this baked cheese grits recipe. In The White House Family Cookbook, by Henry Haller, the method of adding the eggs and their number was changed and chicken bouillon was used to cook the grits instead of plain water. 

Ingredients

3 slices of thick-cut bacon, chopped

4 cups or 946ml chicken bouillon

1 cup or 180g 5-minute quick grits

1/4 teaspoon cayenne, plus a sprinkle for topping

1/4 cup or 56g unsalted butter, plus extra for the greasing the pan

8 oz or 227g extra sharp cheddar, grated,

4 egg yolks

¼ or 60ml cold milk

4 egg whites, at room temperature

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a 2-quart casserole dish by greasing it. 

In a frying pan, fry the chopped bacon until lightly brown. Drain on paper towels. Set aside.

Bring the bouillon to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan; add grits gradually, stirring with a wire whisk so that they don’t form clumps. 

Reduce heat and continue cooking, stirring vigorously, until mixture thickens.

Cover and simmer for until all liquid is absorbed—about 5-7 minutes,

Remove from heat and add in the cayenne, Worcestershire sauce and butter. Stir till butter has melted. 

Add in the bacon and about 3/4 of cheese, reserving the last 1/4 for topping. 

Stir until well blended.

In a measuring cup, blend the egg yolks with the milk. Pour mixture into grits and mix thoroughly.

In a clean, dry bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold one scoop of the grits into the egg whites. 

Then carefully fold all of the egg whites into the grits.

Pour the mixture into prepared baking dish. 

Sprinkle with the reserved cheese and a dash of cayenne.

Bake on middle shelf of preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, or until fluffy and golden. 

Enjoy! 

Check out the Sunday FunDay recipes and inspiring women we are sharing! 

• Basil-Dressed Chicken Salad with Tomatoes from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Drumstick Curry in Coconut Sauce - No Onion No Garlic from Sneha’s Recipe
• Irio, Kenyan Style from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Philly Cheesesteak from Amy’s Cooking Adventures 
• Rosalynn Carter’s Baked Cheese Grits from Food Lust People Love

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join. 

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Crispy Oven Fried Okra

This crispy oven fried okra is crunchy, tasty and super easy! It’s also much healthier and less messy to make than deep fried versions. 

Before COVID struck and closed the hot food counter at my local Walmart, one of my favorite things to do was to buy a brown bag with 1/4 pound of fried okra and eat it as I shopped. The hot food section is open again but the okra didn’t make a comeback. I miss it. 

I hardly ever deep-fry anything because it just breaks my heart to use oil in such quantities and then throw it out. On the rare occasions that I have made southern fried chicken or some other fried treat like my jalapeño corn puffs, I usually strain the oil and save it in the refrigerator (so it doesn’t turn rancid) for at least one more use. Which makes me feel a little bit better. 

I was delighted when our host for this week’s Sunday FunDay event chose okra as our theme because I’ve been wanting to try to make oven fried okra for quite a while. I was pretty pleased by how this turned out. Some of the coating did fall off of the okra but most of it stayed on so I’m calling this one a win. 

Crispy Oven Fried Okra

This recipe is adapted from one on Sing for Your Supper with a few extra ingredients added to the egg for more flavor. 

Ingredients  

14 oz or 400g fresh okra

6 tablespoons cornmeal

6 tablespoons panko breadcrumbs

1 egg

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon flour

1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Olive oil spray

Method 

Preheat your oven to 425°F or 218°C and line a large baking pan with foil or a silicone liner.

Combine the cornmeal and panko, in a gallon-size Ziploc bag.

Trim the ends off of the okra and cut it into short pieces about 1/2 in or 1cm wide.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, mayonnaise, flour, mustard and cayenne.

Add the cut okra and stir well until all the pieces are well coated. 

Add the okra a little at a time to the bag and shake until coated. 

Tip the okra out on to the lined baking sheet and then separate the pieces. 

Spray them lightly with the olive oil spray. 

Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until crispy, turning the okra halfway through baking and giving them another spray of the olive oil. 

