Most of you guys know me as food stylist and TK pro here are the magazine. Often times we write about our day to day hijinks at the magazine, wonderful products we find from around the south or answer your reader questions on the blog. Recently I had the wonderful opportunity to be the Wellness Guest Editor of the month for Newbalance.com. Each month New Balance invites an individual to share their personal approach to fitness, nutrition, motivation, and time. Well this month they asked me!!! I know crazy but I was thrilled and honored to be asked.  So of course I thought ya'll would enjoy taking a peak on how I juggle my busy work life, continue to explore my passion of healthy food, and balance my family obligations. Plus I share some silly anecdotes and fast recipes on how my husband Lee and I keep it all together. Give it a read and tell me what you think, I'd love to hear what works for your family. Enjoy!

 

 

 
I calculated in the 5 years I have been in the test kitchen I have chopped over 1000 onions. I don't even want to know how many dishwashers I have unloaded. Between my kitchen here and the one at home, it's got to be scary.  So you can see, after preforming so many simple task day after day, my mind starts to wonder from time to time. What am I going to make for dinner tonight? Do I have photography tomorrow? What's my cat Souffle doing right now? A favorite topic as of late: What super powers would I like to have!

 
Of course besides water I think I could live solely on tacos. Ohhhh.... so many delicious choices and combinations to create: soft, crunchy, flour, corn, pork, fish you name it, I'll eat it. Yes even some of that weird hard to pronounce, not sure what part of the animal kind too.

Yesterday I had the treat to go out for lunch, which is pretty rare for me to leave the Southern Living compound at all because of our filling daily taste testings. With my friend Shirley in tow, we ventured to Taqueria La Reyna in Birmingham. The pastor taco stood out to both of us as well as their super chunky fresh guacamole. After lunch it got me thinking, the pastor might as well be my personal contender as top taco. Chunks of pork and pineapple covered in spices and cooked together until tender; a spiced savory sweet combination. All you need is a dash of onion, a sprinkle of fresh cilantro, and generous squeeze of fresh lime (please, please no sour cream or cheese.)

If the lovable cartoon character Marmaduke were a beer, he would surely be a cool can of Ten Fidy Imperial Stout. Big and intimidating but surprisingly friendly and fun. After my last post on canned beer, a reader tipped me off onto this imperial stout made by the Oskar Blues Brewery in Lyons, Colorado. I had to have it! So when a buddy of mine was headed to Atlanta, I sent him directly to Hop City (a beer geek's mecca, trust me) to procure a 4 pack of these lovelies. At first pour the aggressive color was shocking, it looked like the used motor oil in my 1982 Mercedes diesel, appetizing right. I was blown away. How did they pack all that flavor into a tiny can? Sweet and smooth with a balance of caramel, tobacco, and well done toast spread with Nutella. Ohhhhh my goodness. It's definitely a 1 can maximum with an almost 10% ABV. I recommend tucking into this power house on a cool evening after a hearty meal.....instead of dessert.

You are guaranteed to find a delicious southern recipe each month in our new column Mama's Way or Your Way? We take a from scratch favorite and streamline it for today's busy lifestyle. I love how we share both recipes because I am constantly on both sides of that spectrum, and i bet you have too. You want homemade flavor and tradition but you only have a handful of minutes and the in-laws happen to be on their way -OR- it's Saturday afternoon and you are feeling like a fun and tasty project to share with your family. Well this column is for you! Busy weeknights to weekend "chef-ing" you can have it either way to suit your desire for a home cooked treat.

I use to carry a secret as I walked the halls here at Southern Living. I don't really like cornbread, I know absolutely shocking! A member of the THE test kitchen that doesn't like cornbread?!?!?! It took a culinary epiphany to realize why, I have been doing it all wrong. I felt like Micheal Keaton in the movie Mr. Mom. He's in the car pool line for the first time and there's a knock at the window by an angry patrol mom........"SIR, SIR YOUR DOING IT WRONG hello sirrrrrrrrr your doing it wrong," as she bangs recklessly on the woody station wagon window (he is entering the car pool line clearly going in the wrong direction) O-M-G! I was totally him, behind the wheel of some pitiful quick bread.

Want a quick peak into the Southern Living Test Kitchen this week: It's Christmas in August!!!! I am working on our new super-fantastic double issue for this December. The special foods section will include our top pick for Christmas cookies. With help from our new intern Alison, we (actually she did ALL the work) sliced and baked our way through at least 5 pounds of butter and countless cups of sugar and flour to produce beautiful cookies for the photo shoot. The cookies themselves are so buttery and tender with the right level of sweetness y'all are are guaranteed to lov'em. The only thing I am missing is that glass of milk....now were did i put it?

We recently received this great question from Diana Odenbrett. What is the equivalent of switching a cake recipe from regular flour to cake flour? Test Kitchen to the rescue!

To substitute all-purpose flour for cake flour, reduce the amount of flour called for by 2 Tbsp. per cup.  In a pinch and out of cake flour.  Whisk together 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus 2 Tbsp. cornstarch to equal 1 cup cake flour.

Cake flour is soft wheat flour with low protein content.  What does this mean to a novice baker?  It’s more forgiving than all-purpose flour. If you make a mistake and over mix the batter, the cake’s texture won’t be tough after baking. Less gluten is developed, and for cakes this is a critical factor – it means a soft, tender crumb. Cake flour is bleached, which explains its very bright, white appearance.

 

At Last you can have a quality beer in a can! Earlier this summer my husband Lee and I got turned on to a brewery from Lyons, Colorado called Oskar Blues. They make a family of very fine craft brews all available in aluminum cans. My favorite is Gordon, sold in 4-packs, it has a killer punch coming in at 8.7% alcohol by volume (this ain't no Bud Lite kids.) It reminds me of a mix of my two favorite styles: a super hoppy IPA and a Trappist Belgium ale like Chimay. It has a nice balance of malt and hops, and a subtle fruity sweetness. A match made in heaven that happens to be easily recyclable in my neighborhood where sadly glass is not.

One thing is for sure, if I didn't work in our test kitchen, I would definitely own a food truck or as i call'em a grease truck. Every time I get out of town I always look for a new one to try. It's a food adventure with the added bonus of being inexpensive (no fancy tablecloths here) and a great way to get the feel of a new city.