#therealsouth

I was born and raised in the south. This is my perspective on life as a southern woman, because it's not all about muddin' and beer. Please enjoy my posts on everything from food to the adventures I get into with my true southern boyfriend.

[southern-princess91]

I hate the cold, but I am so ready for my first deer hunt this weekend with the boyfriend

[southern-princess91]

Why is it so hard for a guy to plan a date? If you want to see me then plan something for us to do! I am far from high maintenance so I don't need fancy dinners or expensive dates I just want a guy to put a little effort in as opposed to expecting me to come up with things to do. Get it together guys and just make a suggestion! To me "hanging out" is just a booty call, I need more than that.

[southern-princess91]

You know what is fun? Coming home, dealing with the bucket of crazy that is my family all because I want to actually spend time with my boyfriend. Only to realize that I'll only get to see him maybe twice.

[southern-princess91]

Gluten free alfredo! YES, please!

Living gluten free has been a challenge for me over the last week. I have no problem cutting out certain things but I LOVE pasta and even more than that I LOVE alfredo sauce. When you make an alfredo the right way you create a rue with flour (which contains gluten), I have found a way to skip that step. So are ya'll ready for how this is done?

First you will need a few things:

1 stick of unsalted butter 4 oz of cream cheese 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese 1- 1 1/2 cups milk or cream Salt and pepper to taste

Now that you have your ingredients together lets start making this amazing sauce!

1. Melt the butter in a medium pan. Keep the heat between med-low and medium, you don't want to brown the butter just melt it.

2. Add the cream cheese. I like to cut the cream cheese into small cubes and whisk them into the butter. Once the cream cheese begins to break down it is going to look like a gross curdled mess but don't freak out just yet.

3. Whisk in the milk. I didn't measure this exactly I added enough to combine the cream cheese and butter and kept some handy in case the sauce got too thick after adding the parmesan.

4. Whisk in the parmesan cheese. As I stated above you can always add more milk if you think the sauce is too thick or more parmesan if you think it is too thin.

5. Salt and pepper to taste. I didn't add any salt because the cheeses added enough for me, I put ALOT of black pepper in mine instead.

** I also want to mention that I really enjoy this sauce plain but wanted to add something to it to make the dish a little more special, I was also worried about trying it over gluten free pasta (that I had never used before) and I wanted to make sure it had a lot of flavor. I decided on sun-dried tomatoes, which are available at most grocery stores, and spinach. I diced about 7 tomatoes and put in 2 handfuls of spinach. The colors were gorgeous and the tomatoes added a little sweetness to the sauce while the spinach cut the richness some.

This recipe makes plenty of sauce. I had leftovers so for lunch the next day I made a hamburger patty and put it on a bed of spinach and topped it off with some reheated sauce.  

[southern-princess91]

Who knew you could make filet in a skillet

I moved to Virginia a few months ago after living with my parents for a year. I have begun to realize how difficult it is to really get everything you need when you move, that was made even harder when I decided that I needed to go gluten free for medical reasons. I've had to restock my cabinets and evaluate all my food so when my boyfriend surprised me with a visit I was freaked about having to cook for a man that LOVES wheat products. 

I decided on filet mignon with mashed potatoes, sauteed spinach, and rosemary compound butter. I know that sounds fancy but it was far from it. I had to google how to cook a steak in a pan/ finished in the oven because I have only ever grilled my steaks. 

The basics are simple: 1. Use room temperature meat: this is important to keep the meat tender while cooking and to allow for proper browning

2. Salt and pepper your meat on both sides: salt helps to build a crust which tastes AH-Mazing!

3. Heat your skillet with a small amount of olive oil and brown your meat on every side and the edges. This sound take a few minutes on each side

4. Pop the whole skillet in the oven and bake it at 400 degrees. Keep an eye on it and use a meat thermometer or the poke test to determine done-ness.

My boyfriend, who is a meat and potatoes guy really enjoyed this. The meat stayed tender and had a lovely crust on the outside. For the compound butter use unsalted butter and bring it to room temperature. Add any herbs you may like and salt and pepper. Combine well and put on the steak when plating. It took about 30 minutes to prepare and it was better than eating at a steak house, and cheaper too!

[southern-princess91]

When you go ride two days in a row and your ass literally gets chapped, and muscles you forgot you had hurt #southerngirlproblems

[southern-princess91]

Southern standards

Just a quick vent session before I go to bed. I love being southern. I love my home cooking and sweet tea just as much as the next girl. I was also raised to respect tradition but why do I have to be the one to cook a “meat and potatoes” meal every night? Don’t get me wrong I have no problem cooking for myself or for my man but I am not spending all this money on grad school to be a Mrs. Suzy Homemaker and not have a career. Thank the lord my boyfriend understands that and we made a deal about all that for the future, but a lot of people still expect women to be stay at home moms. Some of the standards of the south will always surprise me.

[southern-princess91]

You know you are dating a redneck when..

Your boyfriend comes to spend a weekend with you since you moved two hours away for grad school and he leaves empty grizzly cans in your bedroom trash can, and empty beer can in your bathroom, bailing twine on the floor, and a spit bottle in your car.