For the last few minutes, turn the oven to broil and watch the okra closely so it browns but doesn’t burn. 

This crispy oven fried okra would make a lovely side dish but I like to eat it by hand straight out of the bowl as a snack! 

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and we are all sharing okra recipes! Many thanks to our host Sneha of Sneha’s Recipe. 

• Baked Okra Fries from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Begova Corba from Bosnian Chicken Okra Soup from Pandemonium Noshery 
• Bhendi (Okra) Sabzi With Pickle Masala from Sneha’s Recipe 
• Crispy Oven Fried Okra from Food Lust People Love  
• Okra Mexicana from A Day in the Life on the Farm

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Southern-style Tuna Salad

My Southern-style tuna salad is an old family recipe, the one I grew up with. It’s like egg salad but, of course, with added tuna, like we make it in the Southern United States. 

Another short tale. Many years ago, I was on the board of the American Association of Malaysia. Once a month, we would meet to deal with association business and we would bring dishes to share for a working lunch. 

One month I made tuna salad sandwiches. They were fancy sandwiches, crusts cut off, this recipe inside. We were discussing some item on the agenda when the chairperson stopped short and looked right at me. “Your egg salad has tuna in it!” she exclaimed. My retort was “No, my tuna salad has eggs in it! Doesn't yours?” 

A lively discussion by the whole board (a mixed group of Americans from all over) followed whereby I learned that there seems to be a north-south divide. In the northern US states tuna salad does not have eggs, southern-style tuna salad does. Who knew? 

Growing up, this is the way I remember my grandmothers and my mother making the “dressing” for not only tuna salad but also potato salad (at least on the days when no one had the wherewithal to whip up homemade mayonnaise.) Homemade mayo was always preferred but, you know, who has time for that? (Another parenthetical aside: My elder daughter would disagree. She always has time for that and she is a pro at homemade mayo! But she is not with me right now and I cannot be bothered.) 

Southern-style Tuna Salad 

You can chop up the egg yolks along with the whites and just add them to the tuna salad but you’ll miss the opportunity to enrich the mayonnaise and mustard dressing and make it seem more like homemade. Trust me, it makes a difference in flavor somehow. 

Ingredients

4 hard-boiled eggs

2 cans (5 oz or 142g) wild-caught chunk white albacore tuna in water

1/2 cup or 120ml mayonnaise

2-3 tablespoons yellow mustard

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 medium onion

To garnish: chopped green onions and a good sprinkle of cayenne

Method

Drain the canned tuna in a sieve and use the can lid to press out as much liquid as you can. If you don't the tuna salad will be a bit "wet."

Cut the boiled eggs in half with a sharp knife and put the yolks in a mixing bowl. Mash them with a fork. 

Add in the mayonnaise, mustard and seasonings then grate in the onion. I use a microplane so the onion is very fine (and juicy) because I like the flavor but personally don’t like to find crunchy bits of onion in my tuna salad. You are welcome to mince the onion with a sharp knife if onion bits don’t bother you. Mix well. 

Chop the egg whites and add them to the mixing bowl, along with the tuna. Mix well to combine. 

Garnish with some chopped green onions and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper, if desired. 

Chill until ready to serve. This tuna salad is great on bread rolls, sliced bread or crackers. It is perfect for a picnic. Just bring it chilled in the cooler, provide the appropriate starchy things and let everyone help themselves! 

Enjoy! 

This month my Fish Friday Foodie friends are going on a picnic. Check out all the picnic friendly recipes below! Many thanks to our host and organizer, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Fish Bread Rolls from Sneha’s Recipe
• Salmon Salad Spread from Palatable Pastime
• Shrimp Louis Sandwiches from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Southern-style Tuna Salad from Food Lust People Love  
• Surimi (Imitation Crab) Salad from Karen's Kitchen Stories

Are you a food blogger who would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas. 

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Coca-Cola Bundt Cake #BundtBakers

This Coca-Cola Bundt Cake is moist and delicious, a bit of Southern tradition in the shape of a Bundt, perfect for your next get-together, family celebration or picnic. 

