Faith, Food and Family

I've been trying to eat healthier lately so I was excited when I received my new cookbook Lighten Up, Y'all by Virginia Willis. Many of the typical southern favorites aren't always the healthiest, so it was so neat to see a cookbook with the premise of making southern food healthier. I'm all about that! This book features so many beautiful pictures. Every recipe doesn't have a picture, but many do. There is a recipe for pimento cheese that I am anxious to try. The recipe for grilled potato salad sounds yummy and would be wonderful to try when it gets a bit warmer. There's even a recipe for Summer Squash Lasagna! That sounds really good. Flipping through this book definitely gets me excited about the warmer months and the yummy produce that follows, especially at the farmer's market. I can't wait! One recipe that I would like to make soon that would be good for these colder months is the Smothered and Covered Chicken and Gravy. Good comfort ...

I recently received The B.T.C. Old-Fashioned Grocery Cookbook by Alexe Van Beuren with recipes by Dixie Grimes to review from Blogging for Books . I'm planning on making a recipe from it to share with you a bit later. I still need to make one from the Irish cookbook I reviewed, but it's summer vacation and school starts back soon so I haven't had a chance to do it yet. I will try to asap though. :) Anyway, back to the review. This is a very nicely bound book with a very neat cover that has a ridged feel to it. Very unique! The B.T.C. Old Fashioned Grocery is a store and cafe in Water Valley, Mississippi, owned by Alexe Van Beuren and her husband. Dixie Grimes is the chef for the cafe part of the store and cooks up many customer favorites. I have to say, that Mrs. Van Beuren made me fall in love with this little town. I literally read every bit that she wrote throughout this book, falling more and more in love with this town and it's people. I even had my husband d...