The traditional Southern Coca-Cola cake is usually baked in a 9x12 in or 23x31mm rectangular pan, and is very similar to a Texas Sheet Cake. For this month’s Bundt Bakers theme of caffeinated cakes, I decided to make one in a Bundt pan instead.

I did debate with myself about the wisdom of such a move because Coca-Cola cake is normally served straight out of the pan it’s baked in. I did wonder if it would turn out of a Bundt. Turns out that my fears were justified.

So, a little word of advice: Do not skimp on the buttering and flouring of the pan for this cake or you might struggle to turn it out nicely. Mine stuck a little bit but I managed to get it successfully unstuck with a thin rubber spatula. 

Since we are still isolating for the most part, I made a small cake in my favorite 6-cup Nordic Ware anniversary pan. Feel free to double the batter for a 12-cup pan (and, of course, increase the baking time) if you have a large family. 

Coca-Cola Bundt Cake

Because this is cake, after all, don’t even think about using diet or zero Coke. It would also be sacrilegious to use Pepsi. As my daughters would say, fight me. 

Ingredients

For the cake batter:

1 cup or 200g granulated sugar

1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour, plus extra for the pan

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 can (6 oz or 177ml) regular Coca-Cola (not Diet or Coke Zero)

1/4 cup or 57g unsalted butter, plus extra for the pan

1/4 cup or 30g unsweetened natural cocoa powder

1/4 cup or 60ml buttermilk

1 large egg, at room temperature

For the Coca-Cola glaze:

1 cup or 125g confectioners' sugar, sifted 

2 to 3 tablespoons Coca-Cola 

Optional for decorating:

Haribo cola bottle sweets

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C, butter and flour a 6-cup Bundt pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, baking soda and salt. 

In a small saucepan over a low heat, melt the butter with the Coke and cocoa. Bring it to a simmer, stirring occasionally until the butter is melted and the mixture is completely combined and warm. 

Fold the warm mixture into the flour/sugar mix, until just combined. If there's still a little flouring showing, that's just fine. 

In a small bowl, whisk the egg and buttermilk until blended. Quickly whisk a couple of tablespoons of the thick batter into the eggs. Add two more tablespoons, still whisking briskly. 

Now add the egg mixture to the batter and whisk to combine.

Pour the batter into your prepared Bundt pan.

 Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in center comes out clean.

Set the pan on a wire rack to cool for about 15-20 minutes. Run your clean wooden skewer around the sides of the pan and then invert it on a serving plate. 

Leave to cool completely before drizzling on the glaze. 

To make the glaze, sift the powdered sugar into a mixing bowl to remove any lumps. Add Coca-Cola a tablespoon at a time until you get a good pouring or drizzling consistency, depending on how thick you like it. You may not use all of the Coke. (Guzzle the rest of the can - baker's privilege.)

Once the cake is completely cooled, pour or drizzle the glaze over it. I like to use a piping bag with a small tip to make the drizzle more controllable but that’s not essential. Decorate with Haribo cola bottle sweets, if using. 

Enjoy! 

As I mentioned above, this month’s Bundt Bakers theme is caffeinated cakes. Many thanks to our host, Rebekah of Making Miracles for her behind-the-scenes work and the fun theme. Check out the other caffeinated Bundts below: 

• 7 Up Bundtlets by Sweet Sensations
• Caramel Macchiato Mini Bundts by Magical Ingredients
• Coca-Cola Bundt Cake by Food Lust People Love
• Coffee and Baileys Individual Bundts by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Coffee Chocolate Bundt Cake by Making Miracles
• Dirty Chai Mini Bundts by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Espresso Chocolate Bundt Cake by Patyco Candybar
• Ginger & Lemon Green Tea Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze by Patty's Cake
• Marble Coffee Bundt by Sneha's Recipe
• Vietnamese Coffee Bundt Cake by All That's Left Are The Crumbs

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

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